WJTV

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WJTV
WJTV logo
Jackson, Mississippi
Branding NewsChannel 12
Slogan To the Point
Channels Analog: 12 (VHF)

Digital: 12 (VHF)
Affiliations CBS
Owner Media General, Inc.
(Media General Communications Holdings, LLC)
First air date January 20, 1953
Call letters’ meaning Jackson TeleVision
Former channel number(s) 25 (1953-1955)
Former affiliations All secondary:
NBC (1953)
DuMont (1953-1955)
ABC (1953-1970)
Transmitter Power 316 kW (analog)
1000 kW (digital)
20300 watts (after 2009)
Height 497 m (analog)
464 m (digital)
Facility ID 48667
Transmitter Coordinates 32°14′26.1″N, 90°24′15.1″W
Website www.wjtv.com

WJTV (analog channel 12; digital channel 52) is Jackson, Mississippi's longtime CBS affiliate, owned by Media General. It began broadcasting on January 20, 1953 and was Mississippi's first TV station. At first, it broadcasted on UHF channel 25, but moved to the more-desirable channel 12 on the VHF dial in 1955. Its transmitter is located near Raymond, Mississippi.

The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson's morning daily newspaper, and its co-owned afternoon daily, Jackson Daily News, started two TV stations in the early 1950's: WSLI, channel 12 and WJTV, channel 25. One was a CBS affiliate and the other broadcast DuMont programming. At that time broadcasters could own more than one station in a single market. A short time later (probably when DuMont folded), the stations merged into one: WJTV, channel 12, with CBS programming.

Contents

[edit] Ownership

From the late 1970s until 1983, WJTV was owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company (the same company which owned KNAZ-TV in Flagstaff, Arizona but unrelated to the Capitol Broadcasting Company of Raleigh, North Carolina). In 1983, WJTV was sold to the News-Press & Gazette Company. Four years later, WJTV launched a satellite station for the Hattiesburg/Laurel market, WHLT. In 1993, NPG sold several of its stations, including WJTV and WHLT, to the first incarnation of New Vision Television, who in turn sold its entire stations group to Ellis Communications in 1995. Ellis was merged into the Raycom Media operation the following year after it was bought out by a media group led by the Retirement Systems of Alabama, who bought Aflac's broadcasting group a few months earlier. The next year, Raycom bought out Federal Broadcasting, the owner of WHLT's rival station WDAM-TV. That placed Raycom in violation of FCC duopoly rules in the Hattiesburg/Laurel market, so Raycom opted to keep WDAM and trade WJTV and WHLT (along with WSAV-TV in Savannah, Georgia, which also had to be divested by Raycom due to its ownership of that station's rival WTOC-TV) to Media General in exchange for WTVR-TV in Richmond, Virginia (which had to be divested by Media General due to FCC same-market cross-ownership restrictions). This trade left Raycom without a station in the Jackson market until 2006, when it acquired NBC affiliate WLBT as part of its purchase of The Liberty Corporation.

[edit] VIPIR Weather Channel

WJTV has recently started broadcasting a 24-hour, all local weather channel on digital television. The channel is only available to people who get WJTV via digital signal. The channel has a loop of VIPIR weather sources (futurecast, radar, temperatures, etc.) It also has a pre recorded Local on the 8's with one of the meteorologists coming on every ten minutes.

[edit] News Staff

Anchors

  • Linda Allen - weekday evenings
  • Byron Brown - weekday evenings
  • Melissa Faith Payne - weekends
  • Erin Pickens - weekday mornings and noon

Meteorologists

  • Tony Mastro - chief meteorologist; weekday evenings
  • Ken South - weekday mornings and noon
  • Jason Ellis - weekend weather

Reporters

  • Ross Adams
  • Kiran Chawla
  • Carole Carr
  • Matt Kozar
  • Joseph Weldon - traffic
  • Emily Wood

[edit] Logos

WJTV logo during 1997-2004.

Current WJTV Logo since 2004.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Broadcast television in the Jackson, MS market  (Nielsen DMA #90)
v • d • e
CBS Network Affiliates in the state of Mississippi
See also: ABC, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS and Other stations in Mississippi
v • d • e
Media General, Inc.

Corporate Directors: J. Stewart Bryan, III (COB) · Marshall N. Morton · O. Reid Ashe, Jr. · John A. Schauss · Diana F. Cantor · Charles A. Davis · Thompson L. Rankin · Rodney A. Smolla · Walter E. Williams · Coleman Wortham, III · H. Graham Woodlief, Jr. · James A. Zimmerman · Kirk Read  · Stephen Y. Dickinson · George L. Mahoney · Lou Anne J. Nabhan · John A. Schauss · James F. Woodward
Newspapers: Bristol Herald Courier · Danville Register & Bee · Dothan Eagle · Eden Daily News · Enterprise Legder · Florence Morning News · Hernando Today · Hickory Daily Record · Highlands Today · Independent Tribune · Jackson County Floridan · Nelson County Times · Manassas Journal Messenger · Opelika-Auburn News · Potomac News · Richmond Times-Dispatch · Statesville Record & Landmark · The Daily Progress · The McDowell News · The News & Advance (Lynchburg) · The News Herald · The News Virginian · The Reidsville Review · The Tampa Tribune · Winston-Salem Journal
ABC Network Affiliates: WJBF · WMBB2
CBS Network Affiliates: KALB-DT22 · WBTW · WHLT · WJHL · WJTV · WKRG · WNEG3 · WNCT · WRBL · WSPA
CW Network Affiliates: WCBD-DT2 · WCWJ3 · WNCT-DT2 · WYCW
MyNetworkTV Affiliates:1 WBTW-DT2 · WSAV-DT2
NBC Network Affiliates: KALB2 · WCBD · WCMH · WFLA · WJAR · WNCN · WSAV · WSLS · WVTM
1 Both of these stations air programming from the Retro Television Network outside of MyNetworkTV programming hours.
2 The sale of these stations to Hoak Media Corporation is awaiting FCC approval.
3These stations are subject to sale once buyer(s) are found.
Websites: TBO.com · inRich.com · TriCities.com · SCNow.com

Other Assets: Atlee Park · Blockdot · Boxerjam Media · Professional Communications Systems
Annual Revenue: $80.2 million USD (FY 2004) · Employees: approximately 7,900 · Stock Symbol: NYSE: MEG · Website: www.mediageneral.com
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