WCSH

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WCSH
city =
station_
station_slogan = People You Know
News You Trust
station_branding = WCSH 6 (general)
NewsCenter (newscasts)
analog = 6 (VHF)
digital = 44 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = NBC
NBC WX+ (on DT2)
network =
founded =
airdate = December 20, 1953
location = Portland, Maine
callsign_meaning = Congress Square
Hotel
former_callsigns = WCSH-TV (1953–1997)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Gannett
licensee = Pacific and Southern Company, Inc.
sister_stations = WLBZ
former_affiliations =
effective_radiated_power = 100 kW (analog)
1,000 kW (digital)
HAAT = 610 m (analog)
587.9 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 39664
coordinates = coord|43|51|30.2|N|70|42|38.8|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.wcsh6.com/ wcsh6.com]

WCSH, channel 6, is the NBC-affiliated television station for Portland, Maine. Its transmitter is located on Winn Mountain near West Baldwin. Owned by Gannett, the station has studios at Congress Square in downtown Portland. WCSH's analog audio signal transmits on a frequency of 87.75 MHz (+10 kHz shift), and as a result, can be picked up on the lower end of the dial on most FM radios at 87.7 MHz. This is true of all other analog channel 6 stations in the United States. WCSH mentions this additional way of coverage.

WCSH is sister station to Bangor's NBC affiliate WLBZ. Although the two stations are based in different locations and serve different media markets, they essentially operate as one station. With their combined resources, this allows statewide coverage that no other station in Maine can offer. For the most part, WLBZ simulcasts WCSH during network and syndicated programming (which includes "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" and "Judge Alex"). However, channel 2 airs its own station identifications and commercials.

History

The station began broadcasting on December 20, 1953 from the Congress Square Hotel in downtown Portland. Its call letters refer to this location. WCSH was owned by the Rines family who had built the hotel in 1896 and started WCSH-AM 970 (now WZAN) on the top floor in 1925. In 1977, WCSH-TV moved across the street to One Congress Square where it is today. The station dropped the -TV suffix in 1997. WCSH was the flagship station of the Maine Broadcasting System which included WLBZ-AM-TV in Bangor. In 1998, WCSH and WLBZ were acquired by Gannett. In October of 2005, WCSH began offering NBC Weather Plus on its second digital subchannel. It can be seen on WCSH's website via live streaming video and Time Warner digital cable channel 166. The channel includes WCSH's weather team and WLBZ meteorologist Steve McKay. Known as "NewsCenter Weather Plus", the channel is simulcasted in Bangor on WLBZ's second digital subchannel.

News operation

WCSH's newscasts were runner up to WGME until the late-1980s when it became number one. The station has led in the Portland news ratings since then attracting more viewers than WGME and WMTW combined. Most of its key news personalities have been with the station for over ten years. Its newscasts, which use the "NewsCenter" title, are the highest-rated local newscasts in the state of Maine. As of the February 2008 sweeps period, WCSH has had its largest audience share in ten years. The station ranked first in all local news time slots with wide margins.

Beginning in the 1980s, WLBZ started simulcasting many WCSH newscasts that were prepared with a statewide view. This process continues today with only the weeknight 5 and 6 o'clock broadcasts locally produced from WLBZ's Bangor studios. Otherwise, statewide coverage is offered in all others. To correspond with WCSH, WLBZ also uses the "NewsCenter" title. On the weeknights at 5:30 and 11 o'clock, WLBZ meteorologist Steve McKay provides Bangor weather cut-ins. The weeknight 6 o'clock sports report on WLBZ features a sports anchor reporting from WCSH's studios. The statewide newscasts that originate from WCSH tend to take on a regional feel with news coverage from Portland, Bangor, or wherever news occurs from around the state. The combination of WCSH and WLBZ offers the largest and most extensive coverage of news from Maine.

The station co-produces with WLBZ a nightly 10 o'clock newscast called "NewsCenter at 10" on CW affiliate WPXT. During the week, news and sports are broadcasted from WCSH's studios (with some Bangor area stories featuring WLBZ reporters and photojournalists) while weather forecasts originate from Steve McKay at WLBZ in Bangor. On the weekends, the program is broadcasted entirely from Portland (again with some Bangor stories being shown). As is the case with the WLBZ simulcasts of WCSH news, WPXT's news programs take on a regional feel with news coverage from Portland, Bangor, and the state of Maine.

An outdoors and human-interest program called "Bill Green's Maine" airs on Saturday nights at 7 on WCSH (it is simulcasted on WLBZ). In 2003, WCSH launched "207" (a local magazine show) that airs weeknights at 7. The preceding evening's broadcast airs the next morning at 4 on WCSH and WLBZ. "207 Weekend" premiered on September 2, 2007 and airs Saturdays nights at 7:30 (following "Bill Green's Maine") on both stations. The "207" name comes from Maine's telephone area code. Unlike most NBC affiliates, WCSH airs weekend news at Noon. In addition to their main studios, WCSH shares two news bureaus with WLBZ. The Lewiston / Auburn Bureau is located on Main Street in Lewiston (across the street from WGME's bureau). The Midcoast Bureau is located on Main Street in Rockland. WCSH streams live its weekday Noon newscast on its website.

Digital television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

In 2009, WCSH will continue digital broadcasts on channel 44 when the analog to digital conversion is complete.http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf]

News team

+ denotes news personnel based at WLBZ

Anchors
*Lee Nelson - weekday mornings and rotating at Noon
*Sharon Rose - weekday mornings and rotating at Noon
*Pat Callaghan - weeknights at 5, 6, 10, and 11
*Cindy Williams - weeknights at 5, 5:30, and 6
*Rob Caldwell - weeknights at 5:30
**co-host of "207"
*Kathleen Shannon - weeknights at 11
**co-host of "207"
*Brian Yocono - weekend mornings and Noon
**Lewiston / Auburn Bureau reporter
*Caroline Cornish - weekend evenings
**reporter

"NewsCenter Weather Plus Meteorologists"
*Joe Cupo - weeknights
*+ Steve McKay (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - weeknights at 10
*Kevin Mannix - weekday mornings
*Roger Griswold - weekdays at Noon
**weekend evenings
*Kelly LaBrecque - weekend mornings and Noon
**weeknight associate producer

Sports
*Bruce Glasier - Director seen on weeknights at 6, 10, and 11
*Lee Goldberg - weekend evenings
**sports reporter
*John Smist - sports reporter
**fill-in

Reporters
*Don Carrigan - Midcoast Bureau
*Bill Green - recreation and human-interest
**host of "Bill Green's Maine"
*Fred Nutter - editorials
*+ Sarah Delage - backpack journalist
*+ Scott Sassone - backpack journalist
*+ Chris Facchini
*Susan Kimball
*Vivien Leigh
*Chris Rose

tation alumni

*Diane Atwood, Reporter (now Manager of Marketing and Public Relations at Mercy Hospital, in Portland, ME)
*Lew Colby, Weather Forecaster, Promotion Manager, Programming Manger, Station Manager, General Manager, CEO Maine Broadcasting System until 1997 when station was purchased by Gannett.
*Jackie Couture, reporter, now with WMTW-TV in Portland, ME
*John Dougherty, Anchor/Reporter (left to join WBZ-TV in Boston, MA , then WMTW-TV in Portland, ME)
*Bob Elliot, Feature Reporter from 1988-1996, (later worked at WMTW-TV, Portland; Elliot died suddenly in 1997 from a heart attack)
*Jan Fox, Anchor/Reporter from 1986-1990 (now at WUSA-TV in Washington D.C.)
*Michele Gillen, Anchor/Reporter (later worked at WPLG-TV in Miami, also NBC News, now investigative reporter WFOR-TV in Miami)
*Dick Gosselin, Reporter (later worked at WCVB-TV in Boston, and MPTV Public Television in Milwaukee, now works at WMTW-TV in Portland, ME)
*Dan Harris, Weekend Anchor/Reporter (later worked at NECN in Boston, now correspondent and anchor of ABC World News Sunday, ABC News, New York, NY)
*Jennifer Rooks—Weekend Evenings Anchor/Reporter (04/1998-05/20/2007 at WCSH, 2002-05/20/2007 at WPXT); Weekend Mornings & Noon Anchor (1994-03/1998)—has since left, starts with MPBN on June 4, 2007—to take over MaineWatch hosting job [http://www.mpbn.net/press/Rooks_joins_MPBN.html]
*Kevin Kelley, Reporter (later reported for NECN in Boston, MA, now Press Secretary for U.S. Senator Susan Collins)
*J. Donald "Don" MacWilliams, Sports Director/Anchor (retired 1977, now deceased)
*Cliff Michaelson, Meteorologist (severely injured in an accident, no longer in television.)
*Jennifer Millette, Reporter (later worked at WMUR-TV in Manchester, NH)
*Shannon Moss, Anchor/Reporter (joined WMTW on June 18, 2007)
*Ann Murray Paige, Anchor/Reporter (producer & subject of documentary 'The Breast Cancer Diaries')
*Richard Rose, Anchor/Reporter (now works at WLNY-DT on Long Island, NY)
*Scott Sassone - backpack journalist (now at sister station WLBZ)
*Clif Reynolds, Station Announcer, Morning News Anchor, People, Places and Things reporter
*Robert 'Sid' Whitaker, Reporter (now works at the University of New Hampshire)
*Jane Skinner, anchor/reporter (now with Fox News Channel in New York City; married to Roger Goodell, commissioner of the NFL).
*Chris Facchini, reporter (moved to sister station WLBZ in early-August 2007 to become anchor weeknights at 5 and 6 PM)
*Todd Gutner - weekdays at Noon and weekend evening meteorologist (now at WBZ-TV in Boston)
*Bob DeMers, Meteorologist [1993-1998] , now lives with his wife and daughter in Charlotte NC, President of [http://www.coaching-works.net Coaching Works]

References

External links

* [http://www.wcsh6.com/ WCSH channel 6]
* [http://m.wcsh6.com/ WCSH wireless]
* [http://www.wlbz2.com/ WLBZ channel 2]
* [http://www.ourmaine.com/ WPXT-DT channel 43]
*TVQ|WCSH