WJTV

WJTV

Jackson, Mississippi
Branding	NewsChannel 12
Slogan	To The Point
Channels	Digital: 12 (VHF)
Subchannels	12.1 CBS 12.2 local weather 12.3 Antenna TV
Owner	Media General (Media General Communications Holdings, LLC)
First air date	January 20, 1953
Call letters' meaning	We're Jackson TeleVision
Sister station(s)	WHLT, WKRG-TV, WVTM-TV
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 25 (UHF, 1953–1955) 12 (VHF, 1955-2009) Digital: 52 (UHF)
Former affiliations	NBC (1953) DuMont (1953–1956) ABC (1953–1970) all secondary
Transmitter power	49.2 kW
Height	491 m
Class	DT
Facility ID	48667
Transmitter coordinates	32°14′26″N 90°24′15″W (digital)
Website	WJTV.com

WJTV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Jackson, Mississippi. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter in Raymond. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 13 and in high definition on digital channel 433. Owned by Media General, WJTV has studios on TV Road in Jackson. Syndicated programming on the station includes The Andy Griffith Show, Dr. Phil, and The Rachael Ray Show. Although considered a separate station in its own right, sister outlet WHLT in Hattiesburg operates as a semi-satellite of WJTV to serve the Pine Belt of Southeastern Mississippi. As such, that outlet airs some of this station's syndicated programming.

There are also programs that only air on WHLT while other ones are only seen on WJTV. Shows exclusive to the semi-satellite include Entertainment Tonight, The Doctors, and Divorce Court. WHLT airs separate legal identifications and commercials from its parent. That station clears all network programming as provided through WJTV except for CBS News Sunday Morning. The show is preempted in favor of local paid religious programs. It also airs CBS News Face the Nation though an hour tape-delay. This is unlike WJTV which shows both programs as fed by CBS from 8 to 10.

Digital programming

On WJTV-DT2 and Comcast digital channel 212 is a 24-hour local weather channel. Programming on this service consists of a rotating loop of VIPIR weather sources (futurecast, radar, and temperatures etc.) and a taped "Local on the 8's" segment featuring a meteorologist every ten minutes. On WJTV-DT3 ad Comcast digital channel 213 was the Retro Television Network (RTV). It was replaced with Antenna TV on September 26, 2011.

Channel	Name	Video	Aspect	Programming
12.1	WJTV-HD	1080i	16:9	Main WJTV programming / CBS
12.2	WJTV-Vi	480i	4:3	Local weather
12.3	WJTV-Re			Antenna TV

History

WJTV signed-on January 20, 1953 as Mississippi's first television station. Airing an analog signal on UHF channel 25, it was founded by The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson's morning daily newspaper) and its co-owned afternoon publication, Jackson Daily News. The two newspapers also started another station, WSLI. That outlet was a CBS affiliate while WJTV aired primary NBC and secondary DuMont programming. At that time, broadcasters could own more than one station in a single market. Later in 1953, WJTV lost NBC when WJBT (now WLBT) signed-on.

However, they shared ABC programming with that station while WJTV and WSLI continued to air DuMont. In 1955 after DuMont folded, the two merged into one. WJTV became a CBS affiliate and moved to the more-desirable channel 12 allotment on the VHF dial, a move similar to the merger between KPTV and KLOR in Portland, Oregon which occurred two years later. In this case, channel 12 operates under WJTV's license and call sign using WSLI's channel number. The new channel 12 also shared ABC programming with WLBT until 1970 when WAPT started operations. From 1977 until 1983, WJTV was owned by the Capitol Broadcasting Company (the same company which owned KNAZ-TV in Flagstaff, Arizona but unrelated to the Capitol Broadcasting Company of Raleigh, North Carolina).

In 1983, it was sold to the News-Press & Gazette Company. Four years later, the station launched a semi-satellite for the Hattiesburg/Laurel area, WHLT. In 1993, NPG sold several of its stations (including WJTV and WHLT) to the first incarnation of New Vision Television. In turn, New Vision sold its entire stations group to Ellis Communications in 1995. Ellis was folded into Raycom Media the following year after it was bought out by a media group led by the Retirement Systems of Alabama (who bought Aflac's broadcasting group a few months earlier). In 1997, Raycom bought out Federal Broadcasting owner of WHLT's rival station, WDAM-TV. That placed Raycom in violation of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) duopoly rules in the Hattiesburg/Laurel market.

As a result, Raycom opted to keep the higher-rated WDAM and trade WJTV and WHLT (along with WSAV-TV in Savannah, Georgia that also had to be divested by Raycom due to its ownership of that station's rival WTOC-TV) to Media General in exchange for WTVR-TV in Richmond, Virginia (which had to be divested by Media General due to FCC same-market cross-ownership restrictions). This trade left Raycom without a station in the Jackson market until 2006 when it acquired WLBT as part of its purchase of The Liberty Corporation. WJTV shut down its analog signal on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States. The station had been broadcasting its pre-transition digital signal on UHF channel 52, but returned to channel 12 for its post-transition operations. Its original digital transmitter was located at its studios on TV Road.

News operation

News open.

For most of the last thirty years according to local Nielsen ratings, WLBT has traditionally been the dominant station in Jackson. In October 2010, it became the second outlet in the area to upgrade newscasts to high definition. Local news on WJTV remains in pillar-boxed 4:3 standard definition and it is unknown if and/when the station would complete an upgrade to enhanced definition widescreen or full HD level. As a semi-satellite of WJTV, WHLT provides some coverage of its home territory, Hattiesburg and Laurel.

The latter inserts a short news and weather update (branded as CBS 22 News) during WJTV's weeknight newscast at 10 that is anchored by WHLT reporter Beth Alexander and "Storm Team 22" Chief Meteorologist Tony Mastro. Otherwise, that station simulcasts local news from WJTV. It does not air this station's weeknight shows at 5 and 6 or weekend broadcasts. WHLT will sometime share video with its parent outlet for regional coverage of Mississippi.

Newscast titles

• WJTV NewsCenter 12 (early 1970s-mid 1987)
• WJTV, The NewsCenter (mid 1987-1994)
• News 12 (1994-1996)
• NewsChannel 12 (1996-present)

Station slogans

• "The News Leader in Central Mississippi" (early 1980s-1994)
• "Coverage You Can Count On"' (1994-2005)
• "To The Point" (2005-present)

News team

Anchors

• Melanie Christopher - weekday mornings
• Erin Pickens - weekday mornings and noon
• Linda Allen - weeknights
• Byron Brown - weeknights
• Brad Soroka - weekends and reporter

Storm Team 12 Meteorologists

• Tony Mastro (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief seen weeknights
• Ken South - weekday morning and noon
• Morgan Miller - weekends

Sports (both seen on Football Frenzy)

• Jason Hurst - weeknights and sports reporter
• TJ Werre - weekends and sports reporter

Reporters

• Beth Alexander - based at WHLT
• Tracy Armbruster
• Chris Williams
• Ross Adams
• Eric Walker
• Melissa Faith Payne

Videographers

• Kip Smith - Chief Videographer
• Jerry Brooks
• Eric Bullard
• John Colvin

External links

• WJTV.com (Official Website)
• WJTV mobile
• WHLT "CBS 22"
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WJTV