 | This articleis missing information about WJTV's news department. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(February 2024) |
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| History | |
First air date | January 20, 1953 (72 years ago) (1953-01-20) |
Former call signs | WSLI-TV (on channel 12, 1954–1955) |
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Call sign meaning | "Jackson Television" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 48667 |
| ERP | 49.2kW |
| HAAT | 491 m (1,611 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 32°14′26″N90°24′15″W / 32.24056°N 90.40417°W /32.24056; -90.40417 |
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Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WJTV (channel 12) is atelevision station inJackson, Mississippi, United States, affiliated withCBS and owned byNexstar Media Group. Its second subchannel serves as anowned-and-operated station ofThe CW as Nexstar owns a majority stake in the network. WJTV's studios are located on TV Road in southwest Jackson, and its transmitter is located inRaymond, Mississippi.
WHLT (channel 22) inHattiesburg operates as asemi-satellite of WJTV extending the CBS signal into thePine Belt region of Mississippi. As such, it clears all network programming as provided through its parent andsimulcasts most of WJTV's newscasts, but airs a separate offering ofsyndicated programming; there are also separatestation identifications and local commercial inserts. Although WHLT maintains its own studios onUS 49 in Hattiesburg,master control and some internal operations are based at WJTV's facilities.
WJTV signed-on January 20, 1953, as Mississippi's first television station, airing ananalog signal onUHF channel 25. It was owned by the Hederman family, publishers of Jackson's morning and afternoon newspapers—The Clarion-Ledger and theJackson Daily News, respectively—and was a primary CBS affiliate and secondaryDuMont Television Network affiliate.[2]
One year later, on March 27, 1954, the Standard Life Insurance Company started WSLI-TV on VHF channel 12.[3] That station was a primaryABC affiliate, owing to WSLI-AM's affiliation with that network, and provided Jackson residents with network coverage from the three major broadcast networks, since NBC affiliateWLBT (channel 3) had begun operation three months earlier. WSLI shared tower space with WJTV.
In 1955, the Hederman family and Standard Life Insurance Company opted to combine both stations' operations. On June 1, 1955, the two stations merged under WJTV's call letters, but using WSLI-TV's license on channel 12.[4] WSLI radio remained on the air and became a sister to WJTV. The combined station was a primary CBS affiliate with secondary affiliations with ABC and DuMont.[5] The new channel 12 also shared ABC programming with WLBT until 1970, whenWAPT started operations on channel 16. WJTV was also affiliated with NBC and broadcastThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson until September 1966 when it was carried by NBC affiliate WLBT. (Carson had attendedMillsaps College in Jackson.)
From 1977 until 1983, WJTV was owned by the Capitol Broadcasting Company (the same company which ownedKNAZ-TV inFlagstaff, Arizona, andKKTV inColorado Springs, Colorado, but unrelated to theCapitol Broadcasting Company ofRaleigh, North Carolina). In 1983, it was sold to theNews-Press & Gazette Company. Four years later, the station launched a semi-satellite for the Hattiesburg–Laurel area, WHLT. In 1993, NPG sold several of its stations, including WJTV and WHLT, to the first incarnation ofNew Vision Television. In turn, New Vision sold its entire stations group to Ellis Communications in 1995. Ellis was folded intoRaycom Media the following year after it was bought out by a media group led by theRetirement Systems of Alabama (who boughtAFLAC's broadcasting group a few months earlier).
In 1997, Raycom bought out Federal Broadcasting, owner of WHLT's rival station,WDAM-TV. Due to the presence of WHLT, this acquisition put Raycom in violation ofFederal Communications Commission (FCC) duopoly rules in the Hattiesburg–Laurel market. As a result, Raycom opted to keep the higher-rated WDAM and trade WJTV and WHLT (along withWSAV-TV inSavannah, Georgia, that also had to be divested by Raycom due to its ownership of that station's rivalWTOC-TV) toMedia General in exchange forWTVR-TV inRichmond, Virginia (which had to be divested by Media General due to FCC same-market cross-ownership restrictions).
The trade left Raycom without a station in the Jackson market until 2006 when it acquired WLBT as part of its purchase ofThe Liberty Corporation. Its original digital transmitter was located at its studios on TV Road.
On October 1, 2013, WJTV returned programming fromThe CW to the Jackson market after a five-month absence due to former affiliateWRBJ-TV (channel 34)'s sale to the religiousTrinity Broadcasting Network. WJTV placed the network on its second digital subchannel, replacing a still of the station's weather radar.
After an aborted merger plan withMeredith Corporation, Media General announced on January 27, 2016, that it was being acquired byNexstar Broadcasting Group with the new company named "Nexstar Media Group".[6][7] BecauseWNTZ-TV (owned by Nexstar) is considered part of theAlexandria DMA by the FCC[8][9] (despite being licensed toNatchez, located in the Jackson market), Nexstar was not forced to sell either WNTZ or WJTV to comply with the ownership rules. The sale was completed on January 17, 2017.[10]
WHLT simulcasts its parent's weekday morning show and, beginning in December 2013, airs a full 30-minute 10 p.m. newscast produced within the WJTV studio that features stories submitted by WHLT reporters. The 10 p.m. newscast is anchored by WJTV personalities Melanie Christopher, Byron Brown, and chief meteorologist Ken South, and is specially produced for the Hattiesburg market, which also acts as a southeastern Mississippi bureau for WJTV and Nexstar's stations throughout the state and border regions.
WHLT was included in WJTV's upgrade to widescreen news-gathering in the spring of 2012, with HD operations following several years later.
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
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| 12.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WJTV-HD | CBS |
| 12.2 | 720p | The CW | The CW | |
| 12.3 | 480i | 4:3 | ION TV | Ion Television |
| 12.4 | 16:9 | CourtTV | Court TV |
WJTV shut down its analog signal, overVHF channel 12, on June 12, 2009, as part of thefederally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[12] The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 52, which was among the high band UHF channels (52–69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to its analog-era VHF channel 12.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofMississippi | ||
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Mississippi | ||
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Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofLouisiana | ||
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Louisiana | ||
| ABC | ||
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| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
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** Owned by third parties but operated by Nexstar through various agreements. | ||
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