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| History | |
First air date | April 7, 1971 (1971-04-07) |
Former channel numbers | Analog: 20 (UHF, 1971–2009) |
| NBC (1971–1973) | |
Call sign meaning | Casey, JoAnn, and Bill Minshall, original owners |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 16993 |
| ERP | 343.6kW |
| HAAT | 254.4 m (835 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 29°32′11.5″N82°24′0″W / 29.536528°N 82.40000°W /29.536528; -82.40000 |
| Translator(s) | W35EC-DLake City |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WCJB-TV (channel 20) is atelevision station inGainesville, Florida, United States, affiliated withABC andThe CW Plus. Owned byGray Media, the station maintains studios on Northwest 43rd Street in Gainesville, and its transmitter is located nearMicanopy, Florida.
WCJB began broadcasting April 7, 1971, as anNBC affiliate owned by William E. "Bill" Minshall. Originally broadcasting an analog signal on UHF channel 20, its call sign bears the first initials of his family members: Casey (daughter), JoAnn (wife), and himself, Bill. In 1973, just two years after its first broadcast, the station switched its affiliation to ABC.[2] In 1976, WCJB was sold toDiversified Communications. In 2001, it began airing its digital signal on UHF channel 16. WCJB was one of the ABC affiliates that airedSaving Private Ryan in 2004.
On September 18, 2006, WCJB launched a new second digital subchannel to be the area'sCW affiliate as part of the nationalCW Plus service, replacing the cable-onlyWB 100+ affiliate "WBFL" after the WB–UPN merger.
Its coverage area includesLake City (within theJacksonvillemarket),Ocala (in the Orlando market) and most of North Central Florida. It is also the sole ABC affiliate on cable systems inLive Oak andJasper (both within theTallahassee market). Until July 2006, WCJB was the only ABC affiliate seen onCox Cable systems in Ocala. Even though that city is part of the Orlando market, this station had exclusivity on that system for ABC programming. This kept in-market affiliateWFTV off the system for several years. In that month, the cable company received the green light to pick up WFTV'sstandard andhigh definition feeds in Ocala. WFTV and WCJB are also both seen onCharter Spectrum inBelleview and unincorporatedMarion County.
Diversified announced on February 16, 2017, that it would exit broadcasting and sell WCJB and its sister stationWABI-TV inBangor, Maine, toGray Television for $85 million.[3] The sale was completed on May 1, 2017.[4] It made WCJB a sister station toWCTV (Gray Television's then-flagship station) in Tallahassee andWJHG-TV andWECP-LD inPanama City.
TheFlorida Department of Health sent acease and desist letter to the station, alongside a few others such asTampa'sWFLA-TV, dated October 3, 2024, over a broadcast of a political advertisement backingAmendment 4, relating to the abortion laws in the state.[5][6] The move was criticized by theFederal Communications Commission.[7]
WCJB airs selectFlorida Gators football games as part of ABC's rights to college football telecasts, including select SEC contests beginning in2024 under theSEC on ABC branding. The station aired the Gators' first-ever national championship in1996 through their victory in the1997 Sugar Bowl.
WCJB presently broadcasts 39 hours, 15 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with 6 hours, 35 minutes each weekday and three hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). The station also broadcasts2+1⁄2 hours of late local news each week on its CW subchannel.
Originally, WCJB was the only station to operate a news department covering the Gainesville area. As a result, it held the number one spot inNielsen ratings by a wide margin for most of the station's existence. In addition to its main studios, this station operates a Marion County Bureau on Northeast 1st Avenue in Ocala.
Until the establishment of rivalWGFL'sGTN News in 2010 (laterCBS 4 News), WCJB had the only local news department on a commercial station—non-commercialWUFT television airs a nightly newscast produced byUniversity of Florida journalism and broadcasting students; and Fox affiliateWOGX simulcasts newscasts from sister stationWOFL in Orlando, with no separate local inserts targeted to the Gainesville area. Following the discontinuation ofCBS 4 News on May 12, 2023, WCJB reassumed becoming the only commercial news station serving Gainesville.
On April 19, 2009, WCJB debuted a new set complete with updated graphics and music theme (identical to that ofDes Moines CBS affiliateKCCI in the late '90s) which had not changed in almost ten years. The graphics are yellow and orange instead of blue and white. Its updated logo now includes ABC in it unlike the previous two. WCJB began airing local newscasts in high definition on January 9, 2010. Its music theme was later updated in 2012, with a background graphics color change to blue and red. The music theme and news set was then modified on October 22, 2015, and the background graphics was updated on February 1, 2016, showing photos relating to Gainesville and North Central Florida.
From September 18, 2006, until February 2010, it produced a half-hour weeknight prime time newscast on WCJB-DT2, titledWCJB-TV 20 News at 10 on Gainesville CW. The live broadcast was dropped in favor of a repeat of the main channel's 6 p.m. show, but the repeat was later dropped as well.
On January 18, 2016, WCJB expanded its early evening newscast a half-hour earlier to 5 p.m. instead of 5:30.[8] The 6 p.m. newscast remains as scheduled.
On June 26, 2017, for the first time in over eight years, WCJB updated a new logo.
On September 6, 2021, WCJB added an hour-long weekday 4 p.m. newscast on the main channel and relaunched a half-hour 10 p.m. newscast on the DT2 CW subchannel.[9]
On September 5, 2022, WCJB extended its weekday noon newscast to one hour,[10] with the last half-hour replacing the canceledRight This Minute.
On January 24, 2026, WCJB added a two-hour weekend morning newscast beginning at 6 a.m.[11]
On March 29, 2014, theFlorida Gators beat theDayton Flyers 62–52 in the Elite Eight of theNCAA basketball tournament. Since WCJB is an ABC affiliate andCBS owned the broadcast rights (although the game aired nationally onTBS), the network could not show highlights until the day after perNCAA regulations. The news team instead recreated the highlights inside a conference room at the station's studio, using a mini-hoop attached to the wall and the station staff doubling as players.[12]
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WCJBabc | ABC |
| 20.2 | WCJB-CW | The CW Plus | ||
| 20.3 | 480i | MeTV | MeTV | |
| 20.4 | Circle | The365 | ||
| 20.5 | Crime | True Crime Network | ||
| 20.6 | Grit | Grit |
WCJB-DT2 upgraded its signal to 720p in June 2012.[14]
In January 2018, WCJB addedMeTV to its subchannel lineup on channel 20.3, marking the first new subchannel added to WCJB since adding Gainesville CW in September 2006. MeTV had been aired onWNBW's subchannel 9.4 prior to the change.
On January 1, 2020, WCJB launched a new subchannel,Circle, on channel 20.4.
In March 2020, WCJB added another new subchannel, Justice Network (nowTrue Crime Network), on channel 20.5.
On December 1, 2022, the station added a sixth subchannel,Grit.
WCJB-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, overUHF channel 20, 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 remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 16, usingvirtual channel 20.[15]
Until 1998, WCJB operated ananalogtranslator station,W57AN (UHF channel 57) which rebroadcast WCJB's signal into Marion County from a transmitter located on NE Jacksonville Road in Ocala.[16][17]
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 | ||
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| 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 | ||
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