general fox 31 news at 10pm newscast bounce albany dt2 slogan get connected channels digital 12 vhf virtual 31 psip subchannels 31.1 fox 31.2 bounce tv 31.3 comet tv affiliations fox 1986 present owner sinclair broadcast group wfxl licensee llc first air date february 14 1982 ; 34 years ago 1982 02 14 call letters meaning we re fox albany sister station s tallahassee fl wtwc tv wtlh wtlf gainesville fl wnbw dt wgfl tv wmyg lp wyme cd pensacola fl mobile al wear tv wfgx wpmi wjtc former callsigns wtsg tv 1982 1989 former channel number s analog 31 uhf 1982 2009 former affiliations independent 1982 1986 transmitter power 60 kw height 253 m class dt facility id 70815 transmitter coordinates 31 19 53 n 83 51 43 w 31.33139 n 83.86194 w 31.33139 ; 83.86194 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website wfxl.com wfxl is the fox affiliated television station for southwestern georgia that is licensed to albany . it airs a digital signal on vhf channel 12 or virtual channel 31.1 via psip from a transmitter east of doerun along the colquitt and worth county line . the station transmits network programming in the native 720p high definition format but broadcasts local news and syndicated programming in unconverted standard definition . owned by the sinclair broadcast group wfxl has studios on stuart avenue in albany . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 4 references 5 external links history edit its previous logo . the station signed on february 14 1982 as wtsg tv and was southwestern georgia s first independent station . it was originally founded by black physician carl gordon jr. it became a charter fox affiliate on october 6 1986 . the station s original studio facilities were located on north slappey boulevard us 82 in albany . gordon sold the station to newsouth broadcasting in 1987 . the station changed its call letters to the current wfxl in 1989 . clarion broadcasting purchased the station in 1996 . clarion then sold wfxl to the wicks broadcast group in 1998 . in march 1999 waitt broadcasting bought the station from wicks . raycom media acquired the outlet in december 2003 through its purchase of most of waitt media s stations . in march 2006 raycom announced the sale of wfxl and eleven other stations to barrington broadcasting in order to meet federal communications commission fcc rules regarding station ownership . the company had just acquired the liberty corporation owner of nbc affiliate walb which it decided to keep . 1 on june 1 2006 a mh 47 chinook military chopper traveling from hunter army airfield in savannah georgia to fort rucker in alabama for a training mission hit a guy wire connected to wfxl s 1 000 foot tall 300 m tower resulting in a crash . while the tower and walb s one nearby remained standing other than some guy wires the stations were forced to temporarily cease over the air signals ; broadcasts on cable were not affected . if the wfxl tower had collapsed this could have also caused walb s to topple as both were only 150 feet 45 m apart . 2 3 4 as a result raycom which at that time still operated wfxl while the sale to barrington awaited fcc approval acquired auxiliary transmitters and antennas for both wfxl and walb which were installed at a backup tower at walb s studios in albany . 5 on june 7 the wfxl tower was demolished but in doing so one of the tower s guy wires wrapped around one for walb s tower as feared . as a result that station s tower collapsed in an incident shown on live television . since both stations were already transmitting their signals from the tower at the walb studios they were still on the air but at low power . thirteen months later a new tower for both wfxl and walb was constructed and began broadcasting on july 3 at 11 35 p.m. 6 7 8 on february 28 2013 barrington broadcasting announced the sale of its entire group including wfxl to the sinclair broadcast group . 9 the sale was completed on november 25 . 10 the station s second digital subchannel began carrying programming from sinclair s american sports network syndication package starting with its inaugural broadcast on august 30 2014 . 11 today as a result of recent acquisitions by the sinclair broadcast group wfxl is sister to company owned station clusters in pensacola fl mobile al gainesville fl and tallahassee fl . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 12 31.1 720p 16 9 wfxl dt main wfxl programming fox 31.2 480i 4 3 wfxl 2 bounce tv 31.3 comet tv analog to digital conversion edit wfxl shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 31 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition vhf channel 12 . 13 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 31 . news operation edit as a typical fox affiliate with a weekday morning show and nightly prime time newscast at 10 seen for an hour on weeknights ; half hour on weekends wfxl currently airs five hours of local news on weekdays and an hour on weekends . along with walb wfxl is one of two stations in albany to produce local news that actually focus on the city . despite wswg technically being the market s cbs affiliate it serves as a semi satellite of wctv in tallahassee and simulcasts most newscasts from the florida based station . on wswg there is no news coverage of albany itself provided by wctv as there is more of a focus on events in thomasville and especially valdosta and moultrie . in order to offer comprehensive severe weather coverage wfxl purchased the most technologically advanced and powerful computerized weather system available in 2007 . this included access to live doppler weather radar capabilities from the national weather service site at moody air force base and an automated severe weather warning system . in september 2008 wfxl gave its newscasts a new look by means of updating it graphic package and the construction of a new set . at the same time it added a half hour to its weeknight prime time news at 10 . 14 it had aired at one point a weeknight newscast at 6 30 that competed with the national news shows on the big three stations . however on september 19th 2011 wfxl replaced this newscast with a two hour comedy block of syndicated programming . on october 24 2011 it added a fourth hour to its weekday morning show which can now be seen from 5 until 9 a.m. on friday january 22nd 2016 wfxl dropped its four hour morning show and replaced it with syndicated and e i programming . 15 this later came in april 2016 with the dropping of the station s only weekend newscast at 10 00pm which was half hour at the time . 16 the only newscast that wfxl has left is its weeknight hour long 10 00pm newscast but is no longer 100 % produced in house as the newscast is now produced in collaboration with its sister station wgxa 24 in macon . all news and weather duties are now handled at wgxa while local reporters are still assigned to albany to provide coverage of the southwestern georgia area . references edit http www.mysouthwestga.com about about.aspx id 60722 http www.walb.com global story.asp s 4974569 http www.walb.com global story.asp s 4982365 http www.walb.com global story.asp s 4980571 http www.walb.com global story.asp s 4986005 http www.walb.com global story.asp s 5002278 http www.walb.com global story.asp s 5006920 http www.youtube.com watch v jfzwj3w3ol0 malone michael february 28 2013 . sinclair s chesapeake tv acquires barrington stations . broadcasting & cable . retrieved march 1 2013 . http www.sbgi.net site mgr temp barrington % 20closes.pdf minium harry august 27 2014 . odu s opener with hampton to be televised in 66 markets . hamptonroads.com . the virginian pilot . retrieved september 8 2014 . digital tv market listing for wfxl . rabbitears.info . retrieved september 9 2014 . dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . http www.wfxl.com about about.aspx id 60722 wfxl will no longer have a good day . it has stopped airing weekday morning news . the changing newscasts blog january 26th 2016 . retrieved june 17th 2016 . wfxl has dropped its only weekend newscast . say it ain t so . the changing newscasts blog april 25th 2016 . retrieved june 17th 2016 . external links edit official website query the fcc s tv station database for wfxl v t e television stations viewable in albany georgia reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television local stations walb 10.1 nbc 10.2 abc 10.3 grit wabw 14 wacs 25 x. 1 pbs gpb x. 2 kids x. 3 knowledge wfxl 31.1 fox 31.2 bounce 31.3 comet wswg 44.1 cbs 44.2 mntv metv 44.3 the cw wsst 51.1 ind youtoo america adjacent locals columbus wrbl 3.1 cbs 3.2 metv 3.3 ion wtvm 9.1 abc 9.2 bounce tv 9.3 grit macon wmaz 13.1 cbs 13.2 the cw 13.3 justice network wgxa 24.1 fox 24.2 abc 24.3 comet wpga 58.1 ind 58.2 metv 58.3 this tv tallahassee wctv 6.1 cbs 6.2 mntv decades atlanta wsb 2.1 abc 2.2 metv 2.3 laff defunct stations w34cz 34 tbn georgia broadcast television areas by city albany atlanta augusta chattanooga tn columbus greenville sc jacksonville fl macon savannah tallahassee fl v t e fox network affiliates in the state of georgia waga 5 atlanta wgxa 24 macon wfxl 31 albany wfxg 54 augusta wxtx 54 columbus see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in georgia v t e sinclair broadcast group sorted by primary channel network affiliations abc katu katv kdnl tv khgi tv kwnb tv khgi cd komo tv ktul ktvo kvii tv kvih tv wbma ld wchs tv wear tv wgtu wgtq1 wham tv1 wicd wics wkef wjla tv wlos wpde tv wset tv wsyx wtvc wxlv tv cbs kbak tv kboi tv kdbc tv keye tv kfdm kgan kgbt tv khqa tv kima tv kepr tv klew tv kmeg1 krcg ktvl kutv kval tv kcby tv kpic wgfl1 wgme tv whp tv wkrc tv wpec wrgb wsbt tv wtvh1 wwmt the cw kfdm kfre tv kmys1 kocb kvcw kxvo1 kyuu ld wbui1 wbsf1 wcwf wcwn wfli tv1 wlfl wnab1 wnuv1 wstq lp wswb1 wtlf1 wtto wdbb wtvx wucw wvtv wwho1 wwmb1 fox kabb kbfx cd kbsi kbtv tv1 kdsm tv kfox tv kfxa1 kfxl tv kmph tv kokh tv kpth kptm krxi tv ksas tv kuqi wach wbff wdky tv wfxl wgxa wluk tv wmsn tv wolf tv1 wpfo2 wpgh tv wrgt tv1 wrlh tv wrsp tv wccu1 wsmh wtat tv1 wtgs wtte1 wuhf wutv wvah tv1 wyzz tv1 wztv mynetworktv kame tv1 kdbc tv kmtw1 kmyu ktov lp kutv kvcw dt2 wabm wciv wcgv tv wdka1 wfgx wmya tv1 wmyg lp1 wmyv wnyo tv wpnt wqmy1 wrdc wstr tv1 wtcn ca wtvz tv wutb1 wuxp tv nbc kmtr kmcb ktcw1 krnv dt kenv dt3 ksnv weyi tv1 wjac tv wjar wnbw dt1 wnwo tv woai tv wpbn tv wtom tv wpmi tv1 wstm tv wtov tv wtwc tv spanish language univision kunpmmx kuns tvmmx kunw cd kvvk cd korx ca azteca wwhb ca other stations comet whoi ind. kjzz tv wjtc1 metv wyme