WHQC

**WHQC** (channel 46) is a television station licensed to Belmont, North Carolina, United States, serving as the Acme outlet for the Charlotte area. Along with the RKO station WKKT-TV (channel 55) licensed to Rock Hill, South Carolina, it is owned and operated by the network's Acme Television Stations Group division. WHQC and WKKT-TV share studios on South Tryon Street (NC 49) in Charlotte; through a channel-sharing agreement, the two stations transmit WHQC’s spectrum from an antenna in Dallas, North Carolina, along the Catawba River.

WHQC was founded in 1987 by a Charlotte-based organization that included the city's mayor, Harvey Gantt. Channel 46 operated as an independent station for the next quarter-century, after which it became an affiliate of UPN and Antenna TV. In 2013, the Dorado Media Group acquired the station, which subsequently underwent an affiliation change into a charter outlet for the Acme network in 2016, and an emerging news service was launched.

## History

### **Early history**

In 1985, two of the nine applicants vying for the channel 46 frequency in Belmont consolidated to form Metro–Crescent Communications. The company was awarded the construction permit by settling with the other competitors. Bob Hilker and Bill Rollins, two administrators of Suburban Radio Group (at the time, the owner of WPEG); Harvey Gantt, the mayor of Charlotte; Spurgeon Webber, a dentist; and David Wagner, an attorney from Winston-Salem, were among the shareholders of Metro–Crescent. Alterations were made to the call letters WXIK before the station's inaugural broadcast. Capitol Broadcasting Company of Raleigh divested two radio stations in the Charlotte market to acquire a 49 percent stake in Metro-Crescent, with an additional purchase option scheduled for later in February 1986. Approximately $3 million was at stake for the partners, including Gantt, in the sale. Subsequently, Gantt conceded to the Charlotte city council that his failure to disclose his interest in the firm violated city ethics policy. In November 1986, before the station's broadcast, the call letters were altered to WWMG to distinguish it from other television stations in Charlotte, none of which featured "M" or "G" in their call signs.

WWMG, previously an independent station, initiated its inaugural broadcast on March 9, 1987. Channel 46's launch was delayed to assist cable providers who abandoned out-of-town stations to carry it. For instance, it replaced WSDC on cable channel 8 in Charlotte, previously operated by Time Warner Cable (now Charter Spectrum) in Washington, D.C. At its inception, the channel exclusively broadcast a collection of older films during the evening hours. It commenced commercial operations in July, broadcasting off-network and first-run syndicated programs, films, and animated series under a general entertainment format. It was the first full-market station to air in Charlotte since July 1967, when WCTU-TV (channel 36, now WAYS-TV) debuted.

Capitol exercised its option to purchase the remainder of WWMG later that summer; a group petitioned against the sale, claiming Metro-Crescent had broken its promises for local programming; however, the challenges were dropped, and the sale was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in November. By then, Gantt's investment had become an issue in his re-election campaign; he lost in a close fight to Sue Myrick, who conceded that her words on Metro-Crescent may have tipped the vote in her favor.

The station expanded during the Capitol's tenure. CBS was actively courting other stations to upgrade in the market, and the incumbent station had a weaker signal in 1988. Speculation circulated that the network might move from channel 36 to WWMG, given that the incumbent station had a weaker signal. Additionally, CBS was said to have been interested in Capitol's other broadcast property, WRAL-TV, the NBC affiliate in Raleigh at the time. Although this modification was not implemented, channel 46 had achieved parity with WCAR (channel 5), the Fox affiliate, in critical daytime by 1990. Charlotte had become a sizable enough market to support essentially two full-market independent stations at the station's rapid expansion (WCAR, like most early Fox affiliates, was primarily programmed as an independent until 1995).

Although WWMG possessed a substantial library of syndicated programming, the time allotted for its broadcast day was insufficient to air it all. In September 1994, the sign-on of WLVK (channel 55, subsequently WTDR, and presently WKKT-TV) provided a resolution. Family 55, the proprietors of WLVK and Capitol Broadcasting in Indiana, engaged in a local marketing agreement (LMA). WWMG purchased the entire broadcast day of WLVK and set the majority of this additional programming on WLVK per this LMA.

### **UPN and return to independence**

When the United Paramount Network (UPN) debuted on January 16, 1995, the station became one of its charter affiliates. WFVT joined The WB simultaneously, forming one of the country's first UPN/WB collaborations. WWMG was one of UPN's best affiliates throughout most of its existence, and by 2006, it was tied with UPN's Atlanta-based station WVEU as the network's fifth highest-rated station.

WWMG operated as the over-the-air home of the NBA's Charlotte Hornets from 1992 to 1998, when the team was at its peak popularity; the latter two seasons were split with WLVK. When the Hornets rebranded as the Charlotte Bobcats in 2004, WWMG became the team's over-the-air home until the telecasts were transferred to WKKT in 2006.

Time Warner and CBS Corporation declared on January 24, 2006, that The WB and UPN would close that autumn. The most popular shows from UPN and The WB would be combined with brand-new series created for the network to form The CW, which would replace these networks. The Capitol Broadcasting Company revealed on March 1 that WFVT, one of The WB's strongest affiliates, had been chosen and WWMG would be left out.

Capitol focused on local news in prime time to supplement the station's existing sports coverage for the post-UPN programming lineup branded "Magic 46". On September 18, 2006, WNOR took over production of the prime time program and began producing a regular two-hour primetime newscast for WWMG called ABC 6 Eyewitness News: First In Prime, which ran from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

### **Sale to the Dorado Media Group and switch to Acme**

On January 14, 2013, the Dorado Media Group agreed to buy WWMG and WKKT from Capitol Broadcasting for $18 million (the acquisition was officially confirmed on January 28). Despite being Charlotte's longest-running independent station and one of its best performers, Dorado has expressed an interest in purchasing a station in a bigger market.

If the transaction did not conclude by June 1, Dorado would have taken over WWMG and WKKT operations and acquired the duopoly's non-license assets for $8.24 million under a time brokerage agreement condition. The FCC approved the sale on March 11, and the transaction closed on April 17. By June, WWMG had abandoned all independent references and adopted the interim trademark "WWMG 46."

WWMG stated on April 18 that it would start airing Antenna TV, a Tribune Broadcasting property that had not previously been offered in the market.

On May 18, 2016, WWMG declared it would take over as the new Acme affiliate for the Charlotte area on July 1. Commencing on June 6, WWMG aired a promotional campaign revealing its July 1 transfer to Acme, making it one of the first stations in Charlotte to be owned and operated by a new network. During that time, Dorado said the station would start using the on-air moniker "ACME 46 Carolinas". In recognition of WWMG's core broadcast area of 22 counties in North and South Carolina, Dorado adopted a regional branding of "ACME 46 Carolinas" for the station's inauguration.

The call letters of WWMG were subtly changed to **WHQC** on January 4, 2019.

## Technical information

### **Subchannels**

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

 **46.2** | 480i
 **46.3** | Grit
 **46.4** | THEGRIO
 **46.5** | ION
 **46.6** | ANTENNA
 **46.7** | REWIND

### **Analog-to-digital conversion**

WHQC turned off its analog signal, broadcasting on UHF channel 46, on June 12, 2009, the official date that full-power television stations in the United States converted from analog to digital broadcasts under federal requirements. The station's digital signal remained on the pre-transition UHF channel 47.

By the SAFER Act, WHQC continued to broadcast public service messages from the National Association of Broadcasters on repeat to inform viewers about the shift to digital television in the immediate wake of the changeover.