the only exceptions were kyw-tv and wpcq. kyw-tv had been one of westinghouse's (and nbc's) crown jewels for many years, but faltered in the late 1970s and eventually became nbc's weakest major-market affiliate by the mid-1980s. westinghouse found no success in the charlotte market, as wpcq remained an also-ran during its group w years. despite the record purchase price, group w ran the station on a shoestring budget. under group w, wpcq had a marginal signal, a minimal local news presence and a program schedule more typical of an independent station, with a large number of cartoons and second-hand syndicated programming. wpcq was also a uhf network affiliate competing against two long-established network stations on vhf. it also had to deal with three longer-established nbc affiliates, on vhf channels from nearby cities, that were also available over-the-air in large parts of the charlotte market. westinghouse was able to escape charlotte when it sold wpcq (now wcnc-tv) to odyssey television partners (later to become renaissance broadcasting) in 1985. the subpar performance of kyw-tv and wpcq was particularly embarrassing for nbc, as it came during a very prosperous period for the network as a whole.