WCNT

(channel 2) is a television station in Baconville, Indiana, United States, serving as the market's NBC television network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division. WCNT and NBC provide services and newscasts to its sister station, WCNX through an SSA (shared services agreement) with Xavier Communications, which owns WCNX. WCNT is a member of the Crystal Network, a sub-network of NBC affiliates that serve the entire state of Indiana. WCNT’s studios and transmitter are located in Television Street in the Baconville city center.
WCNT covers areas of Evansville and Indianapolis that WWIN’s signal doesn’t reach.
==History==
===Early history===
WCNT was the brainchild of Robert Xavier, owner of Rural Communications Inc. (the predecessor to Xavier Communications) and WCN radio in Baconville. In 1947, he applied for a television license from the FCC. After being declined once, he finally got the television license under the WCN-TV call letters in October of that year. A few weeks after his application was accepted, he went to Indianapolis to buy transmitting snd camera equipment from RCA. He then gathered some staff from Indianapolis to help run the station.
During his time in Indianapolis, Xavier talked to Dean Beaumont of WIIN-TV, who had connections with the NBC and RCA higher-ups in New York City. Through him, Robert made an affiliation deal with NBC, and got permission to broadcast their programs through microwave relay towers from WIIN to WCNT. 
===Beginnings as WCN-TV (1948–1957)===
Once everything was set up, WCN-TV signed on with a test pattern and a speech from Xavier at 6:00 AM on March 9, 1948. (The speech was simulcast on WCN (AM).) It signed on as an NBC affiliate due to WCN’s longtime affiliation with the NBC Red network. After the sign-on, about 10-20 people in Baconville watched channel 2 regularly due to very few people in Baconville having TV sets.
“This was… bad planning on my part. We were unaware that only a tiny number of people in this town had access to TV.”
-Robert Xavier
After more negotiation with Beaumont, RCA sold more TV sets in Baconville, which further boosted WCN-TV’s viewership. 
Since WCN was the only TV station in the market at the time, it assumed the CBS, ABC, and DuMont network affiliations in September of 1948. Because of this, there were companies that wanted to sign on TV stations that can take the secondary network affiliations from WCN, but this was impossible due to the broadcasting freeze that happened the month after. This made some viewers rely on the distant Indianapolis stations (WINI, WIND and WIIN) if they didn’t want to rely on the programs that WCN cherry-picked. 
In 1952, the FCC released its “Sixth Report and Order” which stopped the freeze. This made room for WKL and WVII (now WBVB and WBSV to sign on, which took the CBS and ABC affiliations away from WCN. Later on in 1954, WXIN signed on, taking WCN’s DuMont affiliation away as well.
Because of the new stations’ competition, WCN decided to recruit staff for its new “promotions unit” that created promotional content for the station,
===As WCNT-TV (1957–present)===
On October 1957, the Kallie Sotero Network bought WCN-TV’s former sister station, WCN (AM). This forced WCN-TV to change its callsign to the current WCNT-TV. (because of a now-repealed FCC rule disallowing 2 stations from different owners to share a callsign.) This was where the “CNT” nickname referring to the station came from.
In November 1958, Xavier Communications formed the “Crystal Network” a sub-network of NBC affiliates in Indiana consisting of WCNT, WYC and WCTE (they would be later joined by KOC in Redville.)
In 1959, WCNT installed a color TV transmitter, making WCNT the first station in the Baconville market to broadcast in color.
In 1965, RCA bought a 50% minority stake in WCNT-TV, and the Crystal Network. 
In the mid-70s, WCNT’s ratings dropped due to NBC’s failed attempts at attracting younger viewers, and making new programs. This led to Xavier and David Gilbert (WCNT’s former programming director) producing more local talk, variety and entertainment shows for the station. A few of the successful programs they produced were “Baconville at 5”, “W · A · T · C · H”, and “Cup of Joe, with jan Pekon”. Because of this, WCNT’s ratings quickly rose up from 3rd place in ‘74 and ‘75, to first place in ‘76, a feat that never happened again in Baconville television history.
On March 9, 1978, during the WCNT anniversary celebration, Robert Xavier got shot by a drunk protester (Dennis McCann) holding up a sign that read “Destroy CNT!”. He was shot in the forehead and right through his left eye. WCNT staff quickly called 911, and Xavier’s dead body was rushed to the Baconville Community Hospital. The hospital doctors and nurses in the emergency room did some quick checks on the dead body, and in a few hours, they declared Xavier dead on arrival. His funeral was scheduled 1 week after the incident, on March 16, and was buried on March 20 at the Christian Memorial Center.
A year before the shooting, on March 9, 1977, Xavier wrote a note about what will happen to the station after his death:
I have made this note in case a very unfortunate event happens, and I pass away. Here’s what will happen to the station without my leadership: Mr. Beaumont will become the new head of operations for the Crystal Network, and its stations. He was and still is a very good man, and I trust him with all my heart. Meanwhile, David will become the new CEO of Xavier Communications. He was a very instrumental part of keeping us in the #1 position for the Baconville TV market, and I think he can lead the company very well, even after my passing.
Thank you to everyone who kept the station alive over these years. We will hope that CNT will still remain the powerhouse it is today, even without me.
Thanks,
Robert Xavier”
====CNT in the 1980s====
Before leadership of the Crystal Network stations got passed down to Beaumont, he convinced NBC not to buy the other share of the network, because he believed that this might make Xavier Communications, who owned that share, unhappy. At first, NBC declined, because they want the Crystal Network to become owned and operated by NBC “as soon as possible”, but after months of arguing, NBC decided to let Xavier Communications keep the other half of the network’s ownership.
Under Beaumont and Gilbert’s new leadership, the station entered its “promo era”, where the station put out more promotional content than it ever did before. Beaumont and Gilbert focused on getting more staff into the station’s “promotions unit” to help make logos, slogans, and other promotional materials for WCNT. The leaders of the promotions unit made sure to buy every network promo package that NBC would offer, starting from 1979 with the “Proud as a Peacock” promo. They even recruited singers and musicians to form what the staff jokingly called “The CNT Philharmonic Orchestra”. Beaumont and Gilbert also shifted focus away from newspapers and radio, because of the decreasing amount of people using those forms of media.
Beaumont and Gilbert’s plan worked at first, but the quality of their local programming deteriorated a little bit during this era due to both leaders focusing too much on promos and too little on programming and newscasts. The other stations noticed this, and made promos making fun of WCNT focusing too much on their image. (e.g. WBVB’s “Just edit it well!” promo for the 1983-1984 season)
During the start of this promo era, in 1981, CBS offered to buy WCNT and make it a CBS affiliate. Gilbert accepted the offer, and the plan almost went through until he realized that WCNT was still partly owned by the NBC company itself, and if CBS bought the station, NBC would lose one of their (partial) O&O stations. The Crystal Network (Xavier’s sub-network of NBC stations) will also lose their first station as well, if it didn’t get canceled. WCNT spent about $100,000 on promoting the failed CBS affiliation switch. (network promos, new logos, etc.) The deal's cancellation was announced at the edition of The Channel 2 News at 5:00 on May 22.
In the 1986 and 1987 TV seasons, WCNT dropped to 2nd place in ratings for the first time in 10 years, because of the aftermath of the promo era. After a few failed attempts at trying to promote the station again, WCNT decided to disband the promotions unit (excluding the "CNT Philharmonic Orchestra") and reassign the former staffs' duties. WCNT also decided to cancel some of their local programs that failed. This marks the end of the promo era.
On July 1987, Beaumont and Gilbert decided to rebrand the station to move away from the events of the promo era. For the 1st phase of the promo era, WCNT-TV decided to drop their “-TV” suffix at the end of their callsign, and to use the slogan “More Than Just Television.”. This slogan came about due to the fact that some of the staff in WCNT’s news department still work for local newspapers, and some of those newspapers have news articles written by the WCNT news team. WYC-TV and WCTE-TV also dropped their “-TV” suffixes for the same reason. They also decided to make a “Specials Team” that is in charge of creating apecial programs for the network on important events. (Christmas, station anniversaries, halloween, etc.)
The 2nd phase of the rebrand started in 1988, when the station started polishing and refining their local programming to try and get more viewers to watch them again. The station also made new news intros that are akin to other stations’ intros during this time period. The other stations in the network did the same as well. 
The network’s stations finally got their first place spot back again because of this rebranding.
After the 1st and 2nd phrases of the rebrand that successfully bumped the 3 stations’ ratings back up to 1st place, Gilbert wanted “the network to feel like a network”, by letting WYC and WCTE for create their own local programming on the 3rd phase of the rebrand.
Gilbert (on behalf of Xavier Communications) gave the managers of the Crystal Network stations $125,000 each for creating their own local series. They also gave another $40,000 dollars to each station for creating their own distinct logos. This was all done to make sure that the 2 other stations aren’t counted as semi-satelites of WCNT, as Gilbert wanted “the stations to do their own thing, instead of just following us".
====CNT in the 1990s====
Once Gilbert and Beaumont retired, James LaBelle took over as the CEO of Xavier Communications Inc. He decided to bring back the promotions unit by transferring some higher-ups in the PR department, and also by hiring more staff. LaBelle decided to focus more on the younger demographic, and especially on children. (<18, 18–34 years old) He believed that television would become a thing of the past 50 years from now, and that the younger generation should be introduced to it to keep television alive.
"I think that TV stations and networks should focus more on children, since television is going to die really soon, and the least we could do... is to try our best for the younger people to keep it going, you know?"
-James LaBelle
LaBelle reworked the Crystal Network's children's programming block, replacing older programs with new ones, in an attempt to be "in tune with the new generation". He also preempted NBC network programs targeted towards the older demographic, and replaced them with local Crystal Network programs. The preempted shows aired on independent station WFTR (now WCNX).
LaBelle also brought the Crystal Network’s promotions unit back, as he believed that the station was “too traumatized by the events of the promo era to promote the station again”.
In 1995, WCNT stopped preempting shows targeted towards the older demographic in an attempt to make the station "a station for everyone, not just children". This was also done to stop NBC from selling their share of WCNT, since NBC O&Os are not allowed to preempt network programming,
In May 1995, WCNT was almost involved with the 1995 TV realignment when New World Communications offered to buy the station in exchange for WALA-TV. WCNT didn't accept the offer to protect its NBC affiliation.
====CNT today====
In 2001, WCNT aired a special breaking news story about the 9/11 attacks in New York that earned them an Emmy Award for the most “Oustanding Live Newscast”.
In 2006, LaBelle and the Crystal Network partnered up with the cable-only kids’ network Cartoon Network to make a new children's programming block. This new block, called “Crystal Network Kids”, or CNK for short, featured some programs from Cartoon Network. while keeping some successful shows from the old “Wonderful Mornings” block. 
On January 10, 2010, WCNT bought the independent station WFTR-TV, and changed its callsign to WCNX-TV as a disambiguation of WCNT's callsign. At the same time, Xavier Communications sold WCNT to NBC, while maintaining an SSA with Xavier Communications via WCNX. 
On January 16, 2015, during the station’s 5PM newscast, their “Skystar 2” helicopter crashed into the Wabash River while covering a story in Indianapolis. All of the staff in the helicopter survived, albeit with major injuries due to the low altitude of the helicopter during the coverage. The station showed a test card right after the cameras in the helicopter broke, and it stayed that way until 8:30 PM of that day. Almost no one knows why the test card stayed on-screen until 8:30, and no WCNT employee has ever spoken about the incident, or the test card.
In 2016, LaBelle wanted to give fans of the station a chance to get their programming on WCNT. LaBelle then rolled out the CNT+ subchannel on November 17 of that year. The station would hand-pick fan-made series sent to the station, and put them on CNT+. (similar to the now defunct NBC Red and Blue networks) Then, every 4 years, fans can vote on a show that they think is good enough to be broadcast on the main WCNT feed.
==Programming==
As of October 2020, syndicated programs on WCNT include Inside Edition, Dateline, and the Kelly Clarkson Show. This is one of the rare occurences of an NBC owned-and-operated station airing a program produced by CBS or any of its sister companies. (Inside Edition) 
Crystal Network programs produced by WCNT include W · A · T · C · H, Cup of Joe with jan Pekon, Captain Bacon, Sonic Harmonic, and the "A Chat With..." series (also heard on WCNT-AM-FM). These programs are also syndicated through the “From CN” program. 
Since September 2021, WCNT is one of eleven NBC-owned stations (including WNBC in New York, KNBC in Los Angeles, KNTV in San Francisco, WVIT in Hartford, WMAQ-TV in Chicago, KXAS-TV in Dallas, KNSD in San Diego, WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., WTVJ in Miami and WCAU in Philadelphia (which was also a former CBS affiliate) which distribute programming either nationally and/or regionally.
===Sports programming===
WCNT has always been the channel for NFL/Super Bowl games since its inception. It has televised multiple matches won by the Hoosiers. WCNT is also the flagship carrier for Hoosiers games, with other NBC affiliates in Indiana using the WCNT feed of a Hoosiers game for their channel.
===News operation===
WCNT currently broadcasts 38 hours of locally-produced news (including W · A · T · C · H and Cup of Joe, 6 each weekday, 4 each weekend).
Robert decided to start recruiting staff from the local newspapers to form a new news department for the station. The first ever newscast that the station produced, "Newswatch", aired on April 1 of that year, and it became one of the most successful programs of the station. The station also created a late-night talk show called "Lights Out" that aired every weekend at 10:00 PM.
Due to WCNT staff working for other newspapers in the 70s and 80s, WCNT has, and still is a very news-focused station. WCNT is known for usually being at the #1 spot for news ratings, and hiring what they call "diamonds in the rough", which are young newscasters that have proven to be excellent in journalism.
During the early days of the station, in 1948, WCN-TV introduced its first evening newscast entitled "Newswatch". A year later, the program received an award for the best newscast in Indiana. The program lasted until 1966, when it was replaced with "The Channel 2 Evening Report." Zachary Calina and John Esch anchored both of these news programs during their tenure.
In 1973, WCNT hired more anchors and meteorologists to be featured in their newscasts. Among these newly-hired anchors were Cameron J. Green, Jack Jacobs, John Sessarich, Don Wright and Leslie Smith.
The mid 70s-early 80s was when NBC network ratings went down. Because of this, WCNT-TV decided to upgrade their newscasts to compensate for the dives in ratings. WCNT introduced the Channel 2 News, a new program that retained the same 4 anchors in Evening Report, albeit with better and more comprehensive stories. WCNT also started to use the Eyewitness News format for their newscasts, but without "Eyewitness News" in the newscast titles to avoid being "tacky", in the words of David Gilbert, WCNT programming director at the time. This was also the time that CNT introduced "WATCH" and "Cup of Joe", popular news and talk programs that were famous for their entertaining anchors/hosts.
Since 1978, The Channel 2 News has consistently received #1 ratings for news in Baconville, and occasionally, the entire state of Indiana.
In 1987, after the promo era, WCNT changed its newscast title to “News 2” as a result of phase 1 of the rebranding. They also took the opportunity to hire better newswriters and directors as WCNT’s newscasts started to falter over the past year.
In 2010, when NBC bought WCNT, WCNT changed the name of their newscasts to News 2 Baconville as part of NBC’s O&O branding.
====Notable current on-air staff====
=====Anchors=====
* Zachary “Bacon” Calina (sometimes referred to as Bacon on and off-air)
* Cameron J. Green – (also reporter)
* Leslie Smith – (also reporter)
* Don Wright Jr.
* Adam Shapiro
*John Roman
*Luke Ellis
=====Weather=====
* Jack Jacobs (Member, AMS) – chief meteorologist 
* Anna Jones (Member, AMS) – meteorologist
*Laura Lim (Member, AMS) – meteorologist 
=====Sports team=====
* John Sessarich (host of Top Games with John)
* Arthur Stone
* Don Barlow
=====Reporters=====
* Walter Jacobs (Jack Jacobs’s son)
* Maria Gonzalez
* Dylan McMahon
* Anne Smith
* Ronald “Ron” Levine
* Bruce Martinez
* Peter West
====Notable alumni====
* Don Wright (Host of Newswatch, deceased)
*Alice Chang (now working for WNBC)
==Technical information==
===Subchannels===
The station’s digital subchannels are carries on the multiplexed signal of sister station WCNX:
Channel	Video	Aspect	Short Name	Programming 	ATSC 1.0 host
2.1 	1080p	16:9 	WCNT-HD 	Main WCNT Programming / NBC via Crystal Network	WCNX
2.2 	720p 	16:9 	CNT-PLUS 	CNT+ / Independent 	WCNX
2.3 	720p 	16:9 	CNKIDS 	Crystal Network Kids / Cartoon Network 	WCNX
2.4 	720p 	4:3 	RETRO 	CNT Retro 	WCNX
In 2011, WCNT launched the CNT Retro subchannel on channel 2.3 as a “time-capsule” of WCNT in the 80s/90s. It then moved to channel 2.4 to make room for the new CNT Arts channel.
The CNT Arts channel got replaced by CN Kids in 2016 after the FCC allowed E/I programming to air on subchannels.
===Analog-to-digital conversion===
WCNT ended programming on its analog signal, on VHF channel 2, at 9 a.m. on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station continued to broadcast on its pre-transition channel 63 before the FCC’s UHF repack. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 2. 
On June 12, 2009 (the day of the transition), at 11:00 PM, WCNT and the entire Crystal Network ended their nightlight analog services with a 30 minute film entitled “All The Memories”. The film was about the history of the Crystal Network and how it evolved to what it is today. The network has been promoting the film ever since March of 2009, with an advertisement telling viewers to not miss the film, “or all those memories will disappear without a trace.” This day was known as the “day the memories died” because of the quote from the ads.
===ATSC 3.0 lighthouse===
The station’s digital signal is multiplexed:
Channel	Video	Aspect	Short Name	Programming
2.1 	1080p	16:9 	WCNT3.0 	Main WCNT Programming / NBC via Crystal Network
4.1 	1080p	16:9 	WXIN3.0 	ATSC 3.0 simulcast of WXIN / FOX
7.1 	1080p	16:9 	WBSV3.0 	ATSC 3.0 simulcast of WBSV / ABC
9.1 	1080p	16:9 	WBPB3.0 	ATSC 3.0 simulcast of WBPB / PBS
Category:Baconville
Category:Channel 2
Category:Indiana
Category:NBC owned and operated stations
Category:NBC network affiliates
Category:NBCUniversal
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1948]]