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WJBF, channel 6, is an ABC-affiliated television station in Augusta, Georgia, USA. WJBF is owned by the broadcast division of Media General, and has its studios in Television Park, near the Augusta Mall in Augusta. The station's transmitter is located in Beech Island, South Carolina.

Through joint sales and shared services agreements, WJBF operates NBC affiliate WAGT (channel 26), which is owned by Schurz Communications.

Digital Television

WJBF replaced RTV with Me-TV on digital subchannel 6.2 on September 26, 2011, as part of a groupwide affiliation agreement with Media General; the channel replaced RTV on some Media General-owned stations in other markets.

History

Augusta's first television station, WJBF-TV began operations on November 23, 1953. The station was founded by local entrepreneur J.B. Fuqua, who also owned NBC Radio Network affiliate WJBF (1230 AM). WJBF-TV originally picked up programs from NBC, ABC and DuMont, but was a primary NBC affiliate. Sister station WJBF radio was sold by Fuqua in 1954 (it is now WEZO).

Channel 6 began sharing ABC programming with CBS affiliate WRDW-TV (channel 12) around 1959, but on September 1, 1967 WJBF became a primary ABC affiliate. The move relegated NBC to a shared secondary affiliation with WRDW-TV. This was an unusual situation for a then two-station market, especially one as small as Augusta. But in 1966 Fuqua had purchased two primary ABC affiliates, WTVW in Evansville, Indiana and KTHI-TV (now KVLY-TV) in Fargo, North Dakota, and apparently wanted to get his other stations -- WJBF and KTVE in El Dorado, Arkansas -- in line with the new acquisitions. Additionally, no full-time ABC affiliate provided even a grade B signal to the Augusta area at the time. By contrast, fellow NBC affiliate WIS-TV in Columbia provided at least grade B coverage to the South Carolina side of the market. Fuqua reasoned that if channel 6 took a primary ABC affiliation, it wouldn't have significant out-of-market competition. In 1969, Fuqua branched out into the movie theater business when he purchased Martin Theaters of Georgia, also the owner of WTVM in Columbus, Georgia, and WTVC in Chattanooga, Tennessee, also ABC affiliates.

When WATU (channel 26, now WAGT) began operations in December 1968, conventional wisdom suggested that it would become a full NBC affiliate. However, since many Augusta viewers still didn't have UHF-capable sets, NBC allowed WJBF and WRDW-TV to continue to cherry-pick most of its programs (WJBF kept airing both the Today and Tonight shows, among others). The failure of WATU to secure a full-time network affiliation caused that station to go dark in 1970. Channel 6 became a full-time ABC affiliate when WATU returned to the air in 1974, this time with a primary NBC affiliation. Fuqua sold off his stations in 1980, with WJBF and WTVM going to Missoula, Montana-based Western Broadcasting Company. In 1984 all of Western's broadcast holdings were bought by SFN Companies Inc., then-parent of educational publisher Scott, Foresman and Company, which two years later was acquired by Commacq Inc., a new firm formed by members of SFN's management. Spartan Radiocasting of Spartanburg, South Carolina purchased the station in 1992. Spartan was renamed Spartan Communications in 1995, and merged into Media General in 2000.

Merger with WAGT

In October 2009, the parent companies of WJBF and WAGT announced that they would enter into joint sales and shared services agreements in January 2010. This resulted in the two combining their sales and other operational services. It was later announced that WJBF would control all of WAGT's news and advertising operations while that station handles programming and the maintaining of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations. Most of WAGT's managerial staff was dismissed, and other employees were reassigned to different positions.

Media General had initially intended to move WAGT into an expanded wing of the WJBF building in downtown Augusta. Both WJBF and WAGT have had a longstanding presence in the downtown area. Channel 6's facility on Reynolds Street was built around 1956, and channel 26 moved into its Broad Street building, a converted theatre, in 1981. However, it soon became apparent that WJBF's facility could not sustain the expansion necessary to house both stations. Media General instead chose to construct a new building for the stations. The new facility, located at the Augusta West Shopping Center in a former Barnes & Noble retail location, was opened in October 2011.

Local programming

Since 1954 WJBF has produced and aired the Sunday morning gospel music program Parade of Quartets, one of the longest-running local programs of any kind on American television. The program has been a showcase for regionally- and nationally-known African-American gospel performers, and has also featured appearances from political and social figures. Augusta native James Brown, Shirley Caesar, Al Green, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Dorothy Norwood and Jesse Jackson are among those who have appeared on the program.

The station also produces a urban music video program, Power Hitz, which airs on Sunday evenings. Power Hitz has been on the air since 2001.

News operation

Appropriately for being the first television station in the area, WJBF was the ratings leader for most of its history, with rival WRDW usually the runner-up. In recent years, WRDW and WJBF usually traded first and second place, while WAGT almost always placed third.

In the 1980s, its newscasts were branded NewsWatch 6. After being acquired by Spartan Radiocasting in 1992, WJBF and some other stations acquired by the company changed their branding to NewsChannel. This station and most of its sister affiliates still use this branding today after being acquired by Media General. In the 1990s, WJBF reached an agreement with the Augusta Mall to run a closed-circuit "Mall TV" feed on television screens throughout the mall featuring the day's news and coverage of some local special events. WJBF operated this service until the late-1990s. They also had a local agreement with Comcast to air a rebroadcast of the 6 p.m. show on the cable provider's channel 66. This arrangement ended in 2004 with the launch of a nightly 10 o'clock newscast on Fox affiliate WFXG (channel 54). The production uses different graphics and duratrans concealing the WJBF logos. The launch came after its studios were renovated.

In December of 2009, WAGT and WJBF partnered under a shared services agreement, with WJBF producing WAGT's news, sales, and other programming. Schurz Communications still owns WAGT in part. Current WJBF reporter Paige Tucker is the face of WAGT's 6, 7, and 11pm newscasts.

On Monday, October 17, 2011, WJBF launched local newscasts in high definition starting with the morning newscast. It is the third station in the area to do so behind WFXG which switched to HD on September 26, 2011 when that station launched its own news department. The first was WRDW on January 24, 2011.

Newscast titles

• WJBF-TV News (1953-1964)
• Newscope (1964-1971)
• Eyewitness News (1971-1977)
• Action 6 News (1977-1982)
• NewsWatch 6 (1982-1990)
• Channel 6 News (1990-1994)
• WJBF NewsChannel 6 (1994–present)

News team

Anchors

• Jillian Benfield - weekend evenings; also weekday reporter
• Brad Means - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.; also anchors "The Means Report" on Sunday afternoons
• Jennie Montgomery - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.
• Mary Morrison - weekday mornings and weekdays at noon
• Chris Kane - weekday mornings and weekdays at noon
• Archith Seshadri - weekend mornings; also Columbia County reporter and fill-in anchor

Live VIPIR 6 Weather

• George Myers - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.
• Ed Bloodsworth - meteorologist; weekday mornings and weekdays at noon
• Jenna Lee Thomas - weather anchor; weekend evenings, also weekday feature reporter
• Jason Nappi - meteorologist; weekend mornings

Sports tean

• Matt Zahn - sports director; weeknights at 6, 10 and 11 p.m., rotating weekday mornings (pre-recorded) and Football Friday Night host
• Merissa Lynn - sports anchor; weekend evenings, rotating weekday mornings (pre-recorded)

Reporters

• Brett Buffington - McDuffie County reporter
• George Eskola - senior reporter/"Out There Somewhere" feature reporter
• John Hart - general assignment reporter
• Courtney Elledge - general assignment reporter
• Jennie Montgomery - "Giving Your Best" segment producer
• Kait Rayner - Aiken/Edgefield County reporter
• Kimberely Scott - general assignment reporter

Notable former staff

• Patricia Crosby - anchor/reporter (1993-1995, now at WTLV/WJXX in Jacksonville, FL)

References

1. WJBF website TV listings
2. Me-TV Beefs Up Roster With 10 New Stations, TVNewsCheck, September 15, 2011.
3. "Seven new TV outlets go on the air." Broadcasting - Telecasting, November 30, 1953, pg. 68.
5. "Fountain firm buys WJBF for $125,000." Broadcasting - Telecasting, July 5, 1954, pg. 66.
6. "WJBF (TV) goes primary ABC." Broadcasting, August 14, 1967, pg. 52.
7. "One (network) to a customer." Broadcasting, March 29, 1971, pg. 67.
8. "Changing Hands." Broadcasting, July 28, 1980, pp. 82-83.
9. "Western sale." Broadcasting, January 16, 1984, pg. 41.
10. "Changing hands." Broadcasting, July 14, 1986, pg. 66.
11. http://www2.wjbf.com/jbf/news/special_reports/article/wjbf_wagt_enter_into_partnership/28655/
12. Emerson, LaTina (December 30, 2009). "WJBF, WAGT still negotiating with on-air personnel". The Augusta Chronicle. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
13. Emerson, LaTina (December 2, 2010). "WBBQ, other stations to move to new locations". The Augusta Chronicle. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
14. DeMao, Alisa (September 13, 2001). "Radio personalities add camera to mike". The Augusta Chronicle. Retrieved December 5, 2010.

External links

• WJBF website
• WJBF mobile
• Parade of Quartets website
• WAGT "NBC Augusta 26"
• Template:TVQ

Template:Media General

• American Broadcasting Company affiliates
• ABC network affiliates
• Television stations in Augusta, Georgia
• Television stations in Georgia (U.S. state)
• Media General
• Channel 42 digital TV stations in the United States
• Channel 6 virtual TV stations in the United States
• Television channels and stations established in 1953
• Me-TV affiliates
• Prime Time Entertainment Network