WJET-TV
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| Erie, Pennsylvania United States |
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|---|---|
| Branding | JET 24 (general) JET 24 Action News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | Your News Leader |
| Channels | Digital: 24 (UHF) |
| Subchannels | 24.1 ABC |
| Owner | Nexstar Broadcasting Group (Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.) |
| First air date | April 2, 1966 |
| Call letters' meaning | JET Broadcasting (former owners) |
| Sister station(s) | WFXP |
| Former channel number(s) | 24 (UHF analog, 1966-2009) 58 (UHF digital) |
| Transmitter power | 523 kW |
| Height | 304 m |
| Transmitter coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: | Profile CDBS |
| Website | www.yourerie.com |
WJET-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Pennsylvania's Northwest Region. Licensed to Erie, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 24 from a transmitter at its studios on US 19/Peach Street in Summit Township. The station has been cut from Time Warner Cable in the Ohio market, being replaced by WTAE-TV from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, WJET-TV operates Fox affiliate WFXP (owned by Mission Broadcasting) through a local marketing agreement (LMA) and the two share studios.
History
WJET-TV signed-on as the third station in Erie during the 6 p.m. hour on April 2, 1966. Owned by Jet Broadcasting along with WJET radio, it aired an analog signal on UHF channel 24 and the first program shown was a 24-hour movie marathon. The station immediately joined ABC which had been shared as a secondary affiliate on NBC station WICU-TV and CBS outlet WSEE-TV until this point. In January 1998, Nexstar acquired WJET-TV. Later that year, it began performing non-programming functions for Mission Broadcasting-owned WFXP as was standard for most Nexstar stations. That station was then consolidated into WJET's facilities.
On April 3, 2006 the station celebrated its 40th anniversary. It began airing its digital signal on UHF channel 58 in high definition in 2008. In 2009, the station returned to channel 24 when the analog to digital conversion was completed. It is carried on cable in London, St. Thomas and other communities in Ontario, Canada near Lake Erie. In recent years, the station has been bumped to high dial positions on cable systems in those locations. WJET-TV was once available on cable in the Hamilton, Niagara, and Grand River areas but was dropped by the early 2000s.
WJET-TV continues to supply its former radio sister with newscast support during the day, even though the two have been under separate ownership for several years.
News operation
Unlike most ABC affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, WJET-TV did not air a full-two hour weekday morning show until the start of September 2014, when Good Morning Erie began to start at 5 a.m. On Friday nights at 11:20 (11:15 during the high school football season), it airs a local sports highlight show called Friday Night Lights. When the station began operating WFXP, it took over production of that station's nightly half hour prime time broadcast (known as Fox 66 News at 10). This had previously been produced by WICU through a news share agreement. On September 10, 2007, WJET-TV began airing an hour-long weekday morning show at 8 on WFXP (called Fox 66 News in the Morning). This is the only local newscast in the area broadcasting in the time-slot.
In June 2011, the station rolled out a new logo and on-air graphics, replacing a logo used since the early 1980s and graphics that were used for over 10 years. On October 23, 2013, WJET-TV began broadcasting newscasts in HD.
Former on-air staff
- Kevin Benson - meteorologist, now at WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh
- Jim Connors - Fill-in weatherman & WJET radio midday air personality from the mid-1960s to 1971. One of WJET Radio's original "Good Guys"
- John Evans- sports director/anchor/reporter (1979-2000); current member, PA House of Representatives
- John Stehr - anchor/reporter (1979–1980), now primary anchor at WTHR-TV in Indianapolis
- Anita Vogel - reporter, now a reporter for Fox News
References
External links
- YourErie.com - Official WJET-TV/WFXP Website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WJET-TV
