jacksonville florida branding cw 17 cable 9 slogan locally yours channels digital 34 uhf virtual 17 psip affiliations .1 the cw .2 bounce tv owner nexstar broadcasting group sale to graham media group pending nexstar broadcasting inc. first air date february 19 1966 ; 50 years ago 1966 02 19 call letters meaning the cw jacksonville former callsigns wjks tv 1966 1997 wjwb 1997 2006 former channel number s analog 17 uhf 1966 2009 former affiliations abc 1966 1980 & 1988 1997 nbc 1980 1988 the wb 1997 2006 transmitter power 863 kw height 282.5 m facility id 29712 transmitter coordinates 30 16 36 n 81 33 47 w 30.27667 n 81.56306 w 30.27667 ; 81.56306 coordinates 30 16 36 n 81 33 47 w 30.27667 n 81.56306 w 30.27667 ; 81.56306 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.yourjax.com wcwj virtual channel 17 uhf digital channel 34 is a cw affiliated television station located in jacksonville florida united states . the station is owned by the nexstar broadcasting group . wcwj maintains studio and transmitter facilities located on hogan road in the kilarney shores section of jacksonville . contents 1 history 1.1 as a major network affiliate 1.2 losing abc and gaining the wb 1.3 cw affiliation and sale to nexstar 1.4 pending sale to graham media group 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 newscasts 4.1 on air staff 4.1.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit as a major network affiliate edit the station first signed on the air on february 19 1966 as wjks tv . founded by rust craft it originally operated as an abc affiliate ; prior to its sign on abc programming had been relegated to off hours clearances on then cbs affiliate wjxt channel 4 now an independent station and nbc affiliate wtlv channel 12 . jacksonville had to wait longer to gain full time affiliates of all three major networks than other cities of its size because the surrounding suburbs and rural areas are smaller than the city itself . in march 1979 the ziff corporation bought rust craft s broadcasting assets including wjks for 89.4 million . 1 on march 31 1980 wjks and wtlv swapped network affiliations ; wtlv took the abc affiliation from wjks with nbc programming moving to wjks . at the time abc was the highest rated broadcast television network in the united states while nbc was mired in last place in the ratings . 2 media general acquired wjks from the ziff corporation for 18 million in october 1982 as part of the latter company s sale of its six television stations in order to focus on its magazine assets . 1 wjks became the second television station to be owned by media general the first being the company s flagship station wfla tv across the state in tampa . on april 3 1988 wtlv and wjks officially reversed the 1980 affiliation swap between the two stations with wjks aligning with abc once again and wtlv returning to nbc . by this time nbc had emerged as the top rated american broadcast network while abc had dropped to second place . losing abc and gaining the wb edit in late 1996 allbritton communications signed a long term groupwide affiliation agreement with abc in nine markets where albritton owned or operated a station at the time . as a result upstart wjxx channel 25 ; which was operated by allbritton under a local marketing agreement with owner wpr l.p. before the former purchased the station outright in september 1997 which had originally planned to operate as an independent station was named as jacksonville s new abc affiliate effective after the termination of wjks s affiliation contract with the network in january 1997 . in response to losing the abc affiliation media general quickly signed an affiliation agreement with the wb . wjks began phasing out abc programming with the intent of joining the wb in february . however wjxx was not slated to sign on until april 1 . at abc s request allbritton wpr moved wjxx s launch date up to february 9 even though its full power facility hadn t been approved yet . brunswick georgia licensed wbsg channel 21 now wpxc tv which wjks had replaced as the area s wb affiliate joined abc on the same day as a semi satellite of wjxx . 3 4 the day after wjxx signed on wjks changed its call letters to wjwb . having been on the air for over 30 years at the time of the affiliation switch wjwb was one of the few stations to switch from a big three network to the wb which had started operations in january 1995 . however from january 1995 right until 1997 the wb programs would only be seen by viewers in jacksonville via either the national feed supplied by chicago tv station wgn tv or off market stations . under normal circumstances the switch could have spelled trouble for channel 17 . not only had it languished in the ratings during its second tenure with abc but it now faced having to acquire an additional 16 hours of programming per day a significant amount even for an owner with media general s wealth and resources . however the switch rejuvenated the station . for most of the wb s run wjwb consistently ranked as one of the network s highest rated affiliates . while wjwb prospered as a wb affiliate wjxx never recovered from its rushed sign on . allbritton gave up and sold the station to wtlv s owner gannett in 1999 . cw affiliation and sale to nexstar edit on january 24 2006 the warner bros. unit of time warner and cbs corporation announced that the two companies would shut down the wb and upn and combine the networks respective programming to create a new fifth network called the cw . 5 6 on february 22 2006 news corporation announced the launch of a new sixth network called mynetworktv which would be operated by fox television stations and its syndication division twentieth television to give upn and wb stations that would not become cw affiliates another option besides converting to independent stations . 7 8 on paper wjwb seemed to be the obvious choice as jacksonville s cw affiliate . network officials were on record as wanting the strongest wb and upn stations by total day viewership and upn had been relegated to off hours clearances on fox affiliate waws channel 30 after its charter affiliate and waws sister station wtev tv channel 47 dropped the network to join cbs in july 2002 following a compensation and programming dispute with wjxt and its owner post newsweek stations . however when the cw announced its initial group of affiliates outside of those owned by the tribune company and network sister company cbs television stations wjwb was not included on the list leading to speculation that the cw would choose to affiliate with independent station wjxt instead . on april 3 2006 the cw signed affiliation agreements with wjwb and upn affiliated asheville north carolina sister station wasv now wycw . 9 on may 26 wjwb changed its callsign to wcwj to reflect its pending affiliation . the station launched a farewell to the frog tour as the wb network and station mascot michigan j. frog was retired over the summer . a series of humorous promos later chronicled the frog s failed attempts to find work at several jacksonville area businesses . the station began changing its branding in mid august which included ids featuring the logos of both the wb and the cw . the affiliation switch took place upon the network s september 18 launch ; mynetworktv initially ended up as a secondary affiliation on waws before moving to a second digital subchannel of that station in january 2007 . 10 11 on october 29 2007 media general announced that the company was exploring the sale of wcwj . 12 on january 28 2009 the nexstar broadcasting group announced that it had reached an agreement to purchase wcwj . 13 the deal was finalized on may 1 2009 . 14 as a result wcwj became the first cw affiliate to be owned and operated directly by nexstar nexstar later acquired three other cw affiliates along with one cw affiliated digital subchannel from newport television and until november 2015 held the license assets of cw affiliate wlyh tv in harrisburg through a shared services agreement with the sinclair broadcast group and at the time became nexstar s largest television station by market size a distinction now held by the salt lake city duopoly of ktvx and kucw . the wcwj website was redesigned almost immediately after nexstar closed on its purchase . pending sale to graham media group edit on may 27 2016 nexstar announced that it would sell wcwj along with wsls tv in roanoke virginia to the graham media group for 120 million as part of the station divestitures required as a result of nexstar s pending acquisition of wcwj s former owner media general . 15 the sale to graham media would create a duopoly with wjxt . digital television edit digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 16 17.1 1080i 16 9 wcwj hd main wcwj programming the cw 17.2 480i 4 3 wcwj sd bounce tv analog to digital conversion edit on june 12 2009 wcwj terminated its analog signal on uhf channel 17 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 17 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 34 . 18 19 through the use of psip digital television receivers display wcwj s virtual channel as 17 . programming edit syndicated programs broadcast by wcwj include maury tmz on tv the people s court access hollywood and the office among others . the station also produces several original programs including the music program yourjax music which also has a weeknight only spinoff series yourjax music vault the region s first and only cable reality tv series life & grind duval 20 produced by local musician dez nado and the lifestyle programs local haunts and i know jax two magazine style programs focusing on jacksonville area tourist attractions ; it also carries local sporting events from the jacksonville sharks arena football league the jacksonville rollergirls roller derby team jacksonville giants american basketball association jacksonville suns minor league baseball jacksonville university dolphins college football and jacksonville armada fc soccer teams . newscasts edit wjks started a small news operation in its second year of operation . its newscasts went under various titles during the duration of the news department s existence including wjks tv news pulse news newswatch 17 21 17 news 22 and then finally 17 first coast news . 23 in addition the station produced a sunday evening public affairs discussion program titled face off for several years . in 1991 wjks established a news share agreement with fox affiliate waws to produce a half hour primetime newscast for that station titled fox 30 first coast news that aired at 10 00 p.m. seven nights a week . throughout the news department s existence wjks s newscasts typically placed last in the ratings among the three local news outlets that existed in jacksonville prior to 1997 behind wtlv and perennial first place finisher wjxt . after the announcement that wjks would lose its abc affiliation to upstart wjxx then owner media general announced in september 1996 that it would shut down the station s news department 24 claiming that it would be economically unviable to continue producing newscasts as an affiliate of the wb this is despite the fact that wb affiliated stations in other markets largely those owned by tribune broadcasting and sinclair broadcast group as well as