states branding live 5 general live 5 news newscasts bounce charleston on dt2 slogan the lowcountry s news leader on your side secondary channels digital 47 uhf virtual 5 psip subchannels 5.1 cbs 5.2 bounce tv 5.3 grit tv owner raycom media wcsc license subsidiary llc first air date june 19 1953 ; 63 years ago 1953 06 19 call letters meaning wonderful charleston south carolina sister station s wect wsfx tv wfxg wmbf tv wtoc tv wis former channel number s analog 5 vhf 1953 2009 former affiliations all secondary nbc 1953 1954 abc 1953 1962 dumont 1953 1955 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 521 m facility id 71297 transmitter coordinates 32 55 28 n 79 41 58 w 32.92444 n 79.69944 w 32.92444 ; 79.69944 website live5news.com wcsc tv is the cbs affiliated television station for south carolina s lowcountry area licensed to charleston . it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 47 psip channel 5.1 from a transmitter in awendaw . owned by raycom media the station s studios are located in the west ashley section of charleston . both the studio and road are named for long time wcsc personalities bill sharpe a news anchor since 1973 and charlie hall the station s original personality who died just months before its relocation to the current facilities in 1997 . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 out of market cable and catv carriage 3.1 catv 4 programming 5 news operation 6 references 7 external links history edit previous signature logo wcsc tv began broadcasting on june 19 1953 from studios on east bay street in downtown charleston . it was the second television station in south carolina and the oldest continuously broadcasting channel in the state the first was wcos tv in columbia now wolo tv . it is the only station in charleston to keep its original network affiliation since sign on . the channel aired an analog signal on vhf channel 5 and was originally owned by the rivers family along with wcsc radio am 1390 now wspo and 96.9 fm now wiwf . many of wcsc s early on air staff were former radio disc jockeys who became involved with the new medium of television in 1953 including al stone formerly recruited from wgar who at the time worked alongside alan freed moondog in cleveland ohio . al stone started with wcsc in 1952 as a radio dj and the following year started hosting as emcee local program in 1953 called waxworks and later a local popular american bandstand type dance show reviewing music for local teens . carroll godwin hosted a local daytime talk show in the 1960s . loraine rainee evans hosted the popular children s program the happy raine show . ken klyce was another popular news announcer . the station s studios were located on 485 east bay street on the peninsula . the rivers family sold wcsc tv to crump communications of houston texas in 1987 while the radio stations were sold to ralph guild of new york city . crump kept the station until selling it to the jefferson pilot corporation in 1994 . jefferson pilot merged with the lincoln financial group in 2006 with its broadcast properties assuming the new corporate name of lincoln financial media . in 1997 the station moved to newly built studios on charlie hall boulevard in the west ashley section of charleston . the facilities were named for wcsc s longtime weatherman and one of its most popular on air staff . hall was the first person seen on the station when it signed on in 1953 and worked there covering events including hurricane hugo s impact on charleston in 1989 until his death in march 1997 . local sports coverage has also been prominent at wcsc . in the early 1980s charleston cougars games were aired on the station . it aired the cooper river bridge run from 1986 until 1990 and resumed the telecasts in 2004 . the broadcasts feature reporters on the course . wcsc is the local outlet for atlantic coast conference basketball and southeastern conference football which have been produced by its parent company since the 1980s . in 2004 jefferson pilot management effectively forced out warren peper who had been with the station since 1974 by offering him only a one year extension of his contract with no renewal option . citation needed the popular anchor who had handled both news and sports during his time at wcsc was also the play by play announcer for the station s live coverage of college basketball and the cooper river bridge run . after the station was sold to jefferson pilot peper was a sideline reporter for the company s syndicated college football broadcasts . peper went to media general s wcbd tv after a one year non compete agreement in the market expired . viewers wrote that they hoped wcsc would not force out longtime anchors bill sharpe and debi chard in the same way . wcsc had lured meteorologist bill walsh away from rival wciv in 1994 and had to hide his identity with thunderclouds when running station promotions during his non compete agreement . citation needed on november 12 2007 lincoln financial media entered into an agreement to sell wcsc and the company s two other television stations wbtv in charlotte north carolina and wwbt in richmond virginia and lincoln financial sports to raycom media for 583 million . raycom took ownership of the station on april 1 2008 . this made wcsc sister to wis in columbia wtoc tv in savannah georgia and wmbf tv in myrtle beach . between them the four stations cover the eastern two thirds of south carolina . on october 3 2013 in honor of bill sharpe s 40 years at the station the studio was renamed the bill sharpe studio . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 1 5.1 1080i 16 9 wcsc hd main wcsc tv programming cbs 5.2 480i 4 3 bounce bounce tv 5.3 grit grit tv wcsc tv launched a second subchannel on january 8 2010 that carries additional programming branded as live 5 . 2 until 2013 the schedule consisted of additional syndicated programming some of which has moved to other stations as well as select programming from the main channel aired on 5.2 . on december 26 2013 select programming from this tv was added the channel . as of 2016 syndicated programs are no longer seen on the schedule . wcsc tv added bounce tv to 5.3 upon its launch on september 26 2011 . analog to digital conversion edit wcsc tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 5 on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 3 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 47 4 using psip to display wcsc tv s virtual channel as 5 on digital television receivers . out of market cable and catv carriage edit outside of the charleston area wcsc is carried on horry telephone cooperative s cable system in the northern grand strand and the rural portions of horry county alongside wbtw . to the north it is carried in southern florence and orangeburg counties . although orangeburg is part of the columbia market wcsc usually trounces wltx and current sister station wis in ratings especially since the local sports teams are in the same region with charleston not columbia area schools . citation needed an attempt to drop this channel from orangeburg in 1997 while wltx was contemplating a full time move to upn led to protests that resulted in the station s restoration in 1999 . raycom has effectively assigned the orangeburg area to wcsc rather than wis. to the south it is carried in most of the south carolina side of the savannah georgia market including beaufort bluffton and hilton head island . there is no directv out of market carriage for wcsc . appling county georgia in the far western end of the savannah market has this station listed as significantly viewed by the federal communications commission fcc . this also includes independent station wjxt in jacksonville florida . it is the only county in georgia listed by the fcc that picks up wcsc . 5 catv edit during the 1970s and 1980s wcsc was once carried in the cities of dillon and marion in the pee dee region of south carolina . in georgia it was once carried in the cities of statesboro and sylvania screven county . 6 counties that wcsc covers charleston county dorchester county berkeley county colleton county georgetown county williamsburg county orangeburg county clarendon county beaufort county sometimes wcsc will cover the following counties . ex severe storm coverage or breaking news from one of the following counties . bamberg county barnwell county hampton county allendale county jasper county horry county programming edit syndicated programming on wcsc includes inside edition the insider and right this minute . news operation edit wcsc s newscasts have long dominated the ratings in charleston . citation needed the station s various owners have always poured significant resources into the news department resulting in a much higher quality product than conventional wisdom would suggest for a market of charleston s size . the station had the same two news anchors weeknights at 6 30 from the mid 1970s until 1991 and the same three news anchors were together until 1997 . bill sharpe became an employee at the station in 1973 after a short time at wtma and has been with the station for over 40 years with the station naming the primary studio for him in 2013 . for most of the time since 1991 he has been teamed with debi chard . wcsc has been a trend setter in south carolina for newscasts as it expanded its local evening news programming on weeknights from thirty minutes to two and a half hours and has the most newscasts in the state within a broadcast day . 7 after fox requested its affiliates to air local news in the early 1990s wtat tv then owned by act iii broadcasting entered into a news share agreement with wcsc . this resulted in a nightly prime time broadcast known as the fox 24 news at 10 to debut . it was the first prime time show in south carolina in the early 90s followed by fox affiliate wach in columbia which had a similar arrangement with nbc affiliate wis in that market during the mid to late 90s . eventually an hour long morning show on weekdays called the fox 24 news at 7 also produced by wcsc launched on wtat . both shows originate from a secondary studio at 2126 charlie hall boulevard not the sharpe studio . the 10 o clock news is currently the second highest rated broadcast in the area . in 1991 this station began airing a one hour broadcast weeknights at 6 which later became ninety minutes from 5 to 6 30 followed by cbs evening news in 1997 . prior to this the national news aired at 7 . in january 2000 wcsc launched its regional weather radar called live super doppler 5000 . now known as super doppler hd the system comprises four regional live noaa national weather service radars and its own collins radar sold by advanced designs corporation in bloomington indiana which makes the station the only one in the market to operate its own radar . the station has often shared weather radars with fellow raycom stations since the practice started after being purchased by jefferson pilot . in 2004 it added a thirty minute newscast weeknights at 4 now totaling two hours of local broadcasts between