WTLV
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WTLV has been the NBC affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida since 1988. Its transmitter is located in Jacksonville.
History
The station began broadcasting in 1957 as an NBC affiliate owned and operated by Florida-Georgia Television Company, Inc., using callsign WFGA. It was the first television station in the country designed for color broadcasting.
WFGA was the first television station to air a live launch from Cape Canaveral in the 1960s. The station provided the remote facilities and supplied video and audio for all three major networks, earning WFGA the exclusive spot for space coverage for NBC.
In 1975, WFGA changed call letters to WTLV (WTeLeVision). Later that year, Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc., purchased the station and began producing the first hour-long newscast in the market.
In 1979, WTLV switched network affiliations to ABC, trading affiliations with WJKS-17.
When Gannett Co. Inc. purchased the station from Harte-Hanks in 1988, WTLV returned to NBC.
Gannett later acquired the current ABC affiliate, WJXX, in late 1999. As part of this purchase, the company combined the news staffs of both stations to create First Coast News, which airs on both stations to date. Most of the First Coast News personnel are veterans of WTLV, however.
References
- "About Us" on the First Coast News (http://www.firstcoastnews.com/inside/aboutus/) website.
External link
- WTLV's official website (shared with WJXX) (http://www.firstcoastnews.com)