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WPXC-TV
WPXC-TV (channel 21) is a television station licensed to Brunswick, Georgia, United States, broadcasting the Ion Television network to the Jacksonville, Florida, area. It is the only major commercial station in the Jacksonville market that is licensed in Georgia. The station is owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company and broadcasts from a transmitter in southwestern Camden County, Georgia, northwest of Kingsland.
Channel 21 began broadcasting as WBSG-TV on April 2, 1990. It was an independent station owned by Coastal Com, Inc., and had studios on Blythe Island Highway (State Route 303) in southwestern Brunswick, as well as a full local news department serving coastal southeastern Georgia. In 1995, WBSG-TV became the nearest affiliate of The WB to Jacksonville. Allbritton Communications purchased WBSG-TV in 1996 and immediately announced it would become the new ABC affiliate for Jacksonville, replacing WJKS-TV. An attempt to move the tower from its original location at Hickox south to Kingsland was delayed, but a height increase allowed the station to put a fringe signal into areas of Jacksonville north of Interstate 10. When WJKS-TV without warning preempted more than half of ABC's prime time shows beginning in January 1997, WJXX (channel 25) was rushed into service to fill the gap. WJXX soon became the primary station in the arrangement; the Brunswick news operation was closed in 1998.
When Allbritton sold WJXX to Gannett in 2000, WBSG-TV was not included. It immediately switched to programming from the Pax network, predecessor to Ion, and was sold outright to the network later that year.
Plans for a commercial television station in Brunswick dated to 1979, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allotted the city channel 21 at the request of COR Communications. COR then applied for the construction permit to build the proposed station. COR Communications was hopeful that their station could attract a national network affiliation. Two other groups—CMM, Inc., and Golden East Broadcasters—also applied for channel 21, and the FCC designated all three applications for comparative hearing in 1983. COR won the construction permit, but its station was never built, and an attempt to replace the construction permit was denied in September 1986.
In December 1986, Richard Huff applied for channel 21 through Coastal Com, Inc. Coastal Com and two other firms' applications were designated for comparative hearing in 1987, and in November, an FCC administrative law judge awarded Coastal Com the permit by summary decision. Coastal Com went public with its plans for WBSG-TV and broke ground on the studios on State Route 303 in August 1989; the station revealed its plans for a news department. The station was envisioned as filling a gap in programming and news coverage that stations in Jacksonville, Florida, and Savannah, Georgia, did not cover.
WBSG-TV began broadcasting on April 2, 1990. It offered news at 6 and 10 p.m. on weeknights and an hour-long local morning show. Because of its distance from Jacksonville and Savannah, the station was able to air some of the same syndicated programs as stations in those markets. WBSG later became an affiliate of The WB; by 1996, it employed 37, including a news staff of nine.
On February 16, 1996, Allbritton Communications announced it had agreed to purchase WBSG-TV from Coastal Com for $10.5 million and that the station would become the new ABC affiliate for the Jacksonville market in 1997 as part of a group affiliation agreement with the network. Allbritton announced it would build new transmitter facilities as well as new studio facilities in Jacksonville in much the same way that WESH, a station nominally licensed to Daytona Beach, was primarily based near Orlando. The news blindsided Jacksonville's existing ABC affiliation, WJKS-TV (channel 17).
WBSG-TV's existing signal did not reach Jacksonville, so Allbritton filed to build a new tower site near Kingsland. WJKS attempted to block this move by making its own application for a tower in Kingsland, though it retracted this request; the FCC rejected WBSG's Kingsland proposal, leading Allbritton to instead increase the height and power of the existing WBSG-TV facility, though this did little to expand coverage to the south. By August 1996, when the FCC approved the upgraded Hickox facility, the affiliation switch had been put off until at least February, and WJKS had given up its fight to remain with ABC. The outright acquisition was converted to a local marketing agreement in August 1996.
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WPXC-TV
WPXC-TV (channel 21) is a television station licensed to Brunswick, Georgia, United States, broadcasting the Ion Television network to the Jacksonville, Florida, area. It is the only major commercial station in the Jacksonville market that is licensed in Georgia. The station is owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company and broadcasts from a transmitter in southwestern Camden County, Georgia, northwest of Kingsland.
Channel 21 began broadcasting as WBSG-TV on April 2, 1990. It was an independent station owned by Coastal Com, Inc., and had studios on Blythe Island Highway (State Route 303) in southwestern Brunswick, as well as a full local news department serving coastal southeastern Georgia. In 1995, WBSG-TV became the nearest affiliate of The WB to Jacksonville. Allbritton Communications purchased WBSG-TV in 1996 and immediately announced it would become the new ABC affiliate for Jacksonville, replacing WJKS-TV. An attempt to move the tower from its original location at Hickox south to Kingsland was delayed, but a height increase allowed the station to put a fringe signal into areas of Jacksonville north of Interstate 10. When WJKS-TV without warning preempted more than half of ABC's prime time shows beginning in January 1997, WJXX (channel 25) was rushed into service to fill the gap. WJXX soon became the primary station in the arrangement; the Brunswick news operation was closed in 1998.
When Allbritton sold WJXX to Gannett in 2000, WBSG-TV was not included. It immediately switched to programming from the Pax network, predecessor to Ion, and was sold outright to the network later that year.
Plans for a commercial television station in Brunswick dated to 1979, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allotted the city channel 21 at the request of COR Communications. COR then applied for the construction permit to build the proposed station. COR Communications was hopeful that their station could attract a national network affiliation. Two other groups—CMM, Inc., and Golden East Broadcasters—also applied for channel 21, and the FCC designated all three applications for comparative hearing in 1983. COR won the construction permit, but its station was never built, and an attempt to replace the construction permit was denied in September 1986.
In December 1986, Richard Huff applied for channel 21 through Coastal Com, Inc. Coastal Com and two other firms' applications were designated for comparative hearing in 1987, and in November, an FCC administrative law judge awarded Coastal Com the permit by summary decision. Coastal Com went public with its plans for WBSG-TV and broke ground on the studios on State Route 303 in August 1989; the station revealed its plans for a news department. The station was envisioned as filling a gap in programming and news coverage that stations in Jacksonville, Florida, and Savannah, Georgia, did not cover.
WBSG-TV began broadcasting on April 2, 1990. It offered news at 6 and 10 p.m. on weeknights and an hour-long local morning show. Because of its distance from Jacksonville and Savannah, the station was able to air some of the same syndicated programs as stations in those markets. WBSG later became an affiliate of The WB; by 1996, it employed 37, including a news staff of nine.
On February 16, 1996, Allbritton Communications announced it had agreed to purchase WBSG-TV from Coastal Com for $10.5 million and that the station would become the new ABC affiliate for the Jacksonville market in 1997 as part of a group affiliation agreement with the network. Allbritton announced it would build new transmitter facilities as well as new studio facilities in Jacksonville in much the same way that WESH, a station nominally licensed to Daytona Beach, was primarily based near Orlando. The news blindsided Jacksonville's existing ABC affiliation, WJKS-TV (channel 17).
WBSG-TV's existing signal did not reach Jacksonville, so Allbritton filed to build a new tower site near Kingsland. WJKS attempted to block this move by making its own application for a tower in Kingsland, though it retracted this request; the FCC rejected WBSG's Kingsland proposal, leading Allbritton to instead increase the height and power of the existing WBSG-TV facility, though this did little to expand coverage to the south. By August 1996, when the FCC approved the upgraded Hickox facility, the affiliation switch had been put off until at least February, and WJKS had given up its fight to remain with ABC. The outright acquisition was converted to a local marketing agreement in August 1996.