WTLV

WTLV
Channels
BrandingWTLV NBC 12; First Coast News
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
WJXX
History
First air date
September 1, 1957 (67 years ago) (1957-09-01)
Former call signs
WFGA-TV (1957–1971)
Former channel number(s)
Analog: 12 (VHF, 1957–2009)
  • NBC (1957–1980)
  • ABC (secondary 1957–1966, primary 1980–1988)
Call sign meaning
"Television"
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID65046
ERP
  • 53.3 kW
  • 1,000 kW (application)[1]
HAAT
  • 290.7 m (954 ft)
  • 290.4 m (953 ft) (application)[1]
Transmitter coordinates30°16′25″N 81°33′12″W / 30.27361°N 81.55333°W / 30.27361; -81.55333
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.firstcoastnews.com

WTLV (channel 12) is a television station in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Orange Park–licensed ABC affiliate WJXX (channel 25), a combination known as First Coast News. The two stations share studios on East Adams Street (near EverBank Stadium) in downtown Jacksonville; WTLV's transmitter is located on Anders Boulevard in the city's Killarney Shores section.

Channel 12 in Jacksonville began broadcasting on September 1, 1957, as WFGA-TV. Owned by the Florida-Georgia Television Company, it was the third station to be built in the city and an NBC affiliate. After WJHP-TV folded less than two months later, Jacksonville had two stations until 1966. WFGA-TV spent most of its first 15 years on air embroiled in legal conflict stemming from an influence scandal involving a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner. The case was ultimately resolved in 1969 by an operating consortium comprising Florida-Georgia and three groups also seeking channel 12, which was enshrined as its regular ownership in 1971. Shortly after, the station changed its call sign to WTLV.

Harte-Hanks Newspapers acquired WTLV in 1975. In 1980, the station switched affiliations from NBC to ABC at a time when ABC was number-one nationally and NBC stuck in third. ABC's ratings lead did not last, and by the middle of the decade, being an ABC affiliate was weighing on WTLV. In 1988, Gannett bought WTLV from Harte-Hanks and nearly immediately switched its affiliation back to NBC. Over the course of the 1990s, the station became more competitive and posed the most serious challenge yet to the traditional news ratings leader in Jacksonville, WJXT (channel 4).

In 1999, as the FCC legalized duopolies, Gannett agreed to buy WJXX from Allbritton Communications. WJXX—which had been established as the city's new ABC affiliate in 1997—had been such a ratings underperformer that the combination of the two major network affiliates was permissible. Upon taking control in March 2000, WJXX's operation was combined with WTLV's, with mostly WTLV personnel and in WTLV's studios, as First Coast News. The combined news operation has remained the second-rated outlet in the market.

  1. ^ a b c "Channel Substitution/Community of License Change". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. January 19, 2024. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WTLV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.