WCCB (channel 18) is a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with The CW.

[5] Channel 36 had a very weak 132,000-watt signal which was spotty further than 10 miles (16 km) from the transmitter, making it virtually unviewable even in some parts of Mecklenburg County.

Television set manufacturers were not required to include UHF tuners at the time; this would not change until Congress passed the All-Channel Receiver Act in 1964.

As a result, it made almost no headway against CBS affiliate WBTV (channel 3), which continued to cherry-pick certain NBC programs.

The station went dark on March 15, 1955, in what was intended to be a temporary hiatus while it underwent technical improvements, including the construction of a more powerful transmitter at a new location.

[7] Deadwyler organized Century Advertising Co., Inc., which planned to relaunch channel 36 in 1957 as ABC affiliate WUTV, with a more powerful signal than its predecessor.

[8] However, these plans were derailed when Charlotte's second VHF station, WSOC-TV (channel 9), signed on the air that April as an NBC affiliate.

[9] The station broadcast non-commercial educational programming from the University of North Carolina and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, though it retained a commercial license.

[12] While channel 36 might have remained on air until the school board was ready to launch WTVI, Century Advertising decided to ask the educational groups to pay rent in early 1963 after having initially verbally agreed to a three-year rent-free contract.

In June 1964, businessman Cy Bahakel—who moved from Roanoke, Virginia, to Charlotte—bought the dormant channel 36 license and facilities from Century for $175,000.

However, WCCB's signal, like its predecessor, was nowhere near adequate for a market that stretched from the Sandhills in the east to the High Country in the west.

[20] The new channel 18 facility was capable of 1.35 million watts of power, giving WCCB a coverage area comparable to those of WBTV and WSOC-TV.

However, despite the stronger signal and the first consistent airing of all network programs in Charlotte TV history, WCCB-TV remained a distant third in the ratings.

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

That decision set off a two-station showdown between WCCB and nine-year-old independent WRET-TV (channel 36, now WCNC-TV) for the NBC affiliation in Charlotte.

[23] 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.

[24] However, WRET owner Ted Turner promised NBC officials that he would spend $2.5 million on station improvements if the network affiliated with channel 36.

For a time in the late 1970s and early 1980s, after-school cartoons (Afternoon Express) were hosted by the costumed Sonic Man space alien character, played by Larry Sprinkle, who has been a staple in Charlotte radio and television, including serving as a weather anchor for channel 36 since the 1980s.

In 1986, WCCB became the last station in a top-50 market to join Fox as one of the upstart network's charter affiliates, since it was doing so well in the ratings as an independent.

The station reaped a major windfall after the NFL moved its National Football Conference television package from CBS to Fox in 1994.

WCCB was Charlotte's home of first-run episodes of The Simpsons from its December 1989 debut as a Christmas special until the station's Fox disaffiliation in 2013.

That summer, WSOC-TV relocated its prime time newscast to its sister independent station WAXN-TV (channel 64).

[38] After WCCB became a CW affiliate on July 1, 2013, it retained its weekday morning and nightly prime time newscasts.

The second subchannel was removed in December 2013, as well as the SAP/DVS feed from the main channel which was unused at that time by The CW (it has since returned due to FCC description and weather warning read-out requirements, along with it being utilized by The CW for One Magnificent Morning and a Spanish dub of Jane the Virgin); digital subchannel 18.2 would return in April 2014 carrying QVC's "Over the Air" simulcast service.

On July 21, 2014, it was announced that Antenna TV would be added to the second subchannel on August 15, 2014, bringing it back to the Charlotte market after being dropped by its previous affiliate WJZY.