identified as wjw from 1928 to 1985 see wknr . wjw cleveland ohio united states branding fox 8 general fox 8 news newscasts slogan cleveland s own general the most powerful name in local news news channels digital 8 vhf virtual 8 psip translators 21 uhf canton 46 uhf austintown oh applications 31 uhf wi9x3y cleveland affiliations .1 fox .2 antenna tv owner tribune broadcasting wjw license llc first air date december 19 1949 ; 66 years ago 1949 12 19 call letters meaning w john f. weimer owner of wjw 850 am 1 former callsigns wxel 1949 1956 wjkw tv 1977 1985 former channel number s analog 9 vhf 1949 1953 8 vhf 1953 2009 digital 31 uhf 1998 2009 former affiliations dumont abc 1949 1955 cbs 1955 1994 transmitter power wjw 11 kw wi9x3y 430 kw height 342 m facility id 73150 transmitter coordinates 41 21 48 n 81 42 58 w 41.36333 n 81.71611 w 41.36333 ; 81.71611 coordinates 41 21 48 n 81 42 58 w 41.36333 n 81.71611 w 41.36333 ; 81.71611 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website fox8.com wjw channel 8 is a fox affiliated television station located in and licensed to cleveland ohio united states . subchannel 8.2 serves as the area affiliate for the classic tv network antenna tv . the station is owned by the tribune broadcasting subsidiary of tribune media . its studios are located on dick goddard way named for the station s longtime weatherman formerly known as south marginal road just northeast of downtown cleveland near the shore of lake erie and its transmitter is located in suburban parma ohio . contents 1 digital television 1.1 digital channels 1.2 analog to digital conversion 2 history 2.1 wxel 2.2 wjw tv 1956 77 2.3 wjkw tv 2.4 back to wjw 2.5 switch to fox 3 news operation 4 programming 5 cleveland s own 6 notable alumni 7 references 8 further reading 9 external links digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 2 8.1 720p 16 9 wjwdt 1 main wjw programming fox 8.2 480i 4 3 wjwdt 2 antenna tv wjw is an affiliate of antenna tv which is carried on digital subchannel 8.2 . 3 channel 8.2 is also carried on several ne ohio cable systems . analog to digital conversion edit wjw shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 8 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 31 to vhf channel 8 . 4 5 the former temporary channel 31 transmitter has remained in a functional though dormant state since the transition and tribune has donated the transmitter to the national association of broadcasters which will be used to test the futurecast atsc 3.0 standard advanced by lg corporation and gatesair beginning in may 2015 and continuing on for six months as wi9x3y . 6 7 history edit wxel edit not to be confused with wxel tv in west palm beach florida . the television station launched on december 19 1949 on channel 9 as wxel owned by the empire coil company a wartime manufacturer of radio coils and transformers . 8 in its early years wxel was a primary dumont affiliate and later became a secondary provider of abc programs sharing that affiliation with wews channel 5 . wxel also carried a number of cbs programs that wews declined to air . some of the daytime shows originated at cinecraft on franklin . wxel also carried an affiliation with the short lived paramount television network and in fact was one of that network s strongest affiliates . the station aired such paramount network programs as hollywood wrestling 9 bandstand revue 10 and time for beany . 11 during the late 1950s the station was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 12 following the 1952 release of the federal communications commission s sixth report and order a realignment of vhf channels in the midwest forced wxel to move to channel 8 on december 10 1953 . its former channel 9 allocation was moved to steubenville and given to a new station wstv tv now wtov ; the switch took place only two weeks before wstv tv went on the air . in 1954 empire coil sold two of its television interests wxel and kptv in portland oregon the united states first uhf station to storer broadcasting . george b. storer the company s founder and president was a member of the board of directors of cbs and used his influence to take the cbs television affiliation from wews in march 1955 . 13 14 wjw tv 1956 77 edit storer changed channel 8 s call letters to wjw tv on april 15 1956 to complement cleveland sister stations wjw 850 am and wjw fm 104.1 fm now radio stations wknr and wqal respectively . all three stations later moved to the former esquire theater building at 1630 euclid avenue near playhouse square . in its early years the station lagged behind its competitors in producing local programming perhaps because its studio was located at the transmitter in parma while the other stations had studios downtown . a young alan freed previously at wakr radio in akron worked for wxel starting in 1949 . freed hosted an afternoon movie and performed live commercials for several years before he became the self titled father of rock and roll while as an evening host on wjw radio before moving on to radio jobs in new york city . soupy sales then known as soupy hines had a weekday variety program called soup s on where he started his pie in the face routines . the station also broadcast a popular and unique 11 00 p.m. newscast the sohio reporter featuring a western reserve university speech professor named warren guthrie who delivered the entire newscast from memory speaking directly into the camera long before the days of the teleprompter . 15 in 1961 wjw tv became the broadcast rights holder of the cleveland indians . channel 8 s partnership with the team continued through 1979 when the indians moved to then independent station wuab channel 43 . wjw also carried indians games that were part of the cbs and later fox network packages of major league baseball games . on november 16 1963 approximately 30 wjw radio and tv personalities went on strike forcing both stations to use supervisory and production personnel in those roles many from parent company storer broadcasting stations in atlanta and miami . the main bargaining point was storer s attempt to institute a new drastically reduced fee schedule for performers . on november 20 wjw tv broadcast a taped panel segment that offered the striking performers the opportunity to state its case since management had presented its side two nights earlier . after nearly reaching agreement on november 23 before talks collapsed the two sides finally came to an agreement on november 27 . in september 1963 wjw tv was one of the first stations to use a two man news anchor team joel daly and doug adair in the studio together . the newscast was called city camera news and reporters were equipped with polaroid cameras to photograph news events so that pictures could be quickly broadcast when they returned to the studio . 16 station programming also featured adventure road hosted by jim doney which presented filmed travelogues narrated by the filmmakers . daly and adair reigned as cleveland s top news team until june 1967 when daly was hired away by wbkb tv in chicago . adair remained at channel 8 through july 1970 when he joined wkyc channel 3 which was then owned by nbc . later in 1964 wjw tv was the first full cbs affiliate in ohio and the first cleveland tv station to start local color broadcasts . following daly s departure martin ross became adair s on air news partner for the next three years then teamed with murray stewart when adair left . the duo worked together until ross s death from cancer in april 1973 . jeff maynor had filled in when ross was undergoing treatment and continued in that role for the next four months until jim hale teamed with stewart beginning on september 11 1973 . just over a year later stewart asked to be taken off the broadcast citing health problems and was later reassigned to the noon news with maynor taking his place on the nightly broadcast . stewart committed suicide on august 3 1976 overdosing on nembutal in a suburban cleveland motel . 1960s station advertisement for ghoulardi the immensely popular cleveland horror host . one of the most memorable programs produced by wjw tv was the friday late night horror movie hosted by ghoulardi a character created by ernie anderson . 15 wearing a bad fright wig and phony beard and a pair of sunglasses with only one lens he interacted with the movies and created an on going patter and rehearsed skits during the movie breaks . the program began on january 11 1963 as shock theater and created a generation of fans who could recite catch phrases such as turn blue stay sick camera four and ova dey . before ghoulardi anderson had a weekday morning program on channel 8 starting in 1961 called ernie s place with sidekick tim conway then credited as tom conway that included live skits reminiscent of bob and ray . 17 when anderson left for lucrative voice over work in hollywood in september 1966 the friday night movie slot was succeeded by the hoolihan and big chuck show cohosted by bob hoolihan wells who did the station weather forecasts as hoolihan the weatherman ; and charles big chuck schodowski a station engineer who had risen to director and had appeared in some of ghoulardi s skits . after bob wells departed channel 8 in september 1979 his position was filled by local jeweler and little person lil john rinaldi who had also previously performed in skits on the show . the program was renamed as the the big chuck and lil john show and it continued airing on friday nights before moving to saturday nights in the early 1990s . the show ended its run on june 16 2007 as chuck schodowski retired after a 47 year career at channel 8 . at the time of its conclusion the big chuck and lil john show had been the only locally produced television show in the cleveland market that was primarily entertainment that is not news or informational big chuck & lil john have since made a comeback of sorts by hosting a new 30 minute program featuring their classic skits that began 9 10 11 . 17 wjkw tv edit the station moved to its present studios at 5800 south marginal road on november 2 1975 . while wjw fm 104.1 fm was sold in the late 1960s storer kept wjw 850 am until late 1976 . the am station s new owners were allowed to keep the wjw call letters forcing channel 8 to change theirs . at the time the fcc did not allow radio and television stations with different owners to share the same base call letters this is not the case today . as a result channel 8 changed its callsign to wjkw tv on april 22 1977 . the added k did not stand for anything . 15 at the same time the station hired former wkyc tv and nbc radio news anchor virgil dominic as its news and public affairs director a position which he held until 1983 when he became the general manager for wjkw wjw until his retirement in 1995 and also began