WGNT
Encyclopedia
WGNT, channel 27 is a television station licensed to Portsmouth, Virginia
, USA. WGNT is the CW Television Network affiliate for the Hampton Roads
(Portsmouth-Norfolk
-Virginia Beach
-Newport News
) television market and is owned by Local TV
, which also operates WTKR
(channel 3), Hampton Roads' CBS
affiliate. WGNT's studios are co-located with WTKR in downtown Norfolk, and its transmitter is located in Suffolk, Virginia
.
The station became a charter affiliate of Tribune Broadcasting
's new digital multicast channel Antenna TV
on January 4, 2011, it is carried on digital subchannel 27.2. Originally, the channel was planned to be on sister station WTKR. The network, whose programming consists of classic sitcoms from the 1950s to the 1990s during the afternoon and evening, and movies during the morning and late night hours, debuted on Local TV, LLC-owned stations in other markets as well as stations owned by Antenna TV's parent company Tribune Company
on the same date. It is currently not available on cable in the area.
signed on over channel 15 three months earlier). WTOV later became an affiliate of the DuMont
network. Channel 27 was on the air for limited hours, and had very limited viewership because it was impossible at the time to watch UHF stations without buying a converter. Even with a converter, WTOV's picture wasn't very clear. As such, it was never a factor in the Hampton Roads market.
The death knell for channel 27 sounded in late 1955, when Tidewater Teleradio, owners of WAVY radio (1350 AM, now WGPL
) won a construction permit for the area's second VHF station, WAVY-TV
(channel 10). Combined with dwindling revenues and the impending loss of DuMont programming at the end of the 1955-56 season, WTOV went dark in 1956.
, son of Virginia United States Senator
A. Willis Robertson and an attorney-turned-Southern Baptist minister, purchased the dormant channel 27 license. Under the ownership of Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network
, the station returned to the air on October 1 as WYAH-TV, with "YAH" standing for "Yahweh
" according to some sources (including Pat Robertson's autobiography, Shout it From the Housetops) and "You are Holy" according to others. Pat Robertson's first choice for call letters was WTFC ("Television For Christ"). Those call letters were announced by Robertson to local media, before the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) informed him that they were unavailable.
WYAH initially broadcast from studios on Spratley Street in downtown Portsmouth. At first WYAH was on the air five hours a day, several of which were occupied by a locally produced program hosted by Robertson. The rest of the day was occupied by teaching programs produced by local churches and some syndicated TV evangelists' repeats of Sunday programs. The station almost went dark in 1963, and so it conducted a special telethon urging 700 people to donate $10 a month, continuing to hold such telethons bi-monthly. A few years later the locally-produced daily talk program would be named for the telethons, The 700 Club
.
Beginning in 1966, Jim
and Tammy Faye Bakker hosted and produced a local children's program called "Come On Over" (later called "Jim and Tammy"). This consisted of puppet shows, skits, prayers, singalongs, games, stories and religious short films such as Davey and Goliath
and JOT. The program was eventually seen in Canada, and achieved widespread syndication throughout the United States. Pat Robertson also appeared on-camera as well as host of additional Bible-teaching programs. Weekends consisted of televangelists such as Oral Roberts
, Kathryn Kuhlman
, Jimmy Swaggart
, Jerry Falwell
, and Billy Graham
, local church services. WYAH was one of the first Christian television stations in the United States and was a viewer-supported non-commercial station, though it sold blocks of time to other ministries. By 1964, the station was financially solvent.
In 1966, WYAH expanded its broadcast hours to 8 hours a day, signing on at 4:00 p.m., and begun construction of a new tower boosting its coverage area to, as far as the eastern portion of the Richmond
market. The station also began color transmissions of shows produced in color. In mid-1967, WYAH began producing all its programs in color as well.
In September 1967, WYAH began commercial operation part-time about two hours a day. Initial syndicated fare consisted of reruns of westerns, sitcoms, low budget films and local productions. The station moved the Christian programming to earlier times, and gradually expanded its broadcast days on weekdays to accommodate more secular programming. Saturdays consisted of mostly old movies and westerns, and Sundays remained exclusively filled by Christian programs.
In June 1970, the newly completed transmitter boosted WYAH's effective radiated power to 2.25 million watts. By then the station was on the air 12 hours a day signing on at Noon. Robertson sent a newsletter to donors boasting that channel 27 was now the most powerful station in Virginia. In 1972, WYAH began airing for 15 hours a day, signing on at 10:00 a. m., with an expanded lineup of syndicated shows and religious programming, including airings of the 700 Club three times a day. Sundays were still devoted entirely to religious programs. In the Fall of 1973, WYAH expanded their broadcast day to 19 hours a day signing on before 7:00 a.m. About this time, the Bakkers left for the California-based Trinity Broadcasting Network
before going on their own in 1975. The Hampton Roads area had become one of the smallest markets in the U.S. with a commercial independent station.
While WYAH had evolved into a conventional independent station by this time, its programming policy was decidedly conservative, in keeping with Robertson's Baptist/charismatic
religious views. For many years, it muted any dialogue containing profanity. In some cases, it opted to preempt whole episodes out of concern for their subject matter. For example, at least two episodes of Gilligan's Island
never aired on the station, because of content centering (albeit in a comical fashion) around ghosts and vampires. However, WYAH offered a wide variety of programming and was a stronger independent than many secular-owned independent stations at that time. Still, Hampton Roads viewers got other choices once cable arrived in the area in the late 1960s, as WTTG
and WDCA
from Washington, D.C.
became available on cable systems as well.
With WYAH's growth and profitability, CBN began expanding to other markets. In June 1971, CBN began WHAE-TV (now WGCL-TV
) in Atlanta, followed with the January 1973 purchase of KBFI-TV (now KDAF
) in Dallas. CBN later changed the calls of that station to KXTX-TV and, in April 1973, merged it with KDTV (the current KXTX-TV
). CBN's fourth station, WXNE-TV (now WFXT
) in Boston
was started in October 1977. These stations formed the Continental Broadcasting Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of CBN with WYAH as the flagship station.
In the late 1970s, WYAH continued to acquire off-network sitcoms and more movie packages. In 1980 WYAH, along with the rest of the Continental stations, began five to eight hours of general entertainment programming on Sunday afternoons, mostly extending the non-religious programming to syndicated theatrical shorts from Warner Bros.
, MGM, and Paramount
and weekly "theaters" dedicated to Shirley Temple
, Abbott & Costello, and Blondie and Dagwood movies. However, channel 27 lost some ground locally to WTVZ (channel 33), which was launched in 1979 and aired programming that was too racy for Robertson's liking -- mostly uncensored off-network programming and syndicated fare. The station also moved the 700 Club to 10:00 p.m. and added a prime time movie at 8:00 p.m.
By the late 1980s, Continental Broadcasting had become too profitable to remain under the CBN banner without endangering CBN's nonprofit status. With this in mind, Robertson began selling off his over-the-air stations. In 1989 WYAH was sold to Centennial Broadcasting. The new owners renamed the station WGNT, which stands for Greater Norfolk Television.
, The Ricki Lake Show and The Jerry Springer Show
and syndicated fare like the Universal Action Pack, PTEN
and Baywatch
. In 1991, it dropped the 11 pm repeat of The 700 Club. By 2003, the series was completely off the air on WGNT, removing the last link to its CBN days. However, it has aired on numerous outlets in the area in the years since (it currently airs on WTKR).
In 1995, WGNT became a charter UPN affiliate and branded itself as "UPN 27". In 1997, Paramount Stations Group
bought WGNT, making it a UPN owned-and-operated station. Paramount Stations Group
in 1997 paid Centennial $42.5 Million dollars to buy and own WGNT-TV. Viacom, Paramount's owner, later bought CBS
as well. When Viacom spun off its broadcasting properties into CBS Corporation
at the end of 2005, WGNT and the other UPN O&Os became part of the new company. On January 24, 2006, the UPN and WB networks announced they would merge into a new service, The CW Television Network
, jointly owned by CBS and the Warner Bros.
unit of Time Warner
. As part of the deal, the new network signed a 10-year affiliation deal with 11 of CBS' UPN stations, including WGNT. Channel 27 rebranded itself as "CW 27" in the summer of 2006 and officially became the Hampton Roads area's CW affiliate on September 18, 2006.
On June 14, 2010, CBS announced it was selling WGNT to Local TV, owner of CBS affiliate WTKR, pending FCC approval. Previously, WGNT had been the only network O&O station in the Hampton Roads market. Shortly after the announcement, Local TV took over WGNT's operations through a local marketing agreement
as its first CW station. Later that month, channel 27 moved out of its longtime studios in Portsmouth and was integrated into WTKR's facilities on Boush Street in Downtown Norfolk
.
coverage.
Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 95,535.The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard, is a historic and active U.S...
, USA. WGNT is the CW Television Network affiliate for the Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
(Portsmouth-Norfolk
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
-Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay...
-Newport News
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia. It is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of the James River extending southeast from Skiffe's Creek along many miles of waterfront to the river's mouth at Newport News...
) television market and is owned by Local TV
Local TV
Local TV LLC is a limited liability corporation, owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners , which operates 18 local network-affiliated television stations in the United States.-History:...
, which also operates WTKR
WTKR
WTKR is the CBS affiliate television station serving the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, officially known as the Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News DMA. The station is licensed to Norfolk and broadcasts on channel 40 . Its transmitter is located in Suffolk, Virginia...
(channel 3), Hampton Roads' CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliate. WGNT's studios are co-located with WTKR in downtown Norfolk, and its transmitter is located in Suffolk, Virginia
Suffolk, Virginia
Suffolk is the largest city by area in Virginia, United States, and is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 84,585. Its median household income was $57,546.-History:...
.
Digital programming
WGNT began digital broadcasts on channel 50 on July 15, 2002. On June 12, 2009, WGNT's digital signal remained on channel 50 when the analog to digital conversion was completed.| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 27.1 | Main WGNT programming / The CW |
| 27.2 | Antenna TV Antenna TV Antenna TV is an American digital broadcast television network, primarily featuring classic television series from the 1950s to the 1990s, along with some feature films. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting, a division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company... |
The station became a charter affiliate of Tribune Broadcasting
Tribune Broadcasting
The Tribune Broadcasting Company is a group of radio and television stations located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois and named for the flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper.- History :Tribune Broadcasting...
's new digital multicast channel Antenna TV
Antenna TV
Antenna TV is an American digital broadcast television network, primarily featuring classic television series from the 1950s to the 1990s, along with some feature films. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting, a division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...
on January 4, 2011, it is carried on digital subchannel 27.2. Originally, the channel was planned to be on sister station WTKR. The network, whose programming consists of classic sitcoms from the 1950s to the 1990s during the afternoon and evening, and movies during the morning and late night hours, debuted on Local TV, LLC-owned stations in other markets as well as stations owned by Antenna TV's parent company 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...
on the same date. It is currently not available on cable in the area.
History
WGNT is one of the oldest surviving UHF licenses in the country. It first appeared on December 6, 1953 as WTOV-TV, a commercial independent owned by Commonwealth Broadcasting. It was the third television station in the Hampton Roads area, and the second on UHF (WVEC-TVWVEC-TV
WVEC is the ABC affiliate television station for the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, which includes Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News, and the surrounding area. It is licensed to Hampton, with its main studio in downtown Norfolk. Its transmitter is located in Suffolk, Virginia...
signed on over channel 15 three months earlier). WTOV later became an affiliate of the DuMont
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
network. Channel 27 was on the air for limited hours, and had very limited viewership because it was impossible at the time to watch UHF stations without buying a converter. Even with a converter, WTOV's picture wasn't very clear. As such, it was never a factor in the Hampton Roads market.
The death knell for channel 27 sounded in late 1955, when Tidewater Teleradio, owners of WAVY radio (1350 AM, now WGPL
WGPL
WGPL is a Black Gospel formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Portsmouth, Virginia, serving Hampton Roads. WGPL is owned and operated by Christian Broadcasting of Norfolk....
) won a construction permit for the area's second VHF station, WAVY-TV
WAVY-TV
WAVY-TV, channel 10, is a television station licensed to Portsmouth, Virginia, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Hampton Roads area . WAVY is owned by LIN Television Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox affiliate WVBT...
(channel 10). Combined with dwindling revenues and the impending loss of DuMont programming at the end of the 1955-56 season, WTOV went dark in 1956.
The CBN years
In 1961 M.G. "Pat" RobertsonPat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a media mogul, television evangelist, ex-Baptist minister and businessman who is politically aligned with the Christian Right in the United States....
, son of Virginia United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
A. Willis Robertson and an attorney-turned-Southern Baptist minister, purchased the dormant channel 27 license. Under the ownership of Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network
Christian Broadcasting Network
The Christian Broadcasting Network, or CBN, is a fundamentalist Christian television broadcasting network in the United States. Its headquarters and main studios are in Virginia Beach, Virginia.-Background:...
, the station returned to the air on October 1 as WYAH-TV, with "YAH" standing for "Yahweh
Yahweh
Yahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
" according to some sources (including Pat Robertson's autobiography, Shout it From the Housetops) and "You are Holy" according to others. Pat Robertson's first choice for call letters was WTFC ("Television For Christ"). Those call letters were announced by Robertson to local media, before 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) informed him that they were unavailable.
WYAH initially broadcast from studios on Spratley Street in downtown Portsmouth. At first WYAH was on the air five hours a day, several of which were occupied by a locally produced program hosted by Robertson. The rest of the day was occupied by teaching programs produced by local churches and some syndicated TV evangelists' repeats of Sunday programs. The station almost went dark in 1963, and so it conducted a special telethon urging 700 people to donate $10 a month, continuing to hold such telethons bi-monthly. A few years later the locally-produced daily talk program would be named for the telethons, The 700 Club
The 700 Club
The 700 Club is the flagship news talk show of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing in syndication throughout the United States and Canada. In production since 1966, it is currently hosted by Pat Robertson, Terry Meeuwsen, Kristi Watts, and Gordon P. Robertson, two of whom will host on any...
.
Beginning in 1966, Jim
Jim Bakker
James Orsen "Jim" Bakker is an American televangelist, a former Assemblies of God minister, and a former host of The PTL Club, a popular evangelical Christian television program.A sex scandal led to his resignation from the ministry...
and Tammy Faye Bakker hosted and produced a local children's program called "Come On Over" (later called "Jim and Tammy"). This consisted of puppet shows, skits, prayers, singalongs, games, stories and religious short films such as Davey and Goliath
Davey and Goliath
Davey and Goliath is a 1960s stop-motion animated children's Christian television series. The programs, produced by the Lutheran Church in America , were produced by Art Clokey after the success of his Gumby series.Each 15-minute episode features the adventures of Davey Hansen and his "talking"...
and JOT. The program was eventually seen in Canada, and achieved widespread syndication throughout the United States. Pat Robertson also appeared on-camera as well as host of additional Bible-teaching programs. Weekends consisted of televangelists such as Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts
Granville "Oral" Roberts was an American Pentecostal televangelist and a Christian charismatic. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University....
, Kathryn Kuhlman
Kathryn Kuhlman
Kathryn Johanna Kuhlman was an American faith healer and evangelist.-Early life:Kathryn Johanna Kuhlman was born in Concordia, Missouri, to German-American parents...
, Jimmy Swaggart
Jimmy Swaggart
Jimmy Lee Swaggart is a Pentecostal American pastor, teacher, musician, television host, and televangelist. He has preached to crowds around the world through his weekly telecast...
, Jerry Falwell
Jerry Falwell
Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. was an evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator from the United States. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia...
, and Billy Graham
Billy Graham
William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...
, local church services. WYAH was one of the first Christian television stations in the United States and was a viewer-supported non-commercial station, though it sold blocks of time to other ministries. By 1964, the station was financially solvent.
In 1966, WYAH expanded its broadcast hours to 8 hours a day, signing on at 4:00 p.m., and begun construction of a new tower boosting its coverage area to, as far as the eastern portion of the Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
market. The station also began color transmissions of shows produced in color. In mid-1967, WYAH began producing all its programs in color as well.
In September 1967, WYAH began commercial operation part-time about two hours a day. Initial syndicated fare consisted of reruns of westerns, sitcoms, low budget films and local productions. The station moved the Christian programming to earlier times, and gradually expanded its broadcast days on weekdays to accommodate more secular programming. Saturdays consisted of mostly old movies and westerns, and Sundays remained exclusively filled by Christian programs.
In June 1970, the newly completed transmitter boosted WYAH's effective radiated power to 2.25 million watts. By then the station was on the air 12 hours a day signing on at Noon. Robertson sent a newsletter to donors boasting that channel 27 was now the most powerful station in Virginia. In 1972, WYAH began airing for 15 hours a day, signing on at 10:00 a. m., with an expanded lineup of syndicated shows and religious programming, including airings of the 700 Club three times a day. Sundays were still devoted entirely to religious programs. In the Fall of 1973, WYAH expanded their broadcast day to 19 hours a day signing on before 7:00 a.m. About this time, the Bakkers left for the California-based Trinity Broadcasting Network
Trinity Broadcasting Network
The Trinity Broadcasting Network is a major American Christian television network. TBN is based in Costa Mesa, California, with auxiliary studio facilities in Irving, Texas; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Gadsden, Alabama; Decatur, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; and New...
before going on their own in 1975. The Hampton Roads area had become one of the smallest markets in the U.S. with a commercial independent station.
While WYAH had evolved into a conventional independent station by this time, its programming policy was decidedly conservative, in keeping with Robertson's Baptist/charismatic
Charismatic movement
The term charismatic movement is used in varying senses to describe 20th century developments in various Christian denominations. It describes an ongoing international, cross-denominational/non-denominational Christian movement in which individual, historically mainstream congregations adopt...
religious views. For many years, it muted any dialogue containing profanity. In some cases, it opted to preempt whole episodes out of concern for their subject matter. For example, at least two episodes of Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
never aired on the station, because of content centering (albeit in a comical fashion) around ghosts and vampires. However, WYAH offered a wide variety of programming and was a stronger independent than many secular-owned independent stations at that time. Still, Hampton Roads viewers got other choices once cable arrived in the area in the late 1960s, as WTTG
WTTG
WTTG, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, located in the American capital city of Washington, D.C...
and WDCA
WDCA
WDCA, virtual channel 20, is a television station in Washington, D.C.. Owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, WDCA is a sister station to Fox network outlet WTTG , and is affiliated with the co-owned MyNetworkTV programming service...
from Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
became available on cable systems as well.
With WYAH's growth and profitability, CBN began expanding to other markets. In June 1971, CBN began WHAE-TV (now WGCL-TV
WGCL-TV
WGCL-TV, virtual channel 46.1 is the CBS-affiliated television station serving the Atlanta, Georgia area. Its city of license is Atlanta, and the station is owned by Meredith Corporation, making it the largest-market CBS station not owned by the network...
) in Atlanta, followed with the January 1973 purchase of KBFI-TV (now KDAF
KDAF
KDAF, virtual channel 33 , is a CW-affiliated television station serving the Dallas-Fort Worth television market area. The station is licensed to Dallas and owned by the Tribune Company with its studios located off the John W. Carpenter Freeway in northwest Dallas. The station's transmitter is...
) in Dallas. CBN later changed the calls of that station to KXTX-TV and, in April 1973, merged it with KDTV (the current KXTX-TV
KXTX-TV
KXTX-TV, digital channel 40 , is the Telemundo owned-and-operated station in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas Designated Market Area...
). CBN's fourth station, WXNE-TV (now WFXT
WFXT
WFXT is a television station owned and operated by the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Boston, Massachusetts. The station's studio and office facility is in Dedham, Massachusetts, and its transmitter is located in Needham, Massachusetts...
) in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
was started in October 1977. These stations formed the Continental Broadcasting Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of CBN with WYAH as the flagship station.
In the late 1970s, WYAH continued to acquire off-network sitcoms and more movie packages. In 1980 WYAH, along with the rest of the Continental stations, began five to eight hours of general entertainment programming on Sunday afternoons, mostly extending the non-religious programming to syndicated theatrical shorts from Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, MGM, and Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
and weekly "theaters" dedicated to Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
, Abbott & Costello, and Blondie and Dagwood movies. However, channel 27 lost some ground locally to WTVZ (channel 33), which was launched in 1979 and aired programming that was too racy for Robertson's liking -- mostly uncensored off-network programming and syndicated fare. The station also moved the 700 Club to 10:00 p.m. and added a prime time movie at 8:00 p.m.
By the late 1980s, Continental Broadcasting had become too profitable to remain under the CBN banner without endangering CBN's nonprofit status. With this in mind, Robertson began selling off his over-the-air stations. In 1989 WYAH was sold to Centennial Broadcasting. The new owners renamed the station WGNT, which stands for Greater Norfolk Television.
WGNT today
After Centennial took control, WGNT initially ran shows inherited from the CBN days, but ended the station's decades-long practice of censoring the small amount of profanity from off-network syndicated programming. As the 1990s began, Centennial began mixing in racier programming than had previously aired on the station, leading to talk that its call letters actually stood for God's Not There. This included controversial talk shows like Rush LimbaughRush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
, The Ricki Lake Show and The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show is a syndicated television tabloid talk show hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician, broadcast in the United States and other countries...
and syndicated fare like the Universal Action Pack, PTEN
Prime Time Entertainment Network
The Prime Time Entertainment Network was a United States television network launched in 1993 by the Prime Time Consortium, a joint venture between Warner Bros. Domestic Television and the Chris-Craft group of independent stations...
and Baywatch
Baywatch
Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...
. In 1991, it dropped the 11 pm repeat of The 700 Club. By 2003, the series was completely off the air on WGNT, removing the last link to its CBN days. However, it has aired on numerous outlets in the area in the years since (it currently airs on WTKR).
In 1995, WGNT became a charter UPN affiliate and branded itself as "UPN 27". In 1997, Paramount Stations Group
Paramount Stations Group
Paramount Stations Group was a television broadcasting company that was renamed from the TVX Broadcast Group in 1991 after Paramount Pictures gained full ownership of the group. At the time, it owned several Fox affiliates and independent stations...
bought WGNT, making it a UPN owned-and-operated station. Paramount Stations Group
Paramount Stations Group
Paramount Stations Group was a television broadcasting company that was renamed from the TVX Broadcast Group in 1991 after Paramount Pictures gained full ownership of the group. At the time, it owned several Fox affiliates and independent stations...
in 1997 paid Centennial $42.5 Million dollars to buy and own WGNT-TV. Viacom, Paramount's owner, later bought CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
as well. When Viacom spun off its broadcasting properties into 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...
at the end of 2005, WGNT and the other UPN O&Os became part of the new company. On January 24, 2006, the UPN and WB networks announced they would merge into a new service, 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...
, jointly owned by CBS and the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
unit of Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
. As part of the deal, the new network signed a 10-year affiliation deal with 11 of CBS' UPN stations, including WGNT. Channel 27 rebranded itself as "CW 27" in the summer of 2006 and officially became the Hampton Roads area's CW affiliate on September 18, 2006.
On June 14, 2010, CBS announced it was selling WGNT to Local TV, owner of CBS affiliate WTKR, pending FCC approval. Previously, WGNT had been the only network O&O station in the Hampton Roads market. Shortly after the announcement, Local TV took over WGNT's operations through a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
as its first CW station. Later that month, channel 27 moved out of its longtime studios in Portsmouth and was integrated into WTKR's facilities on Boush Street in Downtown Norfolk
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
.
Local programming
In 1995, WTKR began to produce NewsChannel 3 at 10 on UPN 27, the area's first prime time local broadcast. The newscast was short-lived and canceled in late-1997. Since then, the time period has been used for off-network repeats. In July 2011, it was announced that local news would return to WGNT. A morning newscast airs from 7 to 9 a.m., featuring the anchor team from sister station WTKR's morning newscast. Initially slated to launch on August 29, the newscast's debut was moved up to August 25 to allow for Hurricane IreneHurricane Irene (2011)
Hurricane Irene was a large and powerful Atlantic hurricane that left extensive flood and wind damage along its path through the Caribbean, the United States East Coast and as far north as Atlantic Canada in 2011...
coverage.