WOLO-TV

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Not to be confused with KOLO-TV.
WOLO-TV
WOLO logo 2013.png
Columbia, South Carolina
United States
ChannelsDigital: 7 (VHF)
Virtual: 25
BrandingABC Columbia
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerBahakel Communications
(South Carolina Broadcasting Partners)
History
First air date
October 1, 1961
(60 years ago) (1961-10-01)
Former call signs
WCCA-TV (1961–1964)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 25 (UHF, 1961–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 8 (VHF, 2000–2020)
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID60963
ERP43.7 kW
HAAT530 m (1,739 ft)
Transmitter coordinates34°6′58.4″N 80°45′49.9″W / 34.116222°N 80.763861°W / 34.116222; -80.763861
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewww.abccolumbia.com

WOLO-TV, virtual channel 25 (VHF digital channel 7), branded on air as ABC Columbia, is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Columbia, South Carolina, United States. The station is owned by Bahakel Communications. WOLO-TV's studios and business offices are located on Shakespeare Road in Arcadia Lakes, while its news department operates from a separate studio facility in downtown Columbia; master control is based at company flagship WCCB in Charlotte, North Carolina. WOLO-TV's transmitter is located on Rush Road in unincorporated southwestern Kershaw County, near Camden.

History[]

Early years[]

The First Carolina Corporation, a group of local investors, obtained a construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a new channel 25 television station in Columbia on June 1, 1961, after applying on August 5, 1960.[1] It would be the second attempt at establishing the channel in Columbia. The first, WCOS-TV, had been the first television station in the state, but it folded in January 1956 when competitor WNOK-TV purchased its business assets.[2][a]

Construction was in full swing by the summer. The former physical plant of WCOS-TV on Shakespeare Road was purchased for use by the new station, and a new 348 ft (106 m) tower was erected on the site.[4] Broadcasting for WCCA-TV began on October 1, 1961, using the former WCOS-TV facilities and downtown sales offices in the Hotel Columbia.[5]

Bahakel purchase[]

In 1964, Cy Bahakel bought the station[6] out of bankruptcy[7] and changed its call letters to WOLO-TV, seeking a fresh start.[8] Immediately, work began to add height to the station's tower to increase its coverage area.[9] WOLO announced another upgrade in 1966, with the height going from 522 ft (159 m) to 933 ft (284 m) and an increase in power to 550,000 watts.[10] This ultimately materialized in 1969 as an increase to 904,000 watts,[1] followed up in 1981 by a boost to 3.6 million watts.[11]

The case of WOLO-TV was not unique. Instead of one VHF station in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Bahakel bought three similar UHF stations: WOLO, WKAB-TV in Montgomery, and WCCB in Charlotte—all ABC affiliates at the time, and two of them off the air—in the same year. All three were then upgraded to increase their coverage areas at the same time that the All-Channel Receiver Act meant that all new sets could receive UHF stations; the three stations had become profitable operations by the early 1980s.[7]

In 2001, WOLO activated a new transmitter tower along I-20 outside Camden, one of the tallest structures in South Carolina at 1,764 feet (537.7 m). Prior to then, the station had long been plagued by a weak signal. Although it decently covered Columbia and its inner suburbs in Richland and Lexington counties, it only provided grade B signal coverage of the second-largest city in the market, Sumter, and was all but unviewable in some outlying areas even after the 1981 power increase. Many areas within the market were unable to receive a decent signal from channel 25 until cable television arrived in Columbia in the 1970s. Many residents in the western part of the market received a better signal from WJBF in Augusta (which often carried ABC programs that were preempted by WOLO). The new tower, in contrast, gave WOLO at least secondary coverage of 24 counties and increased its coverage by 50 percent.[12]

In the fall of 2005, WOLO changed its on-air branding from "ABC 25" to "ABC Columbia"; the move coincided with the return of local news production to the city after three years where the anchors were based at WCCB.[13] Beginning in 2014, WOLO began a major expansion of its studio at Main and Gervais. This included the building of a new weather center and an interview set. During the summer of 2015, the station rebuilt the street-side studio set, incorporating multiple monitors and an improved light-control window system. The graphics and music were revamped in October 2015 when John Farley, formerly of WIS, was announced as the Chief Meteorologist for WOLO-TV.

In 2002, the station became the second commercial television station in the Columbia market to sign on a digital signal. WOLO's broadcasts became digital-only, effective June 12, 2009.[14]

News operation[]

Refer to caption
The building at Main and Gervais that houses the WOLO-TV newsroom is seen at right

WOLO-TV presently broadcasts 23½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 4½ hours on weekdays and a half-hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). Unlike most ABC affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, WOLO-TV does not carry local newscasts during the early evenings on weekends.

WOLO has experienced several firsts, including hiring the first certified meteorologist and introducing the first color weather radar system in the area (in 1978)[15] In 1977, the station hired Elizabeth Snite to co-anchor the station's evening newscasts, becoming the first female news anchor in the market.[16]

For most of the first four decades of its current incarnation, WOLO was the third station in what was essentially a two-station market, in large part due to its weak signal. Its local newscasts languished in a distant third place, well behind WIS and WLTX. In the second half of the 1990s, the station made several moves, including anchor changes, additional morning and 5 p.m. newscasts, and a rebrand as 25 Eyewitness News, to improve its position.[17][18], WOLO hired Jim Blue and Leslie Mouton (then Leslie Mattox) to anchor its evening newscasts and rebranded its news operation as 25 Eyewitness News. The station also expanded its news programming to include an hour-long weekday morning newscast titled Good Morning Columbia and a 5:00 p.m. newscast.

In 2002, Bahakel migrated WOLO's operations—including production of its newscasts—to the studio facilities of sister station WCCB in Charlotte. Newsgathering continued to be based in Columbia, maintaining a news director and reporters to produce the daily newscasts. With the move, WOLO cancelled its weekday morning and weekend newscasts, retaining only the weeknight 6:00 and nightly 11:00 p.m. newscasts, and laid off several Columbia-based employees. This was one of the largest-market examples of "centralcasting" (the practice of housing master control and/or other operations for multiple stations out of one facility) in the United States.[19] After the company's financial picture improved and allowed it to afford more digital conversion costs, n the fall of 2005, Bahakel Communications moved production of WOLO's newscasts back to Columbia, from a new purpose-built streetside news studio located across from the State House.[13] While it is still well behind WIS and WLTX in the ratings, WOLO has become a more competitive station ratings-wise since it moved its news and weather operations back to Columbia. It has reaped some of the benefits of its technical upgrades of the previous decade and the digital transition.

On September 21, 2009, WOLO became the first television station in the Columbia market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition, accompanied by the introduction of a new graphics and music package. Footage shot in-studio is broadcast in high definition, while all news video from on-remote locations was initially broadcast in standard definition. However, it became the first television station in the market to provide news video from the field in true high definition in February 2010, as WOLO upgraded its ENG vehicles, satellite truck, studio and field cameras and other equipment in order to broadcast news footage from the field in high definition, in addition to segments broadcast from the main studio. On October 12, 2010, the station became the first in the market to broadcast live video from the field in HD. On November 2, 2010, WOLO became the first television station in Columbia to stream live webcasts and breaking news coverage on Apple iOS devices.

On August 1, 2011, WOLO restored a weekday morning newscast to its schedule after nine years with the debut of an hour-long program at 6:00 a.m. titled Good Morning Columbia, and the return of a noon newscast.[20] On August 19, 2013, Good Morning Columbia expanded to two hours, with the addition of an hour to the broadcast from 5:00 to 6:00 a.m.

In 2015, the station garnered attention when it first hired popular former WIS anchor Ben Hoover to its evening newscasts in August[21] after his departure from the NBC affiliate back in 2014.[22] In October, former WIS chief meteorologist John Farley was hired to replace Reg Taylor, who retired from television at the end of September.[23] The new anchor team was widely promoted in social media as well as the local newspaper and the South Carolina State Fair. The station launched a new look, music, and a finalized studio for the debut in mid-October, with scenes of the capital city and the State House being particularly prominent in its imagery, tying to its unique location at the intersection of Main and Gervais streets.

Notable former on-air staff[]

Subchannels[]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP short name Programming [25]
25.1 720p 16:9 WOLO-DT Main WOLO-TV programming / ABC
25.2 480i WOLO-ST Start TV
25.3 WOLO-WX QVC
25.4 WOLO-ME MeTV
25.5 WOLO-HI Heroes & Icons
25.6 WOLO-DB Dabl
25.7 4:3 WOLO-GT getTV
25.8 16.9 HSN-Tv HSN

Notes[]

  1. ^ WOLO-TV has regularly claimed WCOS-TV's history as part of its own, as early as 1986.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ a b FCC History Cards for WOLO-TV
  2. ^ "WCOS-TV Sold; Leaves Air Saturday". The State. January 18, 1956. p. 1. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  3. ^ "South Carolina's First TV Channel". The State: Columbia's Bicentennial. May 9, 1986. p. 54. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  4. ^ "WCCA-TV Goes on Air in October: New Installation Nears Completion". The State. September 2, 1961. p. 10-B. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  5. ^ "Channel 25: WCCA-TV Begins ABC Service Here". The State. October 1, 1961. p. 16-D. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  6. ^ "Local Station Is Sold". The State. February 14, 1964. p. 3-C. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  7. ^ a b Fletman, Abbe (January 5, 1984). "Turner's brash, Bahakel quiet; but look at the bottom line". The Charlotte News. pp. 8A, 9A. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  8. ^ "ABC Affiliate: Channel 25 Will Change To New Call Letters Sunday". The State. July 9, 1964. p. 7-D. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  9. ^ "Channel 25 To Extend TV Antenna". The State. June 11, 1964. p. 4-B. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  10. ^ Grose, Jr., Philip G. (August 26, 1966). "New Antenna, Transmitter: WOLO-TV To Triple Local Power Output". The State. p. 8-B. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  11. ^ "Channel 25 Has New Tower". The State. February 17, 1981. p. 6-C. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  12. ^ Crumbo, Chuck (May 30, 2000). "Towering over the Midlands: TV station says the sky's not the limit for transmitter". The State. pp. B1, B5.
  13. ^ a b Berman, Pat (July 2, 2005). "Anchors no longer away for WOLO". The State. p. B5.
  14. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  15. ^ a b "WOLO Jazzes Up Local News Presentation Today". The State. January 29, 1979. p. 10-A. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  16. ^ "WOLO-TV Signs Anchorwoman". The Columbia Record. June 4, 1977. p. Weekend 14.
  17. ^ Nye, Doug (April 26, 1996). "WOLO to add newscast at 5 p.m." The State. p. B3.
  18. ^ Nye, Doug (September 5, 1996). "WOLO ready to add early evening news". The State. p. D6.
  19. ^ Nye, Doug (July 3, 2002). "WOLO staffers to lose jobs". The State. pp. A1, A4.
  20. ^ "WOLO To Launch Morning, Noon Newscasts". TVNewsCheck. May 3, 2011.
  21. ^ "Ben Hoover back on TV Wednesday, co-anchoring at WOLO". The State. August 5, 2015.
  22. ^ "After controversial WIS exit, Ben Hoover launches new media venture". The State. December 17, 2014.
  23. ^ "John Farley reunites with Ben Hoover on WOLO newscasts". The State. October 18, 2015.
  24. ^ Lhotka, William C.; Malone, Roy (April 10, 1994). "Bob Richards Off Camera: Weatherman Had Smooth Image, Rough Personal Life". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. pp. 1D, 8D. Retrieved August 24, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "RabbitEars query for WOLO". rabbitears.info. Retrieved October 12, 2021.

External links[]

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