WJRT-TV

WJRT, channel 12, is an ABC-owned and operated television station (O&O) in the Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Michigan television market. Its studios are located in Flint, Michigan, with offices and newsroom for the Tri-Cities located in Saginaw. The station broadcasts with 316 kilowatts of power from a 1,000-foot tower located near Chesaning, Michigan. The station is the only one in the market owned and operated by any major network.

WJRT can be seen on cable systems throughout northeastern Michigan, as far north as Alpena. At one time, it was seen on cable as far north as Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, where the Shaw system there offered WJRT instead of WGTU from across the locks; in the early-2000s, Shaw replaced WJRT with Detroit's WXYZ-TV.

History

WJRT is the only station in the market that has never changed its affiliation. WJRT was founded in 1958 by Goodwill Stations, the owner of WJR in Detroit at the time. That company won out over two other companies seeking to operate channel 12, the Trebit Corp. (which owned WFDF-AM) and W.S. Butterfield Theatres, Inc. Failed plans to place the transmitter facilities in Independence Township, Michigan are part of the story of WJRT's birth. Goodwill Stations took over the former WTAC-TV studios and offices after that station folded in 1954 and remains there today. When it was learned that Independence Township was in the Detroit television market, Goodwill settled on placing the channel 12 transmitters near Chesaning, Michigan; the transmitters remain there today. Once this was done, WJRT went on the air on October 12, 1958, as an ABC network affiliate. WJRT was the first Michigan television station outside of Detroit to go all-color in 1967.

Goodwill Stations merged with Capital Cities Broadcasting (predecessor of Capital Cities Communications) in 1964, but WJRT was spun off to Poole Broadcasting (owned by John Poole, a former Capital Cities stockholder) because the merged company was one VHF station over the FCC's ownership limit of the time. In April 1978, WJRT along with the rest of Poole Broadcasting (which included WPRI-TV in Providence, Rhode Island and WTEN in Albany, New York) were sold to Knight Ridder. As soon as the acquisition of Poole Broadcasting was finalized, Knight Ridder cut a corporate affiliation deal with ABC; however, WJRT was already affiliated with ABC when Knight Ridder acquired the station. During the late 1980s, Knight Ridder decided to exit broadcasting by selling its stations to separate owners; as a result, WJRT was sold to SJL Broadcast Management (the predecessor of today's Montecito Broadcast Group) in 1989.

During the 1970s WJRT became Mid Michigan's highest rated television station, helped by ABC's ratings improvements during the decade. During the late 1980s and into the 1990s, WJRT was usually second to WNEM-TV. However, after ABC purchased WJRT (along with WTVG in Toledo, Ohio) from SJL in 1995, the station returned to the top of the Mid-Michigan ratings for primetime, where it remains today. Because Capital Cities spun the station off decades earlier, WJRT was the only ABC station not part of the Capital Cities/ABC merger in 1986, although it should be noted that longtime ABC affiliates KTRK-TV in Houston and WPVI-TV in Philadelphia were part of the merger.

In 1994, New World Communications signed an affiliation deal with Fox Broadcasting Company, resulting in most of New World's stations switching affiliation to Fox. Among the stations due to switch was WJBK-TV in Detroit, a longtime CBS affiliate. To avoid being consigned to UHF in the 11th-largest market, CBS heavily wooed Detroit's longtime ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV. WXYZ's owner, E.W. Scripps Company, then told ABC that unless it agreed to affiliate with Scripps-owned stations in four smaller markets, it would switch WXYZ to CBS. As a contingency, ABC approached SJL about buying WTVG and WJRT. Both stations' city-grade signals reached portions of the Detroit area. The deal closed on August 29, 1995.

Ironically, when ABC acquired WJRT in 1995, it was reunited with its namesake radio station, WJR. WJR's owner, Capital Cities, had merged with ABC in 1986. And in 2002, WFDF (now a Detroit station), which unsuccessfully sought a channel 12 license in the 1950s, would also become a sister to WJRT when ABC bought the station. However, this reunion was partially broken up, as ABC sold WJR, along with other ABC Radio properties, to Citadel Broadcasting in January, 2006.

WJRT also served as the ABC affiliate of record for Lansing until WLAJ signed on in 1990.

Until the end of the 2006 college football season, WJRT carried Big Ten Conference football games (usually University of Michigan or Michigan State University) from ESPN's regional sports syndicator ESPN Plus. ESPN Plus lost rights to Big Ten Conference games to Big Ten Network in 2007.

Programming

As an ABC owned and operated (O & O) station, WJRT carries the full ABC television lineup, including all regional and national sports telecasts from ESPN on ABC.

Syndicated programming on WJRT includes "Judge Judy", "Judge Joe Brown", "Live with Regis and Kelly", "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" (the new version with Meredith Vieira), and "The Rachael Ray Show".

Digital Television

*ABC12 Plus shows extra programming, such as: local news simulcasts and reruns, simulcasts and reruns of ABC's Primetime and 20/20, local and national public affairs shows, local specials, and movies.

Analog to digital conversion

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf] , WJRT-TV will move its digital broadcasts back to its present analog channel number, 12. [http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101234212&formid=387&fac_num=21735 CDBS Print ] ]

Trivia

:*Brief clips from WJRT newscasts, featuring then-co-anchor Sue Zelenko, appear in Michael Moore's documentary "Roger & Me". Soon after the film's release, Zelenko would leave WJRT to co-anchor the evening newscast at WTSP in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Newscast Lineup

Weekdays

* ABC 12 News at 5&6: 5:00-7:00 a.m.:Anchors: Larry Elliott, Karen Gatlin:Weather: John McMurray
* ABC 12 News at Noon: 12:00-12:30 p.m.:Anchors: Larry Elliott, Karen Gatlin:Weather: John McMurray
* First at Four: 4:00-5:00 p.m.:Anchors: Terry Camp:Weather: Leslie Toldo
* ABC 12 News at 5: 5:00-6:00 p.m.:Anchors: Angie Hendershot, Bill Harris:Weather: J.R. Kirtek:Sports: Greg Molzon
* ABC 12 News at 6: 6:00-6:30 p.m.:Anchors: Angie Hendershot, Bill Harris:Weather: J.R. Kirtek:Sports: Greg Molzon
* ABC 12 News at 11:00: 11:00-11:35 p.m.:Anchors: Angie Hendershot, Bill Harris:Weather: J.R. Kirtek:Sports: Greg Molzon

Weekends
*ABC 12 Weekend: Saturday & Sunday Mornings: - (Saturday: 6:00-8:00 a.m., Sunday 7:00-8:00 a.m. & 9:00-10:00 a.m.) :Anchors: Josh DeVine, Matt Franklin:Weather: Kevin Goff

*ABC 12 News at 6: - 6:00-6:30 p.m.:Anchors: Joel Feick:Weather: Kevin Goff:Sports: Ryan Slocum

*ABC 12 News at 11: - 11:00-11:30 p.m.:Anchors: Joel Feick:Weather: Kevin Goff:Sports: Ryan Slocum

*Reporters: "

:Kristen Abraham:Randy Conat:Josh DeVine :Lori Dougovito:Matt Franklin :Gabe Gutierrez:Marc Jacobson:Dawn Jones:J.B. Ricks (sports):Rebecca Trylch

References

External links

*TVQ|WJRT
*BIA|WJRT|TV|TV