WCSH (channel 6) is a television station in Portland, Maine, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by

Tegna Inc. Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into tw ...

The station's studios are located on Congress Square in Downtown Portland, and its transmitter is located on Winn Mountain in Sebago.

WLBZ WLBZ (channel 2) is a television station in Bangor, Maine, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Mount Hope Avenue in Bangor, and its transmitter is located on Rider Bluff in Holden. Alt ...

(channel 2) in Bangor operates as a

semi-satellite A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

of WCSH. This station clears all network programming as provided by its parent, simulcasts most of WCSH's newscasts (with local weather inserts) and airs most of its syndicated programming (though in some cases at different times). There are also some programs that only air on WLBZ while some are only seen on WCSH. WLBZ also airs separate station identifications and commercial inserts. Although WCSH and WLBZ are based in different locations and technically serve separate

markets Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: * Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand * Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, a ...

, the two essentially operate as one station. With their combined resources, the stations provide statewide coverage not offered by any other outlet in Maine.

History

WCSH-TV signed on December 20, 1953, from studios at the Congress Square Hotel in downtown Portland. The station was owned by the Rines family through their Maine Broadcasting System; the family had built the hotel in 1896, and established WCSH radio (970 AM, now WZAN) on the top floor in 1925. It has always been an NBC affiliate, although during the late-1950s, the station was also briefly associated with the NTA Film Network. In 1958, the Rines family acquired WTWO in Bangor from Murray Carpenter, and renamed it WLBZ-TV (after WLBZ radio, now WZON, which the family had owned since 1944). Although the two television stations were now sister stations, they remained completely separate entities. At various points, the Maine Broadcasting System also included WRDO radio in Augusta and KMEG in Sioux City, Iowa, with WCSH-AM-TV as its flagship. News center logo

Sometime in the late 1950s, WCSH-TV signed on W73AB, a repeater on channel 73 in Littleton, New Hampshire. It is unknown when it went off the air, but the latest record of its existence is from 1963, and it would have had to cease operations by 1983, when channels 70–83 were removed from broadcasting. In 1977, WCSH-TV moved to new facilities across the street from the hotel at One Congress Square, where it remains today. The radio stations were sold off in 1981; in 1997, the -TV suffix was dropped. In the mid-1990s, WCSH added a website providing 24-hour news and weather coverage outside newscasts. In 1998, the Maine Broadcasting System (by this time controlled by the Rines-Thompson family) sold WCSH and WLBZ to the

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.nightlight" service. Until that date, the station's analog audio signal transmitted on a frequency of 87.75 MHz (+10 kHz shift). As a result, it could be picked up on the lower end of the dial on most FM radios at 87.7 MHz. This was true of all other analog channel 6 stations in the United States. The station often promoted this additional way of coverage. After the transition, the station continued its digital broadcasts on channel 44. Around the first week of October 2012, Gannett entered a

dispute Dispute may refer to: * an act of physical violence; combat * Controversy ** Lawsuit ** Dispute resolution * Dispute (credit card) * ''La Dispute'', a 1744 prose comedy by Pierre de Marivaux * La Dispute (band) La Dispute is an American pos ...

against

Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...

regarding compensation fees and Dish's AutoHop commercial-skip feature on its Hopper

digital video recorder A digital video recorder (DVR) is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SSD or other local or networked mass storage device. The term includes set-top boxes with direct to d ...

s. Gannett ordered that Dish discontinue AutoHop on the account that it is affecting advertising revenues for WCSH. Gannett threatened to pull all of its stations (such as WCSH) should the skirmish continue beyond October 7 and Dish and Gannett fail to reach an agreement. The two parties eventually reached an agreement after extending the deadline for a few hours. On June 29, 2015, the Gannett Company split in two, with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media. WCSH and WLBZ were retained by the latter company, named Tegna.

Programming

Syndicated programming

Syndicated programming on WCSH includes '' Rachael Ray'' and '' Inside Edition''.

News operation

For most of its history, WCSH was a solid, if distant, runner-up in local

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

behind long-dominant WGAN-TV/WGME-TV. However, in the late 1980s, WCSH-TV surged to the top of the ratings, a position it has retained for the most part ever since. This is in part due to continuity in the station's key on-air staff, much of which have been with the station for over ten years. Also, WCSH anchors have won many awards for excellent journalism. In addition, its resources include sister station WLBZ in Bangor, allowing statewide coverage not offered by any source in Maine. Starting in 1989, channel 6 began simulcasting some of its newscasts on WLBZ-TV prepared with a statewide view. Originally, this was limited to morning, noon and weekend newscasts. However, in 2000, WLBZ cut its separate news production to two newscasts, weeknights at 5 and 6; all other newscasts on both stations originate from Portland. WLBZ ceased producing separate local newscasts altogether on October 8, 2015; all newscasts on both stations now come from the WCSH studios. As mentioned, these statewide programs tend to take on a regional feel with coverage from Portland, Bangor, or wherever news occurs around the state. WLBZ still produces its own weather segment from Bangor on weeknights with meteorologist Steve McKay. On August 9, 2010, there was an expansion of the statewide weekday morning show to 4:30 with the new segment being called ''News Center Early Morning Report''. WCSH and WLBZ have branded their news operations as ''NEWS CENTER'' since the 1970s, even before consolidating. Additionally, both stations featured

Frank Gari Frank Daniel Garofalo (born April 1, 1944), known professionally as Frank Gari, is an American singer-songwriter and composer. Early life Gari was a popular singer and songwriter from the late 1950s and early 1960s. His best known songs as a ...

's "Good News" music package from 1986 until October 22, 2008, when it was dropped (except during winter weather "Storm Center" coverage, as well as some station promos) in favor of standardized music (composed by Rampage Music New York, Inc.) and graphics seen on other Gannett stations. From 2013 to 2018, WCSH and WLBZ utilized Gari Media Group's "This is Home" news music package. In 2018 WCSH, WLBZ and other Tegna stations switched to the "

C Clarity Television news music is used by television stations to brand their news operations. Each television station uses an identifiable news theme; some themes are used by multiple stations while others are composed specifically for a certain station. ...

" news music package from French sonic branding company Sixième Son. After then- WB affiliate

WPXT WPXT (channel 51) is a television station in Portland, Maine, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Poland Spring–licensed ABC affiliate WMTW (channel 8). Both stations share studios on Ledgeview Dri ...

shut down its news department in fall 2002, WCSH and WLBZ entered into a news share agreement with that station, resulting in a nightly prime time newscast. Originally called ''News Center at 10 on Maine's WB 51'', it was seen every night for thirty minutes. On weeknights, news and sports segments originated from WCSH's facilities while WLBZ produced the weather segment from its studios. Weekend broadcasts were aired entirely from Portland. ''News Center at 10'' was formatted in a similar manner to the statewide newscasts, albeit with more of a Portland focus (as WPXT serves Portland but not Bangor). In September 2006, the production became known as ''News Center at 10 on The CW Portland'' after WPXT switched to The CW. WLBZ's role in the newscast was eliminated on November 6, 2008, when WCSH moved the prime time broadcast to its "News Center Weather Plus" feed and entirely reoriented the newscast to the Portland market (with WLBZ no longer doing the weather forecast). The "News Center Weather Plus" feed on WLBZ-DT2 and the live video on their websites was replaced with the national

NBC Weather Plus NBC Weather Plus was an American weather-oriented digital broadcast and cable television network owned as a joint venture between NBC Universal and the local affiliates of the NBC television network. The service, which was broadcast in standard d ...

service. ''News Center at 10'' was eventually canceled by WCSH after a six-year run. The partnership with WPXT resumed on October 31, 2011, with the addition of a 7 a.m. hour of WCSH's morning newscast branded as ''News Center Morning Report Xtra''. This ceased in Spring 2014. An outdoors and human-interest program called ''Bill Green's Maine'' airs Saturday nights at 7 on WCSH and WLBZ. In 2003, the station launched ''207'', a local lifestyle/entertainment magazine-type show which airs weeknights at 7 p.m. The "207" name comes from Maine's only

telephone area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, rea ...

. Although the program was initially replayed at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday through Saturdays, the program is no longer seen at that time, though it is now seen exclusively at 7 p.m. live. On February 2, 2009, 870

WLVP WLVP (870 AM) is a radio station broadcasting an adult standards and oldies format. Licensed to Gorham, Maine, United States, it serves southern Maine, including Portland. Established in 1980 as WDCI, the station is owned by Robert Bittner t ...

, in the Portland area, and 1470

WLAM WLAM (1470 AM) is a radio station broadcasting an oldies format. Licensed to Lewiston, Maine, United States, the station serves the Lewiston-Auburn area. Established in 1947, the station is owned by Robert Bittner through licensee Blue Jey Broad ...

, Lewiston, began simulcasting WCSH's weekday morning and early evening weeknights newscasts. This was done in order to continue availability of the broadcasts on radio even after WCSH's 87.7 MHz audio was discontinued following the shutdown of analog television signals. In October 2005, WCSH and WLBZ began offering

on new second

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...

s. Known as "News Center Weather Plus", the service could also be seen on the websites of both stations through live streaming video and digital cable. In late-December 2008 as a result of Weather Plus closing on a national level, WCSH-DT2 and WLBZ-DT2 shifted to a format featuring a loop of local news headlines and weather forecasts. The service retained the "News Center Weather Plus" branding and digital cable carriage but the online live video was dropped. WLBZ weeknight meteorologist Steve McKay would sometimes be seen on "News Center Weather Plus" providing statewide weather forecasts. On January 20, 2015, WCSH replaced the news and weather loop with the Justice Network. In addition to the main studios in Portland and Bangor, WCSH and WLBZ share two bureaus in the state. This includes the Midcoast Bureau (on Camden Street/ US 1) in Rockport and the Lewiston/

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

Bureau (on Main Street/ ME 11/ ME 100/

US 202 U.S. Route 202 (US 202) is a spur route of US 2. It follows a northeasterly and southwesterly direction stretching from Delaware to Maine, also traveling through the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Mass ...

, across the street from WGME's bureau). On August 26, 2011, WCSH began airing a promotional announcement (also published to its official YouTube channel) that the studio portion of its newscasts would soon be in high definition. The morning newscast on WPXT will be included in this upgrade, but will initially debut in standard definition.Portland's WCSH Set to Produce WPXT Morning News
TVSpy, October 21, 2011 High definition newscasts commenced on October 23, 2011. In late 2012, WCSH began airing reports from

New England Cable News New England Cable News (NECN) is a regional 24-hour cable news television network owned and operated by NBCUniversal (as part of the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations division, both ultimately owned by Comcast) serving the New England regi ...

, a wholly owned subsidiary of NBC parent

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

. Previously these reports aired on WMTW, which is owned by Hearst, a prior 50% owner of NECN before Comcast assumed full ownership. NECN's Portland bureau operates out of WCSH's Congress Square facility. The weather department went through a series of changes in the mid-2010s, beginning with former WBZ meteorologist Todd Gutner returning from Boston, taking over morning weather duties from longtime forecaster Kevin Mannix. Joe Cupo, who handled evening duties for decades, took part in a corporate buyout in 2016. In March 2017, WCSH launched ''News Center Now'', a half-hour issues-oriented program driven by social media; the new program replaced its traditional 5:00 p.m. weekday newscast. The station published archived episodes on its official YouTube channel for viewing on demand. Sports Director Lee Goldberg was reassigned to co-anchor and contribute reports for the new program, which resulted in the station discontinuing its traditional sports segment on the flagship 6:00 p.m. newscast. The de-emphasis of traditional sports coverage mirrored actions taken by Tegna sister station KUSA in Denver in January 2017. The show was renamed ''News Center Maine at 5'' in September 2019 and the newscast was modified to conform to a more traditional news format, although some stylistic elements remained such as the use of handheld cameras. Shows were no longer archived on YouTube. Prior to the transition, Goldberg was reassigned to become weekday morning co-anchor and longtime morning anchor Lee Nelson was moved to early evenings. In January 2018, WCSH and its sister station WLBZ rebranded their newscasts under the ''News Center Maine'' moniker. On June 1, 2020, WCSH and WLBZ premiered an hour-long weekday newscast at 4 p.m.

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

References

History of WCSH6

External links

* {{Tegna NBC network affiliates True Crime Network affiliates Court TV affiliates Quest (American TV network) affiliates Twist (TV network) affiliates Tegna Inc. Television channels and stations established in 1953 CSH 1953 establishments in Maine Former Gannett subsidiaries