general wect news newscasts slogan where news comes first channels digital 44 uhf virtual 6 psip subchannels 6.1 nbc 6.2 bounce tv 6.3 escape affiliations nbc owner raycom media wect license subsidiary llc first air date april 9 1954 ; 62 years ago 1954 04 09 call letters meaning we re eastern carolina television sister station s wsfx tv wmbf tv former callsigns wmfd tv 1954 1958 former channel number s 6 vhf analog 1954 2008 former affiliations dumont 1954 1956 abc 1954 1964 cbs 1954 1970s all secondary nbc weather plus on dt2 2005 2008 transmitter power 710 kw height 590 m facility id 48666 transmitter coordinates 34 7 53 n 78 11 17 w 34.13139 n 78.18806 w 34.13139 ; 78.18806 website www.wect.com wect is the nbc affiliated television station for north carolina s cape fear region that is licensed to wilmington . it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 44 or virtual channel 6.1 via psip from a transmitter in town creek township . owned by raycom media the station operates fox affiliate wsfx tv owned by american spirit media llc through a shared services agreement ssa . the two outlets share studios on shipyard boulevard u.s. 117 in wilmington . contents 1 digital channels 2 history 3 programming 4 news operation 5 references 6 external links digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 1 6.1 1080i 16 9 wect dt main wect programming nbc 6.2 480i bounce bounce tv 6.3 4 3 escape escape history edit as the first television station in wilmington it began broadcasting on april 9 1954 with the call sign wmfd tv . it aired an analog signal on vhf channel 6 from a transmitter near delco . the television station was co owned with wmfd 630 am . in 1958 the station s calls changed to the current wect . the wmfd tv call letters are now used by an independent television station in mansfield ohio . at its launch channel 6 was affiliated with all four networks of the day nbc cbs dumont and abc . however it has always been a primary nbc affiliate . it lost dumont when that network went silent in 1956 . the station finally got local competition in 1964 when wway signed on . however wway opted to affiliate with the much weaker abc forcing wect to shoehorn nbc and cbs onto its schedule until the 1970s . it primarily carried cbs soap operas and cbs sunday afternoon nfl coverage . at one point this station was carried on cable systems in the triangle region of north carolina raleigh durham fayetteville and chapel hill for a time when nbc did not have a full time affiliate in that market . at one time wect had a fayetteville news bureau . 2 as a result of the station s long held popularity it is still carried on cable systems in fayetteville southern pines jacksonville and lumberton even though their respective markets have their own nbc affiliates . the station s analog signal once served as the default nbc station for the northern and eastern portions of the nearby florence myrtle beach south carolina market since that area was one of the few on the east coast without its own nbc affiliate . for many years the channel even identified as wilmington myrtle beach to acknowledge its viewership in the grand strand . however wect s signal was somewhat weak on the north carolina side of the market such as laurinburg . during the 1970s and 1980s through catv wect was carried as far south as georgetown south carolina as far west as wadesboro anson county and as far north as greenville pitt county . 3 for many years wect was locally owned . the news press & gazette company acquired the station in 1986 . that company then sold its entire stations group of the time to the first incarnation of new vision television in 1993 . new vision turned around and sold its entire group at the time to ellis communications in 1995 . ellis was folded into current owner raycom in 1997 . in 2006 raycom bought out the liberty corporation owner of wway . however fcc duopoly rules forced raycom to spin off wway to morris multimedia as a condition of the raycom liberty merger . on may 8 2008 the fcc announced that five stations in wilmington including wect had agreed to voluntarily cease analog broadcasting on september 8 4 five months ahead of the february 17 2009 tentative date for television stations to complete the analog to digital transition . 5 6 the market was used by the fcc as a pre transition test market . 7 after the digital transition wgni radio agreed to air emergency weather information from wect . previously because channel 6 is adjacent to the fm band its broadcasts could be heard on fm 87.7 . 2 wect s coverage has been reduced as a result of the digital transition which left the station as a uhf . with the move of the station s transmitter by 35 miles 56 km from south of white lake to winnabow fayetteville viewers could not receive the digital signal . 2 8 while myrtle beach itself is just outside the fringe area for the digital signal north myrtle beach south carolina is just inside it . the southern and western portions of the florence myrtle beach area were served by another raycom station wis in columbia south carolina . on august 8 2008 raycom signed on wmbf tv a new digital only nbc affiliate in myrtle beach covering the 2008 olympic games as part of its first network programming . 9 on august 8 due to fcc regulations wect disappeared from most cable systems in the florence myrtle beach market when wmbf signed on . for long time viewers this was controversial as this station had been on cable systems in laurinburg and lumberton for decades . on december 1 2008 wect returned to the time warner cable lineup in lumberton but was placed in the digital tier . this station is one of the few nbc affiliates that refused to air poker after dark . in 2012 owner raycom media gave the station s defunct analog transmitter site to the green beret foundation . on september 20 2012 10 the tower which was built in 1969 and the tallest man made structure east of the mississippi river was imploded . plans called for the scrap metal and the 77 acre site to be sold to benefit the foundation . 10 prior to september 26 2012 wect dt2 aired a 24 hour local weather channel with the branding wect plus . the subchannel also aired repeats of the main channel s weeknight 6 and 11 o clock newscasts as well as local traffic and travel information . occasionally other special programming aired on wect dt2 . from april 15 2005 until the end of december 2008 wect dt2 carried the defunct nbc weather plus . wect replaced the local weather channel with bounce tv on august 18 2014 escape was added to a new subchanel . programming edit syndicated programming on wect includes wheel of fortune jeopardy both of which formerly aired on wway until 1992 the ellen degeneres show and live with kelly . news operation edit on september 22 2003 through a news share agreement wect began producing a nightly half hour prime time newscast on wsfx fox wilmington news at 10 . this was eventually joined by an sixty minute extension of wect s weekday morning show on september 13 2006 called carolina in the morning on fox wilmington seen from 7 until 8 on wsfx offering an alternative to the national morning shows seen on the market s big three network affiliated stations . on august 31 2008 wect became wilmington s first television outlet to upgrade local news production to high definition level and the broadcasts on wsfx were included in the change . at some point in time wect added a third newscast to wsfx under the title fox wilmington news at 6 30 . it only aired on weeknights and attempted to compete against the national evening newscasts seen on the big three networks . it would be cancelled by the end of 2013 in preparation to expand the weeknight edition of the 10 o clock show to an hour which occurred on january 15 2014 . after wway stopped producing weekend evening newscasts on august 1 2009 wect and wsfx became the only outlets in wilmington to offer evening broadcasts seen seven nights a week . although wway eventually reintroduced a local newscast airing sunday nights at 11 wect and wsfx remain the only channels in the market to air newscasts throughout the weekend . all newscasts on wsfx air from wect s primary set but with modified duratrans indicating the fox branded shows . references edit http www.rabbitears.info market.php request station search & callsign wect station a b c michael futch no more wect on radio since transition the fayetteville observer march 26 2009 business section . http fjallfoss.fcc.gov coals7 forms search cablesearchnf.cfm http hraunfoss.fcc.gov edocs public attachmatch doc 282032a1.pdf http hraunfoss.fcc.gov edocs public attachmatch da 06 1082a2.pdf wect tv6 wect.com wilmington nc news and weather wilmington goes digital first alison lee satake only 52 days remain until analog television screens in the greater wilmington region lose their pictures star news july 18 2008 news section . catherine pritchard stations don t have to provide antennas the fayetteville observer november 14 2008 local & state section . wayne faulkner myrtle beach gets its own nbc affiliate star news august 7 2008 news section . a b brooks drew 2012 09 21 . steel from demolition of tv tower in bladen county to help green beret foundation . the fayetteville observer . retrieved 2012 10 16 . external links edit official website wsfx tv website query the fcc s tv station database for wect v t e television stations in the wilmington north carolina area reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television digital television wway 3.1 abc 3.2 the cw cbs 3.3 cozi tv the cw wect 6.1 nbc 6.2 bounce 6.3 escape wilm ld 10.1 cbs tbd 10.2 metv wada ld 18.1 laff 18.2 drtv wilt ld 24.1 cbs 24.2 metv wsfx tv 26.1 fox 26.2 this tv 26.3 grit wtmv 29.1 antenna 29.2 heartland 29.3 tuff wunj 39.1 pbs 39.2 kids 39.3 explorer 39.4 north carolina w51cw d 51.1 silent analog television w47ck 47 mntv north carolina broadcast television areas by city asheville charlotte greensboro greenville nc myrtle beach sc norfolk va raleigh wilmington v t e nbc network affiliates in the state of north carolina wral tv 5 raleigh wect 6 wilmington witn tv 7 washington wxii tv 12 winston salem wcnc tv 36 charlotte see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in north carolina v t e raycom media abc network affiliates kaitnbc kltv kswo kxxv krhd cd ktre wloxcbs wtvm cbs network affiliates kauz1 kfda kfvs kgmb kold ksla wafb wbtv wcsc woio wtoc wtol the cw affiliates kauz dt21 kvhp dt21 kwes dt2 kwab dt2 wqwq kfvs dt2 wqtv wupv1 fox network affiliates kmsb1 knin1 kvhp1 kyou1 wbrc wdbd1 wdfx wflx1 wfxg wpgx wsfx1 wtnz wupw1 wvue1 wxix wxtx1 mynetworktv affiliates kfve kgmd kgmv1 sp kttu1 wbxh wloo1 wuab nbc network affiliates kcbd khnl khbc kogg kplc kwes kwab waff walbabc wave wdamabc wect wfie wis wlbt wmbf wmc wsfa wwbt telemundo affiliates keyu kltv dt3 kscm lp kswo dt2 ktle lp ktre dt2 radio stations keyu fm ktxc other assets raycom sports acc network bounce mediap katz broadcastingp acquisitions drewry communications the liberty corporation lincoln financial media 1 raycom operates these stations through ssa . sp raycom operates through a ssa . sale pending