WATU-TV was a profitable operation; in comparison, debts incurred in starting WCTU-TV would prompt Twisdale to shelve his Memphis and Richmond plans.

[18] Stating that "we feel there have been combined forces which hinder our operation", Twisdale foreshadowed a years-long antitrust case against the Jefferson-Pilot Corporation, owner of WBTV, which was not fully dismissed until 1977.

[24] One Saturday morning in February 1972, Turner appeared on the station to appeal for contributions from viewers, saying that channel 36 had not broken even since he had purchased it.

[26] WRET-TV became a typical UHF independent, airing a lineup of cartoons, sitcoms, older movies, and a heavy slate of sporting events.

[31] By 1975, buoyed by a stronger film library, WRET-TV had emerged as the country's fifth-best independent station of 65 nationwide in audience share, per an analysis by Television/Radio Age, and was making a profit.

While Turner preferred to uplink his Atlanta flagship, by then renamed, WRET-TV was a backup in the event that the Federal Communications Commission did not relax rules that prevented the existence of superstations in top-25 television markets.

[38] In 1977, ABC announced that it had lured longtime NBC affiliate WSOC-TV to be its new outlet in the Charlotte market beginning July 1, 1978, replacing WCCB-TV.

[40] Sources at NBC were said to see channel 36 as their last option behind WCCB, with its stronger signal, and long-dominant WBTV, which the network was trying to woo from CBS to no avail.

Of that total, $1 million would go towards starting a full scale news department within one year; the proposed expansion would employ 22 people, compared to 26 at WSOC and 12 at WCCB.

[49] On May 16, 1979, the sale of WRET-TV to Westinghouse Broadcasting (also known as Group W) was announced for $20 million, setting a then-record for a single UHF television station.

[50] The news of a purchase by Group W, owner of regarded television and radio stations in other cities, was initially met with glee by the WRET-TV staff.

[51] Final approval of the sale was secured at the end of April 1980, when Westinghouse agreed to furnish $400,000 in grants and affirmative action programs in exchange for the withdrawal of a license renewal challenge by local civil rights groups; the Federal Communications Commission did find in their favor when it said the station did not employ enough minorities, renewing WRET-TV's license for a half-term of 18 months.

In August 1982, the station made another programming change, this time attracting considerable national attention: it dropped its low-rated early evening newscast.

[63][61] Even Westinghouse's own productions were not guaranteed an audience on the station; after two years of WPCQ-TV airing Hour Magazine, it moved to WBTV in 1982.

[69] Odyssey Partners, a New York investment partnership headed by Michael Finkelstein, acquired WPCQ-TV in 1984 after four years of Westinghouse ownership.

[72] Later that year, talk began of the potential return of local newscasts when station general manager Stan Rudick said that channel 36 was conducting market research on the idea.

[75] Following a $2 million investment, 5:30 and 11 p.m. news programs began airing September 8, 1986, anchored by former Atlanta newsman John McKnight and Karen Adams.

In 1987, the station bought land north of Dallas to build a new tower near those owned by WBTV and newly built WJZY[79] and filed to increase power to the maximum 5 million watts.

[88] The station also built new studios, costing $6.5 million,[89] on Billy Graham Parkway in the Wood Ridge office complex, where it would be joined by the new headquarters of the NBC News Channel affiliate service,[90][91] which general manager John Hayes had successfully lured to Charlotte.

[93] Beginning in 1996, the station was branded on-air as "NBC 6", in reference to its cable channel location; it quietly shed that moniker to go by its call letters in 2004, seeking to avoid potential confusion in ratings diaries.

[94] Two veteran anchors are gone, news ratings are perennially low and national consultants say the NBC affiliate is among the network's most dubious underachievers.

[97] Under new general manager Richard Keilty, WCNC lured Sonja Gantt, formerly of WBTV, back to the market from a stint in Chicago.

[99] The next year, Ray Boylan, a longtime meteorologist at WSOC-TV, unretired and did on-air reports on WCNC, while the station also hired Terri Bennett, who had been in the running to replace him on channel 9 but was passed over.

[100] However, not all of the talent changes made were positively received; the ouster of Beatrice Thompson, who had been Charlotte's first full-time Black anchor at WBTV in the 1980s, led to protests by some viewers who felt she had been forced out because of her race.

[102] The station showed momentum in local news ratings in the early 2000s, particularly in mornings and at 11,[103] and between 2000 and 2002, it produced a 10 p.m. newscast for WB affiliate WFVT-TV.

[105] In 2008, after referring to itself simply with its call letters and using the slogan "Carolinas' News Connection", WCNC changed its branding to "NewsChannel 36", citing its over-the-air channel number and the coming arrival of digital television.

[109] Investments made by Gannett in WCNC after the Belo purchase included the conversion of newscasts to high definition and a new computer system for the newsroom.

[112] After a solid, if low-rated, start under Turner's watch,[46] the news department was severely hamstrung by Group W's bargain-basement approach to running the station.

After WCCB's in-house news operation launched in 2000, WCNC began airing a 10 p.m. newscast on WB affiliate WWWB (channel 55, now WMYT-TV), which ran until the program was canceled due to low ratings in 2002.

[120] On May 18, 2009, WCNC began broadcasting its local newscasts in 16:9 widescreen standard definition; this change came alongside the revamping of the station's on-air news graphics.