WCNC (Charlotte)
U.S. center (mainstream local broadcast)
Background
WCNC-TV began in 1967 as WCTU-TV, an independent UHF station in Charlotte that fell into financial difficulty. Ted Turner acquired it, renamed it WRET-TV, and secured the NBC affiliation for it in 1978 after WSOC-TV switched to ABC. Turner sold the station to Westinghouse Broadcasting in 1979 to raise capital for the launch of CNN, after which it ran as WPCQ-TV with lean resources. The Providence Journal Company purchased it in 1988 for $30 million and rebranded it WCNC-TV on September 3, 1989. Belo Corporation acquired the station in 1996 as part of its expansion into television broadcasting. Gannett Company then bought Belo in 2013 for $1.5 billion. When Gannett split into two companies in 2015 — one focused on newspapers, one on broadcast — WCNC went to the broadcast-focused spinoff, TEGNA Inc. Nexstar Media Group closed its acquisition of TEGNA in March 2026. Throughout its ownership changes, WCNC has maintained a local-news focus; media monitors rate it as minimally biased, noting it does not publish political op-eds and keeps sponsored content separate from news.
Sources
- WCNC-TV - Wikipedia
- WCNC – Charlotte News - Bias and Credibility - Media Bias/Fact Check
- Nexstar closes $6.2 billion acquisition of TEGNA | wcnc.com
- Nexstar, Tegna merger closes after winning regulatory approval - CNBC
- Shifting Ground: Charlotte response to Trump administration policy changes | wcnc.com
- WCNC | The Trust Project News Partners
Profile compiled 2026-07-16; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.