WSFJ-TV
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HAAT | 157 m (515 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 39°58′16″N 83°1′40″W / 39.97111°N 83.02778°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | scrippsnews |
WSFJ-TV (channel 51) is a
Even though WSFJ-TV is licensed as a full-power station, its
History
WSFJ-TV began operations on March 9, 1980. Originally licensed to
The new station ran only
In February 1999, the station affiliated with Pax TV (later i: Independent Television, now Ion Television), running the network's programming from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and again from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. WSFJ also began to be seen on a translator in Columbus, WCPX-LP (channel 48), which was owned by Pax's parent company, Paxson Communications (now Ion Media). Before this, Pax programming was seen overnights on WWHO, a WB affiliate then owned by the Paramount Stations Group. WSFJ was the largest Ion affiliate owned by a company other than Ion Media Networks. While WSFJ was affiliated with Pax, WCMH-TV (channel 4), the local NBC owned-and-operated station, reaired their NewsChannel 4 newscasts on channel 51, as part of an agreement with NBC and Pax.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Gtn51.png)
WSFJ was sold to Guardian Enterprise Group in 2004. In 2005, WSFJ began to acquire some family-friendly programming separate from its affiliation with Pax/i and rebranded the station as GTN51—short for "Guardian Television Network". Guardian Enterprise Group was located in the same office as WSFJ. Other companies under the Guardian Enterprise Group include Guardian Studios and Guardian Human Resources.
In March 2007, WSFJ moved its master control and studio into a facility at
Ion sold WCPX-LP in 2007, and in January 2008 it was relaunched as an Azteca América affiliate. At the same time, Ion programming disappeared from WSFJ, leaving it exclusively with family entertainment, religious shows, and paid programming. Ion's main program feed would later resurface in the market on the third subchannel of WCMH-TV.
In July 2008, it was announced that Guardian would sell WSFJ to the Trinity Broadcasting Network for $16 million.[5] Guardian retained its other properties, including the then-upcoming .2 Network, and acquired W23BZ, which had been a low-power repeater of TBN; it picked up WSFJ's programming when channel 51 began carrying TBN programming on October 1, 2008. However, by selling off its full-power station and moving to a low-power signal, GTN would find themselves at a disadvantage—being on a low-power signal, it lost its must-carry status; as a result, Guardian urged viewers to contact their cable systems to pick up GTN after the move to channel 23.[6]
As a TBN-owned station, WSFJ served as a pass-through for the TBN national feed with virtually no local programming. TBN has long been known for buying existing stations in order to get must-carry status on local cable systems. In 2011, the station began work on a new television studio in Lewis Center, Ohio, in Delaware County.[7]
TBN entered into an option agreement with Ion Media Networks on November 14, 2017, which gave Ion the option to acquire the licenses of WSFJ-TV and three other TBN stations serving Ohio and
After E. W. Scripps Company ceased operations of Ion Plus, WSFJ changed its primary affiliation to Bounce TV and added Grit (later Newsy and Scripps News) on channel 51.2. On May 5, 2024, Scripps News and Bounce switched their channel positions.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
51.1 | 480i | 16:9 |
WSFJ | Scripps News |
51.2 | Bounce TV |
For some time after TBN took over the station, WSFJ did not multiplex its signal, unlike the other TBN-owned stations. However, in July 2012, WSFJ upgraded its studios and equipment, and carried the TBN affiliated subchannels seen on all other full power TBN stations until September 2018.[11]
Analog-to-digital conversion
WSFJ-TV shut down its analog signal, over
References
- ^ Channel Sharing Agreement
- ^ COL Change Requests
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WSFJ-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "RabbitEars Contour Map for WCLL-CD". www.rabbitears.info.
- ^ "Nexttv | Programming| Business | Multichannel Broadcasting + Cable | www.nexttv.com". NextTV. August 15, 2023.
- ^ "Tonight on GTN51". Archived from the original on July 4, 2008.
- ^ "Unknown".[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. June 8, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
- ^ "Consummation Notice". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. September 25, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
- ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for WSFJ". rabbitears.info.
- ^ "Family of Networks".
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013.