WBXX-TV
kW | |
HAAT | 727.5 m (2,387 ft) |
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Transmitter coordinates | 36°6′33″N 84°20′17″W / 36.10917°N 84.33806°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
WBXX-TV (channel 20) is a
WBXX-TV is the only full-powered Knoxville-market station to be licensed in a city in the
History
WCPT-TV and WINT-TV
WBXX began operation as independent WCPT-TV ("Wonderful Cumberland Plateau Television") on analog channel 55 (716–722 MHz) beginning October 3, 1976, from a tower site on Haley Mountain (Renegade Resort) in Cumberland County, Tennessee.[2] It was owned by Edward M. "Mack" Johnson, who also owned 49% of WSCV AM in Crossville. The studios in Crossville were a former loan office.[2] WCPT-TV produced a nightly local newscast, as well as a three-hour live Saturday Night Jamboree; much of its syndicated fare came by bus the day after airing on Nashville's WZTV.[2] Viewers in Cookeville could view the station by translator on channel 23;[3] it also maintained a facility there.[4] The station did look at obtaining an ABC affiliation,[3] but the station needed to serve 1,500 more households to make the arrangement worthwhile.[2] It also tried to move to channel 7 in 1977, which the station opted not to pursue further after meeting with opposition from WTVK.[5] Initially, WCPT-TV ran a mix of religious shows, some low-budget syndicated movies and westerns, and some cartoons, as well as sporting shows and public affairs programs. By the early 1980s, more movies and drama shows aired as well as cartoons.
Channel 55 was sold to Calvin C. Smith, who owned stations in Kentucky, and John A. Cunningham in 1979.[5] In February 1980, citing poor reception and failing equipment, they asked to switch from channel 55 to channel 20, which was reserved as educational, and make 55 the non-commercial allocation for Crossville;[6] this was approved and WCPT-TV was ordered to move to channel 20 effective August 13.[7] Additionally, Smith and Cunningham were approved to increase channel 20's effective radiated power to 2,818 kW (it had signed on with just 16) in 1981,[5] but those facilities were never implemented.
Still operating at low power, the station became WINT-TV on December 27, 1982, and in 1983, the station was sold mostly to Larry Hudson, with Cunningham retaining 10 percent.[8] In 1988, WINT-TV aired religious programming.[9]
In 1995, CW TV, headed by Cynthia Willis, acquired the station for $700,000[10] by way of Crossville TV, LP. CW applied to move the transmitter site to Upper Windrock, an outcropping on Buffalo Mountain along the Cumberland Plateau above Oliver Springs, Tennessee, and boost power to 3,630 kW—covering Knoxville.
Becoming WBXX
In 1997, the partners in Crossville TV LP sold the license to ACME Communications. ACME immediately changed the call letters to WBXX-TV, and in October 1997, channel 20 relaunched from its new facilities as Knoxville's affiliate of The WB. It was the second station for ACME, behind KWBP in Portland, Oregon, which it had acquired that June.[11] The station also ran select UPN programming during 2001 and 2002, as that network did not have a Knoxville affiliate at the time.[12][13]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/WBXXlogo.jpg/220px-WBXXlogo.jpg)
WBXX was consistently one of the highest-rated WB stations in the country, and was recognized as such by The WB network. After being known as "WB20" since signing on, WBXX rebranded as "East Tennessee's WB" in September 2003. When the station took affiliation with The CW, it was renamed "East Tennessee's CW". WBXX rebranded again, to "CW20", in August 2008.
A decade of sales
In February 2011, ACME Communications announced a deal to sell the station to Virginia-based Lockwood Broadcast Group. The sale was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on March 21 with the consummation being completed on May 6.[14][15][16] From 1998 until 2004, the station aired a series of interstitials during children's programming called WB 20 Kids Club (later Dubba Clubba) hosted by comedian Jackson Bailey (known as "Joe Cool"). The interstitials featured information and contests to viewers in several vignettes each weekday covering topics such as science, biology, conservation, music, and pet care.
From 2015 to 2019, WBXX has broadcast
On October 1, 2015,
On June 25, 2018, Gray Television announced that they would acquire the assets of
Newscasts
Until mid-late 2013, WBXX aired the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz from 6 until 8. The program was produced by ACME Communications, and during the company's ownership of this station, there were local weather cut-ins focusing on the Knoxville area. It is unknown if these updates were still provided with WBXX's ownership change to Lockwood. The Daily Buzz then moved to sister station WKNX-TV, which aired it until its sudden cancellation on April 17, 2015.
At one point in time,
On August 1, 2011, WATE (then owned by
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
20.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
WBXX-DT | The CW |
20.2 | 480i | EBXX-DT | Story Television | |
20.3 | H & I | Heroes & Icons | ||
20.4 | DABL | Dabl | ||
20.5 | Tmundo | Telemundo | ||
20.6 | Defy |
Analog-to-digital conversion
WBXX-TV shut down its analog signal, over
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WBXX-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ a b c d York, Max (March 13, 1977). "Can You Believe A TV Station In Crossville?". The Tennessean. pp. 1-F, 3-F. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
- ^ a b "Cable TV Tests To Begin Sunday". The Tennessean. October 1, 1976. p. 22. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
- ^ "Radio Station President". Johnson City Press. Associated Press. July 31, 1977. p. 2. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
- ^ a b c FCC History Cards for WBXX-TV
- ^ "Allocations" (PDF). Broadcasting. February 18, 1980. p. 188. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
- ^ "Allocations". Broadcasting. July 28, 1980. p. 97.
- ^ "Ownership Changes" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 27, 1983. p. 97. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
- ^ "TV station to begin telecasts". The Tennessean. August 11, 1988. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
- ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 11, 1995. p. 40. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
- ^ McClellan, Steve (October 6, 1997). "Acme builds $200 million war chest" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. p. 54. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
- ^ "Sharing the wealth", from variety.com, February 22, 2000
- ^ Television Factbook 2006, "WBXX-TV", page A-2047
- ^ "Source: ACME Communications press release from 2/1/2011".
- ^ "ACME to Sell Knoxville's WBXX to Lockwood Broadcast Group", from broadcastingcable.com, January 2, 2011
- ^ "Application Search Details".
- ^ "Gray Television Sells Some, Buys Some". TVNewsCheck. October 1, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
- ^ Local Programming and Marketing Agreement
- ^ Consummation Notice, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, February 3, 2016, Retrieved February 12, 2016.
- ^ Miller, Mark K. (June 25, 2018). "Gray To Buy Raycom For $3.6 Billion". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
- ^ "Gray and Raycom to Combine in a $3.6 Billion Transaction". Raycom Media. June 25, 2018. Archived from the original on June 25, 2018.
- ^ Aycock, Jason (August 20, 2018). "Gray sets divestitures in eight more markets for Raycom deal". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
- ^ "Gray Completes Acquisition of Raycom Media and Related Transactions" (PDF). Gray Television. January 2, 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
- ^ "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.