WECT
 
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Wilmington, North Carolina United States |
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| Branding | WECT (general) WECT News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | Where news comes first |
| Channels |
Digital: 44 (UHF) Virtual: 6 () |
| Subchannels | 6.1 NBC 6.2 Bounce TV 6.3 Escape |
| Owner |
Raycom Media (WECT License Subsidiary, LLC) |
| First air date | April 9, 1954 |
| Call letters' meaning | W Eastern Carolina Television |
| Sister station(s) | WSFX-TV |
| Former callsigns | WMFD-TV (1954–1958) |
| Former channel number(s) | 6 (VHF analog, 1954–2008) |
| Former affiliations |
DuMont (1954–1956) ABC (1954–1964) CBS (1954–1970s) all secondary |
| Transmitter power | 710 kW |
| Height | 590 metres (1,936 feet) |
| Facility ID | 48666 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 34°7′53″N 78°11′17″W / 34.13139°N 78.18806°W |
| Website | www |
WECT, channel 6, is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Wilmington, North Carolina, USA. WECT is owned by Raycom Media; the station also operates Fox affiliate WSFX-TV (channel 26), owned by American Spirit Media, through a shared services agreement (SSA). The two outlets share studios on Shipyard Boulevard in Wilmington, and WECT's transmitter facilities are located near Winnabow, North Carolina.
As the first television station in Wilmington, it began broadcasting on April 9, 1954 with the call sign WMFD-TV. It aired an analog signal on VHF channel 6 from a transmitter near Delco. The television station was co-owned with WMFD 630 AM. In 1958, the station's calls changed to the current WECT. The WMFD-TV call letters are now used by an independent television station in Mansfield, Ohio.
At its launch, channel 6 was affiliated with all four networks of the day—NBC, CBS, DuMont and ABC. However, it has always been a primary NBC affiliate. It lost DuMont when that network went silent in 1956. The station finally got local competition in 1964 when WWAY signed on. However, WWAY opted to affiliate with the much weaker ABC, forcing WECT to shoehorn NBC and CBS onto its schedule until the 1970s. It primarily carried CBS soap operas and CBS' Sunday afternoon NFL coverage. At one point, this station was carried on cable systems in the Triangle region of North Carolina (Raleigh, Durham, Fayetteville, and Chapel Hill) for a time when NBC did not have a full-time affiliate in that market. At one time, WECT had a Fayetteville news bureau.
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