First Coast News is the newsroom of

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

WTLV 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). Both stations share studios on East Adams Stre ...

(channel 12) and

WJXX WJXX (channel 25) is a television station licensed to Orange Park, Florida, United States, serving the Jacksonville area as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside NBC affiliate WTLV (channel 12). Both stations share studios ...

(channel 25), the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

and

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

affiliates in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

, United States. It is owned with the stations by

Tegna Inc. Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into tw ...

The First Coast News brand was first used by the stations on April 27, 2000, in the wake of Gannett's acquisition of WJXX the month before and consequent expansion of what had primarily been WTLV's news department. Immediately upon taking control, WTLV newscasts were simulcast on WJXX. Since the consolidation, First Coast News has generally remained in second place in the market behind

WJXT WJXT (channel 4) is an independent television station in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. It is owned by Graham Media Group alongside CW affiliate WCWJ (channel 17). Both stations share studios at 4 Broadcast Place on the south bank of th ...

(channel 4), the market news leader.

History

Pre-FCN

When WTLV started as WFGA-TV in 1957, the station's first news director was Harold Baker, who had served in the same position at WSM

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. Baker would anchor the station's 6 p.m. news for 17 years and direct the nascent channel 12 newsroom for 19 years in total, winning the station major national journalism awards. It settled in as a consistent second-place finisher to WJXT in local news, though it worked to close the gap, particularly after its acquisition by

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Meanwhile, in 1996,

Allbritton Communications The Allbritton Communications Company was an American media company. Based in Arlington, Virginia, Allbritton was the leading subsidiary of Perpetual Corporation, a private holding company owned by the family of company founder and former Riggs B ...

secured the ABC affiliation for the Jacksonville market from longtime third-rated station WJKS (channel 17). Originally planned to start in April, the outgoing ABC affiliate's preemptions of more than half of the network's prime time lineup caused Allbritton and the network to throw forward the launch of WJXX by two months to February 9, 1997. For most of the rest of that year, technical and signal issues dogged the new ABC affiliate, weighing on its public perception. While the station had been airing a local newsmagazine program, it was not until WJXX opened complete studios in south Jacksonville that it began to produce a full local news service on December 15, 1997. While ''ABC 25 News'' was hailed as a superior product compared to WJKS, which had aired just two 30-minute newscasts on weekdays, Allbritton faced several overwhelming factors in establishing WJXX: in addition to the technical issues that alienated viewers, the market had historically been an underperformer for the ABC network, and WJXT and WTLV were entrenched in the market. WJKS, which became

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

affiliate WJWB, surged past WJXX in the ratings.

Consolidation

On November 15, 1999, the FCC legalized television station duopolies—the common ownership of two stations in one market. The next day, November 16, Gannett announced it would purchase WJXX from Allbritton. The deal was initiated after Allbritton approached Gannett about a possible sale and was legal because of WJXX's unusually low ratings for an ABC affiliate. For the next four months, planning was initiated on the eventual consolidation of the WTLV and WJXX news operations, while WJXX continued to produce newscasts and faced a growing exodus of newsroom staffers. The

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

approved the sale on March 16, 2000. Gannett consummated the purchase the next day and immediately implemented a simulcast of WTLV's newscasts on WJXX, while construction began at the WTLV studios on Adams Street—which had been enlarged in 1997—to prepare for a new combined news service under the name First Coast News, which debuted on April 27. Newscasts continued to be broadcast at the same time on each station, including the WJXX 7 p.m. newscast, which had no competition and was the station's lone successful news program. In total, 36 WJXX employees, including 13 in news, joined the WTLV operation.

A consistent second-place

After the merger, continuing a trend already set by WTLV, the gap in viewership between First Coast News and market leader WJXT slowly closed to create tough competition in the Jacksonville market. The combination of WTLV and WJXX also surpassed WJXT in total revenue. In 2002, the news department of

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

affiliate WAWS (channel 30) expanded to accommodate the move of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

affiliation to WTEV (channel 47). The two stations rebranded as WFOX-TV and WJAX-TV in 2014 and their news as ''Action News'' as part of a wholesale change which included the firing of the previous main anchors. The ''Action News'' revamp improved ratings at the traditional third-place news operation in Jacksonville just as First Coast News remained without a news director for a year, causing a decline in viewership, and several key news personalities defected to Action News. Rob Mennie, who assumed the post of news director in 2014, noted of the newsroom as he encountered it, "This was a station ... I'll just use the word confused. They didn't know who they were. ... They were trying to figure out what makes us tick."

Notable staff

Victor Blackwell Victor Blackwell (born September 25, 1981 in Baltimore) is an American television news anchor who currently hosts ''CNN Newsroom'' with Alisyn Camerota on CNN. Early life and education Blackwell was class president of his high school graduating ...

– anchor, later of

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

* Jeannie Blaylock – anchor (since ) * Donna Deegan (Hicken) – anchor (–2012) *

Curtis Dvorak Curtis John Dvorak (born July 16, 1974) was primarily known as Jaxson de Ville, official mascot of the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL football team. He was the first person to portray the Jaguars mascot in the team's history and had the title, Vice Pre ...

– morning show contributor and co-host of ''First Coast Living'' *

Alan Gionet Alan Gionet is an American journalist reporting for KCNC-TV, the CBS owned-and-operated station in Denver. From 2010 to 2020, Gionet anchored the station's weekday morning and noon newscasts. Career Gionet has been in news for more than thirt ...

– anchor (–2006) *

Dan Hicken Daniel Patrick Hicken has been a television sports news anchor in Jacksonville, Florida for over thirty years for two different broadcasting groups. Career Hicken graduated from the University of Florida. His first job in television was an inte ...

– sports anchor (–2013) * Shannon Ogden – co-anchor (2006–2016)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
American news websites Mass media in Jacksonville, Florida 2000 establishments in Florida Tegna Inc.