WBXX-TV
Encyclopedia
WBXX-TV is the CW
-affiliated television station
for Eastern Tennessee licensed to Crossville
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 20 from a transmitter in unincorporated
Southwestern Anderson County
. The station can also be seen on Comcast
and Knology
channel 7 as well as Charter
channel 12. Owned by the Lockwood Broadcasting Group
, WBXX has studios on Cogdill Road in unincorporated Western Knox County
. Syndicated
programming on the station includes How I Met Your Mother
, Family Guy
and King of the Hill
, among others.
Charter does not currently offer WBXX-TV in HD yet, only SD.
from the ground up (KWBQ
in Albuquerque, New Mexico
was also signed on by ACME but its construction permit originally belonged to another entity). Originally branded as "WB20," WBXX was primarily an affiliate of The WB Television Network
from its sign-on until 2006, though it did run select UPN
programming during 2001 and 2002 as that network did not have a Knoxville affiliate at the time.
WBXX was consistently one of the highest-rated WB stations in the country, and was recognized as such by The WB network. WBXX rebranded as "East Tennessee's WB" in September 2003, and later became "East Tennessee's CW" in 2006, when the station took affiliation with The CW Television Network
. WBXX rebranded again, to its current "CW20" moniker, in August 2008.
WBXX is the only full-powered Knoxville-market station to be licensed in a city in the Central Time Zone
; Cumberland County (where Crossville is located) and Fentress County are the two counties in the Knoxville market that observe Central Time, one hour earlier than Knoxville, in Eastern Time
. However, while national CW programming is promoted with both Eastern and Central Time listings, WBXX local programming is promoted with only Eastern Time listings. In February 2011, ACME Communications announced a deal to sell the station to Virginia
-based Lockwood Broadcasting Group.
The sale was approved by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) on March 21 with the consummation being completed on May 6. From 1998 until 2004, the station aired a series of interstitials during childrens' programming called "WB 20 Kids Club" (later "Dubba Clubba") hosted by comedian
Jackson Bailey (known as "Joe Cool"). The interstitials featured information and contests to viewers in several vignettes each weekday covering topics such as science, biology, conservation, music, and pet care.
from 6 until 9. The program is produced by ACME Communications, and during the company's ownership of this station, there were local weather cut-ins focusing on the Knoxville area. It is unknown if these updates are still provided with WBXX's ownership change to Lockwood. At one point in time, NBC
affiliate WBIR-TV
(owned by the Gannett Company
) began producing a nightly newscast on this station through an outsourcing agreement.
Known as 10 News at 10, the broadcast only aired for twelve minutes in an abbreviated format featuring the day's top stories along with an updated weather forecast. The broadcast originated from WBIR's facility on Hutchinson Avenue in Knoxville's Lincoln Park
section (official address is Bill Williams Avenue). It was offered as an alternative to Fox affiliate WTNZ
which had nightly local news produced by ABC
affiliate WATE-TV
. In early-March 2011, WTNZ terminated its news share agreement with WATE after entering into another contract with WBIR. As a result, the latter station stopped producing the nightly update for WBXX.
On August 1, 2011, WATE (owned by New Young Broadcasting) returned to the prime time newscast race with a new nightly 35 minute broadcast on WBXX (known on-air as The CW 20 News at 10) through another outsourcing agreement. Corresponding with the addition, WATE/WBXX will upgrade to high definition newscasts later in the fall becoming the third local news operation in Knoxville to make the change. The CW 20 News at 10 originates from WATE's studios in Camp House
on North Broadway Northeast/SR 33/SR 71
/US 441
in the city's Old North Knoxville
section
Reporters
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
for Eastern Tennessee licensed to Crossville
Crossville, Tennessee
Crossville is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 10,795 at the 2010 Census.-Geography:Crossville is located at...
. It broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
digital signal on UHF channel 20 from a transmitter in unincorporated
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
Southwestern Anderson County
Anderson County, Tennessee
Anderson County is a U.S. county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, its population is 75,129. Its county seat is Clinton.It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee, Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
. The station can also be seen on Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
and Knology
Knology
Knology Inc. is a cable company that formed in 1994 by ITC Holding Company, Inc, a telecommunications holding company in West Point, Georgia that also founded Internet service provider Mindspring. In late 1994, shortly after Knology's inception, two employees made a $600,000 investment to make...
channel 7 as well as Charter
Charter Communications
Charter Communications is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 4.7 million customers in 25 states. By revenues, it is the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, behind Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications...
channel 12. Owned by the Lockwood Broadcasting Group
Lockwood Broadcasting Group
Lockwood Broadcasting Group is a television broadcasting company that owns four television stations. Three stations are CW affiliates. The third is a NBC affiliate which carries The CW and ABC on digital subchannels....
, WBXX has studios on Cogdill Road in unincorporated Western Knox County
Knox County, Tennessee
Knox County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Its 2007 population was estimated at 423,874 by the United States Census Bureau. Its county seat is Knoxville, as it has been since the creation of the county. The county is at the geographical center of the Great Valley of East Tennessee...
. Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programming on the station includes How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
, Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
and King of the Hill
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
, among others.
Digital Television
| Channel | Video | Aspect | Programming | Cable Channel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | Main WBXX-TV programming / The CW | Comcast 435 Knology 907 |
Charter does not currently offer WBXX-TV in HD yet, only SD.
History
WBXX began operation in October 1997; the station is the only one that was ever built by ACME CommunicationsACME Communications
ACME Communications is a United States-based television broadcasting company. The company was co-founded by current Chairman and former CEO Jamie Kellner, who previously served as a Fox Television Network executive and was founding CEO of The WB Television Network. Kellner used the name Acme as a...
from the ground up (KWBQ
KWBQ
KWBQ is a television station on ATSC channel 29 licensed to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in addition to serving most of the state, such as Albuquerque and Roswell . It is the market's affiliate of The CW...
in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
was also signed on by ACME but its construction permit originally belonged to another entity). Originally branded as "WB20," WBXX was primarily an affiliate of The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
from its sign-on until 2006, though it did run select UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
programming during 2001 and 2002 as that network did not have a Knoxville affiliate at the time.
WBXX was consistently one of the highest-rated WB stations in the country, and was recognized as such by The WB network. WBXX rebranded as "East Tennessee's WB" in September 2003, and later became "East Tennessee's CW" in 2006, when the station took affiliation with The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
. WBXX rebranded again, to its current "CW20" moniker, in August 2008.
WBXX is the only full-powered Knoxville-market station to be licensed in a city in the Central Time Zone
Central Time zone
In North America, the Central Time Zone refers to national time zones which observe standard time by subtracting six hours from UTC , and daylight saving, or summer time by subtracting five hours...
; Cumberland County (where Crossville is located) and Fentress County are the two counties in the Knoxville market that observe Central Time, one hour earlier than Knoxville, in Eastern Time
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
. However, while national CW programming is promoted with both Eastern and Central Time listings, WBXX local programming is promoted with only Eastern Time listings. In February 2011, ACME Communications announced a deal to sell the station to Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
-based Lockwood Broadcasting Group.
The sale was approved by the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) on March 21 with the consummation being completed on May 6. From 1998 until 2004, the station aired a series of interstitials during childrens' programming called "WB 20 Kids Club" (later "Dubba Clubba") hosted by comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
Jackson Bailey (known as "Joe Cool"). The interstitials featured information and contests to viewers in several vignettes each weekday covering topics such as science, biology, conservation, music, and pet care.
Newscasts
On weekday mornings, WBXX airs the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily BuzzThe Daily Buzz
The Daily Buzz is a nationally syndicated breakfast television news and infotainment program. The show is produced by Fisher Communications and is owned and distributed by ACME Communications; it is broadcast every weekday morning from studios at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida...
from 6 until 9. The program is produced by ACME Communications, and during the company's ownership of this station, there were local weather cut-ins focusing on the Knoxville area. It is unknown if these updates are still provided with WBXX's ownership change to Lockwood. At one point in time, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate WBIR-TV
WBIR-TV
WBIR-TV, channel 10, is the NBC affiliate television station in Knoxville, Tennessee. The station is licensed to the Gannett Pacific Corporation, a subsidiary of the Gannett Company...
(owned by the Gannett Company
Gannett Company
Gannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, near McLean. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today and the weekly USA Weekend...
) began producing a nightly newscast on this station through an outsourcing agreement.
Known as 10 News at 10, the broadcast only aired for twelve minutes in an abbreviated format featuring the day's top stories along with an updated weather forecast. The broadcast originated from WBIR's facility on Hutchinson Avenue in Knoxville's Lincoln Park
Lincoln Park, Knoxville
Lincoln Park, sometimes referred to as Oakwood-Lincoln Park, is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee. It extends from Interstate 275 North to Broadway and from Sharp's Ridge to Woodlawn Avenue. This neighborhood also includes the Oakwood neighborhood...
section (official address is Bill Williams Avenue). It was offered as an alternative to Fox affiliate WTNZ
WTNZ
WTNZ is the Fox-affiliated television station for Eastern Tennessee licensed to Knoxville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter on Sharp's Ridge in the city's Arlington section. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 11 and in high definition...
which had nightly local news produced by ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate WATE-TV
WATE-TV
WATE-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Eastern Tennessee licensed to Knoxville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 26 from a transmitter on Sharp's Ridge in North Knoxville. The station can also be seen on Charter channel 6 as well as Comcast and Knology...
. In early-March 2011, WTNZ terminated its news share agreement with WATE after entering into another contract with WBIR. As a result, the latter station stopped producing the nightly update for WBXX.
On August 1, 2011, WATE (owned by New Young Broadcasting) returned to the prime time newscast race with a new nightly 35 minute broadcast on WBXX (known on-air as The CW 20 News at 10) through another outsourcing agreement. Corresponding with the addition, WATE/WBXX will upgrade to high definition newscasts later in the fall becoming the third local news operation in Knoxville to make the change. The CW 20 News at 10 originates from WATE's studios in Camp House
Camp House
Greystone, also called the Camp House, is a prominent historic home in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is an imposing structure, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The mansion is located at 1306 Broadway....
on North Broadway Northeast/SR 33/SR 71
Tennessee State Route 71
State Route 71 is a north–south state highway in Tennessee. For most of the length it is a "hidden" route, as it coincides with U.S. Route 441 in all but a short section in Knoxville. The road begins at the North Carolina state line in Sevier County within the Great Smoky Mountains National...
/US 441
U.S. Route 441
U.S. Route 441 is a spur route of U.S. Route 41. It currently runs for 939 miles from U.S. Route 41 in Miami, Florida to U.S. Route 25W in Lake City, Tennessee. Between its termini, US 441 passes through the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee...
in the city's Old North Knoxville
Old North Knoxville
Old North Knoxville is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, located just north of the city's downtown area. Initially established as the town of North Knoxville in the late-19th century, the area was a prominent suburb for Knoxville's upper middle and professional classes until the 1950s...
section
News team
Anchors- Kristin Farley - weeknight anchor
- Jill McNeal - weekend anchor
- Matt Hinkin (CBMCertified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast Meteorologist is a rating for meteorologists given by the American Meteorological Society.The Certified Broadcast Meteorologist program was established to raise the professional standard in broadcast meteorology and encourage a broader range of scientific understanding,...
and NWANational Weather AssociationThe National Weather Association is an American professional association with a mission to support and promote excellence in operational meteorology and related activities...
Seals of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist seen weeknights - Ken Weathers - weekend meteorologist
- Jim Wogan - weeknight sports
- Fallon Smith - weekend sports
- Prentice Elliott - sports reporter
Reporters
- Erica Estep - education and special projects
- Don Dare - consumer and "Food for Thought" reporter
- Lori Tucker - medical reporter
- Hana Kim - fill-in news anchor
- Josh Ault - reporter
- Mona Nair - reporter
- Jamie Lynn Drohan - reporter
External links
- WBXX-TV "The CW 20"
- WATE-TV (can be entered into web-enabled mobile device for wireless access)