WTEV-TV
Encyclopedia
WTEV-TV is the CBS
-affiliated television station
for Florida
's First Coast
licensed to Jacksonville
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 19 (virtual channel
47.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter on Hogan Road in the city's Southside section. The station can also be seen on Comcast
channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 433. Owned by High Plains Broadcasting, WTEV is operated by Newport Television
through joint sales
and shared services
agreements. This makes it sister to Fox affiliate WAWS
and the two stations share studios on Central Parkway in Jacksonville's Southside section. Syndicated
programming on WTEV includes Two and a Half Men
, Judge Judy
, Judge Joe Brown, and The Rachael Ray Show among others.
.
The station was the brainchild of John Stone Thigpenn who, while working as an announcer at Christian
radio station WBIX
-AM 1010 during May 1977, read Pat Robertson
's "Shout it From the Housetops". This was Robertson's personal account of how he founded the Christian Broadcasting Network
. Thigpenn, who gained faith to create a similar venture in Jacksonville, mentioned on-the-air that he wanted to start a Christian
television station for the Jacksonville market
.
Within minutes of this announcement, listener Janice Paulk from Fernandina called to ask who she should make a check out to in support of the effort. Thigpenn suggested the name "Christian Television of Jacksonville" knowing he could later formally create a business license and banking account under that name. Three days later, a check for $
1,000 was received from Paulk.
Further inspired by such a generous donation, Thigpenn contacted his friend Russell Linenkohl, President
of the local Full Gospel
Businessmen's Association. Linenkohl suggested teaming up with other Christian business leaders to jointly discuss how best to proceed. Included in that group were physicians already known by Thigpenn, Stephen Gyland and Douglas Fowler. Other businessmen being recommended were local bankers Richard Martin, Rufus Kite Powell, and Thomas McGehee. The group agreed to hold a public meeting to invite citizen comments regarding the endeavor. At the end of this public meeting, the attendees voted to appoint the head table to form a selection committee tasked with appointing and forming a Board of Directors for Christian Television of Jacksonville.
Before the public meeting, Thigpenn had already contacted the Broadcast Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) to discover that two analog television frequencies (channels 30 and 47) were available for broadcast in Jacksonville. He also discovered that two entities were already competing for the channel 30 frequency. The group decided to avoid the time and expense of litigating a challenge for that allotment and opted to file for 47. Thigpenn, who did not share the same community prominence as the other appointing members, agreed to act as a silent partner to the newly appointed Board of Directors for Christian Television of Jacksonville. He subsequently headed up the Community Ascertainment requirement as one of several exhibits needed by the FCC as part of the license application process.
While Christian Television of Jacksonville received the construction permit
and eventual broadcast license from the FCC, it did not garner the expected financial donations from the community to sustain its operating costs. The board then decided to transfer the ownership to Thomas McGehee who was serving as the board's President. McGehee and his brother Frank McGehee formed North Florida
Television Incorporated which was awarded the license transfer by the FCC. Thigpenn was appointed to the new board and was listed as a principal on the newly granted license.
After all the planning and financing, the station officially signed-on as WXAO-TV on August 1, 1980
. Thigpenn served as the station's first News Director
from 1980 through 1984. "XAO" stood for "Christ
, the Alpha
and the Omega
" in Greek
letters. Its intent was to be an alternative to commercial television's sex and violence by broadcasting religious programs from The PTL Club
, Christian Television Network
, and Trinity Broadcast Network. The station also aired secular shows including cartoons, westerns, and a few classic sitcoms. WXAO Incorporated was Jacksonville's first 24-hour station but never generated a large viewership. Gradually, it abandoned most of the religious programming. In 1983, the station changed its call letters to WNFT. At that point, it began running more movies and drama shows. By 1989, it were airing a blend of cartoons, recent off-network sitcoms, movies, and drama shows. The outlet was sold in 1990 for approximately $3 million to Krypton Broadcasting who also owned two other stations with similar formats, WTVX
in West Palm Beach
and WABM
in Birmingham, Alabama
.
Krypton filed for bankruptcy in 1993 and sold each station to a separate owner within the following year. WNFT was sold to RDS Broadcasting which in turn entered into a local marketing agreement
(LMA) with Clear Channel Communications
who owned Fox affiliate WAWS. WNFT moved into that station's facility and the two stations pooled resources and programming. WAWS then began to run more popular cartoons and sitcoms along with Fox programming and talk/reality shows. Meanwhile, WNFT's new schedule focused largely on older cartoons, movies, sitcoms, and drama shows. On January 16, 1995, it became one of the charter affiliates of UPN
and adopted the call letters WTEV-TV later that year. This call-sign had previously been used on ABC
affiliate WLNE-TV
in New Bedford, Massachusetts
. In the late-1990s, WTEV moved away from most classic sitcoms, cut back on cartoons, and began to focus more on talk and reality shows. Clear Channel would buy the station outright in 2001.
In April 2002, The Florida Times-Union
reported this station would become a CBS affiliate. The former outlet for the network, WJXT
, moved to a news-intensive Independent after 53 years of being the area's CBS affiliate. The change was the result of not being able to come to a new affiliation agreement with the network. WTEV officially became a CBS affiliate on July 15, 2002. At that time, UPN programming (including cartoons) and most syndicated sitcoms moved to WAWS. That station became a secondary UPN affiliate and aired that network's programming in a secondary delayed nature from 11 at night until 1 in the morning. Both CBS and UPN were owned by Viacom
at the time. WTEV also gained most Jacksonville Jaguars
games, as part of the NFL on CBS
package that covered the American Football Conference
of the National Football League
.
On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television station group to Newport Television, a holding company majority-owned by Providence Equity Partners
. Since WAWS was also included in the deal, this would violate FCC rules preventing common ownership of two of the four largest stations in a single market.
Clear Channel acquired WTEV when it was a low-rated UPN affiliate, but by this point, passed WJXT and WCWJ
in the sign-on to sign-off ratings. As a result, the FCC granted Newport Television a temporary waiver for the acquisition of WTEV and WAWS. With that, the company was able to complete its purchase of the station group on March 14, 2008. Newport originally planned to keep WTEV and sell WAWS to another owner. However in May 2008, it agreed to sell this outlet and five other stations to High Plains Broadcasting Incorporated with the purchase being closed September 15. Today, Newport continues operating WTEV through joint sales and shared services agreements. In 2009, the station discontinued regular programming on its analog transmission and became digital-exclusive after the transition.
In the late-1990s, the station added a newscast on weeknights known as UPN 47 News at 6:30 which was produced by WAWS. After WTEV's switch from UPN to CBS in 2002, this station expanded local news offerings from WAWS's existing news department essentially taking over primary newscast production from that station. Initially, WTEV maintained certain primary personnel (such as news anchors) that would only appear on this station. In addition, there was separate branding, graphics packages, and news sets used to distinguish the two outlets and retain separate on-air identities.
On WTEV, the 6:30 broadcast was canceled (it had been off-the-air for a couple of weeks before the affiliation switch) and replaced by a full slate of weekday morning (effectively "moved" over from WAWS), weekday noon, and weeknight newscasts as well as weekend broadcasts. The station hired First Coast News weekday morning traffic reporter Michelle Jacobs but she would eventually return to WTLV
and WJXX in October 2008. Shortly after she left, WTEV hired Julie Watkins (who previously worked at First Coast News before moving on to WFTV
in Orlando
) as a weekend meteorologist.
On April 13, 2009, WTEV and WAWS completely revamped the two separate news departments. The outlets merged the operations into one entity and adopted the popular Action News
branding presumably to compete with the First Coast News title used on rivals WTLV and WJXX (owned by the Gannett Company
). The transition to new branding also introduced entirely new sets (WAWS still featured a separate one for its nightly prime time broadcast at 10), on-air graphics, weather department, and website. On January 31, 2010, WTEV and WAWS became the second local news operation in Jacksonville that upgraded to high definition (the first was WJXT
back on January 14, 2009). This was followed on February 1 by WTLV and WJXX after that shared operation completed an HD upgrade.
At some point in time, WTEV's weekday morning show began to be simulcasted on WAWS. Corresponding with the change, Action News This Morning was expanded to a full two-hours (from 5 until 7) as seen on other big three network affiliates
. A two-hour extension of the show (from 7 until 9) would eventually be added to WAWS while WTEV airs The Early Show
. Following a national trend, the former debuted an extra thirty minute segment of the weekday morning show at 4:30. This portion (known as Action News Early Morning) is not simulcasted on WTEV since it offers the CBS Morning News
in the time slot. WAWS received updated branding and introduced new graphics, music, and logos on September 19, 2010 in an effort to be separate from WTEV. When it comes to national coverage, WAWS usually carries Fox News while WTEV provides CBS News
. During weather forecast segments, the stations use a live NOAA National Weather Service
Doppler
weather radar
based at the agency's Local Forecast Office near Jacksonville International Airport
.
CBS 47 First Alert Weather
Action Sports (both seen on Action Sports 360)
First Alert Traffic
Reporters
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
for Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
's First Coast
First Coast
The First Coast is a region of Florida, in the United States. It extends along the Atlantic, or eastern, coast of the state, from the Georgia border, past the southern end of Anastasia Island, to Marineland....
licensed to Jacksonville
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
. It broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
digital signal on UHF channel 19 (virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
47.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter on Hogan Road in the city's Southside section. The station can also be seen on Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 433. Owned by High Plains Broadcasting, WTEV is operated by Newport Television
Newport Television
Newport Television, LLC is a television station holding company founded by Providence Equity Partners and Sandy DiPasquale in 2007 to acquire the television stations owned by Clear Channel Communications. In September 2007, Newport agreed to sell KFTY and KVOS-TV to LK Station Group LLC for $26.6...
through joint sales
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
and shared services
Shared services
Shared services refers to the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group where that service had previously been found in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and the providing department effectively becomes an...
agreements. This makes it sister to Fox affiliate WAWS
WAWS
WAWS is the Fox-affiliated television station for Florida's First Coast licensed to Jacksonville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter on Hogan Road in the city's Southside section. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 10 and in high...
and the two stations share studios on Central Parkway in Jacksonville's Southside section. Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programming on WTEV includes Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...
, Judge Judy
Judge Judy
Judge Judy is an American court show featuring former family court judge Judith Sheindlin arbitrating over small claims cases in small claims court...
, Judge Joe Brown, and The Rachael Ray Show among others.
Digital programming
On WTEV-DT2 and Comcast digital channel 216 is TheCoolTVTheCoolTV
THECOOLTV is a United States over-the-air digital subchannel launched in March 2009. The network's current program schedule consists of an all-music video lineup that can be customized to meet an affiliate's preference, along with the three hours per week of E/I programming as required by the...
.
| Channels | Name | Video | Aspect Aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,... |
Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47.1 | WTEV-HD | 1080i 1080i 1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels... |
16:9 16:9 16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ... |
Main WTEV programming / CBS HD |
| 47.2 | WTEV-DT2 | 480i 480i 480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC... |
4:3 | TheCoolTV; music videos |
History
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
radio station WBIX
WJXL
WJXL 1010 AM, known on-air as 1010 XL, is a sports radio station licensed to Jacksonville Beach, Florida, owned and operated by Seven Bridges Radio, under its president Steve Griffin. Griffin also serves as General Manager of the station....
-AM 1010 during May 1977, read Pat Robertson
Pat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a media mogul, television evangelist, ex-Baptist minister and businessman who is politically aligned with the Christian Right in the United States....
's "Shout it From the Housetops". This was Robertson's personal account of how he founded the Christian Broadcasting Network
Christian Broadcasting Network
The Christian Broadcasting Network, or CBN, is a fundamentalist Christian television broadcasting network in the United States. Its headquarters and main studios are in Virginia Beach, Virginia.-Background:...
. Thigpenn, who gained faith to create a similar venture in Jacksonville, mentioned on-the-air that he wanted to start a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
television station for the Jacksonville market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
.
Within minutes of this announcement, listener Janice Paulk from Fernandina called to ask who she should make a check out to in support of the effort. Thigpenn suggested the name "Christian Television of Jacksonville" knowing he could later formally create a business license and banking account under that name. Three days later, a check for $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1,000 was received from Paulk.
Further inspired by such a generous donation, Thigpenn contacted his friend Russell Linenkohl, President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
of the local Full Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
Businessmen's Association. Linenkohl suggested teaming up with other Christian business leaders to jointly discuss how best to proceed. Included in that group were physicians already known by Thigpenn, Stephen Gyland and Douglas Fowler. Other businessmen being recommended were local bankers Richard Martin, Rufus Kite Powell, and Thomas McGehee. The group agreed to hold a public meeting to invite citizen comments regarding the endeavor. At the end of this public meeting, the attendees voted to appoint the head table to form a selection committee tasked with appointing and forming a Board of Directors for Christian Television of Jacksonville.
Before the public meeting, Thigpenn had already contacted the Broadcast Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) to discover that two analog television frequencies (channels 30 and 47) were available for broadcast in Jacksonville. He also discovered that two entities were already competing for the channel 30 frequency. The group decided to avoid the time and expense of litigating a challenge for that allotment and opted to file for 47. Thigpenn, who did not share the same community prominence as the other appointing members, agreed to act as a silent partner to the newly appointed Board of Directors for Christian Television of Jacksonville. He subsequently headed up the Community Ascertainment requirement as one of several exhibits needed by the FCC as part of the license application process.
While Christian Television of Jacksonville received the construction permit
Construction permit
A construction permit or building permit is a permit required in most jurisdictions for new construction, or adding on to pre-existing structures, and in some cases for major renovations. Generally, the new construction must be inspected during construction and after completion to ensure compliance...
and eventual broadcast license from the FCC, it did not garner the expected financial donations from the community to sustain its operating costs. The board then decided to transfer the ownership to Thomas McGehee who was serving as the board's President. McGehee and his brother Frank McGehee formed North Florida
North Florida
North Florida refers to the northernmost part of the U.S. state of Florida, including some counties that border the state of Georgia. It also borders the Big Bend with Madison County and Taylor County to the east and the Central Florida region to its south....
Television Incorporated which was awarded the license transfer by the FCC. Thigpenn was appointed to the new board and was listed as a principal on the newly granted license.
After all the planning and financing, the station officially signed-on as WXAO-TV on August 1, 1980
1980 in television
The year 1980 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1980.For the American TV schedule, see: 1980-81 American network television schedule.-Events:...
. Thigpenn served as the station's first News Director
News Director
A news director is an individual at a broadcast station or network or a newspaper who is in charge of the news department. In local news, the news director is typically in charge of the entire news staff, including journalists, news presenters, photographers, copy writers, television producers,...
from 1980 through 1984. "XAO" stood for "Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
, the Alpha
Alpha
Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. Alpha or ALPHA may also refer to:-Science:*Alpha , the highest ranking individuals in a community of social animals...
and the Omega
Omega
Omega is the 24th and last letter of the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system, it has a value of 800. The word literally means "great O" , as opposed to omicron, which means "little O"...
" in Greek
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
letters. Its intent was to be an alternative to commercial television's sex and violence by broadcasting religious programs from The PTL Club
The PTL Club
The PTL Club , later called The Jim and Tammy Show, and in its last days PTL Today and Heritage Today, was a Christian television program first hosted by evangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, which ran from 1974 to 1989...
, Christian Television Network
Christian Television Network
Christian Television Network is a non-profit broadcast television network of small owned-and-operated stations that broadcasts religious programming. It is based in Largo, Florida , and the flagship station is WCLF channel 22, which signed on the air in the Tampa Bay Florida region in 1979...
, and Trinity Broadcast Network. The station also aired secular shows including cartoons, westerns, and a few classic sitcoms. WXAO Incorporated was Jacksonville's first 24-hour station but never generated a large viewership. Gradually, it abandoned most of the religious programming. In 1983, the station changed its call letters to WNFT. At that point, it began running more movies and drama shows. By 1989, it were airing a blend of cartoons, recent off-network sitcoms, movies, and drama shows. The outlet was sold in 1990 for approximately $3 million to Krypton Broadcasting who also owned two other stations with similar formats, WTVX
WTVX
WTVX is the CW-affiliated television station for West Palm Beach, Florida that is licensed to Fort Pierce. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter southwest of Palm City and I-95 in Martin County...
in West Palm Beach
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
and WABM
WABM
WABM, channel 68, is the My Network TV affiliate for the Birmingham/Anniston/Gadsden/Tuscaloosa, Alabama television market. WABM is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which also owns the market's CW affiliate, WTTO. WABM broadcast in ATSC digital format on channel 36...
in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
.
Krypton filed for bankruptcy in 1993 and sold each station to a separate owner within the following year. WNFT was sold to RDS Broadcasting which in turn entered into a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
(LMA) with Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
who owned Fox affiliate WAWS. WNFT moved into that station's facility and the two stations pooled resources and programming. WAWS then began to run more popular cartoons and sitcoms along with Fox programming and talk/reality shows. Meanwhile, WNFT's new schedule focused largely on older cartoons, movies, sitcoms, and drama shows. On January 16, 1995, it became one of the charter affiliates of UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
and adopted the call letters WTEV-TV later that year. This call-sign had previously been used on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate WLNE-TV
WLNE-TV
WLNE-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Rhode Island and the South Coast of Massachusetts. It is licensed to New Bedford, Massachusetts, but is headquartered in and operates from studios at 10 Orms Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It is one of two major Rhode Island...
in New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
. In the late-1990s, WTEV moved away from most classic sitcoms, cut back on cartoons, and began to focus more on talk and reality shows. Clear Channel would buy the station outright in 2001.
In April 2002, The Florida Times-Union
The Florida Times-Union
The Florida Times-Union is a major daily newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. Widely known as the oldest newspaper in the state, it began publication as the Florida Union in 1864. Its current incarnation started in 1883, when the Florida Union merged with another Jacksonville paper, the...
reported this station would become a CBS affiliate. The former outlet for the network, WJXT
WJXT
WJXT, channel 4 , is an independent television station serving Jacksonville, Florida, and surrounding communities. Its transmitter is in the Kilarney Shores section of Jacksonville, with the WTLV transmitter. The station originally broadcast an analog signal on VHF channel 4 and a digital signal...
, moved to a news-intensive Independent after 53 years of being the area's CBS affiliate. The change was the result of not being able to come to a new affiliation agreement with the network. WTEV officially became a CBS affiliate on July 15, 2002. At that time, UPN programming (including cartoons) and most syndicated sitcoms moved to WAWS. That station became a secondary UPN affiliate and aired that network's programming in a secondary delayed nature from 11 at night until 1 in the morning. Both CBS and UPN were owned by Viacom
Viacom (1971–2005)
Viacom , stylized as VIACOM in its current logo, was an American media conglomerate. It was the owner of CBS, Nickelodeon & MTV, among others. Effective December 31, 2005, this corporate entity changed its name to CBS Corporation...
at the time. WTEV also gained most Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
games, as part of the NFL on CBS
NFL on CBS
The NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's American Football Conference games, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage and television policies:...
package that covered the American Football Conference
American Football Conference
The American Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the National Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL....
of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
.
On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television station group to Newport Television, a holding company majority-owned by Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners is a global private equity investment firm focused on media, entertainment, communications and information investments...
. Since WAWS was also included in the deal, this would violate FCC rules preventing common ownership of two of the four largest stations in a single market.
Clear Channel acquired WTEV when it was a low-rated UPN affiliate, but by this point, passed WJXT and WCWJ
WCWJ
WCWJ is the CW-affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida and Brunswick, Georgia. The station is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc.. Its transmitter is located in Jacksonville.-History:...
in the sign-on to sign-off ratings. As a result, the FCC granted Newport Television a temporary waiver for the acquisition of WTEV and WAWS. With that, the company was able to complete its purchase of the station group on March 14, 2008. Newport originally planned to keep WTEV and sell WAWS to another owner. However in May 2008, it agreed to sell this outlet and five other stations to High Plains Broadcasting Incorporated with the purchase being closed September 15. Today, Newport continues operating WTEV through joint sales and shared services agreements. In 2009, the station discontinued regular programming on its analog transmission and became digital-exclusive after the transition.
News operation
On WTEV, the 6:30 broadcast was canceled (it had been off-the-air for a couple of weeks before the affiliation switch) and replaced by a full slate of weekday morning (effectively "moved" over from WAWS), weekday noon, and weeknight newscasts as well as weekend broadcasts. The station hired First Coast News weekday morning traffic reporter Michelle Jacobs but she would eventually return to WTLV
WTLV
WTLV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Jacksonville, Florida. The station broadcasts a digital signal on VHF channel 13. The station is owned by Gannett as part of a duopoly with the area's ABC affiliate, WJXX. The two stations share studios located on East Adams Street in downtown near...
and WJXX in October 2008. Shortly after she left, WTEV hired Julie Watkins (who previously worked at First Coast News before moving on to WFTV
WFTV
WFTV, channel 9, is the ABC-affiliated television station for Central Florida that is licensed to Orlando. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter between Bithlo and Christmas. Owned by Cox Enterprises, WFTV is sister to Independent WRDQ. The two stations...
in Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
) as a weekend meteorologist.
On April 13, 2009, WTEV and WAWS completely revamped the two separate news departments. The outlets merged the operations into one entity and adopted the popular Action News
Action News
Action News is a local television newscast format in the United States. It was conceived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at WFIL-TV by then-news director Mel Kampmann in 1970 as a response to the "Eyewitness News" format used on rival station KYW-TV...
branding presumably to compete with the First Coast News title used on rivals WTLV and WJXX (owned by the Gannett Company
Gannett Company
Gannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, near McLean. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today and the weekly USA Weekend...
). The transition to new branding also introduced entirely new sets (WAWS still featured a separate one for its nightly prime time broadcast at 10), on-air graphics, weather department, and website. On January 31, 2010, WTEV and WAWS became the second local news operation in Jacksonville that upgraded to high definition (the first was WJXT
WJXT
WJXT, channel 4 , is an independent television station serving Jacksonville, Florida, and surrounding communities. Its transmitter is in the Kilarney Shores section of Jacksonville, with the WTLV transmitter. The station originally broadcast an analog signal on VHF channel 4 and a digital signal...
back on January 14, 2009). This was followed on February 1 by WTLV and WJXX after that shared operation completed an HD upgrade.
At some point in time, WTEV's weekday morning show began to be simulcasted on WAWS. Corresponding with the change, Action News This Morning was expanded to a full two-hours (from 5 until 7) as seen on other big three network affiliates
Big Three Television Networks
The Big Three Television Networks are the three traditional commercial broadcast television networks in the United States: ABC, CBS and NBC...
. A two-hour extension of the show (from 7 until 9) would eventually be added to WAWS while WTEV airs The Early Show
The Early Show
The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...
. Following a national trend, the former debuted an extra thirty minute segment of the weekday morning show at 4:30. This portion (known as Action News Early Morning) is not simulcasted on WTEV since it offers the CBS Morning News
CBS Morning News
For CBS's main morning news program, formerly known as CBS Morning News, see The Early Show.CBS Morning News is the half-hour daily television broadcast from CBS News that airs following Up to the Minute and features late-breaking news stories, weather forecasts, and sports scores...
in the time slot. WAWS received updated branding and introduced new graphics, music, and logos on September 19, 2010 in an effort to be separate from WTEV. When it comes to national coverage, WAWS usually carries Fox News while WTEV provides CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
. During weather forecast segments, the stations use a live NOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...
Doppler
Pulse-doppler radar
Pulse-Doppler is a 4D radar system capable of detecting both target 3D location as well as measuring radial velocity . It uses the Doppler effect to avoid overloading computers and operators as well as to reduce power consumption...
weather radar
Weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, estimate its type . Modern weather radars are mostly pulse-Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to the...
based at the agency's Local Forecast Office near Jacksonville International Airport
Jacksonville International Airport
Jacksonville International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located 13 miles north of downtown Jacksonville, a city in Duval County, Florida...
.
Newscast titles
- Newstrac 47 (early 1980s)
- WNFT Newsbreak (mid-1980s)
- UPN 47 News (1996–2001)
- WTEV 47 News (2001–2002)
- CBS 47 News (2002–2009)
- Action NewsAction NewsAction News is a local television newscast format in the United States. It was conceived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at WFIL-TV by then-news director Mel Kampmann in 1970 as a response to the "Eyewitness News" format used on rival station KYW-TV...
(2009–present)
Station slogans
- "It's All Here" (2004–2009, localized version of CBS slogan)
- "Only CBS 47" (2009–present, localized version of CBS slogan)
- "Coverage You Can Count On" (2009–present)
News team
Anchors- Karen Adams - weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.; also weeknight reporter
- Mike BarzMike BarzMike Barz is an American broadcaster and weekday morning news anchor at WAWS-TV and WTEV-TV in Jacksonville, Florida. He was a morning news anchor at WFLD-TV, the Fox affiliate in Chicago, Illinois from 2007-2009....
- weekday mornings (5-7 a.m.) - Paige KeltonPaige KeltonPaige Kelton is currently a weekday television news anchor alongside Mark Spain on Action News at WTEV/WAWS in Jacksonville, Florida. She anchors all evening newscasts ....
- weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m. - Dawn Lopez - weekday mornings (5-7 a.m.) and noon; also "Jacksonville's Children" segment producer
- Mark Spain - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.; also "Kid Care Report" segment producer
CBS 47 First Alert Weather
- Mike BureshMike BureshMike Buresh is currently the Chief Meteorologist on Action News at WTEV/WAWS in Jacksonville, Florida. He broadcasts the weather on all evening newscasts ....
(AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
Certified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast Meteorologist is a rating for meteorologists given by the American Meteorological Society.The Certified Broadcast Meteorologist program was established to raise the professional standard in broadcast meteorology and encourage a broader range of scientific understanding,...
Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m. - Tom Johnston (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings and noon
- Julie Watkins (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.; also "Going Green" segment producer
Action Sports (both seen on Action Sports 360)
- Steve Wrigley - sports directorSports DirectorA sports director is an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. In local news, the sports director is typically the station's primary sportscaster, and often anchors the primetime newscasts on weekdays. They are in charge of sports programming and...
; weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m. - Brent Martineau - assistant sports director; weekends at 6 and 11 p.m., also sports reporter
First Alert Traffic
- Derrick Odom - Metro NetworksMetro Networkshttp://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/files/2011/04/Metro_Logo_bigger.jpgMetro Networks is a broadcasting outsourcing company based in Houston, Texas. It was a subsidiary of Westwood One until its sale to Clear Channel Communications in 2011...
weekday morning traffic reporter
Reporters
- Iliana Allen - general assignment reporter; also "Predator Alert" segment producer
- Tera Barz - weekday morning reporter
- Erica Bennett - general assignment reporter
- Ashley Coleman - weeknight reporter
- Tracy Collins - weekday morning reporter; also "Are You Ready For the Weekend?" segment producer, also heard on WJCT-FMWJCT-FMWJCT-FM is the NPR-member public radio station in Jacksonville, Florida. It is sister station to PBS member WJCT. The station has been on the air since 1972, and airs NPR news and talk during the week and a mix of news, talk, jazz and classical music on weekends....
89.9 and WBOB-AMWBOB (AM)WBOB is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Jacksonville, Florida, USA, the station serves the Jacksonville area...
600 - Leslie Coursey - general assignment reporter
- Chauncy Glover - general assignment reporter
- Alex Hill - general assignment reporter
- Dee Registre - general assignment reporter
- Kristen Sell - weekday morning reporter
- Catherine Varnum - general assignment reporter
- Amanda Warford - general assignment reporter; also news producer