WJRT-TV
Encyclopedia
WJRT-TV, channel 12, is the ABC
-affiliated station for the Flint/Tri-Cities
television market, owned by SJL Broadcasting. Its studios are located in Flint, Michigan
, with offices and a second newsroom for the Tri-Cities located in Saginaw
. The station broadcasts with 30 kilowatts of power from a 286 metres (938.3 ft) high tower located on Burt Rd (near Bishop Rd) in Albee Township, Michigan
.
First run syndicated programs on WJRT-TV includes Judge Judy
, Judge Joe Brown, Live with Regis and Kelly
, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?, and The Rachael Ray Show
. WJRT-TV is the only station in the Flint/Tri-Cities market that is headquartered in the city of Flint, and in turn tends to focus its local news stories on Flint and Genesee County
, with a secondary emphasis on the Tri-Cities.
in Detroit at the time. That company won out over two other companies seeking to operate channel 12, the Trebit Corp. (which owned WFDF) and W.S. Butterfield Theatres, Inc. Channel 12 initially wanted to place its transmitter in Independence Township, Michigan
. When it was learned that Independence Township was located in Oakland County, part of the Detroit television market, Goodwill settled on placing the tower in Albee Township; the transmitter remains there today. Once this was done, WJRT-TV went on the air on October 12, 1958, as an ABC network affiliate. WJRT-TV was the first Michigan television station outside of Detroit to go all-color in 1967. Goodwill Stations took over the former WTAC-TV
studios and offices after that station folded in 1954; WJRT remains there today.
) in 1964, but WJRT-TV was spun off to Poole Broadcasting (owned by John Poole, a former Capital Cities stockholder) because the merged company was one VHF station over the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) ownership limit of the time. In April 1978, WJRT-TV along with the rest of Poole Broadcasting (which included WPRI-TV
in Providence, Rhode Island
and WTEN
in Albany, New York
) were sold to Knight Ridder
. As soon as the acquisition of Poole Broadcasting was finalized, Knight Ridder made a corporate affiliation deal with ABC; however, WJRT-TV was already affiliated with ABC when Knight Ridder acquired the station. During the late 1980s, Knight Ridder decided to exit broadcasting by selling its stations to separate owners; as a result, WJRT-TV was sold to SJL Broadcast Management in 1989.
During the 1970s WJRT-TV became Mid Michigan's highest rated television station, helped by ABC's ratings improvements during the decade. During the late 1980s and into the 1990s, WJRT-TV was usually second to WNEM-TV
.
signed an affiliation deal with Fox Broadcasting Company, resulting in most of New World's stations switching affiliation to Fox. Among the stations due to switch was WJBK-TV in Detroit, a longtime CBS
affiliate. To avoid being consigned to UHF in what was then the ninth-largest market, CBS heavily wooed Detroit's longtime ABC affiliate (and former O&O), WXYZ-TV. WXYZ-TV's owner, E.W. Scripps Company, then told ABC that unless it agreed to affiliate with Scripps-owned stations in four smaller markets, it would switch WXYZ-TV to CBS. As a contingency, ABC approached SJL about buying WJRT-TV and sister station WTVG
in Toledo, Ohio
. WJRT provides city-grade coverage to parts of Oakland and Macomb counties. The deal closed on August 29, 1995.
Soon after ABC purchased WJRT, the station returned to the top of the Mid-Michigan ratings for primetime, where it remains today. Because Capital Cities spun the station off decades earlier, WJRT-TV was the only ABC station not part of the Capital Cities/ABC merger in 1986. Longtime ABC affiliates KTRK-TV
in Houston and WPVI-TV
in Philadelphia were part of the merger.
Ironically, when ABC acquired WJRT-TV in 1995, it was reunited with its namesake radio station, WJR. WJR's owner, Capital Cities, had merged with ABC in 1986. And in 2002, WFDF (now a Detroit station), which unsuccessfully sought a channel 12 license in the 1950s, would also become a sister to WJRT-TV when ABC bought the station. However, this reunion was partially broken up, as ABC sold WJR, along with other ABC Radio properties, to Citadel Broadcasting
in January, 2006.
magazine announced that SJL Broadcasting, now owned by the principal owners of Lilly Broadcasting, made an agreement with Disney to buy back WJRT and WTVG
, the two smallest stations in ABC's O&O portfolio. SJL teamed up with a new private equity partner, Bain Capital
, whose affiliated offshoot Sankaty Advisors provided the capital for the purchases (which amounted to $13.2 million on WJRT's end of the $30 million deal). Both stations are expected to retain their affiliations with ABC. The sale was completed on April 1, 2011. Unfortunately, both ABC12's news director Jim Bleicher and General Manager Tom Bryson either retired or left the station after the sale was announced. Furthermore, on April 6, 2011, less than a week after SJL taking over control of WJRT, they unceremoniously terminated longtime weekend anchor Joel Feick and removed longtime weeknight anchor Bill Harris from the newsdesk. Harris would later return to WJRT on May 3, 2011, reporting from a homeland security
training conference in Grand Rapids
for the station's evening newscast. Feick was later hired by competitor WEYI-TV
as weekday morning news anchor. Harris' personal Facebook page indicates he is still employed by the station as a part time consultant/reporter/producer.
For nearly five months after SJL took ownership of the stations, the web sites of both WTVG and WJRT remained in the format of other ABC-owned stations until late August when WorldNow took over operations of the sites. WJRT's WorldNow site however, resembles the previous ABC O&O design.
ABC12 Plus is WJRT-TV's second digital subchannel
. It shows extra programming, such as programming from the Live Well Network, rebroadcasts of ABC12 News, WJRT's local public affairs show Newsmakers, local specials and movies. All programming in this subchannel is shown in 480i
standard definition.
ABC12's third digital subchannel is its 24-hour weather channel. It features live Doppler weather radar
24 hours a day, interlaced with extended local weather forecasts from the ABC12 weather team, as well as national forecasts from The Local AccuWeather Channel
.
channel 12, on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States
. The station had been broadcasting its pre-transition digital signal over UHF
channel 36, but returned to channel 12 for its post-transition operations.
After the transition, certain viewers had difficulty receiving their signal. So on October 14, 2009, WJRT filed an application to the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) to increase the power level from 18.2 kW to 30 kW. The increase was approved, and the boost was completed on April 21, 2010.
WJRT-TV began producing its newscasts in 16:9
widescreen
standard definition on October 26, 2009, during its First at 4 newscast making them the first station in the Flint/Tri-Cities market to do so.
On September 7, 2010, WJRT-TV expanded its weekday morning newscast to begin airing at 4:30 a.m.
Per WJRT-TV's Facebook page, on October 23, 2011, the station began producing their local newscasts in high definition
, the first in the Flint/Tri-Cities market to do so.
Saturday
Sunday
First Alert Weather Team
Sports team
Reporters
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
-affiliated station for the Flint/Tri-Cities
Flint/Tri-Cities
The Flint/Tri-Cities Region or Saginaw Valley is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The region is composed of the area surrounding Flint, Michigan, the Tri Cities, the Saginaw Bay and Saginaw River . Flint's population is 102,434; it is the seventh largest city in Michigan...
television market, owned by SJL Broadcasting. Its studios are located in Flint, Michigan
Flint, Michigan
Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...
, with offices and a second newsroom for the Tri-Cities located in Saginaw
Saginaw, Michigan
Saginaw is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw was once a thriving lumber town and manufacturing center. Saginaw and Saginaw County lie in the Flint/Tri-Cities region of Michigan...
. The station broadcasts with 30 kilowatts of power from a 286 metres (938.3 ft) high tower located on Burt Rd (near Bishop Rd) in Albee Township, Michigan
Albee Township, Michigan
Albee Township is a civil township of Saginaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the township population was 2,338. Albee Township was established in 1863.-Communities:*Albee was settled in 1855....
.
First run syndicated programs on WJRT-TV includes Judge Judy
Judge Judy
Judge Judy is an American court show featuring former family court judge Judith Sheindlin arbitrating over small claims cases in small claims court...
, Judge Joe Brown, Live with Regis and Kelly
Live with Regis and Kelly
Live! with Kelly is a syndicated American television morning talk show, hosted by Kelly Ripa. The show has aired since 1983 in New York City and 1988 nationwide. Tony Pigg has been the show's announcer since its inception...
, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?, and The Rachael Ray Show
Rachael Ray (TV series)
Rachael Ray, also known as The Rachael Ray Show, is a talk show starring Rachael Ray that debuted in syndication in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2006....
. WJRT-TV is the only station in the Flint/Tri-Cities market that is headquartered in the city of Flint, and in turn tends to focus its local news stories on Flint and Genesee County
Genesee County, Michigan
-Interstates:* I-69* I-75* I-475-Michigan State Trunklines:* M-13* M-15* M-21* M-54* M-57-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 436,141 people, 169,825 households, and 115,990 families residing in the county. The population density was 682 people per square mile . There were 183,630...
, with a secondary emphasis on the Tri-Cities.
Goodwill
WJRT-TV is the only station in the market to have kept its original affiliation since sign-on. WJRT-TV was founded in 1958 by Goodwill Stations, the owner of WJRWJR
WJR is a radio station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It broadcasts a news/talk format. It is a class A clear channel station whose broadcasts can be heard throughout most of the Midwest, eastern United States and Canada at night, making it one of the most powerful radio stations in the...
in Detroit at the time. That company won out over two other companies seeking to operate channel 12, the Trebit Corp. (which owned WFDF) and W.S. Butterfield Theatres, Inc. Channel 12 initially wanted to place its transmitter in Independence Township, Michigan
Independence Township, Michigan
Independence Charter Township is a charter township of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 34,681 at the 2010 census. The township was named by one of its earliest settlers, Joseph Van Sycle, who came to the area in 1834 from Independence, New Jersey.- History :John W...
. When it was learned that Independence Township was located in Oakland County, part of the Detroit television market, Goodwill settled on placing the tower in Albee Township; the transmitter remains there today. Once this was done, WJRT-TV went on the air on October 12, 1958, as an ABC network affiliate. WJRT-TV was the first Michigan television station outside of Detroit to go all-color in 1967. Goodwill Stations took over the former WTAC-TV
WTAC-TV
WTAC-TV was a UHF TV station which was located in Flint, Michigan. It operated on channel 16 and went on the air on Thanksgiving Day of 1953. It was owned by the Trendle-Campbell Broadcasting Company which was a partnership of George W. Trendle and H. Allen Campbell which also owned WTAC which...
studios and offices after that station folded in 1954; WJRT remains there today.
Poole Broadcasting / Knight Ridder and first span under SJL Broadcasting
Goodwill Stations merged with Capital Cities Broadcasting (predecessor of Capital Cities CommunicationsCapital Cities Communications
Capital Cities redirects here. For the article about the seat of a government, see Capital .Capital Cities Communications was an American media company best known for its surprise purchase of the much larger American Broadcasting Company in 1985...
) in 1964, but WJRT-TV was spun off to Poole Broadcasting (owned by John Poole, a former Capital Cities stockholder) because the merged company was one VHF station over the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) ownership limit of the time. In April 1978, WJRT-TV along with the rest of Poole Broadcasting (which included WPRI-TV
WPRI-TV
WPRI-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the state of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts that is licensed to Providence. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter on Homestead Avenue in Rehoboth, Massachusetts...
in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
and WTEN
WTEN
WTEN is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Capital District of New York State and Western New England that is licensed to Albany. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 26 from a transmitter southwest of the Voorheesville section of New Scotland...
in Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
) were sold to Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by The McClatchy Company on June 27, 2006, it was the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspapers sold.- History :The corporate ancestors of...
. As soon as the acquisition of Poole Broadcasting was finalized, Knight Ridder made a corporate affiliation deal with ABC; however, WJRT-TV was already affiliated with ABC when Knight Ridder acquired the station. During the late 1980s, Knight Ridder decided to exit broadcasting by selling its stations to separate owners; as a result, WJRT-TV was sold to SJL Broadcast Management in 1989.
During the 1970s WJRT-TV became Mid Michigan's highest rated television station, helped by ABC's ratings improvements during the decade. During the late 1980s and into the 1990s, WJRT-TV was usually second to WNEM-TV
WNEM-TV
WNEM-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Flint/Tri-Cities market in Michigan. It is licensed to Bay City, and broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 22 . Owned by the Meredith Corporation, the station has studios on North Franklin Street in downtown Saginaw, as...
.
As an ABC owned and operated station
In 1994, New World CommunicationsNew World Communications
New World Pictures was an independent motion picture and television production company, and later television station owner in the United States from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s...
signed an affiliation deal with Fox Broadcasting Company, resulting in most of New World's stations switching affiliation to Fox. Among the stations due to switch was WJBK-TV in Detroit, a longtime CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliate. To avoid being consigned to UHF in what was then the ninth-largest market, CBS heavily wooed Detroit's longtime ABC affiliate (and former O&O), WXYZ-TV. WXYZ-TV's owner, E.W. Scripps Company, then told ABC that unless it agreed to affiliate with Scripps-owned stations in four smaller markets, it would switch WXYZ-TV to CBS. As a contingency, ABC approached SJL about buying WJRT-TV and sister station WTVG
WTVG
This is about the TV station in Toledo, Ohio for the former WTVG-TV in Newark, New Jersey see WFUT-DT.WTVG, channel 13, is the ABC-affiliated television station for Northwest Ohio and licensed in Toledo, Ohio. WTVG's studios and offices are located in Toledo and its transmitter is located in...
in Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
. WJRT provides city-grade coverage to parts of Oakland and Macomb counties. The deal closed on August 29, 1995.
Soon after ABC purchased WJRT, the station returned to the top of the Mid-Michigan ratings for primetime, where it remains today. Because Capital Cities spun the station off decades earlier, WJRT-TV was the only ABC station not part of the Capital Cities/ABC merger in 1986. Longtime ABC affiliates KTRK-TV
KTRK-TV
KTRK-TV, channel 13, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Houston, Texas...
in Houston and WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV, channel 6, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. WPVI has its studios located on the border between Philadelphia and Bala Cynwyd, and its transmitter is located in the...
in Philadelphia were part of the merger.
Ironically, when ABC acquired WJRT-TV in 1995, it was reunited with its namesake radio station, WJR. WJR's owner, Capital Cities, had merged with ABC in 1986. And in 2002, WFDF (now a Detroit station), which unsuccessfully sought a channel 12 license in the 1950s, would also become a sister to WJRT-TV when ABC bought the station. However, this reunion was partially broken up, as ABC sold WJR, along with other ABC Radio properties, to Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country...
in January, 2006.
Sale back to SJL Broadcasting
On November 3, 2010, Broadcasting & CableBroadcasting & Cable
Broadcasting & Cable magazine is a television industry trade magazine published by NewBay Media. Previous names included Broadcasting/Telecasting, Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising, and Broadcasting...
magazine announced that SJL Broadcasting, now owned by the principal owners of Lilly Broadcasting, made an agreement with Disney to buy back WJRT and WTVG
WTVG
This is about the TV station in Toledo, Ohio for the former WTVG-TV in Newark, New Jersey see WFUT-DT.WTVG, channel 13, is the ABC-affiliated television station for Northwest Ohio and licensed in Toledo, Ohio. WTVG's studios and offices are located in Toledo and its transmitter is located in...
, the two smallest stations in ABC's O&O portfolio. SJL teamed up with a new private equity partner, Bain Capital
Bain Capital
Bain Capital LLC is a Boston-based private equity firm founded in 1984 by partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company. Originally conceived as an early-stage, growth-oriented investment fund, Bain Capital today manages approximately $65 billion in assets, and its strategies include private...
, whose affiliated offshoot Sankaty Advisors provided the capital for the purchases (which amounted to $13.2 million on WJRT's end of the $30 million deal). Both stations are expected to retain their affiliations with ABC. The sale was completed on April 1, 2011. Unfortunately, both ABC12's news director Jim Bleicher and General Manager Tom Bryson either retired or left the station after the sale was announced. Furthermore, on April 6, 2011, less than a week after SJL taking over control of WJRT, they unceremoniously terminated longtime weekend anchor Joel Feick and removed longtime weeknight anchor Bill Harris from the newsdesk. Harris would later return to WJRT on May 3, 2011, reporting from a homeland security
Homeland security
Homeland security is an umbrella term for security efforts to protect states against terrorist activity. Specifically, is a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the U.S., reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do...
training conference in Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...
for the station's evening newscast. Feick was later hired by competitor WEYI-TV
WEYI-TV
WEYI-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Flint/Tri-Cities market that is licensed to Saginaw. The station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 from a 193 kilowatt, high transmitter at its studios on West Willard Road in Vienna Township along the Genesee and...
as weekday morning news anchor. Harris' personal Facebook page indicates he is still employed by the station as a part time consultant/reporter/producer.
For nearly five months after SJL took ownership of the stations, the web sites of both WTVG and WJRT remained in the format of other ABC-owned stations until late August when WorldNow took over operations of the sites. WJRT's WorldNow site however, resembles the previous ABC O&O design.
Digital programming
| Channel | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12.1 | 720p 720p 720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan... |
16:9 16:9 16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ... |
Main WJRT-TV programming / ABC |
| 12.2 | 480i 480i 480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC... |
4:3 | Live Well Network |
| 12.3 | ABC12's 24 Hour Weather Channel The Local AccuWeather Channel The Local AccuWeather Channel is a 24-hour, weather-oriented, commercially sponsored broadcast and cable television network in the United States owned and operated by AccuWeather, Inc., which is headquartered in State College, Pennsylvania.... |
ABC12 Plus is WJRT-TV's second digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
. It shows extra programming, such as programming from the Live Well Network, rebroadcasts of ABC12 News, WJRT's local public affairs show Newsmakers, local specials and movies. All programming in this subchannel is shown in 480i
480i
480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC...
standard definition.
ABC12's third digital subchannel is its 24-hour weather channel. It features live Doppler weather radar
Weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, estimate its type . Modern weather radars are mostly pulse-Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to the...
24 hours a day, interlaced with extended local weather forecasts from the ABC12 weather team, as well as national forecasts from The Local AccuWeather Channel
The Local AccuWeather Channel
The Local AccuWeather Channel is a 24-hour, weather-oriented, commercially sponsored broadcast and cable television network in the United States owned and operated by AccuWeather, Inc., which is headquartered in State College, Pennsylvania....
.
Analog to digital conversion
WJRT-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHFVery high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
channel 12, on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States
DTV transition in the United States
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...
. The station had been broadcasting its pre-transition digital signal over UHF
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
channel 36, but returned to channel 12 for its post-transition operations.
After the transition, certain viewers had difficulty receiving their signal. So on October 14, 2009, WJRT filed an application to the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) to increase the power level from 18.2 kW to 30 kW. The increase was approved, and the boost was completed on April 21, 2010.
News operation
WJRT-TV broadcasts a total of 37 hours of local news per week (with six hours on weekdays, and three hours each on weekends), producing far more local content than any other station in the market.WJRT-TV began producing its newscasts in 16:9
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
standard definition on October 26, 2009, during its First at 4 newscast making them the first station in the Flint/Tri-Cities market to do so.
On September 7, 2010, WJRT-TV expanded its weekday morning newscast to begin airing at 4:30 a.m.
Per WJRT-TV's Facebook page, on October 23, 2011, the station began producing their local newscasts in high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
, the first in the Flint/Tri-Cities market to do so.
Newscast lineup
Weekdays- ABC 12 News at 4:30 AM - 4:30-5:00 a.m.
- ABC 12 News at 5 AM - 5:00-6:00 a.m.
- ABC 12 News at 6 AM - 6:00-7:00 a.m.
- ABC 12 News at Noon - 12:00-12:30 p.m.
- ABC 12 News First at Four - 4:00-5:00 p.m.
- ABC 12 News at 5 - 5:00-6:00 p.m.
- ABC 12 News at 6 - 6:00-6:30 p.m.
- ABC 12 News at 11:00 - 11:00-11:35 p.m.
Saturday
- ABC 12 Weekend: Saturday Morning - 6:00-8:00 a.m.
- ABC 12 News at 6 - 6:00-6:30 p.m.
- ABC 12 News at 11 - 11:00-11:30 p.m.
Sunday
- ABC 12 Weekend: Sunday Morning - 7:00-8:00 a.m.
- ABC 12 Weekend: Sunday Morning - 9:00-10:00 a.m.
- ABC 12 News at 6 - 6:00-6:30 p.m.
- ABC 12 News at 11 - 11:00-11:30 p.m.
Newscast titles
- Eyewitness News (1970`s)
- Area 12 News (1960s-1970s)
- Channel 12 News (1970s-early 1980s)
- TV-12 News (early 1980s-1987)
- 12 News (general)/12 News Nightwatch (11 p.m. newscast; 1987–1994)
- NewsChannel 12 (1994–1997)
- ABC 12 News (1997–present)
Station slogans
- You're in 12 Country! (mid-late 1970s; used during period station used Al Ham's "Home Country")
- Hello, Mid-Michigan (1982–1986; used during period station used Frank Gari's "Hello News")
- Where News Comes First (1990–1997)
- What It Takes, Wherever News Breaks (1997–2002)
- Your Trusted Source for News (2002–2010)
- Your Safest Place in Bad Weather (2002–2010; weather slogan)
- Your Trusted Source (2010–present)
- Your Weather Source (2010–present; weather slogan)
Current on-air staff
Anchors- Angela Brown - weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.; also weeknight reporter
- Candace Burns - weekday mornings; also reporter
- Terry Camp - weekdays at 4 p.m.; also reporter
- Larry Elliott - weekday mornings and noon
- Matt Franklin - weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.
- Karen Gatlin - weekdays at noon and 4 p.m.
- Angie Hendershot - weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.
- Autumn Perry - weekend mornings; also weeknight reporter
First Alert Weather Team
- J.R. Kirtek (AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. - Kevin Goff (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekend mornings, 6 and 11 p.m.
- John McMurray (AMS Member) - meteorologist; weekday mornings and noon
- Leslie Toldo - meteorologist; weekdays at 4 p.m., also health reporter
Sports team
- Greg Molzon - sports director; weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m.
- Ryan Slocum - sports anchor; weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.; also sports reporter
Reporters
- Kristen Abraham - Tri-Cities bureau reporter
- Heather Bopra - traffic reporter; weekday mornings (appears via SkypeSkypeSkype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...
) - Randy Conat - general assignment reporter; also photographer
- Lori Dougovito - general assignment reporter
- Bill Harris - special assignment reporter (previously evening anchor, 1977–2011)
- Marc Jacobson - general assignment reporter
- Iris Perez - weekend reporter
- Cathy Shafran - general assignment reporter, host of Newsmaker
- Rebecca Trylch - Tri-Cities bureau reporter; also news producer
Trivia
- Brief clips from WJRT-TV newscasts, featuring then-co-anchor Sue Zelenko, appear in Michael MooreMichael MooreMichael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
's documentaryDocumentary filmDocumentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Roger & MeRoger & MeRoger & Me is a 1989 American documentary film directed by Michael Moore. Moore portrays the regional negative economic impact of General Motors CEO Roger Smith's summary action of closing several auto plants in Flint, Michigan, costing 30,000 people their jobs at the time and economically...
. Soon after the film's release, Zelenko left WJRT-TV to co-anchor the evening newscast at WTSPWTSPWTSP is a CBS-affiliated television station in St. Petersburg, Florida . It broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 10....
in St. Petersburg, FloridaSt. Petersburg, FloridaSt. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
.