WACH

WACH is a television station serving the Columbia, South Carolina, market as an affiliate of the Fox network. The station broadcasts on channel 57 and operates from studios on Pickens Street in downtown Columbia, while its transmission facilities are located on Rush Road in rural southwestern Kershaw County. Its service area includes Columbia and communities across the surrounding Midlands region of South Carolina. The station began broadcasting on September 1, 1981, under the call sign WCCT-TV. It was established by Carolina Christian Broadcasting, which also operated WGGS-TV in Greenville. As Columbia's first independent television station, WCCT-TV initially combined a strongly conservative religious schedule with secular syndicated programming. Religious content included programs such as The 700 Club, The PTL Club, and broadcasts associated with televangelists Richard Roberts and Jimmy Swaggart. The station also carried Niteline, a locally produced Christian program originating with WGGS-TV, while filling other portions of the schedule with cartoons, classic situation comedies, westerns, hunting shows, and sports programming. A major transformation occurred in 1988, when FCVS Communications acquired the station. At the time of the transaction, the call letters changed from WCCT-TV to WACH, and the station became Columbia's Fox affiliate. The change expanded its entertainment offering and introduced programming that was less restrictive than the station's original religious format. Some Christian programming remained temporarily under an agreement with Carolina Christian Broadcasting, including weekday and late-night blocks, and WACH continued airing Niteline for several years. Most of the religious material had disappeared from the schedule by the early 1990s, and the station adopted the WACH Fox 57 identity. WACH passed through several ownership groups during the following decades. FCVS sold its television division to Ellis Communications in 1993. Ellis subsequently combined with the broadcasting division of AFLAC to form Raycom Media in 1996. Raycom's 2005 merger with The Liberty Corporation placed WACH and NBC affiliate WIS under common ownership. Because Federal Communications Commission ownership rules restricted common ownership of two highly rated stations in a small market, Raycom chose to retain WIS and sell WACH. Barrington Broadcasting acquired the station in 2006, and Sinclair Broadcast Group acquired Barrington in 2013. Local news has become a central part of WACH's identity. In 1996, WIS began producing a 10 p.m. newscast for WACH, creating the first prime-time television newscast in the Columbia market. After Barrington acquired WACH, the station ended that arrangement and established its own newsroom. WACH assumed production of the 10 p.m. newscast in March 2007 and introduced the three-hour weekday morning program WACH Fox News Good Day the following month. The morning program was later renamed Good Day Columbia and expanded to four hours. Additional news products included the WACH Fox Report, a short early-evening newscast, and Fastcast @ 5, introduced in 2018. The station upgraded its presentation technology over time. In 2009, it began presenting local news in 16:9 widescreen standard definition and introduced new graphics. WACH moved its local newscasts to high definition in July 2011, becoming the last station in the Columbia market to do so. Sinclair's standardized graphics and music package were rolled out in 2015. In April 2023, WACH discontinued its live morning newscast, replacing Good Day Columbia with a replay of the 10 p.m. news followed by Sinclair's national program The National Desk. The station continues to provide local evening newscasts and Fox network programming.

WACH began operation on September 1, 1981, as WCCT-TV, a new independent station founded by Carolina Christian Broadcasting. Its original facilities were in West Columbia on Sunset Boulevard. The station was designed around a conservative Christian programming policy and carried religious programs for much of the broadcast day, including nationally distributed evangelical productions and the locally connected Niteline program. Secular syndicated material, including cartoons, classic comedies, westerns, hunting programs, and sports, filled the remaining schedule. The station avoided content considered objectionable to its initial fundamentalist and Pentecostal audience. In June 1988, FCVS Communications purchased the station. The acquisition marked a decisive change in identity: the call letters became WACH and the station joined the Fox network. WACH expanded its entertainment schedule and adopted a less restrictive programming approach. It retained limited religious programming for a transitional period and continued producing Niteline under an agreement with its former owner, but those commitments gradually ended. By the early 1990s, WACH had largely completed its shift from a religiously oriented independent station to a conventional commercial Fox affiliate. Ownership changed again in 1993, when FCVS sold its television assets to Ellis Communications. Ellis later combined with AFLAC's broadcasting operations to create Raycom Media. Raycom's 2005 merger with The Liberty Corporation produced a regulatory problem in Columbia because both companies owned significant local stations, including WACH and WIS. At that time, FCC rules restricted common ownership of two of the market's four highest-rated full-power stations, and the number of full-power stations in the market did not support a permitted duopoly. Raycom therefore retained WIS and offered WACH for sale. Barrington Broadcasting announced its acquisition of WACH and eleven other stations in March 2006, completing the transaction in August of that year. Under Barrington, WACH moved away from relying on WIS for prime-time news production. WIS had produced a 10 p.m. newscast for WACH since 1996, but WACH assumed responsibility for the program in March 2007 after building an in-house news operation at its Pickens Street facilities. The station launched a weekday morning program, WACH Fox News Good Day, in April 2007. It was later renamed Good Day Columbia and expanded to begin at 5 a.m. The station also experimented with an entertainment-oriented 7:30 p.m. report, later moved and reformatted as a conventional early-evening newscast. WACH upgraded its news presentation in stages. It introduced 16:9 widescreen standard-definition local newscasts in September 2009, refreshed its graphics and studio presentation in 2010, and moved to high-definition local news production in July 2011. The station discontinued its 6:30 p.m. newscast later that year. Sinclair Broadcast Group's acquisition of Barrington was announced in 2013 and completed in November, adding WACH to one of the largest American local television groups. Sinclair's common graphics and music system was implemented at WACH in 2015. In 2018, WACH added Fastcast @ 5, a half-hour weekday newscast competing with longer early-evening programs on other Columbia stations. In April 2023, the station ended live production of Good Day Columbia. Its morning schedule became a replay of the 10 p.m. local newscast followed by Sinclair's nationally distributed The National Desk, with local inserts prepared for the national program. WACH continued to air local evening news and Fox programming while operating from downtown Columbia and transmitting from Kershaw County.

• 2023

  Good Day Columbia is discontinued

  [1]WACHen.wikipedia.org

  WACH replaced its live morning newscast with a replay and Sinclair's The National Desk.

• 2018

  Fastcast @ 5 debuts

  [1]WACHen.wikipedia.org

  WACH added a half-hour weekday 5 p.m. newscast.

• 2013

  Sinclair acquires Barrington

  [1]WACHen.wikipedia.org

  Sinclair completed its purchase of Barrington Broadcasting on November 25.

• 2011

  WACH begins high-definition local news

  [1]WACHen.wikipedia.org

  The station upgraded its local newscasts to high definition in July.

• 2009

  Local news moves to widescreen presentation

  [1]WACHen.wikipedia.org

  WACH became the first Columbia station to present local newscasts in 16:9 widescreen standard definition.

• 2007

  WACH establishes its own news operation

  [1]WACHen.wikipedia.org

  WACH took over production of the 10 p.m. newscast and launched a weekday morning news program.

• 2006

  Barrington Broadcasting acquires WACH

  [1]WACHen.wikipedia.org

  Barrington completed its purchase of WACH from Raycom Media on August 11.

• 1996

  Raycom begins producing WACH's 10 p.m. newscast

  [1]WACHen.wikipedia.org

  WIS began producing a prime-time newscast for WACH, establishing the first such program in the Columbia market.

• 1993

  Ellis Communications acquires FCVS television assets

  [1]WACHen.wikipedia.org

  WACH entered Ellis Communications' television portfolio.

• 1988

  Station becomes WACH and joins Fox

  [1]WACHen.wikipedia.org

  FCVS Communications acquired the station, changed its call letters, and made it a Fox affiliate.

• 1981

  WACH's predecessor signs on as WCCT-TV

  [1]WACHen.wikipedia.org

  Carolina Christian Broadcasting launched WCCT-TV on September 1 as Columbia's first independent television station.

A local Fox affiliate combining network entertainment with locally produced news, weather, traffic, and community coverage for the Columbia, South Carolina, television market.

• Network television programming · 1988

  Fox network affiliation

  WACH carries programming supplied by the Fox network, including entertainment, news-related programming, and other network services. The affiliation began in 1988 and remains the station's central network relationship.

• Television news · 1996

  Local newscasts

  WACH produces local news coverage focused on Columbia and the South Carolina Midlands. Its current schedule includes local evening newscasts, with reporting, weather, traffic, and community information distributed through broadcast and digital channels.

• Television news · 2018

  Fastcast @ 5

  Fastcast @ 5 is a half-hour early-evening local newscast introduced in 2018. It broadened WACH's local news schedule and competed with longer 5 p.m. programs on other Columbia stations.

• Digital media

  Digital news services

  WACH extends its broadcast operation through an official website and associated digital distribution of local news, weather, video, and station information.

• 2023

  Morning schedule is replaced with replay and national programmingStrategy

  Background

  WACH operated the live Good Day Columbia morning newscast as part of its local news offering.

  Action taken

  The station discontinued Good Day Columbia and substituted a replay of the 10 p.m. newscast followed by The National Desk, while retaining local 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. broadcasts.

  Aftermath

  WACH no longer had a live morning news program, and the schedule change was accompanied by personnel changes and layoffs.

  Source

• 2007

  WACH brings prime-time news production in-houseStrategy

  Background

  WIS had produced WACH's 10 p.m. newscast since 1996.

  Action taken

  After Barrington acquired WACH, the station ended the news-sharing arrangement and built its own newsroom and production operation.

  Aftermath

  WACH assumed production of the 10 p.m. newscast and launched a weekday morning news program.

  Source

• 1988

  Conversion from religious independent station to Fox affiliateStrategy

  Background

  The station had operated as WCCT-TV with a heavily religious and conservative schedule since 1981.

  Action taken

  FCVS changed the call letters to WACH, affiliated the station with Fox, and expanded its secular entertainment programming while temporarily retaining some religious commitments.

  Aftermath

  WACH developed into a conventional commercial Fox station, with most religious programming removed by the early 1990s.

  Source

1. 1WACHen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Official WACH websitewach.com