WJBF

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WJBF
Augusta, Georgia
Branding	WJBF NewsChannel6
Slogan	Coverage You Can Count On
Channels	6 (VHF) analog, 42 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	ABC (secondary until 1968)
Owner	Media General
Founded	November 23, 1953
Call letters meaning	W J. B. Fuqua (founder of the station) B.1919-D.2006
Former affiliations	NBC (1953-80, secondary from 1968), DuMont Television Network (secondary)
Website	www.wjbf.com

WJBF is the ABC television affiliate serving the Augusta, Georgia television market. The station currently broadcasts its analog signal on VHF channel 6, and its digital signal on UHF channel 42. Its studios are located at 1001 Reynolds Street in Augusta. Its bright yellow building, which was built sometime in the early 1960s, is an easily identified landmark in downtown Augusta.

WJBF has been named Georgia's Station of The Year several times by the Georgia Association of Broadcasters.

Contents 1 History 2 Noticeable Station Changes 3 News Department 4 Personalities 4.1 Newscasts 4.2 Monday - Friday 4.3 Saturday - Sunday 4.4 Journalists 4.4.1 Current 4.4.2 Past 5 Pictures 6 External links

[edit] History

It signed on air on November 23, 1953 as Augusta's first television station, carrying a primary NBC affiliation and a secondary ABC affiliation. When WATU, channel 26 (now WAGT), signed on, WJBF continued to air several NBC daytime programs (including The Today Show) well into the 1970s because WATU didn't sign on until noon. The station was owned by Spartan Radiocasting from 1992 until 2000, when it came under the ownership of Media General. Its transmitter is located in Jackson, South Carolina.

In the 1980s, the station's newscasts went under the name "NewsWatch." After being acquired by Spartan Radiocasting in 1992, WJBF, along with some sister affiliates also acquired changed their branding to "NewsChannel", WJBF and most of its sister affiliates still use the branding today after being sold off to Media General. The branding features the stations standard call letters followed by NewsChannel then the station number...for example, "WJBF NewsChannel 6" or "WSPA NewsChannel 7", or "WNEG NewsChannel 32".

WJBF NewsChannel 6 broadcasts in the mornings ("Good Morning Augusta"), and at midday, 5, 5:30, 6, and 11 p.m.

In the 1990s, WJBF obtained an agreement with the Augusta Mall to run a closed-circuit "Mall TV" feed on TV screens throughout the mall, featuring the day's news and coverage of some local special events. WJBF operated this service until the late 1990s.

WJBF also had a local agreement with Comcast Cable to air a rebroadcast of the 6 p.m. newscast on the cable provider's channel 66. Although the station no longer rebroadcasts that newscast on the cable channel, these days it instead produces a 10 p.m. newscast which airs on WFXG, the local Fox affiliate, titled "FOX 54 News at Ten."

[edit] Noticeable Station Changes

• October 2003-
  • WJBF changed its graphics design to keep up with its parent company, Media General's, desired appearance.

• 2004-
  • It renovated its studio from top to bottom, replacing the newscast set(gutting and removing the late 1980s set with a design preferred by most of its sister Media General stations).

• July 2006-
  • with Media General purchasing new equipment for the station, WJBF slightly tweaked their on-air appearance by adopting animated lower thirds, over the shoulders, and full screens; something revolutionary for the station, considering the look has remained rather basic since their change in 2003.

• September 2006
  • Weather graphics were revamped
  • The openings to newscasts changed.

• October 2006
  • More changes started to appear, including new music, swift fast-paced animated graphics, and a new fast paced "6 More Reasons to Watch" segment.

• December 2006
  • The music changed again to new music preferred by most Media General stations, the new "Media General Broadcast Group Package" which is a news music package currently in use by 14 of Media General's 18 Television stations.

[edit] News Department

[edit] Personalities

WJBF's personalities have mainly remained the same over the years.

Bob Young, a former WJBF anchor, became mayor of Augusta in 1998 and served two terms in that office before relocating to Atlanta.

Brad Means (anchor), Jennie Montgomery (anchor), George Myers (chief meteorologist), George Eskola (senior reporter), Renita Crawford (anchor/reporter: 1990s; reporter: 2000s-present), and Mary Morrison (anchor) have each been at the station for at least over 10 years. The newsroom is managed by Mark Rosen, a long-time WJBF employee, who became news director in 2000.

[edit] Newscasts

[edit] Monday - Friday

• NewsChannel 6 Good Morning Augusta: 5:00 - 7:00am
  • Anchor: Mary Morrison
  • Meteorologist: Matt Monroe

• NewsChannel 6 at Noon: 12:00 - 1:00pm
  • Anchor: Mary Morrison
  • Meteorologist: Matt Monroe

• NewsChannel 6 at 5:00: 5:00 - 5:30pm
  • Anchors: Brad Means, Sheryl Williams & Jennie Montgomery
  • Meteorologist: Chief Meteorologist George Myers

• NewsChannel 6 at 5:30: 5:30 - 6:00pm
  • Anchors: Jennie Montgomery, Sheryl Williams and Brad Means
  • Meteorologist: Chief Meteorologist George Myers

• NewsChannel 6 at 6: 6:00 - 6:30pm
  • Anchors: Brad Means, Jennie Montgomery and Sheryl Williams
  • Meteorologist: Chief Meteorologist George Myers
  • Sports: Sports Director: John Hart

• FOX 54 News at 10 (on WFXG): 10:00 - 10:35pm
  • Anchors: John Hart and Kimberley Scott
  • Meteorologist: Chief Meteorologist George Myers
  • Sports: Sports Director: John Hart

• NewsChannel 6 at 11: 11:00 - 11:30pm
  • Anchors: Brad Means & Jennie Montgomery
  • Meteorologist: Chief Meteorologist George Myers
  • Sports: Sports Director: John Hart

[edit] Saturday - Sunday

• NewsChannel 6 at 6: 6:00 - 6:30pm
  • Anchors: Kimberley Scott (Sundays) and Dave Hansen (Saturdays)
  • Meteorologist: John Lynn
  • Sports: Tara Miller

• FOX 54 News at 10 (on WFXG): 10:00 - 10:35pm
  • Anchors: Kimberley Scott (Sundays) and Dave Hansen (Saturdays)
  • Meteorologist: John Lynn
  • Sports: Tara Miller

• NewsChannel 6 at 11: 11:00 - 11:30pm
  • Anchors: Kimberley Scott (Sundays) and Dave Hansen (Saturdays)
  • Meteorologist: John Lynn
  • Sports: Tara Miller

[edit] Journalists

[edit] Current

• Renita Crawford, Reporter/Fill-In Anchor
• George Eskola, General Assignment Reporter
• Thomas Goodhew, Producer
• Valerie Gratias, Producer
• Sheryl Williams, Anchor/Reporter
• Dave Hansen, Anchor/Reporter
• John Hart, Sports Director
• John Lynn, Weekend Meteorologist
• Brad Means, Anchor/Reporter/Assistant News Director
• Tara Miller, Weekend Sports Anchor
• Matt Monroe, Morning Meteorologist
• Jennie Montgomery, Anchor/Reporter
• Mary Morrison, Morning and Noon Anchor/Reporter
• George Myers, Chief Meteorologist
• Kimberely Scott, Weekend Anchor/Reporter
• Paige Tucker, General Assignment Reporter
• Keith Weiss, Executive Producer

• Freddy The Forecaster (is the animated character from the telecine era, used on Good Morning Augusta to summarize the weather of the day. Freddy has been at the station's weather center for more than 30 years and is still popular with the viewers.)

[edit] Past

• Tim Brown, Anchor/Reporter (?-1998)
• Stan Byrdy, Sports Anchor/Reporter (1985-1995, now at WAGT-TV)
• Tiffany Cochran Edwards, Anchor/Reporter (?, now at WXIA-TV) daughter of the famed O.J. Simpson attorney, the late Johnnie Cochran
• Tony Cornish Jr., Sports Anchor (1994-1996, now at WMPR-FM)
• Chip Creamer, General Assignment Reporter (1997-2006)
• Marlin Willams, Sports Director (?-2002?)
• Barbara Dawson, Weekend Anchor/Reporter (2002-2004, came here from rival NBC station, WAGT-TV)
• Noel Glasgow, Weekend Sports Anchor (2002-2004, now at WFMY-TV)
• Paul Herdtner, Weekend Anchor (1994-1996), now a Monday-Friday morning anchor at Fox-owned station in Kansas City
• Raphael James, Anchor/Reporter (?, now at WCSC-TV)
• Tom Knight, Meteorologist (late 1980s?-1995, later went to rival WAGT)
• Michelle Lima, Weekend Anchor (1994-1996, deceased)
• Dana Lynn McIntyre, General Assignment Reporter (1996-2005, now at WGCL-TV)
• Emily Pantelides, General Assignment Reporter (2003-2006, now at WJXT-TV)
• Peter Robbins, Anchor/Reporter (2003-2005, now in West Palm Beach, FL)
• Crystal Styles, Anchor/Reporter (2004-2005)
• Bob Young, Anchor (1985-1998), became mayor of Augusta (1999-2005)

[edit] Pictures

Current WJBF logo in a news promo.

[edit] External links

• WJBF Homepage
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WJBF

Broadcast television in the Augusta, Georgia market  (Nielsen DMA #115)
WJBF 6 (ABC) - WRDW 12 (CBS) (MNTV on DT2) - WBEK 16 (A1) - WEBA 14 (PBS/SCETV) - WCES 20 (PBS/GPB) - WAGT 26 (NBC) (The CW on DT2) - WFXG 54 (FOX) (The Tube on DT2)

ABC Network Affiliates in the state of Georgia
WSB 2 (Atlanta) - WJBF 6 (Augusta) - WTVM 9 (Columbus) - WJCL 22 (Savannah) - WPGA 58 (Perry / Macon)
See also: CBS, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS, and Other stations in Georgia