WGFL

WGFL

High Springs/Gainesville, Florida
United States
City High Springs, Florida
Branding CBS 4 (cable channel)
CBS 4 News (newscasts)
My 11 Gainesville (on DT2)
Channels Digital: 28 (UHF)
(to move to 29 (UHF))
Virtual: 28 (PSIP)
Subchannels 28.1 CBS
28.2 MyNetworkTV
28.3 TBD
Affiliations CBS (2002–present)
Owner New Age Media, LLC
(New Age Media of Gainesville License, LLC)
Operator Sinclair Broadcast Group
(via master service agreement)
Founded June 22, 1987
First air date September 20, 1997 (1997-09-20)
Call letters' meaning Gainesville, FLorida
Sister station(s) WMYG-LP, WNBW-DT, WYME-CD
Former channel number(s) 53 (UHF analog, 1997–2008)
Former affiliations The WB (primary, 1997–2002)
UPN (secondary, 1997–2004)
Transmitter power 168 kW
125 kW (CP)
Height 265 m (869 ft)
288 m (945 ft) (CP)
Class DT
Facility ID 7727
Transmitter coordinates 29°37′47.7″N 82°34′24″W / 29.629917°N 82.57333°W / 29.629917; -82.57333
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website mycbs4.com

WGFL is a CBS-affiliated television station serving Gainesville, Florida, United States that is licensed to High Springs. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on virtual and UHF channel 28 from a transmitter in Newberry. Owned by New Age Media, WGFL is a sister station to Lake City-licensed low-powered MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYG-LP (channel 11), Gainesville-licensed Class A MeTV affiliate WYME-CD (channel 45), and Gainesville-licensed NBC affiliate WNBW-DT (channel 9). The latter is actually owned by MPS Media, LLC but operated by New Age Media through a local marketing agreement (LMA). All four stations are in turn operated by the Sinclair Broadcast Group under a master service agreement. The stations all share studios on Northwest 80th Boulevard (along I-75/SR 93) in Gainesville.

On cable, WGFL can be seen on Cox channel 4 in Gainesville and Altitude Communications channel 4 in High Springs (hence the on-air branding CBS 4). There is a high definition feed offered on Cox digital channel 1004.

The Gainesville market is located between several other Florida DMAs. In these areas, local cable systems opt instead for the affiliate for their home market instead of WGFL. This includes Charter Spectrum and Cox in Ocala (part of the Orlando market) that both offer WKMG-TV. In Lake City (part of the Jacksonville DMA), Comcast Xfinity provides WJAX-TV.

History

As a WB affiliate

WGFL signed on September 20, 1997, offering an analog signal on UHF channel 53.[1] It originally served as the WB affiliate for the Gainesville area and was known on-air as "WB 53". The station also maintained a secondary affiliation with UPN, carrying its programming at 10 p.m. following WB's regular primetime schedule.[2]

WGFL's daytime programming mainly consisted of classic sitcom reruns along with various reality/talk shows such as Queen Latifah. Like most WB affiliates at the time, WGFL carried the afternoon Kids' WB line up along with more youth oriented sitcoms like Sister, Sister during the evenings.[3]

Joining CBS

In May 2002, WGFL announced its intention to affiliate with the CBS network on July 15, 2002; this came about as an affiliation switch arose involving then-CBS affiliate WJXT and then-UPN affiliate WTEV (now WJAX-TV) in Jacksonville, which led WJXT to drop CBS programming and become an independent. Up until that point, WJXT had served as the default CBS affiliate for Gainesville because its signal offered city-grade coverage into the area.[4]

When the switch took place, WGFL gained the CBS affiliation and the station re-branded to "CBS 4" (preferring to go by its cable channel number on Cox systems). Now displaced, the UPN programs were moved to late night hours on WGFL while The WB moved over to a new cable-only station branded as "WB 10" (again referring to the Cox channel assignment). The UPN programming would later move from WGFL in 2004 (see Translators).

The CBS affiliation also brought Florida Gators football as well as the NFL to the station through the network's rights to air SEC and AFC football games. The SEC games have been high ratings draws especially during the Gators' national championship seasons of 2006 and 2008.

During the mid 2000s, WGFL went through a couple of ownership changes. In 2004, the station was sold to Pegasus Communications due an earlier time brokerage agreement with then-owner Budd Broadcasting[5] A short time later, WGFL would become part of New Age Media after Pegasus filed for bankruptcy in 2005.[6]

On September 25, 2013, New Age Media announced that it would sell most of its stations, including WGFL and WMYG-LP, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Concurrently, sister station WNBW-DT was slated to be sold to Cunningham Broadcasting and was to continue to be operated by WGFL.[7][8] On October 31, 2014, New Age Media requested the dismissal of its application to sell WGFL;[9] the next day, Sinclair purchased the non-license assets of the stations it planned to buy from New Age Media and began operating them through a master service agreement.[10][11]

After WGFL's acquisition by Sinclair, the station retired its 12 year old "CBS 4" logo in April 2016 and replaced it with a simplified logo identical to sister station KDBC in El Paso, Texas.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[12]
28.11080i16:9CBS 4Main WGFL programming / CBS
28.2MY 11Simulcast of WMYG-LP
28.3480iTBDTBD

Analog-to-digital conversion

WGFL discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 53, on July 18, 2008. The station's digital signal broadcasts on its pre-transition UHF channel 28.[13] It was one of very few big three affiliates permitted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to cease analog transmission prior to the national digital switchover on June 12, 2009. The transmitter facility space formerly occupied by WGFL's analog signal on UHF channel 53 is now used for WNBW's transmission.

Former translators

WGFL formerly operated two analog translator stations, which rebroadcast its signal to other parts of the broadcast market:

Station City of license Channel Former callsigns Notes
WLCF-LP1 Lake City 11 (VHF) W15AG (1985–2001)
WJXE-LP (2001–2002)
WBFL-LP (2002–2003)		 Now WMYG-LP and an affiliate of MyNetworkTV since September 5, 2006
WYPN-CA2 Gainesville 45 (UHF) W14CB (1994–1997)
WJXE-LP (1997–2001)		 Now WYME-CD and an affiliate of Antenna TV
  1. WLCF had operated as a translator of WGFL since the station's sign-on in 1997.
  2. WYPN became a translator of WGFL on July 15, 2002; it had previously operated as an independent station since 1994. It would later become a separate station when it picked up the UPN affiliation on December 1, 2004.[14]

Programming

Syndicated programming on WGFL includes Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Extra, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Judge Judy among others.

WGFL also airs The Ilene Silverman Show, a local public affairs program, on Saturdays at 6:30 a.m.[15]

In 2002, WGFL aired a weekly sports-oriented show on Friday evenings called Sports Showdown. The show mainly focused on the Gator sports teams and was hosted by Larry Vettel with Gainesville Sun sports columnist Pat Dooley.[16]

News operation

When the station became a CBS affiliate in 2002, there were plans to start a local news operation as early as the fall of that year.[17] In 2003, WGFL entered a news-share agreement with nearby CBS affiliate WTEV in Jacksonville and in November began simulcasting their noon, 6 p.m., and 11 p.m. newscasts.[18] While WTEV's newscasts focused on the Jacksonville area, they did cover Gainesville during Gator football season or major news events. After a few years, WGFL quietly dropped the WTEV simulcasts in the fall of 2006 and replaced it with the nationally syndicated INN News.

WGFL later formalized their relationship with INN and on October 27, 2010, the station launched GTN News. Produced from the Independent News Network's studios in Little Rock, Arkansas, the news team is supplemented by local reporters in the Gainesville area. Currently, WGFL simulcasts with WNBW at 6:00 and 11:00 p.m.; the 11:00 p.m. newscast can be delayed on either station due to network obligations. WGFL and WNBW also simulcast local news and weather cut-ins on weekday mornings during their respective national network shows. WGFL also aired a standalone 5:30 p.m. newscast which was canceled a few years later.[19]

On April 4, 2016, WGFL began using the Sinclair music and graphics package along with re-branding the newscasts to CBS 4 News.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1999 (PDF). 1999. p. B-18. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Fall Premier Schedule". 2000-09-28. Archived from the original on 2000-09-28. Retrieved 2017-11-05.
  3. ↑ "WB53sched". 1999-11-27. Archived from the original on 1999-11-27. Retrieved 2017-11-05.
  4. ↑ Basch, Mark. "2 stations to fill TV-4's former CBS viewing area | Jacksonville.com". jacksonville.com. Retrieved 2017-11-05.
  5. ↑ editor, DORIS CHANDLER Sun business. "CBS affiliate is purchased for $4 million". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2017-11-06.
  6. ↑ "THE SECRET OF NEW AGE BROADCASTING | TVNewsCheck.com". www.tvnewscheck.com. Retrieved 2017-11-06.
  7. ↑ Haber, Gary (September 25, 2013). "Sinclair Broadcast Group to pay $90M for eight New Age Media TV stations". Baltimore Business Journal. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Sinclair To Buy 8 New Age Stations for $90M". TVNewsCheck. September 25, 2013. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  9. ↑ Kirkpatrick, Daniel A. (October 31, 2014). "Re: New Age Media of Gainesville License, LLC…" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Sinclair Reports Third Quarter 2014 Financial Results" (PDF) (Press release). Baltimore: Sinclair Broadcast Group. November 5, 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. Form 10-Q". sbgi.edgarpro.com. November 10, 2014. Archived from the original on January 7, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  12. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WGFL
  13. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  14. ↑ writer, MARINA BLOMBERG Sun staff. "Cox lineup drops WJCT; WUFT taking its place". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 2017-11-06.
  15. ↑ "Ilene Silverman Show!". Dance Alive National Ballet. 2015-10-09. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  16. ↑ DOOLEY, PAT. "Former Gator McGriff enters the Arena". Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  17. ↑ "Florida News Center - Covering Florida and Beyond..." www.flnewscenter.com. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  18. ↑ Times-Union, The. "Morning briefing | Jacksonville.com". jacksonville.com. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  19. ↑ "Florida News Center » Blog Archive » More info on GTN…". flnewscenter.com. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
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