WSFJ-TV
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WSFJ-TV, virtual channel 51 (UHF digital channel 24), is a TBN owned-and-operated television station serving Columbus, Ohio, United States that is licensed to Newark. Owned by the Trinity Broadcasting Network, the station maintains studios on Townsfair Way in the Easton section of Columbus, and its transmitter is located in Jersey Township in western Licking County.
History
WSFJ-TV began operations on March 9, 1980. It was the first independent television station in Columbus, and the first new commercial station in the area since 1949. On paper, Columbus had grown large enough to support an independent station as far back as the late 1960s. However, the Columbus area is a very large market geographically, stretching across a large swath of central Ohio. UHF stations do not carry well across large blocks of territory. By the late 1970s, cable television had gained enough penetration to make an independent station viable.
The new station ran only Christian programs, including The PTL Club, Jimmy Swaggart, The 700 Club, Another Life, and children's programming. In the fall of 1980 WSFJ began running secular programming such as Independent Network News and New Zoo Revue during the weekdays, along with Wild Kingdom and other 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 (channel 28) 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 was the largest Ion affiliate owned by a company other than Ion Media Networks. While WSFJ was affiliated with Pax, WCMH-TV, the local NBC O&O, reaired their NewsChannel 4 newscasts on Pax 51, as part of an agreement with NBC and Pax.
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 and rebranded the station as GTN51—short for "Guardian Television Network." 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 signal 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]
In 2011, the station began work on a new television studio in Lewis Center, Ohio in Delaware County.[3]
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.
Digital television
For some time after TBN took over the station, WSFJ did not multiplex its signal, unlike the other TBN-owned stations. However, in July 2012, WSFJ upgraded its studios and equipment, and now carry the TBN affiliated subchannels seen on all other full power TBN stations.[4] The station's signal is multiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 51.1 | 720p | 16:9 | TBN HD | Main TBN programming |
| 51.2 | Merit | Merit Street Media | ||
| 51.3 | 480i | 4:3 | Inspire | TBN Inspire |
| 51.4 | 16:9 | SMILE | Smile | |
| 51.5 | POSITIV | Positiv |
TBN-owned full-power stations permanently ceased analog transmissions on April 16, 2009.[5]
WSFJ-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 51, on that date.[6] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 24, using PSIP to display WSFJ-TV's virtual channel as channel 51 on digital television receivers.
References
- ^ http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6577962.html
- ^ http://gtn51.com/cms/
- ^ http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/olentangy/news/2011/11/02/trinity-broadcasting-network-coming-to-lewis-center.html/
- ^ http://www.tbnnetworks.com/index.php?reDirect=http://www.tbnnetworks.org/tbn/net_pressreleases.php
- ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WSFJ
- ^ List of Digital Full-Power Stations