Outlet profile

WCCB Charlotte

U.S. local TV news, mostly neutral/center-right lean

Owned byBahakel Communications, a privately held, family-run broadcasting company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. WCCB is its flagship station.

FundingMainly local and national advertising, plus retransmission fees paid by cable and satellite providers and payments tied to its CW network affiliation.

On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

Charlotte businessman Cy Bahakel bought the dormant channel 36 license in 1964 and put the station on the air on November 1, 1964 as WCCB-TV (the call letters stand for 'Charlotte Cy Bahakel'). It became a Fox affiliate in 1987 and was long one of the network's strongest affiliates, branded 'Fox 18' from 1988 and 'Fox Charlotte' from 2002. In 2013 Fox Television Stations bought two other Charlotte stations, WJZY and WMYT-TV, from Capitol Broadcasting for $18 million, and Fox moved to its own station. WCCB switched to The CW on July 1, 2013 and has been 'Charlotte's CW' since. It remains owned by Bahakel Communications, which is privately held and has not been absorbed into a large public station group such as Nexstar or Gray. The station produces local news, including a prime-time newscast, and is mainly about regional stories. It is not known for a distinct political editorial line or for a pattern of national controversies. Because of its private local ownership and its focus on local news, its political perspective is generally regarded as neutral to mildly center-right. I did not find a systematic review of its Trump-era coverage, so the administration stance here is an inference from its local-news format, not a measured finding.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-10-15; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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