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| Ownership | |
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| History | |
First air date | May 29, 1989 (35 years ago) (1989-05-29) |
Former call signs | WJCB (1989–1998) |
Former channel number(s) |
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| ReligiousInd. (1989–1997) inTV (1997–1998) | |
Call sign meaning | Pax Virginia |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 67077 |
| ERP | 865 kW[2] |
| HAAT | 348 m (1,142 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 36°49′0″N76°28′5″W / 36.81667°N 76.46806°W /36.81667; -76.46806 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | iontelevision |
WPXV-TV (channel 49) is atelevision station licensed toNorfolk, Virginia, United States, serving as theIon Television affiliate for theHampton Roads area. Owned by Inyo Broadcast Holdings, the station has studios on Nansemond Parkway inSuffolk, Virginia, adjacent to the transmitter tower it shares withABC affiliateWVEC (channel 13).
On August 9, 1985, Tidewater Christian Communications received the construction permit for a new channel 49 television station at Norfolk. Tidewater Christian, controlled by several Black ministers from Hampton Roads-area churches, set up shop in the formerWVEC studios inHampton and built WJCB. The station would broadcast religious programming and family-oriented secular shows.[3] The first general manager was Dwight Green, son ofChurch of God in Christ bishopSamuel L. Green Jr.[3]
Channel 49 signed on the air May 29, 1989. At the outset, WJCB was hampered by a weak signal, and local cable companies refused to add the new station to their lineups.[4] It did not appear on some Hampton Roads systems untilmust-carry rules were reinstated in 1993.[5]
In 1994, WJCB went through a management change, as stockholders successfully pushed for a court order to install a new board to manage the money-losing station. Under new management, WJCB added home shopping programming from ViaTV in 1994, in an attempt to boost its revenue.[6] A year later, the station dropped ViaTV for programs from the newAmerica One network and Infomall, aninfomercial service owned byPaxson Communications Corporation; these aired alongsidemusic videos and religious programs.[7]
Lockwood Broadcasting purchased WJCB from Tidewater Christian Communications in 1996 for $6.75 million.[8][9] Lockwood already owned a network of low-power TV stations headed byWPEN-LP.[10] The company moved to spend $1.5 million on an improved transmitter for channel 49 and new studio facilities and to move the syndicated inventory of WPEN to the full-power station.[11]
Lockwood had no intention of selling the newly purchased WJCB; however, Paxson presented it with an offer to buy the station for $14.75 million—more than twice what Lockwood had paid to purchase it from Tidewater Christian—and the sale to Paxson was announced in December.[8]
Paxson Communications changed the WJCB call letters to WPXV on March 2, 1998. Religious programming and infomercials as well as shopping programming continued to air on WPXV until August 31, when the station started airing Pax programming in the late afternoons and evenings with infomercials and religious programming during the day, with the launch of the then-new Pax network.[12] WPXV aired rebroadcasts ofWAVY-TV's 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. weeknight newscasts at 7 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. weeknights from 2003 to 2004 and had master control in WAVY's studios until 2004 when Paxson and NBC broke up the agreement.[13][14]
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49.1 | 720p | 16:9 | ION | Ion Television |
| 49.2 | Laff | Laff | ||
| 49.3 | 480i | Mystery | Ion Mystery | |
| 49.4 | IONPlus | Ion Plus | ||
| 49.5 | Grit | |||
| 49.6 | GameSho | Game Show Central | ||
| 49.7 | QVC | QVC | ||
| 49.8 | HSN | HSN |
The Worship Network was previously seen on WPXV-TV's fourth digital subchannel;[12] however, Ion dropped The Worship Network on all Ion owned and operated stations on January 31, 2010, at midnight.[16]
WPXV-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, overUHF channel 49, on June 12, 2009, as part of thefederally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[17] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 46, usingvirtual channel 49.