WJCL (TV) - History

History

The station signed-on July 18, 1970 as WJCL-TV and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 22. It was the fourth television station to launch in Savannah and immediately became the area's first primary ABC outlet. Before this, CBS affiliate WTOC-TV and NBC affiliate WSAV-TV shared secondary relations with ABC. Originally owned by former Savannah mayor and avid amateur radio operator Julius Curtis Lewis, Jr. (whose initials provided the call sign), the station marked many "firsts". At the time, it built the tallest broadcast tower in the market rising some 460 m (1500 feet) above sea level.

Local color news film and reel-to-reel videotape were introduced to the Savannah market by WJCL. It claims to have been the first station in the area to televise a live event (President Richard Nixon's Savannah visit and ride in a parade on Skidaway Road) as well as broadcasting in stereo. WJCL-TV and WJCL-FM 96.5 were both run by Lewis Broadcasting's Executive Vice President, J. Fred Pierce, from 1972 until the television station's first sale in 1999. It dropped the -TV suffix from the call letters in 1981.

In 1982, WJCL swapped affiliations with WSAV (due to the latter's action) and became an NBC affiliate. However, a mere four years later, it returned to ABC in 1986. When Lewis purchased the WNOK television and radio stations in Columbia, South Carolina in 1977, he quickly sold-off WNOK radio (for an undisclosed price) and immediately changed the television outlet's call sign to WLTX. In 1982, he purchased WYEA in Columbus, Georgia from Aflac and changed its calls to WLTZ to follow a similar call letter format used for his station in South Carolina's capitol (including "LT" meaning Lewis Television).

In the early-1990s, Lewis sold two of his radio stations, WSTZ-FM and WSTZ-AM in Jackson, Mississippi for an undisclosed price. In 1999, Lewis Broadcasting sold WJCL to Grapevine Communications which has since merged with Piedmont Television. In the mid-to-late 1990s, Lewis decided to divest an even larger portion of his media interests and sold four of his combined eight owned and/or previously owned radio and television stations including WJCL, WTGS, WJCL-FM, and WLTX. On May 1, 2007, Lewis broadcasting entered into an agreement with SagamoreHill Broadcasting to sell-off its last remaining television station, WLTZ.

In 2001, WJCL partnered with Carleton Public Relations, Inc. to produce ABC 22 LawCall. Radio on-air personality Lexie Kaye was hired by Carleton Public Relations as producer of the weekly live, legal call-in show. The program featured Mike Avery as host along with attorneys from the Carter & Tate firm with a weekly guest and various topics. This was the first legal call-in show in the nation to use the "LawCall" name. The show aired until June 2006 on Sunday nights from 11 to 11:30. Since Lewis' sale of the station in 1999, it has been bought twice. WJCL and WTGS were most recently sold to New Vision Television and Parkin Broadcasting respectively. The station unveiled a new blog-based website in June 2007.

On November 2, 2007 it was announced that with the recent acquisition of WJCL by New Vision Broadcasting, a brand new website was on the way. The revamped website (operated largely in-house with technology borrowed from Broadcast Interactive Media) featured the usual news, weather, and sports along with streaming video. In January 2009, the websites of WJCL and several of its sister stations migrated to the Inergize Digital Network platform (with KOIN in Portland, Oregon being the first station in the New Vision group featuring it). The station is the setting of the second season of TV Guide Network's Making News which began airing on June 4, 2008.

On May 7, 2012, LIN TV Corporation announced that it will acquire the New Vision Television station group for $330.4 million and the assumption of $12 million in debt. Along with the outright ownership of WJCL, the agreement includes the acquisition of New Vision's shared services agreement with Parkin Broadcasting, giving LIN operational control of WTGS. On October 2, the FCC approved the proposed sale to LIN TV. The transaction was completed on October 12.