Class A TV station in Lynchburg, Virginia
WZBJ-CD (channel 24) is a low-power, Class A television station licensed to Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. It is a translator of Danville-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WZBJ (channel 24) which is owned by Gray Media; the WZBJ stations collectively serve as a sister outlet to Roanoke-licensed CBS affiliate WDBJ (channel 7). WZBJ-CD's transmitter is located on Candlers Mountain near the campus of the station's former owner, Liberty University; its parent station shares studios with WDBJ on Hershberger Road in northwest Roanoke.
History.
The station first came on the air on January 23, 1991, as W19BC channel 19, a translator station for FamilyNet, a network owned at the time by Liberty University founder Jerry Falwell. On September 1, 1991, W19BC began originating programming and became a 24/7 local LPTV station. In 2000, it changed its callsign to WTLU-CA. The station previously branded itself as HopeNow.tv. The station's digital transmitter, WTLU-LD on channel 43, signed on in 2010; in 2012, the analog WTLU-CA transmitter went dark, and its Class A status was transferred to the digital license as WTLU-CD. The call letters changed to WLHG-CD in 2015.
On April 30, 2018, Gray Television announced it would purchase WLHG-CD from Liberty University for $50,000. Under the terms of the transaction, Gray would hold an option agreement to acquire WFFP-TV, and enter into a shared services agreement (to take effect on June 15), whereby Gray would provide programming for and receive a share of the programming and advertising revenue accrued by WLHG-CD and WFFP, which would in turn become sister stations to Gray's existing property in the Roanoke–Lynchburg market, CBS affiliate WDBJ, a station that shares its physical channel spectrum with WFFP.
Gray took control of WLHG-CD as scheduled on June 15. On the same day, it began simulcasting WDBJ's MyNetworkTV subchannel "My 19" on WLHG-CD. While the station moved to Gray's control, the station's virtual channel system was not in use, rendering WLHG-CD's channels temporarily as 43.3 and 43.4. On September 1, 2018, the call letters were changed to WZBJ-CD, and it began sharing virtual channel 24 with the full-power WZBJ license (which concurrently changed call letters from WFFP-TV).
Conversion to ATSC 3.0.
In September 2022, WZBJ-CD dropped the ATSC 1.0 transmission in favor of ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV). WZBJ-CD is operating as a 'lighthouse' station and broadcasting the main sub channel feeds of the other Roanoke / Lynchburg stations. Initially, the stations were offered in the same format of 1080i and 720p as broadcast by the ATSC 1.0 stations, but were upgraded to 1080p for CBS, NBC and MyN.
Subchannels.
The station's ATSC 1.0 channels are carried on the multiplexed signals of other Lynchburg television stations:
WZBJ-CD itself broadcasts the principal commercial stations in the market, and itself, in ATSC 3.0 format.
References.
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