Local NBC Station’s Arrival Drawing Closer
The only thing that’s kept the Myrtle Beach media market from being “complete,” so to speak, has been the lack of an NBC network television affiliate. That all changes in 2008, when Raycom brings WMBF to the Grand Strand by late next summer.
"We're creating a business and trying to attract an audience amidst some entrenched stations in the market," says Raycom chief Paul McTear in this recent Broadcast Newsroom profile. "It's no easy job."
Among McTear’s many media coups has been launching the Television Food Network, which later became the Food Network and provide the stage for celebrated chefs Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batali to become television stars in their own right. As you read this piece and get a better understanding of McTear’s vision and strategies over the years, you come away feeling good about the prospects for Raycom’s success in the Myrtle Beach market.
Interestingly enough, WMBF will go on-air without an analog signal, joining the growing trend of U.S. television stations that air only in digital format. And no offense to our neighbor media markets in Wilmington and Columbia, whose NBC affiliates have been filling our local market void for some time now, but it’ll be nice to finally have one to call our own.
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