Best TV News in Columbia

[Jerseyman4]

Oops... didnt even realize i posted twice on this!

Pinehurst is located in Moore County, NC.. roughly 40 miles north of the NC/SC state line along US 1. Our home DMA (dominant market audience) is the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill market but we can easily receive Greensboro/Winston/High Pt ; Florence/Myrtle Beach and WECT 6 out of Wilmington.

At night time, usually... Columbia comes in as our first distant city but if it isnt Columbia then its Roanoke whos coming down towards us.

[Spartan]

forgive me if i sound like an incredible dork here, but I enjoy watching local newcasts from places that I am not from. When I go to see my grandparents in GA, I get to watch both the Atlanta news and the Albany news.

[emerging.me]

forgive me if i sound like an incredible dork here, but I enjoy watching local newcasts from places that I am not from.

Hilarious! Yeah, I feel you though... Come to think of it... when I'm flipping channels in a hotel room while on the road I'll always stop and watch if the local news is on. There *is* something novel about it and it's always interesting (in a nerdy kind of way) to note the differences in the production and just to see how a different community is presented.

[ResearchMan]

I like checking out the local news too. It's strange you often go to a large city and they sometmies have really crappy (almost amateur) news. Then you go to some small towns and they often have really polished news crew.

Anyone here remember Mackey Quave ? He used to do the local ABC news half-drunk 20 years back. Then afterwards he'd often be found in a local store on two notch drinking beer .. and watching the national news. He was a riot long time back for most locals.

[The_sandlapper]

Well I guess I'll confess as well. At my last job we used to travel around the Carolinas and Georgia alot. I woul always watch the local news. I like to see how news there compared and contrasted to home. WIS was up there with most of them.

[Jerseyman4]

Harrisonburg, VA seems to have the best local channel line ups (not the best ever). Harrisonburg is located up along the Shenadoah Valley at I-81 and US 33. Heres the local markets:

Mostly all DC stations (that came to a shock)

Charlottesville/Winchester/Staunton viewing area market which is pretty new

Mostly Richmond stations (another shock)

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Harrisonburg does need WDBJ or WSLS out of Roanoke.. i mean.. its the mountains.. its only a 100 miles away. I think DC and even Richmond are longshots for Harrisonburg in my opinion.

[The Proc]

WIS is the best local TV news station I've ever seen, and I grew up in cheraw, so we got all the channels from Cola, Florence, Charlotte, Myrtle Beach, and occasionaly Raleigh. The whole thing with WIS is that they really care about the community and use the news as a public service instead of just another ratings vehicle. Whenever there's severe weather, they'll interrupt regular programming and put a weather guy with details on, not just a little watch box up in the corner like so many other places. I can't even imagine what South Carolina would be like without them.

[waccamatt]

I like checking out the local news too. It's strange you often go to a large city and they sometmies have really crappy (almost amateur) news. Then you go to some small towns and they often have really polished news crew.

Anyone  here remember Mackey Quave ? He used to do the local ABC news half-drunk 20 years back. Then afterwards he'd often be found in a local store on two notch drinking beer .. and watching the national news. He was a riot long time back for most locals.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I remember him. He was one of the old radio personalities in Columbia from way before my time. I remember him doing the weather on WOLO back in the 70's. I also remember Camille Bradford doing the weather on channel 19 way back when I was in 4th grade or so. Poor thing has only progressed from weathergirl to reporter in 30 years. I'd have to look for a new line of work.

[sonofaque86]

WIS...There picture is clearer than everybody else

[Spartan]

What sort of state-wide coverage does WIS have? I was at the beach this weekend and they had WIS on cable. Seems odd to me.

[The_sandlapper]

Like I said when I used to live at Myrtle I used to watch it there, I believe it's in Florence too. St. George which is in northern Dorchester County it was viewable there as well, and I think I watched it a time or two in Walterboro, or maybe that was the State newspaper?. I wasn't able to catch it in the Upstate, when I lived there. I'm curious if it can be seen in Rock Hill though?

[Spartan]

I am curious to know if its just a Pee Dee thing. I am certain that Charleston doesn't recieve it. I could be wrong though. My friend tells me its a statewide thing, but I think he is wrong. I am talking about cable/satellite service here. Its easy to pick up stations off of the airwaves from far off. I have never been able to pick up WIS here in the Upstate, and I have certainly never seen it on Cable or Satellite packages. I guess I am actually more curious as to why this is. WIS doesn't do anything that different or better that would warrant it having a larger coverage area. Particularly one that overlaps media markets with other stations.

[randy1]

I've seen WIS' newscast before. Very political. I don't see what all the hype is all about. Really Columbia's television market is very bland. WIS does a good job, but it really doesn't stand out any more than the stations in the Charleston or Greenville area.

[DigitalSky]

I am curious to know if its just a Pee Dee thing. I am certain that Charleston doesn't recieve it. I could be wrong though. My friend tells me its a statewide thing, but I think he is wrong. I am talking about cable/satellite service here. Its easy to pick up stations off of the airwaves from far off. I have never been able to pick up WIS here in the Upstate, and I have certainly never seen it on Cable or Satellite packages. I guess I am actually more curious as to why this is. WIS doesn't do anything that different or better that would warrant it having a larger coverage area. Particularly one that overlaps media markets with other stations.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Florence-Myrtle Beach TV market has no NBC affiliate, so WIS-TV is carried on their cable systems (in addition to WECT-TV NBC Wilmington, and in some parts WCBD-TV NBC Charleston).

But yeah Charleston and the Upstate have their own NBC affiliates (WCBD, WYFF) respectively.

i hope that cleared some up.

[Spartan]

The Florence-Myrtle Beach TV market has no NBC affiliate, so WIS-TV is carried on their cable systems (in addition to WECT-TV NBC Wilmington, and in some parts WCBD-TV NBC Charleston). 

But yeah Charleston and the Upstate have their own NBC affiliates (WCBD, WYFF) respectively. 

i hope that cleared some up.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It did. Thanks. I didn't realize they don't have an NBC affiliate.

[Jerseyman4]

Until recently, Wilmington did not have an CBS affiliate. So the Wilmington viewing area in Brunswick and Columbus counties would get WBTW in Florence. Northeast of Wilmington in Pender and Onslow counties would get WNCT out of Greenville. Duplin and Sampson counties would vary between WRAL in Raleigh and WNCT.

WILM is the CBS affiliate for WIlmington but is low power. It is availible by antenna if you live like 5 miles away from teh transmitter but otherwise, its carried out by cable systems within 30 miles of Wilmington.

http://www.wilm-tv.com/ (check out the viewing area map)

[krazeeboi]

Like I said when I used to live at Myrtle I used to watch it there, I believe it's in Florence too. St. George which is in northern Dorchester County it was viewable there as well, and I think I watched it a time or two in Walterboro, or maybe that was the State newspaper?. I wasn't able to catch it in the Upstate, when I lived there. I'm curious if it can be seen in Rock Hill though?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The local news channel in Rock Hill, CN2, does broadcast WIS news.

[DigitalSky]

Until recently, Wilmington did not have an CBS affiliate. So the Wilmington viewing area in Brunswick and Columbus counties would get WBTW in Florence. Northeast of Wilmington in Pender and Onslow counties would get WNCT out of Greenville. Duplin and Sampson counties would vary between WRAL in Raleigh and WNCT.

WILM is the CBS affiliate for WIlmington but is low power. It is availible by antenna if you live like 5 miles away from teh transmitter but otherwise, its carried out by cable systems within 30 miles of Wilmington.

http://www.wilm-tv.com/ (check out the viewing area map)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's true. WJKA (Now WSFX FOX 26) used to be their CBS affiliate when Wilmington and Myrtle Beach were all one market then it changed. I wonder if WILM-TV will ever boost their power.

The local news channel in Rock Hill, CN2, does broadcast WIS news.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think they used to have a partnership with WBTV 3 also.

[Jerseyman4]

Finally off my tangents , i found this link to have an interesting logo for WIS-Florence.

[robert_d_d]

Thought this topic was interesting, and I decided to bump it back up to the top and get it started again. The Columbia TV market has two stations that stand out in my opinion, being WIS and WLTX. WIS is the longtime ratings leader, and WLTX is the longtime strong second station. WACH only has one newscast and WOLO can't get out of the ratings basement.

I might be in the minority, but I think WLTX has passed WIS with the quality of their news. I am not taking anything away from the long-time seasoned vets over at WIS, but WLTX just seems to be more family oriented, more community oriented, and has more "likeable" personalities. Believe it or not, WLTX has more reporters than WIS. You watch an evening newscast, and WLTX has 3 to 4 reporters live (rather is be in the field, the studio, etc) everyday, and that is pretty impressive. I also have noticed the fact that they do a lot of series and stories on medical recoveries and uplifting feel good stories that provide a nice contrast to the everyday crime news. They might still be number 2 station, but I think its apparent they are putting a lot of resources into their organization and they are definitely a player.

Poor WOLO. I think they are trying hard, but I think their ratings are still VERY VERY low. They probably do good in primetime with ABC's strong lineup, but their local news tumbles in the ratings.

[Captain Worley]

I too like WLTX better. WIS shows too much national news for a local show. The banter between the on air personalities is better as well.

WOLO never recovered, and probably never will, from their ill thought out move to Charlotte.

[CorgiMatt]

I definitely like WLTX's shots of the city between news items and before and after commercials, but it still feels too much like if I haven't watched WIS I haven't seen the news. Old habits die hard.

[robert_d_d]

I too like WLTX better. WIS shows too much national news for a local show. The banter between the on air personalities is better as well.

WOLO never recovered, and probably never will, from their ill thought out move to Charlotte.

[krazeeboi]

Do any news stations report any development news? I've not yet seen that for WIS.

[emerging.me]

Do any news stations report any development news? I've not yet seen that for WIS.