WBTV

==Programming==
For many years, WBTV was one of the country's most dominant television stations. This was in part due to being the only reliably viewable station in town for nine years, as well as the station's long tradition of strong local news coverage. In fact, its dominance was so absolute that it was once said the dials of most Charlotteans' television sets were "rusted on channel 3".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bcyesteryear.com/node/69 |title=Channel 3 Launched TV Era in East Tennessee &#124; Bob Cox's Yesteryear |publisher=Bcyesteryear.com |date=January 30, 2006 |access-date=July 31, 2015}}</ref> To this day, WBTV has been one of CBS' strongest affiliates.

The station claims credit for a number of television "firsts", among them being the construction of the first building in the United States built specifically for [[color television]] broadcasting. WBTV also claims to have been the first station in the world to record and rebroadcast programs on color [[videotape]]; to use a live camera and microwave relay inside a race car; and to have a fully computerized news operation. It claims to have been the first station in the country to develop computerized election return projections, to broadcast CBS' ''[[ExtraVision]]'' [[teletext]] service, and to produce a local newscast for a [[PBS]] [[network affiliate#Member stations|member station]] ([[WTVI]], channel 42). It claims to be the first station in the Southern U.S. to air color test patterns and color ID slides. WBTV was granted the first full-power construction permit for a digital television signal in the United States in 1998, which went on the air that year operating at 1 million [[watt]]s<ref name="wbtv.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10534472 |title=Chronology of WBTV – WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC |publisher=Wbtv.com |access-date=July 31, 2015}}</ref>–equivalent to 5 million watts for an analog transmitter.

A much-remembered women's/homemaker's show, ''The Betty Feezor Show'', aired on channel 3 from the 1950s until 1977 (usually after the soap opera ''[[Search for Tomorrow]]'', and in its 15-minute format, ''[[Guiding Light]]''). Feezor gave viewers tips on [[cooking]], [[sewing]], [[floral design|floral arranging]], and other topics of interest to housewives and mothers. In 1965, the show was the third most-watched women's program in the United States.<ref name="wbtv.com"/> Feezor's show was also carried on Richmond sister station WWBT after Jefferson-Pilot bought the station in 1968. Feezor retired in 1977 due to a brain tumor, an illness from which she died in 1978.

''The Betty Feezor Show'' was replaced by an hour-long midday news and variety show, ''Top O' the Day''. Segments on the program included ''On the Square'', in which Doug Mayes solicited opinions from various Charlotte-area residents about current news topics, as well as C. J. Underwood's ''Down Home with the Carolina Camera'', where otherwise unknown or low-profile Carolinians were temporarily given celebrity status for their whimsical talents, novel collections, or for the way they impacted their communities. For its first five years, the show aired at noon, preempting ''[[The Young and the Restless]]''. It shifted to 11:30&nbsp;a.m. in 1982. To make room for ''Top O' the Day'', WBTV aired ''[[The Price Is Right]]'' on a [[broadcast delay|one-day delay]] at 10:30&nbsp;a.m., preempting whatever game show CBS aired at that time. As a result, ''[[Child's Play (game show)|Child's Play]]'', ''[[Press Your Luck]]'', ''[[Card Sharks]]'', and ''[[Now You See It (American game show)|Now You See It]]'' never aired in Charlotte. The station didn't air the CBS version of ''[[Wheel of Fortune (American game show)|Wheel of Fortune]]'' until late in that show's run. ''Top O' the Day'' ended in 1992, and was replaced by a conventional half-hour noon newscast. For most of the 1980s, WBTV aired the ''[[CBS Evening News]]'' on a half-hour delay at 7 p.m., due to its 6&nbsp;p.m. newscast lasting an hour.

For many years, WBTV occasionally preempted some of CBS' [[Saturday morning cartoon]]s as well. However, area viewers could watch those preempted shows on [[WSPA-TV]] in [[Spartanburg]] or WFMY through a strong antenna (WFMY and WSPA were and still are available on some cable systems in the Charlotte market, although non-local programming is subject to [[blackout (broadcasting)|blackout]] due to network non-duplication and [[syndication exclusivity]] rules). Before the arrival of the Carolina Panthers, WSPA was also known to air a different [[NFL on CBS|NFL]] game than what aired on WBTV, giving most Charlotte-area viewers a second option for NFL games. This was especially true if the [[Washington Redskins]] and [[Atlanta Falcons]] played at the same time. WBTV favored the Redskins while WSPA favored the Falcons, in tandem with most CBS affiliates in their respective states.

Since the early 1990s, WBTV has generally cleared most of the CBS programming schedule in pattern, with the exception of ACC football and basketball games from Raycom Sports. For many years, WBTV aired ''[[Face the Nation]]'' on Sundays at 11:30&nbsp;a.m.; most CBS affiliates in the [[Eastern Time Zone]] air it at 10:30&nbsp;a.m. However, when ''Face the Nation'' was permanently expanded to an hour in 2012, WBTV moved the show to 10:30&nbsp;a.m.

WBTV gained a major ratings windfall in 1981–82, when [[College Basketball on CBS|CBS]] won the television rights to the NCAA men's basketball tournament.  Due to North Carolina's status as a college basketball hotbed and local teams North Carolina and [[Duke Blue Devils men's basketball|Duke]] being mainstays in the tournament, NCAA tournament games are consistently among the highest-rated programs in the market during playoff season. In 2008, for instance, NCAA games on WBTV attracted a 13.4 rating and a 24 share, the third-highest in the nation (behind only [[WLKY-TV]] in [[Louisville]] and [[WREG-TV]] in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]]).<ref>[http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080408/SPORTS/80408025 Louisville No. 1 in basketball TV ratings]. [[The Courier-Journal]], April 6, 2008.</ref>

The popularity of a series of specials commemorating the station's 25th anniversary in 1974 led to a long-running program, ''Those Were the Years'', hosted by Mike McKay and featuring episodes of classic television shows such as ''[[Dragnet (TV series)|Dragnet]]'', ''[[You Bet Your Life]]'' and ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]''. It was seen for several years at 11:30&nbsp;p.m. on Fridays, preempting the [[The CBS Late Movie|CBS late-night shows]] which competed poorly against ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson|The Tonight Show]]''.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, WBTV aired a Sunday morning program that featured singing [[cowboy]] [[Fred Kirby]] and his sidekick "Uncle Jim" (played by Jim Patterson). The show was known at various times as ''Tiny Town'', ''Whistle Stop'', ''Fred Kirby's Little Rascals'' and ''Kirby's Corral''. Giving the "hi-sign" to his young fans, Kirby was a fixture for many years at the [[Western (genre)|western]]-themed park [[Tweetsie Railroad]] in [[Blowing Rock, North Carolina|Blowing Rock]] (an hour northwest of Charlotte). In addition to Fred and Uncle Jim, viewers were treated to classic episodes of ''[[The Little Rascals]]'' ([[Hal Roach]]'s ''Our Gang'') as well as frequent appearances by the local [[bluegrass music|bluegrass]] band The Br'arhoppers. Patterson was killed in a single-car accident in Charlotte in 1986; Kirby died in 1996 at age 85.

===Sports programming===
From 1982 to 2019, WBTV was the flagship station of syndicated over-the-air coverage of Atlantic Coast Conference sports. Then-owner Jefferson-Pilot took over coverage of men's basketball from longtime producer C. D. Chesley in 1982 in partnership with Raycom, and became the sole producer of ACC football in 1984. Those rights passed to Lincoln Financial after its merger with Jefferson-Pilot in 2006. Both have been produced by Raycom Sports after their acquisition of Lincoln Financial's sports division during the 2007–2008 season. Most ACC games that were not televised by WBTV aired on either [[WJZY]] (channel 46) or [[WMYT-TV]] (channel 55). Raycom Sports has rights to the ACC until at least the 2026–27 season.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://raycomsports.com/ |title=A production, distribution, and event management company |publisher=Raycom Sports |date=July 21, 2015 |access-date=July 31, 2015}}</ref> The ACC syndication package moved to cable's [[ACC Network]] in 2019.

WBTV also airs any Panthers games carried on CBS' NFL package. The station airs at least two games a year, typically when the team plays host to an [[American Football Conference|AFC]] opponent at [[Bank of America Stadium]]; starting in 2014, through the NFL's new "cross-flex" broadcast rules, games that would normally air on [[NFL on Fox|Fox]] (locally on WJZY) can be moved arbitrarily to CBS and vice versa. WBTV also aired both of the Panthers' [[Super Bowl]] appearances locally, as CBS had the rights to Super Bowls [[Super Bowl XXXVIII|XXXVIII]] and [[Super Bowl 50|50]].

===News operation===
WBTV presently broadcasts {{frac|38|1|2}} hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with {{frac|6|1|2}} hours each weekday, four hours on Saturdays and two hours on Sundays).

For most of its first 30 years on the air, WBTV's newscasts dominated the [[Nielsen ratings]] in the Charlotte market. In addition to its legacy as the state's first television station, it also benefited from its ties to WBT, one of the most respected radio news operations in the Southeastern United States. Channel 3 did not face a serious challenge by any other news-producing station in the market until 1981. That year, Doug Mayes, the station's main anchorman since it began producing daily newscasts in 1952, jumped to WSOC-TV.  Mayes said years later that channel 9 offered him a deal that was too lucrative for him to resist, considering that he had kids in college.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wbtv.com/story/23547364/doug-mayes-returnsto-wbtv-tonight-at-11 |title=Broadcasting legend, Doug Mayes, returns to WBTV for final broad – WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC |publisher=Wbtv.com |date=September 27, 2013 |access-date=July 31, 2015}}</ref> Jefferson-Pilot management, who only a few years earlier had touted Mayes as part of the station's campaign, "Turn to People You Know", wanted to make its newscasts appeal to a younger audience and made little effort to retain him. Within a few months, WBTV's late-evening newscast lost the lead at 11 p.m. to channel 9, and it would not regain first place in that timeslot until 2004. WSOC-TV gained a large lead in ratings for most other news timeslots beginning in 1990. WBTV returned to a strong position in the late 1990s, culminating in wrestling the #1 spot at noon in 1998 from WSOC-TV. The two stations have gone back and forth at first place in most timeslots since then. During the July 2013 ratings period, WBTV took the lead at noon and 11 p.m., while WSOC led at all other news timeslots.<ref name="charlotteobserver.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/08/09/4223425/about-140000-lose-wbtv-in-dish.html |title= About 140,000 lose WBTV in Dish dispute &#124; CharlotteObserver.com|website=www.charlotteobserver.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130903165356/http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/08/09/4223425/about-140000-lose-wbtv-in-dish.html |archive-date=September 3, 2013}}</ref> Soon after Raycom took control of the station, WBTV began airing local newscasts and CBS programs in [[high-definition television|high definition]]. During the 2016 February sweeps, WBTV surged to first place in all timeslots, including the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts, for the first time in 26 years. WBTV credited its strong social media presence and its talent continuity for the ratings win, while WSOC lost much of its main talent in the previous year. Historically, WBTV has dominated the market west of the [[Catawba River]], a legacy from its nine-year head start.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/entertainment/tv/media-scene-blog/article63645822.html|title=Historic sweep: WBTV wrestles the news ratings lead from WSOC|last=Washburn|first=Mark|publisher=[[The Charlotte Observer]]|date=March 2, 2016}}</ref> WBTV's lead would not last, as in 2023, the station came in second in several key timeslots, behind WSOC-TV.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nexttv.com/news/local-news-close-up-news-battle-royale-in-queen-city-of-charlotte|title=Local News Close-Up: News Battle Royale in Queen City of Charlotte|last=Malone|first=Michael|publisher=[[Broadcasting & Cable]]|date=October 20, 2023|access-date=October 20, 2023}}</ref>

[[Diana Williams]] (later at [[WABC-TV]] in [[New York City]]; now retired) served as an anchor at WBTV during the early 1980s; she was succeeded as the station's main female anchor by Sara James (now a reporter for ''[[Dateline NBC]]''). Following the 2005 retirement of longtime WSOC anchorman Bill Walker, WBTV began billing lead anchorman Paul Cameron as "The Voice of Experience". Cameron joined WBTV in 1981 as the station's [[sports director]], and then succeeded longtime anchor Bob Inman upon his retirement in 1996. He was only the third main anchor in the station's history, following Mayes and Inman. Cameron served as the station's top male anchor until his retirement on December 31, 2018.

Prior to joining in 2004, evening anchor [[Maureen O'Boyle]], a Charlotte native and graduate of [[West Charlotte High School]], served as anchor of the syndicated newsmagazines ''[[A Current Affair (American TV program)|A Current Affair]]'' and ''[[Extra (American TV program)|Extra]]''. Morning and midday anchor John Carter formerly served as a North Carolina state senator prior to joining the station. Other notable on-air personalities include Western bureau chief Steve Ohnesorge, who started as a photographer at WBTV in 1975.

In 1994, WBTV entered into a news share agreement to produce a 10&nbsp;p.m. newscast for then-[[independent station]] WJZY; the newscast later moved to PBS member station WTVI, before returning to WJZY in 2003 and then to that station's [[duopoly (broadcasting)|duopoly]] partner, [[MyNetworkTV]] affiliate WMYT-TV in April 2012. Following Fox's purchase of WJZY and WMYT, the WBTV-produced newscast returned to WJZY when it became the market's Fox owned-and-operated station on July 1, 2013, which continued to air until the station launched its own news department (and hour-long 10&nbsp;p.m. newscast) on January 1, 2014.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/06/13/4104671/a-new-radio-generation-at-cbs.html |title= A new radio generation at CBS &#124; CharlotteObserver.com|website=www.charlotteobserver.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004231032/http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/06/13/4104671/a-new-radio-generation-at-cbs.html |archive-date=October 4, 2013}}</ref> It placed third among local newscasts during the July 2013 ratings period, behind the WSOC-produced newscast on WAXN, and WCCB's in-house newscast.<ref name="charlotteobserver.com"/>

In September 2010, WBTV debuted an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast, which competes with what at the time was a half-hour newscast (which has since expanded to one hour) on WCNC-TV.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/06/12/1494501/more-news-shows-coming-in-the.html|title=More News Shows Coming-in to beat WSOC's broadcast of GMA|access-date=August 12, 2010}} {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> On January 22, 2014, WBTV began producing a two-hour extension of its weekday morning newscast, airing from 7 to 9&nbsp;a.m. as well as an hour-long prime time newscast at 8&nbsp;p.m. for WBTV-DT2.<ref>[http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/01/03/4583679/channel-3-to-add-newscasts-to.html#.UtQe5OIa7Ed  Channel 3 to add newscasts to Bounce channel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113203854/http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/01/03/4583679/channel-3-to-add-newscasts-to.html#.UtQe5OIa7Ed |date=January 13, 2014 }}, ''Charlotte Observer'', January 3, 2014.</ref> The morning newscast ended in spring 2018, and the 8 p.m. newscast ended on August 17, 2018.

Since 2008, WBTV has partnered with its sister stations in South Carolina—WCSC, [[WIS (TV)|WIS]] in [[Columbia, South Carolina|Columbia]] and [[WMBF-TV]] in [[Myrtle Beach]] and [[WHNS]] in [[Greenville, South Carolina|Greenville]]—to cover stories in South Carolina. Between them, the five stations cover almost all of South Carolina. It is the second time that WBTV has had a sister station in the Florence/Myrtle Beach market; as mentioned above, Jefferson-Pilot was the founding owner of WBTW from 1954 to 1968.

====Notable former on-air staff====
* [[Shannon Bream]] – anchor; now at [[Fox News Channel]]
* [[Rita Cosby]] – now correspondent for ''[[Inside Edition]]''
* [[Steve Crump]] - reporter and documentary film producer; now deceased
* [[Jan Jeffcoat]] – anchor; now hosting ''[[The National Desk]]'' in [[Washington, D.C.]]
* [[Fred Kirby]] – performer and host of children's programming
* [[Michael Marsh (journalist)|Michael Marsh]] – later anchor at [[WBRZ-TV]] in [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana]]
* [[Maureen O'Boyle]] – anchor
* [[Lori Stokes]] – anchor (1988–1990); now at [[WNYW]] in [[New York City]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/bio?section=ontv/stationinfo/bios&id=3301250|title=Lori Stokes bio|access-date=March 10, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121222054227/http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/bio?section=ontv%2Fstationinfo%2Fbios&id=3301250|archive-date=December 22, 2012}}</ref>
* [[Diana Williams]] – anchor (1983–1986); later at WABC-TV in New York City until 2019; now retired