WOLO-TV
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| WOLO-TV | |
|---|---|
| Columbia, South Carolina | |
| Branding | ABC Columbia |
| Slogan | At home in the Midlands; Live from Main and Gervais; More Local News |
| Channels | 25 (UHF) analog, 8 (VHF) digital |
| Affiliations | ABC |
| Owner | Bahakel Communications |
| Founded | 1953 |
| Former callsigns | WCOS-TV (1953-56), WCCA-TV (1961-64) |
| Former affiliations | CBS (May-September 1953), NBC (May-November 1953) |
| Transmitter Power | 5,000kW (analog) 43.7kW (digital) |
| Website | abccolumbia.tv |
WOLO-TV, channel 25, is the ABC television affiliate for Columbia, South Carolina. Its transmitter is located in Elgin, South Carolina.
Contents |
[edit] History
Channel 25 signed on the air as WCOS-TV in May 1953, owned by Columbia Radio which consisted of WCOS radio AM 1400 and, later, also FM 97.5. It carried programming from all three networks--CBS, NBC and ABC--and broadcast from a Quonset hut on Shakespeare Road a few miles from downtown Columbia. However, UHF stations always found the going difficult in those days because the FCC didn't require television manufacturers to have UHF tuning capability until 1964. In the 1950s, viewers had to purchase separate converters to watch UHF stations, and even then, the picture was often barely viewable. The problem really manifested itself in November, when WIS-TV, channel 10, signed on as the city's first VHF station and took all NBC programming. WCOS was left with ABC since it had lost CBS to WNOK-TV, channel 67 (now WLTX, channel 19) in September; even worse, ABC was a very weak network at the time.
Even though WCOS' fate was sealed when WIS signed on, the station limped along until 1956, when WNOK offered to pay Charles W. Pittman, president of Columbia Radio, to take the stuggling station off the air. It was a way for WNOK to eliminate some of the competition. Pittman, who had put much of his own money into WCOS, accepted and signed off. Channel 25 remained dark until 1961, when local investors bought the license and returned to the air as WCCA-TV, also an ABC affiliate. As a result, while it was the first television station in the state, it is not the oldest--that distinction goes to WCSC-TV in Charleston. In 1964, Cy Bahakel, owner of Bahakel's flagship WCCB-TV in Charlotte (two hours north) bought WCCA and changed the calls to WOLO-TV. Although Bahakel died in April 2006, his company still owns the station for the time being.
Despite several firsts--for instance, the first certified meteorologist and color radar in South Carolina (in 1978) and the first live broadcast via satellite (in 1980), WOLO has long been an also-ran behind WIS and WLTX. Part of the problem was a weak signal (although the station could be seen in Charlotte under the right conditions). Bahakel did not invest much in the station's news operation for many years. Often ridiculed for its product, WOLO had changed its identity many times to overcome a stigma it created in the market as "How low can you go...Whoa! Low!" Reviving its image as a trusted news operation came in 1997 when the station hired two high-profiled news personalities, Leslie Mouton (Mattox) and Jim Blue and moving to the Eyewitness News format. They tried to create a news product comparable to that of long-dominant WIS, but still could not budge from third place. The station was also plagued by technical problems. However, in 2001, WOLO activated a new tower along I-20 near Camden. It is the tallest tower in the market, at almost 1,800 feet.
In 2002, Bahakel moved WOLO's operations to WCCB in Charlotte, where they stayed for three years. During that time, WCCB's studios played host to WOLO's newscasts. This was one of the first examples of "central casting" (housing several stations' operations in one location) in the United States. The practice of producing a local newscast in a different market was roundly criticized. The station saw a drop in its already low ratings, falling even further behind WIS and WLTX, and even falling behind Fox affiliate WACH.
Bahakel returned WOLO's operations to Columbia in Fall 2005 and underscored its commitment to local news, with slogans such as "Live from Main and Gervais" (the major intersection housing WOLO's new street-side studios) and "More Local News." However, the ratings have never recovered, despite its strong syndicated schedule in early primetime (7 p.m. - 8 p.m.). Around the same time, WOLO switched its on-air name from ABC25 to ABC Columbia, similar to the change made at WCCB, which switched from FOX 18 to Fox Charlotte shortly before taking over WOLO's operations.
Currently, WOLO is still in fourth place in the Columbia news market and is one of ABC's weakest affiliates.
[edit] Logo
 WOLO logo as "ABC25" |
[edit] Newscasts
- ABC Columbia News provides morning cut-ins for ABC's Good Morning America but does not have a morning newscast. Cut-ins anchored by Daniel Seamans and Chief Meteorologist Reg Taylor.
- ABC Columbia News at Six (Monday - Thursday) and ABC Columbia News at Eleven (Sunday - Thursday)
- Anchors: James Hill, Shanai Harris
- Weather: Chief Meteorologist Reg Taylor
- Sports Co-Anchors: Tim Hill, Kelli Bartik
- ABC Columbia News at Six and ABC Columbia News at Eleven (Friday)
- Anchor: Daniel Seamans
- Weather: Weathercaster Derek James
- Sports: Bruce Snyder
[edit] Primetime Sports
WOLO is Columbia's home for ACC football and basketball games. It is the only affiliate in the market that at times pre-empts primetime network programming for such broadcasts.
[edit] External links
| Bahakel Communications |
|---|
|
WABG-TV | WAKA | WBBJ-TV | WCCB | WFXB | WOLO-TV | WRSP-TV / WCCU |
| Broadcast television in the Columbia market (Nielsen DMA #83) |
|---|
|
WIS 10 (NBC) - WLTX 19 (CBS) - WOLO 25 (ABC) - WRLK 35 (PBS/SCETV) - W39CL 39 (TBN) - WZRB 47 (The CW) - W55CQ 55 (TBN) - WACH 57 (Fox) (The Tube on DT2) - WKTC 63 (MNTV) |
