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| City | Lexington, North Carolina |
| Channels | |
| Branding | Triad CW;WXII 12 News on Triad CW |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WXII-TV | |
| History | |
| Founded | May 3, 1983 |
First air date | October 30, 1985 (39 years ago) (1985-10-30) |
Former call signs |
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Former channel number(s) |
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Call sign meaning | "CW Greensboro" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 35385 |
| ERP | 1,000kW |
| HAAT | 571.9 m (1,876 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 36°22′31″N80°22′25″W / 36.37528°N 80.37361°W /36.37528; -80.37361 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WCWG (channel 20) is atelevision station licensed toLexington, North Carolina, United States, serving thePiedmont Triad region as an affiliate ofThe CW. It is owned byHearst Television alongsideWinston-Salem–licensedNBC affiliateWXII-TV (channel 12). WCWG and WXII-TV share studios on Coliseum Drive in Winston-Salem; through achannel sharing agreement, the stations transmit using WXII-TV's spectrum from an antenna onSauratown Mountain inStokes County.
The station first signed on the air on October 30, 1985, as WEJC (standing for "We ExaltJesus Christ"; operating as anindependent station, it originally maintained areligious educational format. Initially, the programming wasBaptist- andReformed-based and stayed away from "Signs and Wonders" preaching. The station first operated from studios located offI-85 Business in Lexington. Due to lack of suitable programming as well as the perception of religious programs due to hard times in Christian broadcasting following theJim Bakker andJimmy Swaggart scandals starting in 1987, the station was reduced to minimum staffing and operations from the transmitter building nearRandleman. It was originally owned by Koinonia Broadcasting. During this time, WEJC's programming was split in approximately half between theHome Shopping Club and religious programming. In 1990, the station moved its operations to a new studio facility located on Guilford College Road inGreensboro, eventually resuming local studio production and eliminated most of the HSN programming. The station was affiliated with the broader-basedevangelicalChristian Television Network from 1990 until March 1996.
Koinonia sold the station toPappas Telecasting in 1995. Initially it kept the religious format, but it soon became aWB affiliate, and added that network's programming to its lineup immediately after the sale was finalized. On March 14, 1996, it changed its call letters to WBFX. Religious programming was reduced to mornings from 5 to 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. to noon in the spring of 1996, with the rest of the schedule filled by syndicatedcartoons from 7 to 9 a.m.,westerns in the early afternoon, cartoons until 5 p.m., additional westerns in the evening, WB programs and oldermovies in prime time, anddrama series and classic movies in the late night hours.
That summer, the station reached an agreement withFoxowned-and-operated station (now affiliate)WGHP (channel 8) to carry theFox Kids programming block, which had aired on that station since it switched to Fox in September 1995. Upon gaining new affiliates through its group affiliation deal withNew World Communications (which sold WGHP directly to Fox as it placed New World over the 12-station ownership limit at the time), Fox executives had decided to change the carriage policies for Fox Kids, allowing a station to choose to keep airing it or be granted the right to pass the block to another station in the market. More recent off-networksitcoms were added to WBFX's schedule, and more of its religious shows were dropped.
The station's call letters changed to WTWB-TV (for "Triad WB") on August 28, 2000. WTWB dropped Fox's children's programming in March 2001, and WGHP chose not to pick up Fox's newSaturday morning cartoon block, Fox Box (later4Kids TV), which replaced Fox Kids in 2002. As a result, the block did not air at all in the Piedmont Triad.
On January 24, 2006, theWarner Bros. unit ofTime Warner andCBS Corporation announced that the two companies would shut down The WB andUPN and combine the networks' respective programming to create a new "fifth" network calledThe CW.[2][3] On March 2, 2006, UPN affiliate WUPN-TV (channel 48, nowWMYV) was announced as an affiliate ofMyNetworkTV. Two weeks later on March 17, 2006, WTWB was confirmed as the market's CW outlet. On August 10, 2006, the call sign was changed to WCWG (for "CW Greensboro") to reflect the affiliation.
On January 16, 2009, Pappas announced that several of its stations, including WCWG, would be sold to New World TV Group, after the acquisition receivedUnited States bankruptcy court approval.[4] At some point, New World TV Group would change its name to Titan Broadcasting.[5] On April 1, 2013,Lockwood Broadcast Group announced it would be acquiring WCWG from Titan Broadcasting;[6] the sale was consummated on September 23.[7]
In theFederal Communications Commission (FCC)'sincentive auction, WCWG sold its spectrum for $105,731,122 and indicated that it would enter into a post-auction channel sharing agreement.[8] WCWG subsequently reached a channel sharing agreement withWXII-TV (channel 12); the station also entered into a separateshared services agreement allowing WXII's owner,Hearst Television, to provide additional services to WCWG.[9] With the spectrum move, WCWG dropped Escape and Laff from their channel lineup on July 31, 2017.[10]
On October 4, 2017, it was announced that Hearst would buy WCWG outright for $3.3 million.[11] The purchase was completed on February 16, 2018.[12]
As part of the shared services agreement with WXII, the station moved its 10 p.m. newscast from its MeTV subchannel to WCWG beginning July 31, 2017. The newscast was also expanded to a full hour on weeknights while remaining a half-hour on weekends.[13][14]
On August 28, 2017, WCWG additionally added a two-hour extension of WXII's morning show.[15]
| License | Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WXII-TV | 12.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WXII-TV | NBC |
| 12.2 | 480i | Me-TV | MeTV | ||
| 12.3 | Story | Story Television[17] | |||
| 12.4 | QVC2 | QVC2 | |||
| WCWG | 20.1 | 1080i | WCWG CW | The CW | |
| 20.4 | 480i | Dabl | Dabl |
Video Mix TV, a localized viewer requestmusic video channel which originated for ten years in theSouth Florida market, was carried on digital subchannel 20.2 from June 1, 2009, to December 26, 2010.[18] On December 27, 2010, the subchannel affiliated with Black Network Television, anAfrican American-oriented service with emphasis on the local community.[19] BNT's programming was supplemented with syndicated programs, and at launch also included offerings from the AMG TV network. On July 1, 2015, WCWG replaced BNT with theEscape TV channel.
In May 2010, WCWG began carryingSpanish-language networkEstrella TV on digital subchannel 20.3.[20] In the summer of 2012,Bounce TV was added to digital channel 20.4. On June 1, 2015, WCWG replaced Estrella TV with theLaff network.
WCWG shut down its analog signal on June 12, 2009, as part of the FCC-mandatedtransition to digital television for full-power stations.[21] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 19, usingvirtual channel 20.
In recent years, WCWG has been carried oncable inSiler City, which is part of theRaleightelevision market and inWytheville, Virginia, which is part of theRoanoke market. OnDirecTV, WCWG has been carried inGrayson County, Virginia, which is also part of theRoanoke market.[22]
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