WPDE's launch offered a second option of newscasts from WBTW. This is in part because that station essentially had the area to itself for over a quarter-century with the only real competition being Grade B signals from WECT in Wilmington and Columbia's WIS (both affiliates of NBC). Like the other two stations in the market, the news operation is split in two, with the majority of staff members working out of the Conway studios and a small bureau based on South Floyd Drive in Florence to cover the inland portion of the region.įor most of its history, WBTW was the dominant station in Florence/Myrtle Beach according to local Nielsen ratings. Staff members also produce and anchor up to one hour of news per day for Savannah-based WTGS, which has a Georgia-based team of reporters and a weekday meteorologist. WPDE currently broadcasts 31½ hours of news per week (including 5½ hours each weekday and three hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). Syndicated programming on WPDE-TV includes Entertainment Tonight, The Good Dish, and Judge Judy among others. Stadium moved from the fourth subchannel to WWMB's third subchannel, where it had previously been located before moving to WPDE. The Weather Authority moved to the fourth subchannel, and Dabl moved from the fifth subchannel (which was dropped) to WWMB's main channel and was upgraded to high definition. On September 20, 2021, the CW affiliation and "CW 21" branding from WWMB moved to WPDE's second subchannel. On February 28, 2013, Barrington announced the sale of its entire group, including WPDE-TV, to Sinclair Broadcast Group. To serve viewers without cable in Myrtle Beach, in the 1990s, WPDE-TV operated translator W68BZ (later WPDE-LP). In Myrtle Beach and Horry County, WPDE-TV competed with WWAY, the ABC affiliate in Wilmington, North Carolina WWAY operated a Horry County news bureau until 1989, when it was closed owing to the ratings reclassification of Horry County from the Wilmington media market to that of Florence. WPDE's broadcasts became digital-only, effective June 12, 2009.ĭuring the analog era, WPDE's over-the-air signal was spotty at best in much of the market, as was typical with most UHF stations at the time. WPDE was purchased by Barrington Broadcasting in 2006. Citing interest from buyers, Diversified again put the station on the market in 2000. In 1993, it sought to sell the station as part of a liquidation of some assets general manager Bill Christian reached an agreement to purchase it, but the deal fell through in 1994 after he could not put together financing. ĭiversified had put WPDE-TV up for sale on two occasions. In 2001, the station announced that it would move its Myrtle Beach employees and newscast production to a new facility in Conway which had previously housed bank offices. By 2000, more than half of its 70 employees were working in leased studio space there. Over the course of the 1990s, the station shifted more and more resources toward the Myrtle Beach area. In May 1985, Diversified Communications of Portland, Maine, acquired WPDE-TV for $14.5 million. WBTW, a CBS affiliate, had aired some ABC programs prior to the second station's launch. It was the first new commercial TV station in South Carolina since WCIV-TV started in Charleston in 1962 and the first for Florence since 1954. The station was projected to provide ABC programming to 750,000 people that were unserved by that network. It gave Florence its second commercial television station after WBTW (channel 13) and its only ABC network service. At the time, the area served by the station was so rural that it was able to apply for a loan from the Farmers Home Administration, which lent nearly $2 million for the construction of studios in the former Florence Civic Coliseum on Cashua Drive and a 2,000-foot (610 m) tower at Dillon. The FCC granted the application on March 15, 1979, issuing a construction permit to WPDE-TV on March 15, 1979. On June 24, 1978, Eastern Carolinas Broadcasting, a group of primarily local investors, applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a new television station on channel 15 in Florence. Both stations share studios on University Boulevard in Conway, while WPDE-TV's transmitter is located on Pee Dee Church Road in Floydale, South Carolina. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which also operates Dabl affiliate WWMB (channel 21, also licensed to Florence) under a shared services agreement (SSA) with owner Howard Stirk Holdings. WPDE-TV (channel 15) is a television station licensed to Florence, South Carolina, United States, serving the Pee Dee and Grand Strand regions of South Carolina and affiliated with ABC and The CW.
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