WCWJ
Encyclopedia
WCWJ is the CW
-affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida
and Brunswick, Georgia
. The station is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc.
. Its transmitter is located in Jacksonville.
affiliate on February 19, 1966. Jacksonville had to wait longer for full network service than other cities of its size. This is because the surrounding suburbs and rural areas are smaller than the city itself.
On January 1, 1980, WJKS and WTLV
switched networks with WTLV taking ABC and WJKS picking up NBC. This lasted until April 3, 1988 when WJKS and WTLV switched back to their original network affiliations.
Media General
acquired WJKS from Ziff Davis
in October 1982; it was the second television station in the Media General chain (Tampa
's WFLA-TV
was the first).
WJKS started a small news operation in its second year. Newscasts were called "WJKS-TV News" "Pulse News," "NewsWatch 17," "17 News," then finally "17 First Coast News," when the station began to produce a prime time newscast for WAWS
.
In 1996, WJKS lost the ABC affiliation to upstart WJXX
after WJXX's then-owner, Allbritton, made an affiliation deal with ABC in several markets. WJKS switched to The WB
and changed its call letters to WJWB. It also ended its news operation on December 30, 1996. Ironically, when Gannett, owner of WTLV, bought WJXX and merged the two stations' operations, it called its news operation "First Coast News."
WJWB, with over 30 years of service to Jacksonville at the time of the ABC/WB switch, thrived with the new network, and was consistently ranked as one of the highest-rated WB affiliates in the country.
When The CW was announced in January 2006, WJWB was expected to join the new network due to its status as one of the WB's "crown jewels." However, when the new network announced its first group of stations outside the core group of Tribune Company
and CBS Corporation
-owned stations, WJWB was not on the list, leading to speculation that The CW would choose to affiliate with WJXT
instead.
In March 2006, however, The CW announced affiliation deals with WJWB and sister station WASV (now WYCW
, which was affiliated with UPN
). On May 26, WJWB changed its call letters to WCWJ to reflect its future affiliation. The station launched a "Farewell To The Frog Tour," as The WB network and station mascot Michigan J. Frog
was retired over the summer. A series of humorous promos later chronicled the frog's failed attempts to find work at several local businesses. New station branding began in mid-August, which included ID's with both WB and CW logos.
On October 29, 2007, Media General announced that it was exploring the sale of WCWJ. On January 28, 2009, Nexstar Broadcasting announced that it had reached an agreement to purchase WCWJ., The deal closed on May 1, 2009 As a result, WCWJ became the first (and so far only) CW affiliate that's owned and operated outright by Nexstar (Nexstar also holds the broadcasting license of one CW affiliate that's operated by another company and also operates two CW affiliates that are owned by a third party) and it is Nexstar's largest television station by market size. The WCWJ web site was redesigned almost immediately after Nexstar closed on its purchase.
WCWJ currently airs several non-news original programs, including YourJaxMusic (a local music show), Tom McManus Uncensored, Local Haunts, and Jacksonville Roller Girls.
In 2010, Nexstar began broadcasting an original fully scripted situation comedy entitled In the Pits
, produced by The Backlight Theatre Group, Inc, based around the historic Florida Theatre
in downtown Jacksonville
Digital channels>
Channel
Video
Aspect
Programming
17.1
1080i
16:9
Main WCWJ programming / The CW
17.2
480i
4:3
Bounce TV
WCWJ left analog channel 17 and remained digital on RF channel 34 when the analog to digital conversion completed in June 2009. However, through the use of PSIP, televisions will receive WCWJ through its virtual channel
17.
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...
-affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
and Brunswick, Georgia
Brunswick, Georgia
Brunswick is the major urban and economic center in southeastern Georgia in the United States. The municipality is located on a harbor near the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 30 miles north of Florida and 70 miles south of South Carolina. Brunswick is bordered on the east by the Atlantic...
. The station is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc.
Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc., is an entity of broadcast television stations headquartered in Irving, Texas. The company consists of 50 television stations across the U.S., ranging from market sizes 9 to 201 . 43 of the stations are broadcasting at full power, with the other 4 broadcasting at...
. Its transmitter is located in Jacksonville.
History
Rust Craft signed channel 17 on the air as WJKS-TV, an ABCAmerican 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 on February 19, 1966. Jacksonville had to wait longer for full network service than other cities of its size. This is because the surrounding suburbs and rural areas are smaller than the city itself.
On January 1, 1980, WJKS and WTLV
WTLV
WTLV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Jacksonville, Florida. The station broadcasts a digital signal on VHF channel 13. The station is owned by Gannett as part of a duopoly with the area's ABC affiliate, WJXX. The two stations share studios located on East Adams Street in downtown near...
switched networks with WTLV taking ABC and WJKS picking up NBC. This lasted until April 3, 1988 when WJKS and WTLV switched back to their original network affiliations.
Media General
Media General
Media General, Inc. is a media company based in the Southeastern United States. Its major properties include newspapers such as The Tampa Tribune, the Winston-Salem Journal, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, as well as numerous television stations, such as flagship station WFLA-TV.The company was...
acquired WJKS from Ziff Davis
Ziff Davis
Ziff Davis Inc. is an American publisher and Internet company. It was founded in 1927 in Chicago by William B. Ziff, Sr. and Bernard G. Davis. Throughout most of its history, it was a publisher of hobbyist magazines, often ones devoted to expensive, advertiser-rich hobbies such as cars,...
in October 1982; it was the second television station in the Media General chain (Tampa
Tâmpa
Tâmpa may refer to several villages in Romania:* Tâmpa, a village in Băcia Commune, Hunedoara County* Tâmpa, a village in Miercurea Nirajului, Mureş County* Tâmpa, a mountain in Braşov city...
's WFLA-TV
WFLA-TV
WFLA-TV, virtual channel 8, is the NBC-affiliated television station in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida. The station is the flagship station of its owner and operator, Media General. Its transmitter is located in Riverview, Hillsborough County, Florida. WFLA is the only station in the market to be...
was the first).
WJKS started a small news operation in its second year. Newscasts were called "WJKS-TV News" "Pulse News," "NewsWatch 17," "17 News," then finally "17 First Coast News," when the station began to produce a prime time newscast for WAWS
WAWS
WAWS is the Fox-affiliated television station for Florida's First Coast licensed to Jacksonville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter on Hogan Road in the city's Southside section. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 10 and in high...
.
In 1996, WJKS lost the ABC affiliation to upstart WJXX
WJXX
WJXX is the ABC-affiliated television station television for Jacksonville, Florida. The station broadcasts a digital signal on VHF channel 10, identifying via PSIP as virtual channel 25 . The station is owned by Gannett as part of a duopoly with the area's NBC affiliate, WTLV...
after WJXX's then-owner, Allbritton, made an affiliation deal with ABC in several markets. WJKS switched to The WB
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...
and changed its call letters to WJWB. It also ended its news operation on December 30, 1996. Ironically, when Gannett, owner of WTLV, bought WJXX and merged the two stations' operations, it called its news operation "First Coast News."
WJWB, with over 30 years of service to Jacksonville at the time of the ABC/WB switch, thrived with the new network, and was consistently ranked as one of the highest-rated WB affiliates in the country.
When The CW was announced in January 2006, WJWB was expected to join the new network due to its status as one of the WB's "crown jewels." However, when the new network announced its first group of stations outside the core group of Tribune Company
Tribune Company
The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...
and CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
-owned stations, WJWB was not on the list, leading to speculation that The CW would choose to affiliate with WJXT
WJXT
WJXT, channel 4 , is an independent television station serving Jacksonville, Florida, and surrounding communities. Its transmitter is in the Kilarney Shores section of Jacksonville, with the WTLV transmitter. The station originally broadcast an analog signal on VHF channel 4 and a digital signal...
instead.
In March 2006, however, The CW announced affiliation deals with WJWB and sister station WASV (now WYCW
WYCW
WYCW is the CW-affiliated television station for Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina licensed to Asheville, North Carolina. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 45 from a transmitter on Pinnacle Mountain Road, south of Green River Township's Jeter Mountain...
, which was affiliated with 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...
). On May 26, WJWB changed its call letters to WCWJ to reflect its future affiliation. The station launched a "Farewell To The Frog Tour," as The WB network and station mascot Michigan J. Frog
Michigan J. Frog
Michigan J. Frog is an animated cartoon character who debuted in the Looney Tunes cartoon One Froggy Evening , written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones...
was retired over the summer. A series of humorous promos later chronicled the frog's failed attempts to find work at several local businesses. New station branding began in mid-August, which included ID's with both WB and CW logos.
On October 29, 2007, Media General announced that it was exploring the sale of WCWJ. On January 28, 2009, Nexstar Broadcasting announced that it had reached an agreement to purchase WCWJ., The deal closed on May 1, 2009 As a result, WCWJ became the first (and so far only) CW affiliate that's owned and operated outright by Nexstar (Nexstar also holds the broadcasting license of one CW affiliate that's operated by another company and also operates two CW affiliates that are owned by a third party) and it is Nexstar's largest television station by market size. The WCWJ web site was redesigned almost immediately after Nexstar closed on its purchase.
WCWJ currently airs several non-news original programs, including YourJaxMusic (a local music show), Tom McManus Uncensored, Local Haunts, and Jacksonville Roller Girls.
In 2010, Nexstar began broadcasting an original fully scripted situation comedy entitled In the Pits
In the Pits
-Development:In The Pits is a situation comedy produced by The Backlight Theatre Group! Inc. in Jacksonville, Florida.It is broadcast on WCWJ by the Nexstargroup, an affiliate of The CW.CW17 began airing In The Pits on September 25 at 9:00pm...
, produced by The Backlight Theatre Group, Inc, based around the historic Florida Theatre
Florida Theatre
The Florida Theatre is a historic U.S. movie theater in Jacksonville, Florida. The theatre is one of only four remaining high-style movie palaces built in Florida during the Mediterranean Revival architectural boom of the 1920s .It is located at 128 through 134 East...
in downtown Jacksonville
Digital television
The station's digital channel, UHF 34, is multiplexed:Aspect ratio
The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,...
1080i
1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
480i
480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC...
Bounce TV
Bounce TV is a United States television network airing on digital terrestrial television stations. Promoted as "the first 24/7 digital multicast broadcast network created exclusively for African Americans," Bounce TV launched on September 26, 2011 and features programming geared toward blacks in...
WCWJ left analog channel 17 and remained digital on RF channel 34 when the analog to digital conversion completed in June 2009. However, through the use of PSIP, televisions will receive WCWJ through its virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
17.
Newscast titles
- WJKS-TV News (1966–1968)
- Pulse News (1968–1973)
- News Scene Today (1973–1977)
- NewsWatch 17 (1977–1986)
- NewsWatch Jacksonville/NightWatch Jacksonville (1986–1989)
- 17 News (1989–1990)
- 17 First Coast News (1990–1996)
Station slogans
- You`re Still Having Fun, and 17`s The One
- All the News in 30 Minutes (mid-1990s; news slogan)
- Jacksonville's Home of the WB (December 1996-2006)
- We Don't Do News... We're Non-Stop Entertainment! (2007–2008)
Newscast music
- WJKS 1977 News Theme, Unknown (19??-1978)
- WTLV 1972 News Theme, Unknown (1978–1981)
- Theme From 'Firepower', Gato Barbieri (1981–1983)
- WJKS 1983 News Theme, Unknown (1983–1985)
- News Series 2000, Gari Communications (1985–1991)
- Real News, Killer Tracks (NJJ Music/HLC) (1991-1995)
- Production Music: Heroics, FirstCom (1995-1996)