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WJKT (channel 16) is a
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 ...
in
Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States ...
, United States, affiliated with the
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 ...
network and owned by
Nexstar Media 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 ...
. Its advertising sales office is located on Oil Well Road in Jackson, and its transmitter is located in
Alamo, Tennessee Alamo is a town in Crockett County, Tennessee. Its population was 2,461 at the time of the 2010 U.S. Census. Alamo, located in the central part of West Tennessee, is the county seat of Crockett County. History Alamo was first founded as a tradin ...
. However,
master control Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as switc ...
and some internal operations are based at the shared studios of Nexstar
sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
s and CBS/Fox affiliates WTTV and WXIN in
Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
. Memphis Fox affiliate WHBQ-TV's over-the-air signal reaches areas just short of Jackson proper. However, that station is also carried on Jackson Energy Authority Broadband on cable channel 13.


History

WJKT station signed on April 10, 1985, as WJWT and was Jackson's third television station (after WDXI-TV now WBBJ-TV and WLJT). It was owned by MT Communications and aired on UHF analog channel 16. It was the area's first
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 ...
and joined Fox for the first time in April 1987. After MT Broadcasting bought WCAY in
Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
(renaming it WXMT) and WMKW in Memphis (now WLMT), WMTU began mostly
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
ing WMKW/WLMT. WJWT became WMTU on January 8, 1990, and during that year Fox pulled its affiliation from WLMT and gave it to WPTY-TV (now
WATN-TV WATN-TV (channel 24) is a television station in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside CW affiliate WLMT (channel 30). Both stations share studios at the Shelby Oaks Corporate Park on Shelb ...
). However, WMTU retained its Fox affiliation, though outside of network programming the two stations continued to simulcast. When Clear Channel Communications (now
iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...
) began programming WLMT in 1992, the LMA included WMTU as well. The two stations became charter
UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which prod ...
affiliates on January 16, 1995. However, WMTU remained a primary Fox affiliate until the network's acquisition of WHBQ-TV in Memphis that November, at which point the station reverted to being a
semi-satellite A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...
of WLMT; following that acquisition (which resulted in the loss of the station's Fox affiliation), WHBQ-TV began serving as the default Fox affiliate for the portion of western Tennessee that WMTU served. To reflect its status as a Jackson station, channel 16 changed its calls to WJKT on September 17, 2001; around the same time, Clear Channel bought it and WLMT outright. In 2003, programming from
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. ...
moved from WPTY (where it was airing in a secondary nature during late night time slots) to WLMT/WJKT where it also aired out of pattern. The station's Jackson office, shared with local production company TotalReach Television, was damaged that May after a
tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
struck the downtown Jackson area. Owned by Clear Channel Television, the local office was moved to a facility on Radio Road in Jackson shared with Jackson's Clear Channel Radio cluster (which was later sold to Forever Communications). On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced the two networks would cease broadcasting and merge to form
The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
. WJKT declined to affiliate with The CW or MyNetworkTV, choosing instead to rejoin Fox on August 21. Meanwhile, WLMT began broadcasting The CW on September 18; it serves as the default over-the-air affiliate for Jackson, since cable-only
The WB 100+ The WB 100+ Station Group (originally called The WeB from its developmental stages until March 1999) was a national programming service of The WB—owned by the Warner Bros. Entertainment division of Time Warner, the Tribune Company, and group fo ...
outlet "WBJK" joined
The CW Plus The CW Plus is a secondary national programming service feed of The CW that is fully controlled and 75% owned by Nexstar Media Group, with Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery each owning a 12.5% stake in the network. It is intended primar ...
. Clear Channel's television group, including WJKT, was purchased by
Newport Television Newport Television, LLC was a television station holding company founded by Providence Equity Partners and Sandy DiPasquale in 2007 to acquire the television stations owned by Clear Channel Communications. History In September 2007, Newport ag ...
in 2008, local offices were relocated to Oil Well Road. Newport announced on July 19, 2012, that it would sell 12 of its stations, including WJKT, to
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 ...
. The sale was finalized on December 3. From August 2011 until September 2012, the station carried TheCoolTV on its DT2 subchannel. After the expiration of Newport's deal to carry the network, a new deal was made to carry the Live Well Network, which was carried on WJKT-DT2 until mid-March 2013, when it was pulled due to Nexstar's common policy of not carrying any subchannel networks unless the need for a CW or MyNetworkTV subchannel is needed in the market. On June 1, 2013, WPTY, WLMT, and WJKT relocated to a new facility at Shelby Oaks Corporate Park in the northeast section of Memphis.


Programming


Sports programming: past and present

Sports programming on WJKT includes all sports programming from Fox Sports, including the ''
NFL on Fox The ''NFL on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox NFL'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games produced by Fox Sports and televised on the Fox broadcast network. Game coverage is usually preceded by ''Fox NFL Kickoff ...
'' (featuring the
National Football Conference The National Football Conference (NFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the United States. The NFC and its counterpart, the American Football Conference ...
(NFC) road package). That includes any instance during the NFL regular season where the Tennessee Titans (who play in the
American Football Conference The American Football Conference (AFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the United States. The AFC and its counterpart, the National Football Conference ...
(AFC)) host an NFC opponent. In addition to Fox’s NFL coverage, WJKT also broadcasts Titans preseason games from the Titans Preseason Television Network, operated by Nashville area ABC affiliate and Nexstar sister station WKRN. From 1995 until 2009, WJKT broadcast syndicated
Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...
college football and basketball games from Jefferson-Pilot/
Lincoln Financial Sports Lincoln Financial Media was a subsidiary of Lincoln National Corporation that owned radio stations in the United States. The division was formed in 2006 following the company's acquisition of Jefferson-Pilot's television and radio operations, whi ...
(later
Raycom Sports Raycom Sports is an American producer of sports television programs. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and owned and operated by Gray Television. It was founded in 1979 by husband and wife, Rick and Dee Ray. In the 1980s, Raycom ...
).“JPsports.com”.Archived from the original
January 14, 2006 via the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
’s
Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
. Retrieved July 13, 2014. Editor’s note: Click on the Affiliates tab for the list of stations. WJKT continued carrying SEC basketball, which was produced by ESPN Plus-operated SEC Network (later
SEC TV SEC TV (formerly SEC Network) was a syndicated package featuring live broadcasts of college football and basketball events from the Southeastern Conference. It was owned and operated by ESPN Regional Television and shown in more than 50 percent ...
) branding from 2009 until the end of the 2013–2014 season.
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
's pay-TV-exclusive SEC Network, which launched on August 14, 2014, was responsible for the cancellation of that syndicated sports package.


Newscasts

WJKT airs all national breaking news coverage from
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
when conditions warrant as well as the network's weekly public affairs show. However, unlike most other Fox affiliates, it does not operate a local news department of its own. Although most news coverage is presented focused on the greater Memphis area, WATN will cover the Jackson area during severe weather events such as tornado warnings. Despite being a Fox outlet, WJKT used to feature national headlines coverage as provided through
ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
One since it simulcasted an ABC-affiliated produced local news show from WLMT until the sale to
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 ...
From 2013 until October 2019, WJKT simulcast WLMT's 45-minute newscast produced by WATN, a 1-hour morning newscast produced by WATN, as well as the fifteen-minute sports highlight program; all three have been replaced by syndicated programming.


Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wjkt Ion Mystery affiliates Laff (TV network) affiliates Grit (TV network) affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1985 1985 establishments in Tennessee JKT Fox network affiliates Nexstar Media Group