WJCL (TV)

WJCL

Savannah, Georgia
Branding	WJCL ABC (general) WJCL News (newscasts)
Slogan	The Coastal Source
Channels	Digital: 22 (UHF) Virtual: 22 (PSIP)
Subchannels	22.1 ABC
Owner	New Vision Television (NVT Savannah Licensee, LLC)
Founded	July 18, 1970
Call letters' meaning	Julius Curtis Lewis
Sister station(s)	WTGS
Former callsigns	WJCL-TV (1970-1981)
Former channel number(s)	22 (UHF analog, 1970-2009) 23 (UHF digital)
Former affiliations	ABC (1970-1982) NBC (1982-1986)
Transmitter power	350 kW
Height	436 m
Facility ID	37174
Transmitter coordinates	32°3′29.0″N 81°20′19.0″W
Website	thecoastalsource.com

WJCL is the ABC-affiliated television station for Georgia's Coastal Empire and South Carolina's Lowcountry. Licensed to Savannah, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 22 from a transmitter in unincorporated Western Chatham County, Georgia. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 4, Time Warner Cable channel 7 and Charter channel 12. There is a high definition feed offered on Comcast digital channel 431, Charter digital channel 704, and Time Warner Cable digital channel 1105. Owned by New Vision Television, WJCL operates Fox affiliate WTGS (owned by PBC Broadcasting, LLC) through a shared services agreement. The two outlets share studios on Abercorn Extension/GA 204 in Savannah's Hunters Chase section. Syndicated programming on WJCL includes Extra, Inside Edition, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Doctors among others.

History

The station signed-on July 18, 1970 as WJCL-TV and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 22. It was the fourth television station to launch in Savannah and immediately became the area's first primary ABC outlet. Before this, CBS affiliate WTOC-TV and NBC affiliate WSAV-TV shared secondary relations with ABC. Originally owned by former Savannah mayor and avid amateur radio operator Julius Curtis Lewis, Jr. (whose initials provided the call sign), the station marked many "firsts". At the time, it built the tallest broadcast tower in the market rising some 46 m (150 feet) above sea level.

Color film and videotape were introduced to the Savannah market by WJCL. It claims to have been the first station in the area to televise a live event (President Richard Nixon's Savannah visit and ride in a parade on Skidaway Road) as well as broadcasting in stereo. WJCL-TV and WJCL-FM 96.5 were both run by Lewis Broadcasting's Executive Vice President, J. Fred Pierce, from 1972 until the television station's first sale in 1999. It dropped the -TV suffix from the call letters in 1981.

In 1982, WJCL swapped affiliations with WSAV (due to the latter's action) and became an NBC affiliate. However, a mere four years later, it returned to ABC in 1986. When Lewis purchased the WNOK television and radio stations in Columbia, South Carolina in 1977, he quickly sold-off WNOK radio (for an undisclosed price) and immediately changed the television outlet's call sign to WLTX. In 1982, he purchased WYEA in Columbus, Georgia from Aflac and changed its calls to WLTZ to follow a similar call letter format used for his station in South Carolina's capitol (including "LT" meaning Lewis Television).

In the early-1990s, Lewis sold two of his radio stations, WSTZ-FM and WSTZ-AM in Jackson, Mississippi for an undisclosed price. In 1999, Lewis Broadcasting sold WJCL to Grapevine Communications which has since merged with Piedmont Television. In the mid-to-late 1990s, Lewis decided to divest an even larger portion of his media interests and sold four of his combined eight owned and/or previously owned radio and television stations including WJCL, WTGS, WJCL-FM, and WLTX. On May 1, 2007, Lewis broadcasting entered into an agreement with SagamoreHill Broadcasting to sell-off its last remaining television station, WLTZ.

In 2001, WJCL partnered with Carleton Public Relations, Inc. to produce ABC 22 LawCall. Radio on-air personality Lexie Kaye was hired by Carleton Public Relations as producer of the weekly live, legal call-in show. The program featured Mike Avery as host along with attorneys from the Carter & Tate firm with a weekly guest and various topics. This was the first legal call-in show in the nation to use the "LawCall" name. The show aired until June 2006 on Sunday nights from 11 to 11:30. Since Lewis' sale of the station in 1999, it has been bought twice. WJCL and WTGS were most recently sold to New Vision Television and Parkin Broadcasting respectively. The station unveiled a new blog-based website in June 2007.

On November 2, 2007 it was announced that with the recent acquisition of WJCL by New Vision Broadcasting, a brand new website was on the way. The revamped website (operated largely in-house with technology borrowed from Broadcast Interactive Media) featured the usual news, weather, and sports along with streaming video. In January 2009, the websites of WJCL and several of its sister stations migrated to the Inergize Digital Network platform (with KOIN in Portland, Oregon being the first station in the New Vision group featuring it). The station is the setting of the second season of TV Guide Network's Making News which began airing on June 4, 2008. WJCL's broadcasts have been digital-only since February 17, 2009. On that date, the station moved its signal from UHF channel 23 back to its analog allotment.

News operation

News open seen weeknights at 6.

While WJCL did enjoy some early success under Lewis' watch, it spent most of its first decade on the air in third place, well behind WTOC and WSAV. This was typical at the time for a UHF competing against two VHF stations in a single market. However, WJCL was very successful in commercial video production and local television advertisement sales. It also frequently beat out WTOC with the weekday afternoon airing of popular syndicated programming such as Dr. Phil, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy!. Those three television series were eventually moved to WSAV.

Unlike most ABC affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, WJCL does not offer local newscasts during the weekday midday hours as well as weeknights at 5 and/or 5:30. WSAV originally offered news weeknights at 5 and not at 5:30, but its show in the former time slot was cancelled sometime in the early-2000s. It would not be until June 21, 2010 when that station added a new weeknight broadcast at 5:30. Through a news share agreement in place since the late-1990s, WJCL produces an hour-long nightly prime time newscast on its sister station currently known as WTGS News at Ten. This production maintains separate news anchors on weeknights. For awhile, WTGS also simulcasted WJCL's Good Morning Show on weekdays from 5 until 7 but it was dropped at some point.

On March 16, 2009, the station became the first outlet in Savannah to upgrade local newscasts to high definition and the nightly news on WTGS was included. This would be followed by WTOC on October 10, 2010 after adding HD local news. It was not until March 8, 2011 that WSAV finally upgraded to high definition broadcasts. On October 28, 2010, it was announced WJCL and WTGS would combine operations with the Savannah Morning News and be relocated to the newspaper's facility on Chatham Parkway in Savannah. The actual date of consolidation has yet to be determined. WJCL and WTGS operate a bureau on Fording Island Road in Hilton Head--the only physical presence that a Savannah station has on the South Carolina side of the market.

Newscast titles

• JCL News (1970s-1980s)
• JCL Newswatch 22 (1980s)
• TV-22 Action News (1980s-1990s)
• News Savannah (1990s-1999)
• ABC 22 News (1999-2005)
• WJCL, Your Local News Source (2005-2008)
• WJCL News (2008-present)

Station slogans

• "Real People, Real News"
• "Your Local News Source" (2001-2008)
• "The Coastal Source" (2008-present)

News team

Anchors

• Jessica Kiss - weekday mornings
• Casey Jones - weeknights at 6 and 11
• Jenifer Andrews - weeknights at 6 and 11
• Lindsay Housaman - weeknights at 10
• Jesse Blanco - weeknights at 10
• Nick Paradise - weekends and consumer reporter

WJCL FutureTrak Meteorologists

• Jeff Kirk - weeknights
• Jonathan Myers - weekday mornings
• James Hopkins - weekends and news reporter

Sports (both seen on The Frenzy)

• Frank "The Big Guy" Sulkowski - Director seen weeknights
• Allen Kinzly - weekends and sports reporter

Reporters

• Judy Helmey - "The Fishin' Report with Captain Judy" segment producer
• Michelle Rubrecht - "Savvy Shopper" segment producer
• Maura Kennedy - fill-in news anchor
• Deidre Johnson - education

References

• "Channel 22 On The Air Tomorrow," The Savannah Morning News Friday July 17, 1970, p. B1
• "Welcome, WJCL-TV," The Savannah Morning News Saturday, July 18, 1970, p. A4
• "WJCL Makes Debut," The Savannah Morning News Sunday, July 19, 1970, p. C1

External links

• WJCL
• WJCL mobile
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WJCL