FOX Carolina (WHNS)

FOX CAROLINA

WHNS (known on-air as Fox Carolina) is the Fox affiliate television station for western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina. Licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, it is owned by the Meredith Corporation. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF TV channel 21. Its TV studios are located just off Interstate 85 in Greenville, while its transmitter is located atop Slick Rock Mountain, five miles southeast of Brevard, North Carolina. The master control and commercial insertion has been located in the hub facility at Meredith's flagship station WGCL-TV in Atlanta, Georgia since autumn 2009.

The station began airing a 10pm newscast seven nights a week in 1996, produced by WSPA-TV and airing from that station's studios in Spartanburg. It was the first prime-time newscast in the area. Anchors and reporters would appear on both stations, but the newscast had a different identity and graphics from WSPA. In 1999, the station started its own news department. Connie LeGrand, who anchored the 10:00 p.m. newscast during the WSPA-produced era, was hired at WHNS to continue as anchor (she would later leave the station in 2004, and would later rejoin WSPA several years later).

In 2004, the station hired WSPA anchor/reporter Diana Watson, who became co-anchor of the 10:00 p.m. news.

In 2005, WHNS began airing a 4-hour local morning news show, from 5:00 a.m. until 9:00 a.m.

On May 14, 2007, Assignment Editor Joe Loy was killed while on assignment. On a local highway, he was filming the aftermath of one accident when another occurred right behind him. He managed to get it on video as a white van, possibly made out-of-control by a red pickup truck, spun towards him. Police are seeking information about the red pickup, a "vehicle of interest".

In 2009, WHNS added a 6:30 p.m. newscast to its schedule.

On February 2, 2011, WHNS began airing its newscasts in 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen along with a new set and graphics package. Although not truly high definition, the broadcasts are rescanned and upconverted from their native 480i standard definition to the signal's 720p resolution before transmission to match the aspect ratio of HD television screens. WHNS is now the only network affiliated station in this market that has not yet switched to high definition newscasts since WYFF completed its upgrade to HD on April 22, 2012.

Also in 2012, the station ended its 6:30 p.m. newscast, but started an 11:00 p.m. newscast that airs Monday through Friday.  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia