branding fox 30 general fox 30 action news jax newscasts my tv jax on dt2 slogan so fox 30 general coverage you can count on newscasts channels digital 32 uhf virtual 30 psip affiliations .1 fox .2 mynetworktv metv .3 heroes & icons owner cox media group cox television jacksonville llc first air date february 15 1981 ; 35 years ago 1981 02 15 call letters meaning reference to network affiliation fox sister station s wjax tv former callsigns waws tv 1981 2014 former channel number s analog 30 uhf 1981 2009 former affiliations primary independent 1981 1986 secondary upn 2002 2006 mynetworktv 2006 2007 dt2 vtv secondary 2007 2009 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 291 m facility id 11909 transmitter coordinates 30 16 51 n 81 34 12 w 30.28083 n 81.57000 w 30.28083 ; 81.57000 coordinates 30 16 51 n 81 34 12 w 30.28083 n 81.57000 w 30.28083 ; 81.57000 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.actionewsjax.com wfox tv virtual channel 30 uhf digital channel 32 is a fox affiliated television station located in jacksonville florida united states . the station is owned by the cox media group subsidiary of cox enterprises ; cox also operates cbs affiliate wjax tv channel 47 under joint sales and shared services agreements with that station s owner bayshore television llc . the two stations share studio facilities located on central parkway in jacksonville s southside section ; wfox tv maintains transmitter facilities located on hogan road also in the city s southside section . on cable the station is available on comcast channel 10 and in high definition on digital channel 434 . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 clear channel ownership 1.3 newport television ownership 1.4 cox media group ownership 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 3.1 on air staff 3.1.1 notable current on air staff 3.1.2 notable former on air staff 4 references 5 external links history edit early history edit the station first signed on the air on february 15 1981 as waws tv the tv suffix was dropped from the call letters on october 8 1981 ; it was the first general entertainment independent station to sign on in the jacksonville market . it signed on more than a year after the market s first non network station wxao tv channel 47 later future sister station wjax . however wxao was mostly a religious station . the station s original studios and transmitter facilities were located on hogan road on jacksonville s southside . founded by malrite communications the station maintained a general entertainment format consisting of cartoons movies sitcoms and drama series . waws became a charter affiliate of the fox broadcasting company when the network launched on october 9 1986 . as was the case with other fox stations during the network s early years channel 30 continued to program itself in the manner of an independent station as fox s initial schedule consisted of an hour of late night programming on monday through friday evenings while the later addition of a prime time schedule in april 1987 only consisted of programming during that time period on weekends fox would not carry seven nights a week of programming until september 1993 . until fox began airing programming on a nightly basis waws aired a feature film at 8 00 p.m. on nights when the network did not offer any programming . clear channel ownership edit in 1989 malrite sold the station to the san antonio based clear channel communications now iheartmedia which had earlier purchased the first independent station in the nearby pensacola mobile alabama market wpmi tv now an nbc affiliate and was the first television station that clear channel ever owned . as was the trend for many fox affiliates throughout the mid to late 1990s waws began shifting its programming toward talk and reality shows and decreased its reliance on classic sitcoms . in 1993 clear channel began managing channel 47 now known as wnft under a local marketing agreement ; the two stations pooled programming and resources while running the strongest syndicated programs on waws . clear channel purchased channel 47 which by that point had become upn affiliate wtev tv outright in 2000 creating the second television duopoly in the jacksonville market . former logo used from 2001 to april 12 2009 . after wtev took the cbs affiliation from longtime affiliate wjxt channel 4 which dropped the network after it demanded that post newsweek stations reverse compensate cbs to carry its programming and run the entire network schedule in pattern only allowing pre emptions for extended local breaking news and severe weather coverage 1 2 waws took over the local rights to the upn affiliation on july 15 2002 airing the network s evening programming on a secondary basis each weeknight from 11 00 p.m. to 1 00 a.m. following the station s prime time newscast as well as its children s program block disney s one too which it aired on sunday through friday mornings in addition to its existing carriage of fox s competing children s block foxbox later known as 4kids tv on saturdays . it also acquired several syndicated sitcoms that wtev no longer had room to carry on its schedule . 3 4 the shift made jacksonville one of the only television markets in the united states where all six major broadcast networks at the time abc cbs nbc fox upn and the wb collectively held affiliations with only five stations in a six station market which remains the case with upn and the wb s successors the cw and mynetworktv in the present day and the only market in which each of the big four network affiliates are controlled by two companies at the time the gannett company owned nbc affiliate wtlv channel 12 and abc affiliate wjxx channel 25 both of which are now owned by its broadcasting and digital media spin off tegna inc. . on january 24 2006 the warner bros. unit of time warner and cbs corporation announced that the two companies would respectively shut down upn and the wb and enter into a joint venture to form a new fifth broadcast television network the cw that would initially feature a mix of higher rated programming from both of its forerunner networks and assumed the scheduling model and most programming operations of the wb as well as new content developed specifically for the cw . 5 6 on february 22 2006 news corporation announced the launch of mynetworktv a new sixth broadcast network operated by fox television stations and its syndication division twentieth television that was created to compete against the cw as well as to give upn and wb affiliated stations that were not named as charter cw affiliates another option besides converting into independent stations . 7 8 on march 28 of that year then owner media general announced that wb affiliate wjwb channel 17 would become the market s charter affiliate of the cw it would later change its call letters to wcwj . on july 12 clear channel confirmed that waws would become the jacksonville area affiliate of mynetworktv which it would carry on a new second digital subchannel . 9 10 however until the new second digital subchannel launched waws carried mynetworktv programming on its main channel weeknights from 11 00 p.m. to 1 00 a.m. in the interim . mynetworktv programming moved to waws dt2 once the subchannel signed on in january 2007 airing in the recommended 8 00 to 10 00 p.m. time slot with programming from the variety television network airing at all other times . newport television ownership edit on april 20 2007 clear channel entered into an agreement to sell its television stations to newport television a newly formed television station group controlled by private equity firm providence equity partners . 11 since wtev was also included in the deal this would have violated fcc rules preventing a single company from holding common ownership of two of the four highest rated stations in a single market as clear channel had bought wtev when it was a upn affiliate that had lower ratings which placed it outside of the commission s total day ratings criteria for duopolies by this point wtev surpassed wjxt and wcwj in the total day viewership . as a result the fcc granted newport television a temporary waiver to acquire waws and wtev provided that newport sell one of the two stations within six months of the sale s consummation . after the group deal closed on march 14 2008 newport had originally planned to sell off waws to another company while keeping wtev . final logo used by the station under the waws call letters from april 12 2009 to september 6 2014 . on may 21 2008 high plains broadcasting agreed to purchase the license assets of wtev and six other stations from newport television due to ownership conflicts in the affected markets including jacksonville . 12 13 14 however since this particular transaction was conducted as a sale in name only newport continued to operate the stations under a shared services agreement therefore resulting in wtev remaining a sister outlet to waws after the sale was completed on september 15 . it effectively made high plains broadcasting a front company or shell corporation for newport television similar to the existing relationships between the nexstar broadcasting group and mission broadcasting and the sinclair broadcast group and cunningham broadcasting . this arrangement also placed waws in the unusual position of being the senior partner as a fox affiliated station in a virtual duopoly with a cbs affiliate the fox station normally serves as the junior partner in most virtual or legal duopolies involving a fox affiliate and a big three affiliated station . waws is the only television station in the jacksonville market that has never changed its primary network affiliation . cox media group ownership edit on july 19 2012 newport television announced the sale of waws and wtev tv to the cox media group in a four station deal that also involved the sister duopoly of fox affiliate koki tv and mynetworktv affiliate kmyt tv in tulsa oklahoma . 15 the sale to cox placed waws and wtev under common ownership with the company s radio station cluster in jacksonville wokv 690 am and 106.5 fm now wezi wfyv fm 104.5 now wokv fm wjgl 96.9 wxxj 102.9 and wape fm 95.1 as well as cox s orlando duopoly of abc affiliate wftv and independent station wrdq . due to the very same rules that forced the license of wtev to be transferred to a separate licensee back in 2008 cox acquired waws outright and transferred wtev s license assets to bayshore television llc which then entered into joint sales and shared services agreements with cox . the fcc approved the transaction on october 24 and the three companies involved finalized the deal on december 3 . 16 17 on august 26 2014 cox announced its intention to change waws s call letters to wfox tv contingent on fcc approval through a request made to the agency on july 30 . in an email to the florida times union general manager jim zerwekh stated that the change would better reflect the station s status as one of fox s ten strongest affiliates . the use of the callsign differs from other stations that incorporate their network partner s name into their call letters a usage originated by the coastal flagship owned and operated stations of abc nbc and cbs based in new york city and los angeles ; however the wfox calls were not used by fox for its o & o in new york city which bears the calls wnyw partly derived from the former wnew callsign it had prior to former parent metromedia s 1986 purchase by