WSFJ-TV
| Newark/Columbus, Ohio | |
|---|---|
| Channels | Digital: 24 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | Trinity Broadcasting Network |
| Owner | Trinity Broadcasting Network (Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana, Inc.) |
| First air date | March 9, 1980 |
| Call letters' meaning | We Stand For Jesus |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 51 (1980-2009) |
| Former affiliations | independent (1980-1998) Pax TV/i/ION (1998-2007) |
| Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
| Height | 133 m |
| Facility ID | 11118 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°4′44″N 82°41′42″W / 40.07889°N 82.695°W |
| Website | www.tbn.org |
WSFJ-TV is a Trinity Broadcasting Network-owned and operated television station in Columbus, Ohio, licensed to Newark. It broadcasts in digital on UHF channel 24.
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[edit] History
WSFJ-TV began operations on March 9, 1980. It was the first independent television station in Columbus, as well as the first new commercial station in the area in 31 years. Columbus had a much longer wait for an independent station than many other cities that got full network service before 1950. However, the Columbus market is a very large market geographically, and UHF stations do not carry well across large blocks of territory.
Initially the station ran only Christian programs, including (but not limited to) PTL Club, Jimmy Swaggart, 700 Club, Another Life, and children's programming. That fall, WSFJ began running Independent Network News and New Zoo Revue during the week, and Wild Kingdom, along with some hunting and wildlife shows, on Saturdays, though programming remained predominantly Christian. It was the only over-the-air source of non-network programming in central Ohio until WTTE signed on in 1984.
In the fall of 1998, the station affiliated with Pax TV (later i and now ION Television), running the network's programming from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and again from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. WSFJ also began to be seen on a translator in Columbus, WCPX-LP channel 48, which was owned by Pax's parent company, Paxson Communications (now ION Media Networks). WSFJ itself was the largest ION affiliate owned by a company other than ION Media Networks.
WSFJ was sold to Guardian Enterprise Group in 2004. In 2005, WSFJ began to acquire some family-friendly programming separate from its affiliation with i. This group of programming was known as "Guardian Television Network", and the station as a whole branded as GTN51. Guardian Enterprise Group was located in the same office as WSFJ. Other companies under the Guardian Enterprise Group include Guardian Studios, and Guardian Human Resources.
In March 2007, WSFJ moved its master control and studio into a facility at Easton Town Center, which generated the content that was sent to their new digital transmission facility in Pataskala, off of SR 161. That year, WSFJ launched its digital station on channel 24.
ION sold WCPX-LP in 2007, and in January 2008 it was relaunched as an Azteca América affiliate. At the same time, ION programming disappeared from WSFJ, leaving it exclusively with family entertainment, religious shows, and paid programming.
In July 2008, it was announced that Guardian would sell WSFJ to the Trinity Broadcasting Network for $16 million.[1] Guardian retained its other properties, including the upcoming .2 Network, and acquired W23BZ, which had been a low-power repeater of TBN; it picked up WSFJ's programming when channel 51 began carrying TBN programming on October 1, 2008. However, by selling off its full-powered station and getting a low-powered signal, GTN would find themselves at a disadvantage -- being on a low-power signal, it lost its must-carry status; as a result, Guardian urged viewers to contact their cable systems to pick up GTN after the move to channel 23.[2]
WSFJ now repeats the TBN feed most of the day, with virtually no local programming. TBN has long been known for buying existing stations in order to get must-carry status on local cable systems.
[edit] Digital television
Unlike other TBN affiliates, WSFJ is not presently multiplexed. It broadcasts only the primary TBN satellite feed.
TBN-owned full-power stations ceased analog transmissions on April 16, 2009. WSFJ remained on its pre-transition channel number, 24, using PSIP to appear on viewers' sets as channel 51.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- TBN Official site
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WSFJ-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WSFJ-TV
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