CBS affiliate in Spartanburg, South Carolina
WSPA-TV
(channel 7) is a
television station
licensed to
Spartanburg, South Carolina
, United States, serving
Upstate South Carolina
and
Western North Carolina
as an affiliate of
CBS
. It is owned by
Nexstar Media Group
alongside
Asheville, North Carolina
?licensed
CW
owned-and-operated station
WYCW
(channel 62). WSPA-TV and WYCW share studios on International Drive (next to the
I-26
and
I-85 Business
/Veterans Parkway
interchange
) in Spartanburg; through a
channel sharing agreement
, the two stations transmit using WSPA-TV's spectrum from an antenna on Hogback Mountain in northeastern
Greenville County
(southwest of
Tryon, North Carolina
).
WSPA-TV is the only station in the
market
that is headquartered in Spartanburg, and in turn tends to focus its local news stories on that city, with a secondary emphasis on
Greenville
and Asheville.
[
citation needed
]
History
[
edit
]
The station first signed on the air on April 29, 1956. It was founded by broadcasting pioneer Walter J. Brown and his company, Spartan Radiocasting, alongside
WSPA (950 AM)
and
WSPA-FM (98.9)
. The station has been a CBS affiliate since its sign-on. Spartan Radiocasting bought several other radio and television stations over the years, and was renamed
Spartan Communications
in 1995. WSPA began broadcasting a 24-hour schedule in July of that same year, after previously having signed off during the overnight hours on Fridays and Saturdays.
The WSPA radio stations were sold off in 1998, but WSPA-TV remained the
flagship
of the company until it merged with
Media General
in 2000. Prior to this, channel 7 was the last remaining locally owned television station in the market.
The station shared some resources with WNEG-TV (now
WGTA
) in
Toccoa, Georgia
, while that station was co-owned with WSPA beginning in 1995; this included that station receiving the CBS affiliation for
northeast Georgia
. This arrangement was terminated after WNEG was sold to the
University of Georgia
in 2008.
Due to its transmitter location?at 2,188 feet (667 m) above average terrain?WSPA has one of the largest signal coverage areas on the
East Coast
. WSPA's over-the-air signal can be received as far north as
Blowing Rock, North Carolina
(in the
Charlotte
market), which has
line-of-sight
to Hogback Mountain despite being approximately 75 miles (121 km) away. However, WSPA is not carried on
cable
providers in that area.
On March 1, 2009, WSPA's original tower on Hogback Mountain collapsed due to a combination of heavy icing and high winds, hitting the main auxiliary tower as it fell. WSPA's digital signal was restored using a
digital subchannel
of sister station
WYCW
(channel 62); while the station received a replacement antenna on March 4, it was without its analog signal for one week after the accident. A new tower was activated in September 2009.
Prior to the March 2009 tower collapse, WSPA provided grade B coverage as far east as Charlotte. It appeared in the television listings inserts in the
Charlotte Observer
well into the 1990s, and frequently aired a number of programs pre-empted by Charlotte's
WBTV
?mostly game shows and cartoons. Before the arrival of the
Carolina Panthers
, WSPA was known to air a different
NFL
game than what aired on WBTV, giving Charlotte-area viewers a second option for NFL games. This was especially true when the
Atlanta Falcons
and
Washington Redskins
played at the same time; like most CBS affiliates in South Carolina, WSPA tended to favor the Falcons.
On September 8, 2015, Media General announced that it would acquire the
Meredith Corporation
, owner of WHNS, for $2.4 billion to form Meredith Media General. Since WSPA and WHNS were among the four highest-rated stations in the market in total day viewership, the merged company would have been required to sell either WSPA or WHNS to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as recent changes to those rules regarding same-market television stations that restrict
sharing agreements
. WYCW was the only one of the three stations affected by the merger that could have been legally acquired by Meredith Media General either by maintaining the existing duopoly with WSPA or by forming a new duopoly with WHNS, as its total day viewership ranks below the top-four ratings threshold.
[3]
[4]
That sale was canceled on January 27, 2016, in favor of a sale of Media General to the
Nexstar Broadcasting Group
, and WSPA and WYCW became part of "Nexstar Media Group."
[5]
The deal was approved by the FCC on January 11, 2017, and it was completed on January 17.
[6]
Programming
[
edit
]
WSPA-TV carries the entire CBS network schedule; however, it carries only the first half-hour of
Face the Nation
on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. due to its carriage of televised church services from First Baptist Church of Spartanburg at 11 a.m., the second half-hour is seen instead on WYCW; it also splits the
CBS Dream Team
lineup into two blocks: the final two hours of the block air on a
one-hour delay
on Saturdays (due to its weekend morning newscast and
CBS Saturday Morning
) and the first hour airs on a day-behind basis after its Sunday morning newscast. It was also one of a handful of CBS affiliates that aired
Let's Make a Deal
at 9 a.m. instead of the
game show
's recommended 10 a.m. or 3 p.m. timeslot in the
Eastern Time Zone
, but it swapped timeslots with the talk and lifestyle program
Your Carolina With Jack & Megan
and is now seen at 10 a.m.
Past programming preemptions and deferrals
[
edit
]
From the 1960s through the 1990s, WSPA had preempted several CBS programs; among them were
NBA
games (during the league's low-rated period, between
1979
and
1981
, when CBS showed
Finals
games on tape delay, although WSPA did carry the 1981 playoffs and
NBA Finals
),
children's programs
within the network's Saturday morning lineup including the
CBS Children's Film Festival
,
Muppet Babies
(which was preempted by
Jack Roper's Kidsizzle
from 1991 to 1993), the final season of
Pee-Wee's Playhouse
and the animated series
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures
.
It also preempted several of the network's game shows including
Tattletales
(from January to April 1982 with reruns of
Carter Country
, and then by
The Beverly Hillbillies
until September 1982; and again from September 1983 onward, after which it was replaced with the hour-long
Breakaway
),
Body Language
(which aired on WSPA from September 1984 to January 1985; but was preempted by
Breakaway
from June to September 1984;
The $100,000
Name That Tune
from January to September 1985; and
Tic Tac Dough
from September 1985 to January 1986),
Press Your Luck
(which was picked up by the station in 1984 shortly after contestant Michael Larson's record $110,237 win; and dropped in January 1986 after
Card Sharks
took over the 10:30 a.m. slot and replaced
Body Language
on the schedule; it was replaced with
Tic Tac Dough
and then by
Love Connection
from April to September 1986),
Card Sharks
(which aired on WSPA from 1986 until September 1988, when it was preempted by
Wipeout
; it returned to the station on March 6, 1989, where it remained until the end of its run),
Now You See It
(which was preempted by
Love Connection
from April to July 1989) and the final few months of
Family Feud Challenge
. The station also preempted
Late Show with David Letterman
for one week in the summer of 1998.
[
citation needed
]
News operation
[
edit
]
WSPA-TV presently broadcasts 36 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with six hours each weekday and three hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). In addition to its newscasts on channel 7, WSPA-TV also produces an additional 16 hours of newscasts each week on sister station WYCW, two hours from 7 to 9 a.m. each weekday morning and one hour at 10 p.m. each weeknight, and a half-hour each weekend night.
In addition to the main studios in Spartanburg, in January 2017, WSPA/WYCW opened a street front studio in downtown Greenville. Known as "7 On Main", the facility is located at the corner of Main Street and Falls Park Drive. The stations also operate a news bureau on Main Street/
SC 28
in
Anderson
. Nexstar maintains a
Capitol
bureau in Columbia, covering
state government
issues for the company's South Carolina stations (WSPA,
WBTW
in
Florence
?
Myrtle Beach
and
WCBD
in
Charleston
).
The station's newscasts have been known over the years as
Eyewitness 7 News
,
7
Eyewitness News
,
NewsChannel 7
,
7 On Your Side
and since January 2016 as
7 News
. Among the notable former members of the station's news staff were
Leeza Gibbons
,
Jane Robelot
and former CBS anchor Susan McGinnis. In 1977, WSPA hired Annette Estes as anchor of its evening newscasts, becoming the station's first female news anchor; Estes left the station in 1987 to become the 6 and 11 p.m. co-anchor (alongside Carl Clark) at
WYFF
.
In September 1996, WSPA-TV began to produce a nightly half-hour newscast at 10 p.m. for WHNS through a news share agreement with the stations' then-owner
Pappas Telecasting Companies
; the news share agreement was terminated in 1999 (two years after WHNS was sold to the Meredith Corporation; it is now owned by
Gray Television
), when channel 21 launched its own news department that fall. On September 16, 2007, WSPA became the first television station in the Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville market to begin broadcasting its newscasts to high-definition.
Notable former on-air staff
[
edit
]
Technical information
[
edit
]
Subchannels
[
edit
]
Broadcast on behalf of another station
WSPA previously carried a 24-hour local weather channel on its second digital subchannel, which was branded as "Storm Team 24/7". In 2009, that subchannel became an affiliate of the
Retro Television Network
. It was replaced with
MeTV
on September 26, 2011.
[8]
WSPA dropped MeTV on April 1, 2018; it is now carried by WYFF (channel 4).
[7]
[9]
Analog-to-digital conversion
[
edit
]
WSPA-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over
VHF
channel 7, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States
transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts
under federal mandate; it continued to broadcast its analog signal despite the March 2009 tower collapse. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition
UHF
channel 53, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to its analog-era VHF channel 7.
[10]
Translators
[
edit
]
In addition to its main signal, WSPA operates a network of 13
translators
throughout the mountainous areas of North Carolina.
- W08AT-D
Cherokee, NC
- W08BF-D
Spruce Pine, NC
- W09AF-D
Sylva, NC
- W09AG-D
Franklin, NC
- W10AD-D
Montreat, NC
- W10AJ-D
Greenville, SC
- W11AN-D
Bryson City, NC
- W15EL-D
Mars Hill, NC
- W18EP-D
Weaverville, NC
- W23ES-D
Marshall, NC
- W23EY-D
Canton, NC
- W32FI-D
Brevard, NC
- W35DT-D
Beaver Dam, NC
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"FCC History Cards for WSPA-TV"
.
- ^
"Facility Technical Data for WSPA-TV"
.
Licensing and Management System
.
Federal Communications Commission
.
- ^
"Media General Acquiring Meredith For 2.4 Billion"
.
TVNewsCheck
. NewsCheck Media. September 8, 2015.
- ^
Cynthia Littleton (September 8, 2015).
"TV Station Mega Merger: Media General Sets $2.4 Billion Acquisition of Meredith Corp"
.
Variety
.
Penske Media Corporation
. Retrieved
September 9,
2015
.
- ^
"Nexstar Agrees to Buy Media General for $4.6B"
. January 27, 2016.
- ^
"Nexstar Broadcasting Group Completes Acquisition of Media General Creating Nexstar Media Group, The Nation's Second Largest Television Broadcaster"
.
Nexstar Media Group
. January 17, 2017
. Retrieved
January 17,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
"RabbitEars TV Query for WSPA"
.
RabbitEars.info
.
- ^
"Where do I watch MeTV in Chicago - MeTV?"
.
Me-TV Network
.
- ^
"Channel 7 & 62 signal troubleshooting"
. Archived from
the original
on June 18, 2018
. Retrieved
September 17,
2023
.
- ^
"DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on August 29, 2013
. Retrieved
March 24,
2012
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
|
Full power
|
- WYFF
(4.1
NBC
, 4.2
MeTV
, 4.4
Story
, 4.5
HSN
)
- WSPA-TV
(7.1
CBS
, 7.3
Ion
)
- WLOS
(13.1
ABC
, 13.2
MNTV
, 13.3
ANT
, 13.4
Nest
)
- WGGS-TV
(16.1
Rel.
, 16.2
Scripps News
, 16.3
SonLife
, 16.4
Defy
, 16.5
Start
, 16.6
Laff
, 16.7
Court
, 16.8
Get
, 16.9
QVC
, 16.10
This
, 16.11 Walk)
- WHNS
(21.1
Fox
, 21.2
Cozi
, 21.3
Mystery
, 21.4
Bounce
, 21.5
Grit
, 21.6
The365
)
- WUNW 27/WUNF-TV 33
(27.2/33.1
PBS
, 27.3/33.2
Rootle
, 27.1/33.3 Explorer, 27.4/33.4 North Carolina)
- WNTV 29/WNEH 38/WRET-TV 49
(xx.1
PBS
, xx.2
South Carolina
, xx.3 ETV World, xx.4
ETV Kids
)
- WMYA-TV
(40.1
Dabl
, 40.2
TBD
, 40.3
Comet
, 40.4
Charge!
)
- WYCW
(62.1
CW
, 62.3
REW
)
|
---|
Low power
|
- WWYA-LD
(28.1
Movies!
, 28.2
JTV
, 28.3
Crime
, 28.4
Grio
,
28.5
Rel.
, 28.6
Ace
, 28.7 Biz, 28.8
NTD
)
- WDKT-LD
(31.1
GEB
, 31.2
Quest
, 31.3 Harmony, 31.4
HSN
, 31.5
H&I
, 31.6
Catchy
, 31.7
Buzzr
, 31.8
QVC2
, 31.9 Genesis Science Network)
- WSQY-LD
(51.1
Daystar
, 51.2 Daystar Espanol)
|
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ATSC 3.0
| |
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Cable
| |
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Defunct
| |
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|
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ABC
| |
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CBS
| |
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Fox
| |
---|
NBC
| |
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The CW
| |
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MyNetworkTV
| |
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Ion Television
| |
---|
PBS
(
SCETV
)
| |
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Other
|
- WGWG 4
ATSC 3.0
(
MeTV
,
Charleston
)*
- WHDC-LD 12 (
Court
,
Charleston
)*
- WWJS 14
(
SBN
,
Hickory, NC
)**
- WGGS-TV 16
(
Rel.
Ind.
,
Greenville
)*
- WLCN-CD 18
(
CTN
,
Charleston
)*
- WWMB 21
(.1
Dabl
, .2
TBD
, .3
Nest
, .4
Charge!
,
Florence
)*
- WAZS-LD 29
(Quiero TV,
Charleston
)*
- W30CV-D 30/48
(
Ind.
,
Hilton Head Island
)**
- WDKT-LD 31
(
GEB
,
Hendersonville, NC
)*
- WSCG-LD 34
(
Get
,
Baxley, GA
)**
- WMYA-TV 40
ATSC 3.0
(
Dabl
,
Anderson
)*
- WSQY-LD 51
(
Daystar
,
Greenville
)*
- WAXN-TV 64
ATSC 3.0
(
Ind.
,
Kannapolis, NC
)**
|
---|
(*) ? indicates station is in one of South Carolina's primary
TV markets
(**) ? indicates station is in an out-of-state TV market, but reaches a small portion of South Carolina
|
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ABC
| |
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CBS
| |
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Fox
| |
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NBC
| |
---|
The CW
| |
---|
MyNetworkTV
| |
---|
Ion Television
| |
---|
PBS
| |
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Other
|
- WSKY-TV 4
(
Ind.
,
Manteo/Norfolk, VA
)**
- WSOC-DT 9.2
(
TMD
,
Charlotte
)*
- WILM-LD 10
(
Ind.
,
Wilmington
)*
- WWJS 14
(
SBN
,
Hickory/Charlotte
)*
- WGGS-TV 16
(
Rel.
,
Greenville, SC
)*
- WGSR-LD 19
(
Ind.
,
Reidsville
)*
- WARZ-LD 21
(
3ABN
,
Smithfield
)*
- WTPC-TV 21
(
TBN
,
Virginia Beach/Norfolk, VA
)**
- WWMB 21
(
Dabl
,
Florence/Myrtle Beach, SC
)**
- WRAY-TV 30
/
WLXI 43
(
TCT
,
Wake Forest
/
Greensboro
)*
- WDKT-LD 31
(
GEB
,
Hendersonville
)*
- WNGT-CD 34
ATSC 3.0
(
WHT
,
Smithfield
)*
- WMYA-TV 40
ATSC 3.0
(
Dabl
,
Anderson/Greenville/Spartanburg, SC/Asheville
)*
- WUVC-DT 40
/
WTNC-LD 26
(
UNI
,
Fayetteville/Raleigh/Durham
)*
- WHFL-CD 43
(
Worship
,
Goldsboro
)*
- WQDH-LD 49
(
Azteca
,
Wilmington
)*
- WRTD-CD 54
(
TMD
,
Raleigh
)*
- WFPX-TV 62
(
Bounce
,
Archer Lodge/Raleigh/Durham
)*
- WAXN-TV 64
ATSC 3.0
(
Ind.
,
Kannapolis/Charlotte
)*
|
---|
(*) ? indicates station is in one of North Carolina's primary
TV markets
(**) ? indicates station is in an out-of-state TV market, but reaches a small portion of North Carolina
|
CBS
network affiliates licensed to and serving the state of
Georgia
|
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Primary*
| |
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Secondary**
| |
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(*) ? indicates station is in one of Georgia's primary
TV markets
(**) ? indicates station is in an out-of-state TV market, but reaches a small portion of Georgia
|
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Atlanta
stations
| Religious stations
| |
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Spanish stations
| |
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Other stations
| |
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|
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Other
markets
| Religious stations
| |
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Other stations
|
- WRBL-DT 3.3
(
Ion
,
Columbus
)
- WJXT 4
(
Ind.
,
Jacksonville, FL
)
- WCTV-DT 6.3
(
Ion
,
Thomasville
)
- WJBF-DT 6.3
(
Ion
,
Augusta
)
- WSPA-DT 7.3
(
Ion
,
Spartanburg, SC
)
- WTOC-DT 11.5
(
Ion
,
Savannah
)
- WGGS-TV 16
(
Rel.
,
Greenville, SC
)
- WPXC-TV 21
(
Ion
,
Brunswick
)
- WSCG 35
(
various, see article
;
Baxley
)
- WMUB-LD 38
(
France 24
,
Macon
)
- WMYA-TV 40
ATSC 3.0
(
Dabl
,
Anderson, SC
)
- WDGA-CD 43
(
Heartland
,
Dalton
)
- WSWG-DT 44.4
(
Ion
,
Valdosta
)
- WDNN-CD 49
(
Ind.
,
Dalton
)
- WTLH 49
(
H&I
,
Bainbridge
)
- WPGA-LD 50
(
Scripps News
,
Macon
)
- WPGA-TV 58
(
MeTV
,
Perry
)
- WPGA-DT 58.3
(
Ion
,
Perry
)
- WDSI-TV 61
(
Crime
,
Chattanooga, TN
)
- WGBP-TV 66
(
LX
,
Opelika, AL
)
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Defunct
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ABC
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CBS
| |
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The CW
(
O&O
)
| |
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Fox
| |
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MyNetworkTV
| |
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NBC
| |
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Other stations
| |
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TV channels
| |
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TV programs
| |
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Other assets
| |
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Acquisitions
| |
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- 1
Nexstar operates these stations under an
SSA
.
- 2
These stations broadcast these networks on their digital subchannels.
|