Cleveland, Ohio United States |
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Branding | Fox 8 (general) Fox 8 News (newscasts) |
Slogan |
Cleveland's Own (general) The Most Powerful Name in Local News (news) |
Channels |
Digital: 8 (VHF) Virtual: 8 () |
Translators | 21 (UHF) Canton 46 (UHF) Austintown, OH (Applications) 31 (UHF) WI9X3Y Cleveland |
Affiliations |
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Owner |
Tribune Broadcasting (WJW License, LLC) |
First air date | December 19, 1949 |
Call letters' meaning |
W-"John F. Weimer" owner of WESW (999 AM) |
Former callsigns |
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Former channel number(s) |
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Former affiliations | ABC (1983-1992) |
Transmitter power | WJW: 11 kW WI9X3Y: 430 kW |
Height | 342 m |
Facility ID | 73150 |
Transmitter coordinates | 41°21′48″N 81°42′58″W / 41.36333°N 81.71611°WCoordinates: 41°21′48″N 81°42′58″W / 41.36333°N 81.71611°W |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
Website | fox8 |
WJW, channel 8, is a Fox-affiliated television station located in and licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Subchannel 8.2 serves as the area affiliate for the classic TV network Antenna TV. The station is owned by the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of Tribune Media. Its studios are located on Dick Goddard Way (named for the station's longtime weatherman - previously known as South Marginal Road) just northeast of downtown Cleveland near the shore of Lake Erie, and its transmitter is located in suburban Parma, Ohio.
The television station launched on December 19, 1949 on channel 9 as WXEL, owned by the Empire Coil Company, a wartime manufacturer of radio coils and transformers. In its early years, WXEL was a primary DuMont affiliate, and later became a secondary provider of ABC programs, sharing that affiliation with WEWS (channel 5). WXEL also carried a number of CBS programs that WEWS declined to air. Some of the daytime shows originated at Cinecraft on Franklin.
WXEL also carried an affiliation with the short-lived Paramount Television Network, and in fact was one of that network's strongest affiliates. The station aired such Paramount Network programs as Hollywood Wrestling,Bandstand Revue, and Time For Beany. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.
Following the 1952 release of the Federal Communications Commission' s Sixth Report and Order, a realignment of VHF channels in the Midwest forced WXEL to move to channel 8 on December 10, 1953. Its former channel 9 allocation was moved to Steubenville and given to a new station, WSTV-TV (now WTOV); the switch took place only two weeks before WSTV-TV went on the air.