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| Channels | |
| Branding | NewsChannel 7 |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WECP-LD | |
| History | |
First air date | December 1, 1953 (71 years ago) (1953-12-01) |
Former call signs | WJDM-TV (1953–1960) |
Former channel numbers |
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Call sign meaning | James Harrison Gray, the founder of Gray Media |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 73136 |
| ERP | 1,000kW |
| HAAT | 410.9 m (1,348 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 30°21′8″N85°23′28″W / 30.35222°N 85.39111°W /30.35222; -85.39111 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WJHG-TV (channel 7) is atelevision station inPanama City, Florida, United States, affiliated withNBC. It is owned byGray Media alongsidelow-power dualCBS/MyNetworkTV affiliateWECP-LD (channel 21). The two stations share studios on Front Beach Road/SR 30 inPanama City Beach; WJHG-TV's transmitter is located onSR 20 in unincorporatedYoungstown, Florida.
WJHG went on the air December 1, 1953, as WJDM-TV; it was owned by localbusinessman J. D. Manley. The station became known by many people as "Wait Just a Darn Minute" (a play on itscall letters) because it would frequently go off the air with technical problems.[citation needed]
At first, WJDM-TV aired local programming such as church services andwrestling and operated as anindependent station before securing a primary affiliation with NBC and secondary affiliations with CBS andABC. Mel Wheeler purchased the station in 1957, and in 1960,James Harrison Gray, the founder of Gray Communications (now Gray Media) bought the station and changed the call letters to the current WJHG-TV after his initials. It was the second television station in Gray's portfolio, afterWALB-TV inAlbany, Georgia.
WJHG dropped CBS in the 1960s afterWTVY inDothan, Alabama, became the default CBS affiliate for Panama City as well. That station's transmitter (inBethlehem, Florida) is technically located in the Panama Citymedia market, even though its primary coverage area is theWiregrass Region of southeastern Alabama. On August 1, 1972, WJHG, along with then-sister stationKTVE inEl Dorado, Arkansas, switched its primary affiliation to ABC, leaving the area without a primary NBC affiliate until WDTB (nowWMBB) began in 1973 as the NBC affiliate.[2] In 1982, WMBB and WJHG switched networks; WJHG returned to NBC.
In 1998, WJHG was almost sold when the Phipps family soldWCTV inTallahassee to Gray Communications. Gray would have been forced to seek a waiver from theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) to keep both WJHG and WCTV under pre-1996 ownership rules because WJHG's grade B signal covers the extreme western parts of the Tallahassee market. The 1996Telecommunications Act allowed for overlapping fringe signals, so Gray was able to keep both stations. Instead, Gray ended up selling its then-flagship station, WALB-TV in Albany, Georgia, because its city-grade signal overlapped that of WCTV's in the southwestern Georgia portion of the Tallahassee market. Even after the 1996 reforms, the FCC was not willing to even consider a waiver for a city-grade overlap. From 1998 to 2006, despiteWPCT being aUPN affiliate until 2001, WJHG began airing UPN programming on a secondary basis, airing UPN programs in the late hours. This would continue until UPN and The WB merged operations in 2006 to form The CW, despite Panama City once again gaining its own UPN station whenWBIF switched to UPN fromPax in 2004.
In 2002, Gray bought most ofBenedek Broadcasting's stations. This included WTVY, whose transmitter provides a signal that covers all the way fromFort Walton Beach, Florida, toTroy, Alabama. By this time, signal contours were no longer an issue and Gray could keep both stations. Since both stations had traditionally been available oncable in both the Dothan and Panama City area, and have the same ownership, WJHG has run WTVY stories that take place in those parts of northwestern Florida that are in northern part of the Panama City market. Meanwhile, WTVY has run WJHG stories focusing on Panama City and the coast. Sometimes, WTVY will run its own stories on Panama City but WJHG did not cover Dothan at all (Southeastern Alabama's default NBC affiliate wasWSFA fromMontgomery). Gray launched low-poweredWRGX-LD as a Dothan-based NBC affiliate on June 1, 2013, ending WJHG's availability in the Dothan market.[3]
Gray twice acquired other companies that owned Panama City-area television stations, selling them off to retain WJHG-TV and WECP-LD. In 2014, it acquired most ofHoak Media, owner ofABC affiliateWMBB; that station was spun off toNexstar Broadcasting Group.[4] When Gray acquiredRaycom Media in 2019, it spun offFox affiliateWPGX (channel 28) toLockwood Broadcast Group.[5]
The station used a "Circle 7" logo as far back as the 1950s without objection from ABC, pre-dating the introduction of the now-common variation to itsowned stations in 1962. At some point, however, the network trademarked said logo for exclusive use by itsowned-and-operated stations that shared the channel 7 dial position in several major television markets across the nation, with some channel 7 ABC affiliates also directly licensing the logo. In 1982, when Gray Communications switched WJHG's network affiliation to NBC, ABC ordered WJHG to cease using the logo.Station manager Ray H. Holloway produced archival film and still photographs that showed the local station had been using the "Circle 7" logo longer than the network.
To bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion, the station elected to modify the logo. The modification was minor (the bottom of the circle was left open) but enough to pacify the network's executives, who were upset over the station's decision to "defect" to NBC. However, there are non-ABC stations still using designs similar to the Circle 7 logo including two ofSunbeam Television's stations, independent stationWHDH in Boston andFox affiliateWSVN in Miami.
On June 6, 2018, WJHG-TV underwent its most significant logo change yet, finally dropping the "Circle 7" logo after almost four decades.
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WJHG presently broadcasts32+7⁄8 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with5+1⁄4 hours each weekday, one hour on Saturdays and1+7⁄8 hours on Sundays); in addition, the station produces five hours of newscasts for sister station WECP-LD (at noon and 5:30 p.m. each weekday). The combined news operation results in over 37 hours of newscasts each week.
On June 28, 2010, WJHG began broadcasting their newscasts in16:9enhanced definitionwidescreen.
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | NBC | NBC |
| 7.2 | 720p | MeTV | MeTV[8] | |
| 7.3 | 480i | CBS SD | CBS (WECP-LD) inSD | |
| 7.4 | 480i | ION | Ion Television | |
| 7.5 | DABL | Dabl | ||
| 7.6 | the365 | 365BLK[7] | ||
| 7.7 | COZI | Cozi TV |
WJHG-TV shut down its analog signal, overVHF channel 7, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were totransition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition VHF channel 8 to channel 7.[9] On December 19, 2012, WJHG received aconstruction permit to move from VHF channel 7 toUHF channel 18 (previously occupied by Panama City sister station WECP).[10] WJHG's move to digital channel 18 (retaining virtual 7) and WECP's to channel 29 (virtual 18) took place on May 21, 2015, with the FCC issuing the station's license on June 5, 2015.
Sometime in 2019, WJHG-TV changed frequencies from RF channel 18 to RF channel 16 as part of the FCC'sspectrum repack.
Includes English-language stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Florida | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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Includes English-language stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Florida | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
| ||
