WYSC (digital channel 13, virtual channel 18) is an Independent station serving the Columbia, South Carolina market. WYSC is owned and operated by Atlantic South Communications.
History[]
WYSC signed on for the first time on November 7, 1968, and was initially an independent station. In the stations first few years, operated daily from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. offering locally-produced entertainment, lifestyle, religious, and children's programs, some local news programs as well as some public domain movies. By the mid-late 70's, WYSC extended its hours of operation and added off-network reruns, cartoons, and better movies to its lineup (typical general entertainment independent fare by this time) in addition to pre-existing local and religious programs. The station kept this schedule well into the 80's with some changes from time to time, such as the addition of some music videos to the lineup in 1985, which would be removed in 1994, then brought back in 2010. The station had hoped to acquire the Fox affiliation for that market when that station launched in 1986. However, this never happened. The station maintained a secondary affiliation with the Financial News Network (FNN) from 1981 until 1985, when FNN transitioned to cable-only operations before ceasing operations altogether in 1991.
WYSC wouldn't see a full network affiliation until 1995 when it became a charter affiliate of the United Paramount Network, or UPN. Around this time, the station began adding more first-run syndicated talk and reality programs and reducing the amount of classic sitcoms and dramas. Interestingly, the station continued to keep the same amount of cartoons (even with the "18 Kids Club" banner introduced in the late-1980's intact until 2005) until a few years after UPN ceased operations.
In 1996, the station added programming from all-request music video channel The Box. Programming ran from 10 p.m. (immediately following UPN programming) until 6 a.m. the next morning. During commercial breaks outside of The Box's time slot, WYSC would air the typical music video request menus as well as a special telephone number. Viewers would then be asked to call that number at any time to put in the three-digit code for the music videos they wanted to be played (viewers were allowed to pick up to 3 videos at a time), which would then be queued up to be played when The Box's programming began. The Box programming was removed when that network ceased operations in 2001, and syndicated programming and routine sign-offs returned to that network's former time slot.
WYSC was acquired by Roanoke, Virginia-based Atlantic South Communications, Inc. (then-GV Media Properties) in 1998. Not long after, the station signed on its digital signal originally on channel 56. After UPN merged with The WB to become The CW in 2006, WYSC returned to being an independent station once again.
Digital Television[]
| Channel | Picture Format | Aspect Ratio | PSIP Short Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WYSC-HD | Main programming |
| 18.2 | 480i | WYSC-XT | XTV | |
| 18.3 | WYSC-CH | Charge! | ||
| 18.4 | WYSC-CZ | Cozi TV |
WYSC carried TheCoolTV on its second digital subchannel from 2010 until it ceased operations in 2017, when it was replaced with Charge!. The Works was available on its third digital subchannel from 2015 until it also ceased operations 2017, when it was replaced with Cozi TV.
On August 15, 2017, WYSC moved its Charge! affiliation to its third digital subchannel and its Cozi affiliation to a new fourth subchannel. WYSC-DT2 became Columbia's affiliate of XTV when that network launched on September 17.
WYSC's broadcasts are digital-only as of June 11, 2009. Its digital signal was moved from channel 56 to channel 13 a month prior.
Programming[]
Syndicated programming on WYSC includes Funny You Should Ask, Mom, Jerry Springer, and Last Man Standing among others. To meet the FCC's mandated E/I children's programming requirements, WYSC carries Litton Entertainment's syndicated Go Time block Tuesdays through Thursdays following the morning newscast. WYSC airs hour-long music video blocks under the 18 Video Jukebox banner. WYSC airs movies on the weekends under the Theater 18 banner. WYSC continues to regularly sign off on Saturdays and Sundays at 3:00 am, and resuming operations at 4:30 am.
WYSC aired the syndicated KidsClick block until it was discontinued in 2019, at which point the Saturday morning timeslot was taken by Kids' WB.
News Operation[]
When the station first signed on in 1968, WYSC did offer a small scale news operation that consisted of a few full-length newscasts during the day and a few news updates outside of that time. Eventually, WYSC's news offerings were eventually reduced to just the periodic news updates before all news was quietly discontinued by the end of the 1970's due to budget issues.
WYSC launched its current news operation in February 2007. Originally, it only consisted of a 10:00 p.m. newscast seen for one hour seven nights a week. In 2009, a weekday morning newscast from 7:00-9:00 a.m. was added. This was followed by a half-hour noon newscast in 2011, followed by an hour-long 4:00 p.m. newscast in 2014. In 2015, the morning newscast was extended to Saturdays, but without the 9:00 a.m. hour. The noon, 4:00, and 7:00 p.m. newscasts were extended to Saturdays in 2016, and then added on Sundays later that year. To date, the morning newscast is the only newscast that doesn't air on Sundays.
WYSC began broadcasting its news in HD on April 5, 2008.
Former logos[]
1998-2004[]
2004-2015[]
