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WCSH
Portland, Maine
Branding	WCSH 6 (general) NewsCenter (newscasts)
Slogan	People You Know News You Trust
Channels	Analog: 6 (VHF) Digital: 44 (UHF)
Affiliations	NBC
Owner	Gannett (Pacific and Southern Company, Inc.)
First air date	December 20, 1953
Call letters’ meaning	Congress Square Hotel
Sister station(s)	WLBZ
Former affiliations	NBC Weather Plus (on DT2, 2005-2008)
Transmitter Power	100 kW (analog) 1,000 kW (digital)
Height	610 m (analog) 587.9 m (digital)
Facility ID	39664
Transmitter Coordinates	43°51′30.2″N 70°42′38.8″W / 43.858389, -70.710778
Website	wcsh6.com

WCSH, channel 6, is the NBC-affiliated television station for southern Maine and northern New Hampshire that is licensed to Portland. 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. The station mentions this additional way of coverage.

When WCSH goes all-digital on February 17, 2009, its analog FM broadcast will disappear as will channel 6 FM broadcasts all over the country. It 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 that includes Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Judge Alex. However, channel 2 airs its own station identifications and commercials.

Digital television

In 2009, WCSH will leave channel 6 and move to channel 44 when the analog to digital conversion is complete. ^[1]

History

The station began broadcasting on December 20, 1953 from the Congress Square Hotel in downtown Portland and 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. It 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 a new second digital subchannel. It could also seen on WCSH's website via live streaming video and Time Warner digital cable channel 166. The channel featured WCSH's weather team and WLBZ meteorologist Steve McKay. Known on-air as "NewsCenter Weather Plus", the channel was simulcasted in Bangor on WLBZ's second digital subchannel. In late-December of 2008, WCSH-DT2 and WLBZ-DT2 shifted to a format featuring a loop of local news headlines and weather forecasts in a format known as "NewsCenter Update". The two channels continue to simulcast each other.

News operation

WCSH's "NewsCenter" logo.

WCSH's newscasts were runner up to CBS affiliate WGME until the late-1980s when it became number one. The station had led in the Portland news ratings until 2007 when WGME became ranked first with their 11 P.M. news and led the 5 P.M. broadcasts in most key demographics. WCSH's newscasts, which use the "NewsCenter" title, are still the highest-rated local newscasts in the state of Maine. Most of its key personalities have been with the station for over ten years. Beginning in the 1980s, WLBZ started simulcasting most 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 other timeslots. To correspond with WCSH, WLBZ also uses the "NewsCenter" title. Weeknights at 5:30 and 11, 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. In late-2002, the station began to co-produce with WLBZ a nightly 10 o'clock newscast on WB affiliate WPXT. During the week, news and sports were broadcasted from WCSH's studios while weather forecasts originated from Steve McKay at WLBZ in Bangor. On weekends, the program was broadcasted entirely from Portland. As is the case with the WLBZ simulcasts of WCSH news, WPXT's news programs took on a regional feel with news coverage from Portland, Bangor, and the state of Maine. Until February 5, 2007, there was no competition at 10 P.M. On that date, WGME began to produce a nightly 10 o'clock newscast for Fox affiliate WPFO. On November 6, 2008, WCSH moved the 10 o'clock news to their NBC Weather Plus subchannel. As a result of this change, the WLBZ and online feed switched over to the national Weather Plus broadcast from 10 to 10:30 while WCSH-DT2 aired the newscast. From that point on, local Portland news was covered more and Steve McKay no longer provided the weeknight weather forecast. The 10 o'clock newscast was canceled altogether in late-December of 2008.

WCSH used Frank Gari's "Good News" music package since the theme's inception in 1986 until October 22, 2008 when it was mostly replaced by standardized music and graphics that is used by other Gannett stations. "Good News" remains in use for news image promos and the "Storm Center" theme used for winter storm coverage. 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 the telephone area code in Maine. 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 and WLBZ live stream the weekday Noon newscast on their websites.

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, and 11
• Cindy Williams - weeknights at 5, 5:30, and 6
• Rob Caldwell - weeknights at 5:30 and co-host of 207
• Kathleen Shannon - weeknights at 11 and co-host of 207
• Brian Yocono - weekend mornings and Noon
  • Lewiston / Auburn Bureau reporter
• Caroline Cornish - weekend evenings and reporter

Meteorologists

• Joe Cupo - weeknights
• Kevin Mannix - weekday mornings
• Roger Griswold - weekdays at Noon and weekend evenings
• Kelly LaBrecque - weekend mornings and Noon
  • weeknight associate producer
• + Steve McKay (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - seen on "NewsCenter Update"

Sports

• Bruce Glasier - Director seen weeknights at 6 and 11
• Lee Goldberg - weekend evenings and sports reporter
• John Smist - sports reporter and 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
• Tim Goth
• Kristin Cullen
• Susan Kimball
• Vivien Leigh
• Amanda Hill
• Chris Rose

Station 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)—now with MPBN, host of MaineWatch [1]
• 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, now deceased
• 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 Coaching Works

External links

• WCSH channel 6
• WCSH wireless
• WLBZ channel 2
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WCSH

References

Site Map: RSS 2.0

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