WCBD-TV

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WCBD-TV
Charleston, South Carolina
Branding	News 2
Slogan	Count on News 2
Channels	2 (VHF) analog, 50 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	NBC (1954-62 and since 1996) The CW (on DT2)
Owner	Media General
Founded	September 25, 1954
Call letters meaning	Charleston / Berkeley / Dorchester (three counties in Charleston metro)
Former callsigns	WUSN-TV
Former affiliations	ABC (1954-96, secondary until 1962)
Website	counton2.com Low Country CW Homepage

WCBD channel 2 is the NBC affiliate for Charleston, South Carolina. Owned by Media General, the station's transmitter is located in Awendaw. The station is located at the base of the new Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge in Mount Pleasant. WCBD airs programming from The CW on its DT2 subchannel, which is known as The Lowcountry's CW. The subchannel airs the newscast The Daily Buzz weekday mornings from 6 to 9 AM. [1]

Contents 1 History 2 Personalities 3 Newscasts 3.1 Monday - Friday 3.2 Saturdays & Sundays 3.3 Reporters 3.4 Former Anchors/Reporters/Weathercasters 4 External links

[edit] History

The station signed on as WUSN-TV on September 25, 1954. It is the third-oldest station in the Lowcountry, behind WCSC-TV in Charleston and WBTW in Florence. It was originally an NBC affiliate with a secondary ABC affiliation. WUSN shared ABC programming with WCSC until 1962, when WTMA-TV (now WCIV) signed on and took the NBC affiliation. WUSN then became a full-time ABC affiliate. The call letters later changed to WCBD, after the three counties in the Charleston metropolitan area. It remained Charleston's ABC affiliate until 1996, when it swapped affiliations with WCIV and became an NBC affiliate once again. This was a result of an affiliation deal between ABC and WCIV's owner, Allbritton Communications Company.

WCBD spent most of the 1970s and 1980s in last place until Media General bought the station in 1983 from State Telecasting Inc. Since then, WCBD has been a strong number two station.

Beginning in September 2006, WCBD began to show programming from The CW on its DT2 digital subchannel.

[edit] Personalities

Many of the on-air personalities of WCBD have been fixtures in the Charleston-area market for many years.

Chief Meteorologist Rob Fowler has been with the station for more than 18 years becoming Chief Meteorologist in 1987, and the longest-serving meteorologist in the market with the same station.

Warren Peper, one of the most widely-known faces in Charleston television, joined WCBD in late 2005 after a one-year noncompete agreement expired between him and Jefferson Pilot Communications (which owned rival WCSC).

Carolyn Murray has served the viewers of Charleston for 11 years also at the local CBS affiliate. There she served as an anchor and reporter. She left in 2001 for a brief stint at a #3 television market, WBBM, in Chicago. She returned to Charleston at WCBD in late 2003 as the News 2 at Noon anchor.

In October 2005, Carolyn Murray and Warren Peper joined each other creating the weekday anchor team for WCBD anchoring the news at 5, 6, & 11.

Ironically, two of the three network affiliates in the Charleston market have news anchors who are former sports anchors. Peper, who worked at WCSC from 1974 until his controversial firing in 2004, was a sports anchor for much of his career, and WCIV's Dean Stephens also worked as a sports anchor for much of his early career at the station.

[edit] Newscasts

[edit] Monday - Friday

• News 2 Today: 5:00 - 7:00am
  • Anchor: Brad Franko
  • Meteorologist: Leigh Spann

• News 2 at Noon: 12:00 - 12:30pm
  • Anchor: Brand Franko
  • Meteorologist: Leigh Spann

• News 2 at 5: 5:00 - 6:00pm
  • Anchors: Carolyn Murray & Warren Peper
  • Meteorologist: Chief Meteorologist Rob Fowler

• News 2 at 6: 6:00 - 6:30pm
  • Anchors: Carolyn Murray & Warren Peper
  • Meteorologist: Chief Meteorologist Rob Fowler
  • Sports: Sports Director: Brendan Clark

• News 2 at 11: 11:00 - 11:30pm
  • Anchors: Carolyn Murray & Warren Peper
  • Meteorologist: Chief Meteorologist Rob Fowler
  • Sports: Sports Director: Brendan Clark

[edit] Saturdays & Sundays

• News 2 at 6: 6:00 - 6:30pm
  • Anchor: Gray Hall
  • Meteorologist: Chip Maxham
  • Sports: Justin Wallace

• News 2 at 11: 11:00 - 11:30pm
  • Anchor: Gray Hall
  • Meteorologist: Chip Maxham
  • Sports: Justin Wallace

[edit] Reporters

• Chip Maxham
  • Meteorologist/ General Asssignment
• Gray Hall
  • General Assignment/Weekend Anchor
• Krista Flasch
  • Political Reporter
• Octavia Mitchell
  • General Assignment
• Andy Pierrotti
  • General Assignment
• Corey Broman-Fulks
  • General Assignment
• Jenny Fisher
  • Crime Reporter
• Tara Lynn
  • General Assignment and Producer

[edit] Former Anchors/Reporters/Weathercasters

• John Ahrens
• Nina Sossamon
• Blair Miller
• Erica Bryant Fields
• Spencer Pryor
• Bill Fitzgerald
• Trey Hardison
• Darla Rourk
• Dana Ratliff
• Meredith Land
• Ben Pogue
• Blair Miller
• Miles Crosby
• Liz Scott
• Ron Scott
• Jennifer Brown
• Jennifer Timmons
• Karen Grace
• Lorrie Jordon
• Kurt Hogan
• Christa McLain
• Angie Mizzell
• Jon Robinson
• Jenny McLendon
• Nancy O'Dell
• Merritt Dempsey
• Nichelle King
• Leslie Lyles
• Jill Franco-Miller
• Terry Casey
• Dan Ashley
• Ted Knight
• Joe Trahan
• Bill Baer
• Bo Williams

[edit] External links

• Home Page - WCBD-TV
• Low Country CW Homepage
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WCBD-TV

NBC Network Affiliates in the state of South Carolina
WCBD 2 (Charleston) - WYFF 4 (Greenville) - WIS 10 (Columbia) - WMBF 32 (Florence)1
1-- Not yet on the air.
See also: ABC, CBS, Fox, PBS, CW, MyNetworkTV and Other stations in South Carolina