WSFX-TV

WSFX-TV
Wilmington, North Carolina
Branding	FOX 26 (general) FOX 26 News (newscasts)
Slogan	One Hour Earlier
Channels	Analog: 26 (UHF) Digital: 30 (UHF)
Translators	19 W19CA Lumberton
Affiliations	FOX
Owner	Southeastern Media Holdings (operated under SSA by Raycom Media)
Founded	1984
Call letters meaning	Super FOX (station was once the FOX affiliate for Florence - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina as well as Wilmington)
Former callsigns	WJKA-TV (1984-94)
Former affiliations	CBS (1984-1994)
Transmitter Power	2,190 kW (analog) 80 kW (digital)
Website	wsfx.com

WSFX-TV is the FOX-affiliated television station for Wilmington, North Carolina. Licensed to the city, the station broadcasts an analog signal on UHF channel 26 and a digital signal on UHF channel 30. WSFX's transmitter is located west of Winnabow. The station has a special temporary authority to broadcast a digital signal from a transmitter located in Downtown Wilmington. WSFX is owned by Southeastern Media Holdings but is operated trough a shared service agreement (SSA) by Raycom Media. This makes WSFX a sister station to the area's NBC affiliate WECT. The two stations share studios that are located on Shipyard Blvd. south of Downtown Wilmington. WSFX is known on-air as "FOX 26". WSFX offered The Tube until it ceased operations on October 1, 2007 on its DT2 digital subchannel and Time Warner digital cable channel 921. The station operates a translator, W19CA, that is licensed to Lumberton. Its transmitter is located in Lumber Bridge.

History

The station began in 1984 as WJKA-TV, a CBS affiliate. Prior to then, Wilmington was one of the few cities in the country without its own CBS affiliate. Local cable systems piped in either WRAL-TV in Raleigh, WBTW in Florence, or WNCT-TV in Greenville, North Carolina. As a CBS affiliate, channel 26 operated on a shoestring budget with virtually no local news. In the mid-1980s, it had a noon show called Midday which offered news and entertainment reports. In 1994, after CBS lost broadcasting rights of the NFL to FOX, WJKA switched its affiliation to that network. In the process, the station changed its call letters to the current WSFX-TV. Before then, the area's cable systems piped in either WLFL in Raleigh or WFAY in Fayetteville. The call letters stand for Super FOX. This was because until 1996, it was the default FOX affiliate for Florence - Myrtle Beach market as it did not have an affiliate of tis own. However, WSFX's over-the-air signal does not reach Florence meaning that the Pee Dee area had to rely on cable for FOX programming. This was the case until WGSE-TV (now WFXB) in Myrtle Beach took the FOX affiliation. As a result of WSFX's affiliation switch, Wilmington was without a CBS affiliate until March of 2000 when low-powered UPN station WILM switched its primary affiliation to CBS. In 2003, WSFX was sold to Southeastern Media Holdings and began to be operated by Raycom Media through a shared service agreement with WECT. The station then moved into WECT's studios. Since September 22, 2003, WECT has been producing a daily 10 PM newscast for WSFX. It is currently the only 10 PM newscast in the market. On September 13, 2006, WECT began to produce an hour-long 7 AM edition of its Carolina in the Morning newscast for WSFX.

Newscasts

WSFX and WECT weekday morning meteorologist. This person is also seen weekdays at Noon on WECT.

Weekday Mornings

• Anchors:
  • Bob Townsend
  • Kim Ratcliff
• Weather:
  • Eric Davis

Weeknights

• Anchor:
  • Kim Lehman
• Weather:
  • Craig Carnesi
• Sports:
  • Bob Bonner

Weekends

• Anchor:
  • Joe Keiley (Saturdays)
  • Sarah Warlick (Sundays)
• Weather:
  • George Elliot
• Sports
  • Kevin Hull

WSFX uses additional news personnel from WECT, see the WECT article for a complete listing

Administration

• Thom Postema - Vice President / General Manager
• Raeford Brown - News Director
• Doug Wahl - Assignment Editor
• Ryan Koresko - Chief Photographer
• Tom Cheatham - Production Manager
• Heather Setzler - Executive Producer
• Clara Dittmer - Human Resource Manager
• John Smith - Master Control Supervisor
• Kimberly Herring - Traffic Programming Manager
• Claudette Lee - Traffic Programming Assistant
• Donna Padgett - National / Local Sales Assistant
• Johnny Williams - Local Sales Manager
• Robin Jenkins - Senior Account Executive
• Tara McKittrick - Account Executive
• Dustin McDaniels - Account Executive
• Ashley Denton - Account Executive

Logos

WJKA-TV's logo used in 1986.

WSFX's previous logo.

WSFX's current logo

WSFX's 10 PM news logo

External links

• Station Website
• WECT Website
• FOX Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WSFX
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W19CA