WJAL,
virtual channel
In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
68 (
VHF digital
Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits.
Technology and computing Hardware
*Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals
**Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...
channel 9), is an
NTD America
New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD Television) is a multilingual American television broadcaster, founded by adherents of the Falun Gong new religious movement and based in New York City. The station was founded in 2001 as a Chinese-language ...
–
affiliated 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 ...
serving the American
capital city
A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, Department (country subdivision), department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city ...
of
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, that is
licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...
. Owned by
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
–based
Entravision Communications
Entravision Communications Corporation is an American media company based in Santa Monica, California. Entravision primarily caters to the Spanish-speaking Hispanic community and owns television and radio stations and outdoor media, in several of ...
, it is
sister
A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...
to Washington-licensed
low-power,
Class A station
WMDO-CD
WMDO-CD (channel 47) is a low-power, Class A television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with LATV. It is owned by Entravision Communications alongside Silver Spring, Maryland–licensed NTD America affiliate WJAL (channel 68).
Histo ...
(channel 47), which is currently
silent. WJAL shares transmitter facilities with Washington-licensed
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 Entertainm ...
affiliate
WUSA (channel 9) on Wisconsin Avenue in the
Tenleytown
Tenleytown is a historic neighborhood in Northwest, Washington, D.C.
History
In 1790, locals began calling the neighborhood "Tennally's Town" after area tavern owner John Tennally. Over time, the spelling has evolved and by the 19th century th ...
section of
northwest Washington.
History
As a Hagerstown station
The station first broadcast on August 1, 1984, originally licensed to
Hagerstown, Maryland
Hagerstown is a city in Washington County, Maryland,
United States and the county seat of Washington County. The population of Hagerstown city proper at the 2020 census was 43,527, and the population of the Hagerstown metropolitan area (exten ...
, as that city's third television station (after
WHAG-TV
WDVM-TV (channel 25) is an independent television station licensed to Hagerstown, Maryland, United States, serving the Washington, D.C. television market. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CW owned-and-operated station WDCW (chann ...
and
WWPB). It was also the fourth
independent station
An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
in the Washington DMA (after
WTTG
WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WDCA (channel 20). WTTG and WDCA share ...
,
WDCA
WDCA (channel 20), branded on-air as Fox 5 Plus, is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet WTTG (channel 5). WDCA and WTTG shar ...
, and
WCQR) and the first independent in the market outside the core city of Washington. Despite being licensed to Hagerstown (and assigned by
Nielsen to the Washington
television market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...
), WJAL's offices were located in
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, in the South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Great Appalachian Valley, and north of Maryland and the Mas ...
(within the
Harrisburg
Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the List of c ...
market), and its transmitter was located west of Chambersburg, atop
Tuscarora Mountain
Tuscarora Mountain is a mountain ridge of the Appalachian Mountains in the Ridge and Valley province in central Pennsylvania. It reaches its highest point on Big Mountain (Pennsylvania) at above sea level. The mountain is named after the Tuscaro ...
near the town of
McConnellsburg.
WJAL was the Washington market's charter
WB affiliate when the network launched on January 11, 1995. Six weeks later, The WB added WFTY (channel 50, now
CW affiliate WDCW), based in Washington proper. As WJAL had a largely rural coverage area far from Washington, both stations aired the network's programming. The station ended its WB affiliation on September 14, 1998, as management felt its programming did not fit with their family-friendly image.
In 2001, Good Companion Broadcasting, a Christian broadcasting
non-profit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
, sold WJAL-TV to Entravision for $10.3 million. The main impetus of the purchase of WJAL for Entravision was to attempt to move the station's license to Silver Spring, Maryland as a replacement for its low-power WMDO-CA (now digital WMDO-CD), which at the time was a Univision affiliate. WJAL first attempted to move its then-proposed digital signal on channel 16 to Silver Spring in 2002. The application was denied as 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 ...
(FCC) determined local television service to Hagerstown would be unfairly affected. The proposed signal would also cause unacceptable interference to adjacent channel 17, which is used for public safety services in Washington. Entravision submitted an appeal in 2006, as it had changed WJAL's choice for its post-digital-transition channel from 16 to 39. By this time, the FCC had decided to stop considering the relocation of a station's city of license in preparation for the 2009 digital television transition. After the freeze, the FCC decided it would no longer support such a move and dismissed the application in 2012. Thus, WJAL continued to run a family-friendly English format for Hagerstown, a market with a traditionally low need for a
Spanish-language
Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...
outlet.
Spectrum sale and channel-sharing agreement; move to Washington
In the FCC's
incentive auction
The 2016 United States wireless spectrum auction, officially known as Auction 1001, allocated approximately 100 MHz of the United States Ultra High Frequency (UHF) spectrum formerly allocated to UHF television in the 600 MHz band. The spe ...
, WJAL sold its channel 39 allocation for $25,492,333 and indicated that it would enter into a post-auction channel sharing agreement. On July 28, 2017, WJAL submitted a channel-sharing agreement with WUSA (channel 9).
WJAL retained its existing callsign and virtual channel number, but moved its city of license to Silver Spring, Maryland.
The over-the-air signal from Tuscarora Mountain went
dark
Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown.
Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lu ...
at midnight on September 30, 2017, and the station immediately moved to WUSA's transmitter in the early morning of October 1.
Although Entravision's stated goal was to convert WJAL to a
UniMás
UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network's programming, which is ...
affiliate, WJAL broadcast
LATV
LATV (; originally pronounced on-air as from 2007 to 2014 and, since 2014, serving as a backronym for its on-air slogan, "Latino Alternative Television") is an American bilingual broadcast television network, digital publisher and media company ...
instead. Entravision and
Univision Communications
TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in New York and Mexico City, which owns the American Spanish language broadcast network Univision. 45% of the company is held by the ...
entered into a 16-year
joint sales agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or time ...
on January 1, 2006, under which Entravision operated Univision affiliate
WFDC (channel 14). Current UniMás affiliate
WMDO-CD
WMDO-CD (channel 47) is a low-power, Class A television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with LATV. It is owned by Entravision Communications alongside Silver Spring, Maryland–licensed NTD America affiliate WJAL (channel 68).
Histo ...
(channel 47) was additionally bound to the network until the contract's expiration on December 31, 2021. A provision prohibiting Entravision from operating another station with a "Spanish-language format" in the Washington market was removed in a revision that took effect on the first weekday after the channel-share was implemented, October 2, 2017, allowing WJAL to air LATV.
In May 2018, WJAL switched its affiliation to the
Heartland
Heartland or Heartlands may refer to:
Businesses and organisations
* Heartland Bank, a New Zealand-based financial institution
* Heartland Inn, a chain of hotels based in Iowa, United States
* Heartland Alliance, an anti-poverty organization i ...
network. LATV has since returned to its previous location on WMDO-CD's second subchannel. WJAL flipped again to the
brokered Sonlife Broadcasting Network
Jimmy Lee Swaggart (; born March 15, 1935) is an American Pentecostal televangelist, gospel music recording artist, pianist, and Christian author.
His television ministry, which began in 1971, and was originally known as the “Camp Meeting Ho ...
on June 15, joining
WWTD-LD
WWTD-LD, virtual channel 49 ( UHF digital channel 14), is a low-powered Dabl- affiliated television station licensed to Washington, D.C., United States. The station is owned by DC Broadcasting, Inc. which itself is wholly owned by Christopher Bl ...
as the second SBN station in Washington.
In September 2021, WJAL began airing
NTD America
New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD Television) is a multilingual American television broadcaster, founded by adherents of the Falun Gong new religious movement and based in New York City. The station was founded in 2001 as a Chinese-language ...
programming.
Programming
Until its move to Washington, WJAL aired a mix of
religious programming (especially on Sundays),
public affairs programming,
syndicated shows,
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
rerun
A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated.
Variations
In the United Kingdom, the word ...
s,
movies
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
, and
children's programs.
WJAL produced a local newscast from the end of its WB affiliation in 1998 through October 2001, when it was suspended due to financial issues.
Until 2016, the station also carried ''West Virginia Tonight'' from
WBOY-TV
WBOY-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Clarksburg, West Virginia, United States, serving North Central West Virginia as an affiliate of NBC and ABC. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on West Pike Stre ...
in
Clarksburg, West Virginia
Clarksburg is a city in and the county seat of Harrison County, West Virginia, United States, in the north-central region of the state. The population of the city was 16,039 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Clarksburg micro ...
; the program moved to WHAG-TV after WHAG's owner,
Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...
, acquired the
West Virginia Media Holdings
West Virginia Media Holdings was a media company in West Virginia. It owned television stations in each of the four main media markets in the state, as well as a weekly newspaper.
The group owned WOWK-TV in Huntington, WVNS-TV in Lewisburg, an ...
stations.
Technical information
Analog-to-digital conversion
WJAL shut down its analog signal, over
UHF channel 68, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to
transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 39.
Through the use of
PSIP
The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the AT ...
, digital television receivers display the station's
virtual channel
In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
as its former UHF analog channel 68, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wjal
JAL
JAL or Jal may refer to:
Entertainment
* Jal (band), a Pakistani pop/rock band
* ''Jal'' (film), a 2014 Hindi film
* Jal Fazer, a character in the British TV series ''Skins''
* "Jal", an episode of the British TV series ''Skins''
Places
* Jal, ...
JAL
JAL or Jal may refer to:
Entertainment
* Jal (band), a Pakistani pop/rock band
* ''Jal'' (film), a 2014 Hindi film
* Jal Fazer, a character in the British TV series ''Skins''
* "Jal", an episode of the British TV series ''Skins''
Places
* Jal, ...
Religious television stations in the United States
Television channels and stations established in 1987
1987 establishments in Maryland
Entravision Communications stations