| Newport, Kentucky/Cincinnati, Ohio | |
|---|---|
| Branding | Fox 19 (general) Fox 19 News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | Balanced News |
| Channels | Digital: 29 (UHF) Virtual: 19 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 19.1 Fox 19.2 Bounce TV |
| Owner | Raycom Media (WXIX License Subsidiary, LLC) |
| Founded | August 1, 1968 |
| Call letters' meaning | Channel XIX = 19 in Roman numerals |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 19 (1968-2009) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1968-1986) DT2 The Tube Music Network (2006-2007) |
| Transmitter power | 227 kW (digital) |
| Height | 290 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 39738 |
| Website | www.fox19.com/ |
WXIX-TV channel 19 is the Fox Broadcasting Company affiliate in Cincinnati, Ohio. The station's city of license is Newport, Kentucky, across the Ohio River. WXIX is owned by Raycom Media with studios and transmitter located in Cincinnati. Syndicated programming on WXIX includes: The Simpsons, and Family Guy.
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The station began operation on August 1, 1968, owned by a group headed by Cincinnati businessman James Lang. It was the first new commercial station in the market since 1949, and the second UHF station in the area (behind PBS member WCET). The FCC had allocated one full-power UHF station to Cincinnati—channel 65 (later 64). However, when Lang and his partners found out there was a channel 19 allocation available across the river in Newport, they sought it in order to provide more signal at less cost.
While WXIX was running test transmissions before its inaugural broadcast, the station intermittently aired "mini-shows" featuring The Larry Smith Puppets promoting the sale of UHF converters which can be used with pre-1964 television sets which were only equipped to receive VHF signals at the time. Larry Smith and his puppets (a witch named "Battie Hattie from Cincinnati" and her dog "Snarfy" among other characters) later hosted a daytime children's program in the weekday afternoons for several years. Afterward, "The Cool Ghoul" [4] – played by Dick VonHoene, known for his weekend late night sci-fi/monster movie program "Scream-In" – also hosted a weekday children's show in the afternoons. There was an afternoon show called "Kim's Cartoon Caper's". It had a girl of about 13 hosting the afternoon cartoon show.
Channel 19 was sold to U.S. Communications in 1970 and then to Metromedia in 1972. Metromedia's deep pockets helped WXIX develop as a strong-performing general entertainment independent station, airing cartoons, off-network sitcoms, first-run talk shows, dramas, movies and talk shows. After nearly a decade on air, it finally received competition in 1980 with the launch of WBTI (channel 64, now WSTR-TV), which ran general entertainment and religious programing before 7 p.m. and subscription TV at night. However, that competition was short-lived, ending when WBTI became a full-time subscription station by 1982. The over-air subscription TV phenomenon occurred in larger markets in the U.S. where cable had yet to penetrate city centers before the late 1980s.
Malrite Communications bought channel 19 from Metromedia in December 1983.[1][2] The station remained the leading independent station in the market, even after WBTI returned to full-time general entertainment programming in 1985. Also in 1986, WXIX became a charter affiliate of the Fox network (which, coincidentally was based around some of WXIX's former Metromedia sister stations). The station changed its on-air branding from "19XIX" to "Fox 19" in 1996. In 1998, Malrite merged with Raycom Media, which continues to own WXIX today.
Around 2000, WXIX operated a large open space inside Tri-County Mall called the "FOX19 Station Break."[3]
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
Digital channels
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 19.1 | Main WXIX-TV programming / FOX |
| 19.2 | Bounce TV and local sports[4] |
WXIX originally aired The Tube Music Network on channel 19.2 until the network's closure in 2007. This TV then began to broadcast from this channel from January 2009 to December 2011.[4] In turn, Bounce TV took its place beginning January 2012.[5]
WXIX-TV ended programming on its analog signal, on UHF channel 19, on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States [6], and remained on its current pre-transition channel number, 29 [7] PSIP is used to display its virtual channel as 19.
The station launched a 10 p.m. newscast in 1993 and a morning newscast in 1997. It also aired a newscast at the late timeslot of midnight in the mid-1990s and an 11:30 a.m. midday newscast during the late 1990s. WXIX partnered with WBQC-TV to air channel 19's evening newscast during the Cincinnati Bearcats basketball season. After basic cable systems in Northern Kentucky and Southwest Ohio dropped WBQC, these newscasts were moved to Insight Communications channel 6 in Kentucky and Time Warner Cable channel 2 in Ohio. WXIX no longer broadcasts Bearcat football or basketball games. In addition to its regular newscasts, WXIX provides one-to-two-minute cut-ins at the top of each hour on weekdays, as well as halftime cut-ins during network sportscasts.
Paul Horton became WXIX's chief meteorologist on January 31, 2007. He left channel 19 on August 7 that year to take the morning meteorologist position at CBS affiliate KPHO-TV in Phoenix. Steve Horstmeyer left his longtime morning and noon position at CBS affiliate WKRC-TV to replace Horton as chief meteorologist on August 7, 2008.[8] Horstmeyer traveled to Lake Charles, Louisiana, to assist sister station KPLC, as part of a Raycom effort to cover Hurricane Gustav.
On August 11, 2008, WXIX began airing a 6:30 p.m. newscast[9] aimed at the 18–54-year-old demographic. The broadcast competes with national newscasts airing at 6:30 on WLWT-TV, WCPO-TV, and WKRC-TV. On September 21, 2009 the program was extended to a full hour beginning at 6:00 p.m. On September 19, 2011 Fox 19 moved the 6:00 p.m. newscast to 6:30 p.m.
On November 4, 2008, WXIX became the second Cincinnati station to broadcast its news in high definition, after WCPO. However, the station continued to broadcast most field reports and weather radar in standard definition. By mid-December, nearly everything was in HD. In December 2009, WXIX reached an agreement with local ABC affiliate WCPO-TV (channel 9) to pool videographers at press conferences.[10] On March 31, 2010, it was announced that WXIX reached an agreement with Clear Channel to have hourly news and weather updates heard on WLW. These updates began on WLW on April 1.[11]
On September 20, 2010 WXIX expanded its weekday morning newscast to 4½ hours, from 4:30-10 a.m. with the 9-10 a.m. extension of the newscast called Fox 19 Morning Xtra.[12] On July 25, 2011, WXIX debuted a half-hour weather-focused newscast called Fox 19 First Weather, which airs weekday mornings at 4 a.m.; the program will be hosted by meteorologists Frank Marzullo and Katy Morgan, with news headlines read by weekday morning anchor Rob Williams.[13]
Anchors
Fox 19 StormTracker Weather
Sports team
Reporters
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