WNBJ-LD is the NBC-affiliated low-powered television station licensed to and serving Jackson, Tennessee, United States. Owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting, WNBJ-LD broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 16 (or virtual channel 39 via PSIP) from a transmitter located near the corner of Commerce and Iselin streets in Jackson. Its broadcast facilities are located at 101 North Highland Avenue in Downtown Jackson.
Within the Jackson television market, the station is currently available over the air on channel 39.1 or on Dish Network channel 6 and DirecTV Channel 5, and on local cable systems, such as Jackson Energy Authority (JEA) Cable on channel 4 (basic) or in HD on channel 188.
Video WNBJ-LD
History
Plans for an NBC affiliate in Jackson originated with the 2011 acquisition of former TBN repeater W35AH channel 35 from the Minority Media and Television Council (an organisation designed to preserve equal opportunity and civil rights in the media) by New Moon Communications, as part of a package deal that also included former TBN repeaters in Dothan, Alabama; Jonesboro, Arkansas; and Ottumwa, Iowa. Of the four stations, only the Dothan station became NBC, but under different owners, as WRGX-LD. KJNE-LP in Jonesboro was sold to Waypoint Media LLC, owners of Fox/CBS affiliate KJNB-LD (and eventually became a satellite of that station), while the licenses in Ottumwa (KUMK-LP) and Jackson (whose transmitter would be re-called WZMC-LP) would later be cancelled, with the Jackson station cancelled in July 2013.
The history of WNBJ-LD originates with the station's construction permit granted in 2011, under the call sign W16DE-D. The current WNBJ-LD call letters replaced their previous translator-style call sign on July 9, 2014.
In September 2014, it was confirmed that WNBJ would sign on as an NBC affiliate for the Jackson market. WMC-TV in Memphis or WSMV in Nashville were previously the default NBC affiliates for the Jackson area via over the air with a very strong antenna, or through cable television. Some of the far northern parts of the local media market (e.g. northern Gibson County north of Trenton) could pick up WPSD in Paducah, Kentucky until the DTV transition for full-power station took place in 2009.
On October 6, 2014, WNBJ went on the air first via Dish Network channel 6 at 11:30 a.m. CDT. OTA followed in November 2014 and Direct TV in January 2015. The station was signed-on by a local group known as Jackson TV, LLC, who then entered into an outsourcing agreement with Waypoint Media of Meridian, Mississippi to allow Waypoint to operate the station.
NBC was the last of the Big Four television networks to have a local outlet in Jackson. Currently, The Jackson Energy Authority's cable system still pipes in most of the major outlets in Memphis, including WMC-TV. CBS affiliate WTVF is the only Nashville-based media outlet offered on JEA's cable lineup, with WNBJ-LD replacing WSMV on cable channel 4.
WNBJ was the second television station in the Jackson market to sign on exclusively in digital, about eight to nine months after WYJJ-LD.
The station's original owners terminated WNBJ-LD's outsourcing agreement with Waypoint and sold WNBJ-LD outright to SagamoreHill Broadcasting in April 2016.
Maps WNBJ-LD
Programming
General programming
Outside of the NBC network schedule, syndicated programming on WNBJ-LD includes The Doctors, Rachael Ray, The Wendy Williams Show, Inside Edition, Family Feud, Divorce Court, Who Wants to be a Millionaire and others. It is unknown if the station will offer additional digital sub-channels, carrying supplemental services.
WNBJ airs a TV show called Exit82, which is produced locally by Red Art Studios. The show is a "concert/interview" format show that features "popular and up-and-coming musical talent from the Jackson and surrounding areas" who "perform original music". The program is named after I-40's interchange with US 45 in Jackson.
WNBJ also airs Harmony Road and Tennessee Gospel Show that showcases traditional and contemporary Christian music, and Vertical Descent, a local hunting show produced in Chester County.
News operation
WNBJ-LD's news operation launched August 28, 2017. Prior to this, no local newscasts had aired on the station, despite prior promises of such a launch. WNBJ-LD currently airs 5 hours of local newscasts, all weekdays at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Lon Tegals, a 30-year veteran at various television stations, including WXXV-TV in Biloxi, Mississippi, is WNBJ-LD's first news director. Sarah Blakely is the station's inaugural news anchor, broadcasting from a Media Gateway-owned studio in Little Rock, Arkansas, airing segments from Jackson-based reporters. Blakely also anchors similar newscasts on KJNB-LD/KJNE-LD in Jonesboro, Arkansas and WPBI-LD and WPBY-CD in Lafayette, Indiana, which are owned by WNBJ-LD's former operators Waypoint Media. Early community reactions to the newscasts were reported positive.
Sports programming
WNBJ serves as the Jackson affiliate of Sinclair Broadcast Group's American Sports Network for college sports, though as with all major network affiliates carrying ASN, NBC's sports schedule takes preference over ASN. WNBJ also served as the affiliate for the Raycom Sports-operated ACC Network during the 2014-15 season. In 2015, the station lost ACC Network to MyNetworkTV/Antenna TV affiliate WYJJ-LD, the Jackson market's other low-powered commercial station. WNBJ, as an NBC affiliate, is also home to Sunday Night Football.
Coverage area
WNBJ is a low-powered television station with 15,000 watts of power; the station's signal will give WNBJ a coverage area comprising most of the Jackson market, or 94,110 television households, and the far eastern portion of the Memphis market. The Jackson DMA consists of viewers living in Carroll, Chester, Gibson, Hardin, Henderson, and Madison counties in West Tennessee. WNBJ's signal would also cover parts of Crockett, Hardeman, Haywood, northern Fayette, and McNairy counties in the Memphis market. Hardin County is the only area within WNBJ's home market that is out of its broadcast range, though it is possible for local cable systems to receive the signal by alternate means, such as a fiber-optic connection or via Dish or DirecTV.
References
External links
- Official website
- WNBJ-LD on Facebook
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WNBJ
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WNBJ-TV
- CDBS Database Query for WNBJ-LD by RECNet
Source of article : Wikipedia
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