Stations "Gone to Jesus"?

[azumanga]

In television history, there were a few cases in which a secular television station flipped to a religious (especially Christian) television station. Examples include:

* WGTW ch.48 in Philadelphia, which flipped from a regular indy to TBN in 2002, after that station was sold.

* KNAT ch.23, Albuquerque, also flipped from indy to TBN, in the mid-1980s

* KTGF ch.16, Great Falls Montana -- was an NBC affiliate until 2005, when it flipped to Fox, later becoming independent. In Steptember 2009, financial problems led KTGF to be flipped to JCTV, TBN's young adult network. That station was what inspired me to start this thread, especially since this station, once a Big 3 affiliate, "fell" the farthest.

Any other examples?

 

[captex]

i think, not sure kxix 19 victoria,tx went from abc to a religious network and now is kvct 19 fox

 

[KYLEBOOK]

Channel 18 WHCT in Hartford, CT from 1972 through 1984. The station made a gradual transition from 1972 thru 1976, from an independent to airing increasing amounts of religious programming. By 1977, they turned over almost all programming to Dr. Gene Scott and his satellite-based rantings until 1984 when the station was put up for financial distress sale.
In 1985, it was purchased by Astroline Communications, and reverted back to secular programming.

 

[mleach]

This may be a questionable pick but Woodstock, VA's WAZT may qualify here. WAZT went on the air in 1985 as pretty much a totally religious station even though they did air commercials between the shows and they offered local news if you want to call it that since quite a bit of their "news" was church related information.

By the late 80's WAZT started adding some secular programming such as the Nickelodeon show "Double Dare" and high school sports but for the most part WAZT was still maninly religious.

In the early 90's, after some beef with TBN ( I heard many of stories about that one ), WAZT started to beef up in the secular department by offering such shows as Bonanza, Gimmie A Break, The Odd Couple, Mama's Family even Bugs Bunny cartoons while at the same time cutting back on religious shows where it had got to the point that was limited to just the 700 Club and the locally produced religious shows like "The Guiding Light with Rev. Donald Scruggs" ( Hello CBS !!! ). When the WB and UPN began in 1995, many believed that WAZT would pick up one of those nets and I am pretty sure WAZT was giving serious thought at the time about joining one of them too.. Not only did that NOT happen but at around the same time the owner of WAZT, his wife was diagnosed with cancer ( she has since passed on ). Because of that the owner pretty much found religion again and with that so did WAZT and that continues to this day. Even though WAZT airs some secular programming like "Street Court", the station is pretty much just about all religious today.

 

[DToTheJ]

I believe WTXX/Hartford qualifies. A strong independent in Connecticut, it was purchased by Counterpoint Communications, and in 1993, the station aired nothing but old cartoons, hours of Home Shopping Network, and a daily mass at 10 AM (I believe Counterpoint was related to a religious organization, and part of the deal was to guarantee a mass be shown every day). Toward the end of the decade, the channel would eventually revert back to a regular commercial station once again. And I could be wrong, but I think they still run a mass every morning at 10 AM.

 

[DToTheJ]

Oh, and let's not forget the biggest example to date, summed up in three letters:

PAX!

 

[KeithE4]

I believe WTXX/Hartford qualifies. A strong independent in Connecticut, it was purchased by Counterpoint Communications, and in 1993, the station aired nothing but old cartoons, hours of Home Shopping Network, and a daily mass at 10 AM (I believe Counterpoint was related to a religious organization, and part of the deal was to guarantee a mass be shown every day). Toward the end of the decade, the channel would eventually revert back to a regular commercial station once again. And I could be wrong, but I think they still run a mass every morning at 10 AM.

Don't forget that, as WATR-TV Ch. 53, later 20, they were at first Dumont/ABC, then a secondary ABC affiliate, then NBC before becoming WTXX. IIRC, they ran quite a bit of religious programming (not just a daily mass) early in the WTXX era.

Speaking of Hartford, I think the old WHCT Ch. 18 would qualify, starting as an ABC/Dumont affiliate as WGTH-TV, then a CBS O&O, an indie, then went religion when Dr. Gene Scott bought it, and finally back to an indie before it shut down in the early '90s.

 

[Ultimajock]

...dunno if this would qualify, but the CP for WCFL-TV/38 Chicago was held by the Chicago Federation of Labor for almost a decade; the outfit didn't get on the air until a bunch of televangelists bought it from the CFL in 1976 and changed the call sign to WCFC...

 

[gr8oldies]

Channel 26 in Springfield OH went the other direction, from being WTJC, a religious outlet, eventually I believe being a PAX affiliate if not O&O, now it's WBDT, the local CW affiliate for the Dayton market.

 

[stdjsb25]

KDTN-2 Denton, TX, PBS from the time it signed on in 1989 until 2004 when Daystar bought it out from KERA after and switched to religion.

 

[fybush]

WJAN-TV 17 Canton, Ohio, now TBN's WDLI.

In western New York, WNYB-TV 49 was a general-market indie (and briefly even a Fox affiliate), then was sold to TCT and became religious. TCT eventually moved the WNYB-TV calls to channel 26 in Jamestown and sold channel 49, which returned to being a general-market indie (then WB and now MyNetwork) as WNYO-TV.

 

[easttxtv]

KDTN-2 Denton, TX, PBS from the time it signed on in 1989 until 2004 when Daystar bought it out from KERA after and switched to religion.

Still a dumb move IMO....KERA should have kept Ch.2. Now KERA decides it wants a 2nd radio station. (ugh, don't get me started :-| )

 

[FreddyE1977]

WQEX-16 in Pittsburgh came very close to joining this list. QED Communications which owned QEX was deep in the red and wanted to use it to make some revenue. But channel 16 was classified "noncommercial" and the FCC would not allow them to lease time to home shopping networks. So QED hatched a scheme to swap licenses with Cornerstone Television, the local Christian station on channel 40. 40 was classified commercial which would have allowed QEX to run shopping. Cornerstone was apparently willing to run religious programming as a noncommerical station.

The FCC gave an initial approval, but inserted language limiting how many hours of the broadcast day could be devoted to religious programming on a noncommercial outlet. Unwilling to accept those government strings, Cornerstone backed out of the deal. QED went back to the FCC and eventually got them to reclassify WQEX as commercial, where (sadly) they run home shopping 24/7 to this day.

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

* KTGF ch.16, Great Falls Montana -- was an NBC affiliate until 2005, when it flipped to Fox, later becoming independent. In Steptember 2009, financial problems led KTGF to be flipped to JCTV, TBN's young adult network. That station was what inspired me to start this thread, especially since this station, once a Big 3 affiliate, "fell" the farthest.

The original Max Media station in Great Falls, until Dix Communications decided to sell the ABC affiliate, KFBB. I spoke to our (KFBB's) chief engineer, today, who said there's nothing in the building except an automated master control. They air no commercial content and I almost positive I have not seen a station ID since they switched to JCTV - quite abruptly - back in August. Max Media still owns the building, and what I have heard, Destiny (which bought KTGF from Max) has never paid rent.

On a related note, WTCT-27 in Marion, Illinois was an indy back in the early-80s (as WDDD-TV, according to an FCC query. I once had a few Evansville/Paducah TV Guides circa 1982 where I found their secular listings) before being purchased by Tri-State Christian Television, Inc. who, until 2007, carried TBN but now broadcast their own Christian programming.

 

[Ultimajock]

KDTN-2 Denton, TX, PBS from the time it signed on in 1989 until 2004 when Daystar bought it out from KERA after and switched to religion.

Still a dumb move IMO....KERA should have kept Ch.2.

...FWIW, when Dish Network expanded the Dallas channel lineup it was carrying in January 2002, it intended to add KERA-TV/13 but mistakenly put KDTN/2 ("KERA-2") on the transponder thinking it was KERA's primary channel...they switched from 2 to 13 after a couple of weeks...

 

[w9wi]

In television history, there were a few cases in which a secular television station flipped to a religious (especially Christian) television station. Examples include:

Has there ever been a religious television station in the U.S. that wasn't Christian?

(I know of at least one each Jewish and Bahai *radio* station but don't know of any non-Christian religious *TV* operations)

 

[mjlarochelle]

WUDT-CA/23 in Detroit, previously a Univision affiliate, flipped to Daystar sometime in 2008.

This means Detroit no longer has its own Spanish-language station, despite that city's large Mexican community. Detroit already had numerous relgious stations, including TBN, TCT, ION, and independent WADL/38 in Mount Clemens.

As religious broadcasting was prohibited on conventional television in Canada until 1996, there has not been a case of stations switching to relgious programming. All religious stations signed on as religious stations from the start.

 

[Tim L]

WJAN-TV 17 Canton, Ohio, now TBN's WDLI.

In western New York, WNYB-TV 49 was a general-market indie (and briefly even a Fox affiliate), then was sold to TCT and became religious. TCT eventually moved the WNYB-TV calls to channel 26 in Jamestown and sold channel 49, which returned to being a general-market indie (then WB and now MyNetwork) as WNYO-TV.

WJAN-TV was first sold to Jim Bakker/PTL...Then as Bakker began having his troubles, the station was sold again to David Livingstone Missionary Foundation of Tulsa, Okla...hence, the call letter change to WDLI by 1983..TBN then bought WDLI in 1986.

In June 2009, WOAC-67 Canton, Ohio, after being general entertainment, then all kinds of shopping networks. Was sold, incidentally, to TCT...After 27 years as WOAC-67, they are now WRLM-47.With two digital channels..They do show secular shows on their HD Channel..Public domain shows like Beverly Hillbillies, Robin Hood, etc..For an hour and a half each weeknight.

 

[Markd]

Actually WTXX was sold to COunterpoint in 1993 and Counterpoint was a Catholic group. WTXX only ran an hour a day fo Catholic programs and that was all the religious shows aired. The station initially ran Home SHopping till 9 AM, Highway to Heaven 9-10 AM, Mass and Catholic shows 10-11 AM, HSN 11 AM-3 PM, Disney Cartoons from WTIC-TV 3-5 PM, Sitcoms from WTIC-TV 5-7 PM, HSN 7-10 PM, and an old movie 10 PM to Midnight.

A few syndicated cartoons were added to the 7-9 AM weekday block in June of 1993. In July of 1993 after a falling out with WTIC-TV, WTXX linked with WVIT-TV for sales agreements. At that point WTXX ran cartoons 7-9 AM. Highway to Heaven, the MAss, and HSN remained from 9-3. Then cartoons ran from 3 to 7 PM, HSN ran 7-10PM, WVIT NEws at 10 PM, syndicated shows from 10:30 to 1 AM. HSN ran after 1 AM. In 1995, UPN joined the WTXX lineup on nights programming was offered bumping the 8-10 HSN shows on that slot.

A year later, in 1996, WTXX dropped HSN shows for general entertainment the entire day except for the Mass and Catholic shows daily at 10 AM. At that point, the station ran cartoons 6-9 AM, sitcoms 9-10 AM, Mass and catholic shows 10 AM, first run syndicated talk and reality shows 11 AM-2 PM, Cartoons 2-5:30 PM, SItcoms 5:30 PM to 8 PM, UPN or a Movie 8-10 PM, WVIT News at 10 PM, other syndicated shows 10:30 PM to 1 AM and HSN after 1 AM.

So WTXX never became a true religious station. When Counterpoint sold WTXX in the late 90's an agreement remained th always run the Mass at 10 AM 7 days a week. Today WTXX runs Mass under its owners Tribune Broadcasting.

 

[mleach]

Had the WB & UPN didn't come along when they did I have to wonder how many general independent stations would had gone "Jesus"?

I showed this thread last nite to a friend of mine who works for Direct TV. Back in the mid 90's he worked at WJAL-TV 68 in Hagerstown, MD. He was telling had it not been for the WB, WJAL would had gone religious.

Washington's Channel 50.I remember seeing an old post on DCRTV some time ago that said they too at one point in the early 90s when they were WFTY they were seriously considering going "religious" because their mix of talk and old shows ( Mr. ED was the most popular show on 50 at the time )..weren't making the money. Even their then newscast produced by WRC-TV NBC 4 failed. But...along came the WB...and today its "CW Washington".