WJRT-TV

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WJRT-TV
Flint, Michigan
Branding	ABC 12
Slogan	Your Trusted Source for News. Your Safest Place in Bad Weather.
Channels	Analog: 12 (VHF) Digital: 36 (UHF)
Subchannels	12.1 WJRT-TV abc12 12.2 abc12 Plus 12.3 AccuWeather
Affiliations	ABC
Owner	Disney/ABC (Flint License Subsidiary Corporation)
First air date	October 12, 1958
Call letters’ meaning	WJR, radio station in Detroit owned by station's founders (with T added to stand for television)
Transmitter Power	316 kW (analog) 860 kW (digital)
Height	285.5 m (analog) 248 m (digital)
Facility ID	21735
Transmitter Coordinates	43°13′49.5″N, 84°3′31.7″W
Website	www.abc12.com

WJRT-TV (known on the air as ABC 12) is the American Broadcasting Company-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.

On cable, WJRT can be seen on Comcast Flint channel 7 and Charter Tri-Cities channel 11. WJRT-HD can be seen on Comcast digital cable channel 231 in the Flint market. Also on Comcast digital cable channel 246 is WJRT2, which simulcasts and reruns all of the main channel's newscasts and also simulcasts and reruns some ABC news programs such as 20/20 and Primetime and also shows public affairs shows and movies. On Comcast digital cable channel 247 is WJRT3, and a 24 hour weather channel with special local weather forcecasts from the WJRT weather team as well as national forecasts from The AccuWeather Channel. 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.

[edit] History

WJRT is the only station in the market to never change 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 Communications in 1964, but WJRT was spun off to Poole Broadcasting (owned by 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.

As a network O&O WJRT carries the full ABC television lineup, with the exception of Saturday afternoon Big Ten Conference football and basketball games from ESPN Plus during the fall and winter months which may force an hour of ABC Kids to air the next day. However, should ABC air a nationally-televised Saturday college football or basketball game at noon, the network game is aired on WJRT. With the launch of the Big Ten Network, however, WJRT's broadcasts of college football and basketball will be significantly reduced.

[edit] Digital Television

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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: Bisi Onile-Ere, 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, Shannon Johnson

Weather: Kevin Goff

Sports: Ryan Slocum

• ABC 12 News at 11: - 11:00-11:30 p.m.

Anchors: Joel Feick, Shannon Johnson

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

Rebecca Trylch

[edit] External links

• WJRT ABC 12 Homepage
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WJRT
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WJRT-TV