Cox duopoly in Jacksonville to change calls

[Samantha 2878]

FTVLive is reporting that WAWS and WTEV will both be getting new callsigns soon: WFOX and WJAX. Apparently the requests were made last month.

 

This comes as the stations look to undergo a massive overhaul including an all-new anchor lineup. With this move it's clear that something truly major is afoot. Is this Birmingham or Memphis?

[skbl17 188]

 

Is this Birmingham or Memphis?

 

No, it's Jacksonville, Florida, the largest city in the state of Florida.

 

All I'll say is that Cox must have major plans with their Jacksonville operations for them to be making widespread changes like this. I wonder what this could mean for WFXT and WHBQ in the future once the Cox-Fox station swap closes.

[swillh2k2 203]

Still have a long way to go until they catch WJXT.

[bammy9 26]

 

FTVLive is reporting that WAWS and WTEV will both be getting new callsigns soon: WFOX and WJAX. Apparently the requests were made last month.

 

This comes as the stations look to undergo a massive overhaul including an all-new anchor lineup. With this move it's clear that something truly major is afoot. Is this Birmingham or Memphis?

 

Something tells me this is going to be a WATN type situation. Goodbye Enforcer and FOX Package...

[MidwestTV 1173]

FTVLive makes a very good point, how in the world has the call letters WFOX not already been taken? I've always wondered why WNYW is WNYW and not WFOX.

[elfuego35 89]

 

FTVLive makes a very good point, how in the world has the call letters WFOX not already been taken? I've always wondered why WNYW is WNYW and not WFOX.

 

The WFOX call sign has been in use since the 1970's at a radio station, plus the legacy that the WNYW call letters hold , are likely why Fox hasn't rebranded WNYW.

 

Also, although WFOX is currently in use at a Radio Station ( In Bridgeport CT, WSRV in Atlanta held the call sign until 2006), the station that uses the call sign is also owned by Cox, and all they have to do is either Add the -TV suffix, or have the station in Connecticut to change their Calls.

[CircleSeven 1944]

It may not have any significance now, but let me remind you that Cox use to own a certain Texas station that used the calls KFOX.

 

But to tell you the truth, I didn't see any reason why they want to change the WAWS/WTEV calls, unless something big is going to occur. That's probably why Raymie mentioned either Birmingham or Memphis, in regard to which kind of rebrand the the Jacksonville stations is going to take.

 

And even if they're going to rebrand, whether they keep the Action News brand or not, in no way, shape or form they'll going to trump out WJXT.

[Rusty Muck 4167]

The WFOX call sign has been in use since the 1970's at a radio station, plus the legacy that the WNYW call letters hold , are likely why Fox hasn't rebranded WNYW.

The true legacy calls for Channel 5 were WNEW-TV.

 

WNYW (which was adopted in the midst of the MetroMedia breakup) was meant to trade off that callsign, nevermind that Channel 5 has effectively been known as "FOX 5" since the early 90s.

 

But here's a quick sign on of WNYW from early 1987 that shows just how embedded the WNEW-TV legacy was. Pay attention to the repeated anachronistic legal IDs throughout the SSB video.

[yt]GfNT305VFAY[/yt]

[Samantha 2878]

Compared to Birmingham and Memphis, we already have the callsign changes, but I see a WIAT-like situation already. Why? WATN didn't get rid of on-air talent when it rebranded. WBMG/WIAT did (with only one person sticking around, the weekend sports anchor, and he didn't last long either).

 

In this day and age you don't change your calls unless you're really serious and not messing around about a station rebrand. Look at the Big Four affiliate stations in major markets that have rebranded with new calls since 1996 and excluding CW/My-related call changes:

 

-WBMG to WIAT

-KVBC to KSNV

-WPTY to WATN

-WAWS/WTEV to WFOX/WJAX

 

That's three rebrands and a simple consistency switch. It's pretty clear what's going on.

 

WJAX is the callsign for an AM outlet owned by Jones College in Jacksonville. In cases like this stations have often made a donation to the school in exchange for sharing the calls. WFOX, in Norwalk, CT, was sold to Connoisseur Media in 2013 and is no longer associated with Cox Media Group.

 

The FCC database also tells us "A request for WFOX-TV dated 07/30/2014 has been filed by COX TELEVISION JACKSONVILLE, LLC" and "A request for WJAX-TV dated 07/31/2014 has been filed by BAYSHORE TELEVISION, LLC". These are the licensees of WAWS and WTEV, respectively.

[Rusty Muck 4167]

Jones College just sold off WJAX and WKTZ-FM to EMF earlier this month, but Jones will apparently retain the rights to the WJAX calls (not sure how they can do that without a radio station).

 

But because WJAX still exists as a radio station, they could be seeing a nice payday out of this transaction.

[tyrannical bastard 3464]

 

Something tells me this is going to be a WATN type situation. Goodbye Enforcer and FOX Package...

 

Or WBMG turning into WIAT....Cox is serious about hitting the reset button in Jacksonville.

[NewsMaster 226]

Funny how FTVLive said that people could confuse WJAX with WJXT. It's confusing WJAX with WJXX that I would find amusing.

 

Cox has purchased the domain name wjax.com. (The second link is dead for now, no need to click it unless you're really interested)

[Rusty Muck 4167]

Funny how FTVLive said that people could confuse WJAX with WJXT. It's confusing WJAX with WJXX that I would find amusing.

If there is a significant population in Jacksonville that identifies ABC25 as WJXX, I would be astonished.

[CircleSeven 1944]

I just thought of this just now.

 

Should Cox decide to rebrand the news as "WJAX News" or similar to that, that might cause some confusion (not so verbally, but visually), WJXT recently news rebrand, News 4 Jax.

[Rusty Muck 4167]

Something tells me this is going to be a WATN type situation. Goodbye Enforcer and FOX Package...

 

The fewer Fox stations that use the Fox O&O Package, the better.

[Samantha 2878]

 

The fewer Fox stations that use the Fox O&O Package, the better.

 

I'd have to agree. It's a package that feels rather dated and overdone.

[mre29 1340]

 

I wonder what this could mean for WFXT and WHBQ in the future once the Cox-Fox station swap closes.

 

All Cox has to do is have a chat with Greater Media and boom: WBOS-TV.

[sanewsguy 509]

 

All I'll say is that Cox must have major plans with their Jacksonville operations for them to be making widespread changes like this. I wonder what this could mean for WFXT and WHBQ in the future once the Cox-Fox station swap closes.

 

Here's an idea. Why don't WFXT and WHBQ remain as WFXT and WHBQ? I don't think Cox is going to attempt to blow up those stations as much as Jacksonville, likely because of the CBS affiliation there puts them on the level of 'TLV and 'JXT. Jacksonville is also more unique of a market than Memphis or Boston. KOKI just had cosmetic changes and that was it, and I think that's how they're going to run WHBQ and probably WFXT as well.

[scrabbleship 427]

All Cox has to do is have a chat with Greater Media and boom: WBOS-TV.

To be honest, Greater Media as a whole would fit Cox on the radio side but...yes.

[Guest NewsHound]

What you all are failing to realize and what I've mentioned before in another thread, radio callsigns and television callsigns are two totally different entities. They don't require you to have the same owner or "license" from an existing radio or television station to use the callsign on another medium. Hard to believe but it's true. Just like a situation here in my area where WRDW-TV is owned by Gray Television and WRDW-AM is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group. I work for Beasley's Augusta cluster, now the current WRDW-AM isn't the same as the original, the original frequency is owned by us, but the current incarnation signed on in 2003/2004 on another frequency. Now, whether we own the original WRDW frequency and that's how we got the callsign, I'm not entirely sure, but then we wouldn't have been able to acquire the legacy WGUS callsign because it's former frequency here is owned by Clear Channel. I'm not sure, but I really don't think ownership matters.

 

Still, crazy what's happening in Jacksonville. I like the WAWS call sign, it will be sad to see it go. Surprising no other station there has used the WJAX callsign already. I think Fox should have changed WJZY to WFOX when they had the chance.

[Brother 81]

 

What you all are failing to realize and what I've mentioned before in another thread, radio callsigns and television callsigns are two totally different entities. They don't require you to have the same owner or "license" from an existing radio or television station to use the callsign on another medium. Hard to believe but it's true. Just like a situation here in my area where WRDW-TV is owned by Gray Television and WRDW-AM is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group. I work for Beasley's Augusta cluster, now the current WRDW-AM isn't the same as the original, the original frequency is owned by us, but the current incarnation signed on in 2003/2004 on another frequency. Now, whether we own the original WRDW frequency and that's how we got the callsign, I'm not entirely sure, but then we wouldn't have been able to acquire the legacy WGUS callsign because it's former frequency here is owned by Clear Channel. I'm not sure, but I really don't think ownership matters.

 

Still, crazy what's happening in Jacksonville. I like the WAWS call sign, it will be sad to see it go. Surprising no other station there has used the WJAX callsign already. I think Fox should have changed WJZY to WFOX when they had the chance.

 

If the owners of a broadcast station want to use a callsign that's currently used on another broadcast service, they need the official permission of the owners of the already-in-use station. Money can, of course, be used to sweeten the deal. So, in your WRDW case, Beasley would have needed Gray's permission to use WRDW, as Gray already owned WRDW-TV. Never mind that Channel 12 already carried the "-TV" suffix; Beasley still needed their permission to use "WRDW" for AM 1630 in Augusta.

 

Former owners and frequencies don't matter in this case. All that matters is who currently controls a broadcast outlet with the callsign in question. Thus, in the Jacksonville scenario, Cox would have needed to ask Connoisseur Media for permission to use the WFOX letters. And even though Jones College is selling WJAX radio, Cox likely sought their permission as well (or EMF or whatever entity actually owns the station now). Money likely factored into both deals, too.

[cbs4dallas 17]

I think that WOAI TV should change their call letters (maybe back to KMOL) since Sinclair owns the TV station while Clear Channel owns the radio station.

[Rusty Muck 4167]

I think that WOAI TV should change their call letters (maybe back to KMOL) since Sinclair owns the TV station while Clear Channel owns the radio station.

But they aren't required to do so. This isn't the 1970s. And call letters are fast becoming more of a relic from the not-to-distant past.

If the owners of a broadcast station want to use a callsign that's currently used on another broadcast service, they need the official permission of the owners of the already-in-use station. Money can, of course, be used to sweeten the deal. So, in your WRDW case, Beasley would have needed Gray's permission to use WRDW, as Gray already owned WRDW-TV. Never mind that Channel 12 already carried the "-TV" suffix; Beasley still needed their permission to use "WRDW" for AM 1630 in Augusta.

 

Former owners and frequencies don't matter in this case. All that matters is who currently controls a broadcast outlet with the callsign in question. Thus, in the Jacksonville scenario, Cox would have needed to ask Connoisseur Media for permission to use the WFOX letters. And even though Jones College is selling WJAX radio, Cox likely sought their permission as well (or EMF or whatever entity actually owns the station now). Money likely factored into both deals, too.

Entercom approached Granite with an offer to allow WWKB to revert to their legacy WKBW calls back in 2003. Granite refused.

 

The deal between Jones College and EMF hasn't closed yet; Cox thus made an arrangement with Jones College, and likely made a minor donation of some sort because it is a college. (Remember when Ted Turner gave MIT a sizable donation so they could relinquish the WTBS callsign back in 1979.)

 

But this is also why station groups are more than willing to "park" callsigns no longer needed by a heritage station, moreso on the radio dial. CBS has done this quite a bit, especially with WNEW, WHFS and WXRK. Merlin Media also had the WKQX calls "parked" on a silent FM in downstate Illinois before leasing out an analog LPTVer back in 2012.

[DirtyHarry 719]

 

I think that WOAI TV should change their call letters (maybe back to KMOL) since Sinclair owns the TV station while Clear Channel owns the radio station.

 

 

But they aren't required to do so. This isn't the 1970s. And call letters are fast becoming more of a relic from the not-to-distant past.

 

Disagree. Certain call letters have enough brand value that they are worth something, especially three letter calls like WLW, WLS, WJR and WJW, legacy call letters like WBNS, WEWS, WKRC and WABC and nonconforming call letters on either side of the Mississippi like WBAP, WOAI, KDKA, KQV and KYW! Then you have call letters that spell out words like WHIZ, WISH, WAVE and WHAM. Those call letters also have value. I think if you have some long-term call letters, or if your call letters are K's where most of the others are W's (and vice versa), then they also have value.

 

If they are short timer call letters like WTTE or WTEV, then you are correct that they probably mean nothing with all the choices and all the noise out there.

[NewsMaster 226]

 

Jones College just sold off WJAX and WKTZ-FM to EMF earlier this month, but Jones will apparently retain the rights to the WJAX calls (not sure how they can do that without a radio station).

 

Jones College,

.

 

 

Disagree. Certain call letters have enough brand value that they are worth something, especially three letter calls like WLW, WLS, WJR and WJW, legacy call letters like WBNS, WEWS, WKRC and WABC and nonconforming call letters on either side of the Mississippi like WBAP, WOAI, KDKA, KQV and KYW! Then you have call letters that spell out words like WHIZ, WISH, WAVE and WHAM. Those call letters also have value. I think if you have some long-term call letters, or if your call letters are K's where most of the others are W's (and vice versa), then they also have value.

 

If they are short timer call letters like WTTE or WTEV, then you are correct that they probably mean nothing with all the choices and all the noise out there.

 

Don't forget WHEN! If only Sinclair could bring that back...