Call Centers Buzzing in Wilmington

NBC affiliate WECT-TV Wilmington (NC) may win the prize for most upset viewers on day one of the transition to digital-only broadcasting. Raycom Media's WECT had 82 calls by 5:30 p.m. General manager Gary McNair, who told B&C a few weeks back that he'd be "completely surprised" if the shutdown wasn't a slam-dunk, said the bulk of them were probably viewers who lived close to the station's analog transmitter, which is no longer functioning. He was surprised to hear the number of callers to the various call centers, but he was confident that the kinks would work out over time. "I'd venture to say that, given the right equipment, you can pick up our signal anywhere in the market," he added. "Now it's the education process for those who didn't get it." Louis Signals, the Federal Communications Commission's program manager for the Wilmington test, had no comment on the volume of calls, saying that those numbers were being collected back in Washington.