WBBJ-TV


WBBJ-TV, virtual channel 7, is a dual ABC/CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Jackson, Tennessee, United States. The station is owned by Bahakel Communications. WBBJ's studios are located on Muse Street in Jackson, and its transmitter is located on Potts Chapel Road in unincorporated eastern Madison County.

History

The station signed on March 6, 1955 as WDXI-TV, Jackson's first television station. It operated an analog signal on VHF channel 7, and was a CBS affiliate owned by Aaron Robinson along with WDXI radio. Cy Bahakel bought the station in 1966 and changed the call letters to the current WBBJ-TV in 1967. Since then, WBBJ has had the longest ownership tenure of any station in Tennessee, surpassing stations in much larger markets in the state.
Soon after Bahakel took over, in January 1967, the station dropped CBS in favor of ABC ; since then, Jackson has received CBS programming from WREC-TV/WREG-TV in Memphis. Like many of the stations that operated in analog on channel 7, the station has used various versions of the circle 7 logo over the years; since 2003, WBBJ has used the original, ABC-trademarked version. Jackson can also see ABC programming over-the-air in some areas through WATN-TV in Memphis but that outlet is not carried on local cable providers.
WBBJ-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 7, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog broadcasts to digital broadcasts. On January 1, 2012, WBBJ-DT3 became the area's CBS affiliate bringing the network back to the market. Outside of CBS programming, WBBJ-DT3 also carries programming from MeTV, syndicated programming, and WBBJ newscasts. Prior to this launch, WBBJ-DT3 served as a 24-hour live feed of a NOAA National Weather Service Doppler weather radar with audio from NOAA Weather Radio. As of September 2018, WBBJ-DT3 has been airing in 720p high definition, downconverted from the native resolution of 1080i for the CBS network, while continuing to air programming from the MeTV service during select hours on the same subchannel. A direct-to-cable full 1080i high definition feed of WBBJ-DT3 is available on select cable providers.

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP short namePrograming
7.1720pWBBJABCMain WBBJ-TV programming / ABC
7.3720pWBBJCBSCBS & MeTV

Programming

programming on the station includes The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, and Live with Kelly and Ryan, among others. Wheel and Jeopardy! are distributed by CBS Television Distribution, while Live is distributed by Disney-ABC Domestic Television.

News operation

On August 1, 2007, WBBJ debuted new graphics, logo, music, and an updated weather set. The station, which had been using Frank Gari's "Image News" music package since 1999, switched to "In-Sink" by Nashville-based company 615 Music. Also on this date, the weeknight 5 o'clock newscast dropped the Live at 5 branding and returned to ABC 7 Eyewitness News at 5 which local radio station WFHU-FM 91.5 simulcasts. The ninety-minute weekday morning show became Good Morning West Tennessee.
In addition to network and syndicated programming, there are local newscast offerings on WBBJ-DT3 through simulcasts with the main channel and broadcasts in new time slots. It offers local news weekdays at noon for thirty minutes as well as weeknights at 5:30 and 6:30 seen exclusively on the CBS subchannel. As a result, CBS Evening News airs weeknights at 6:00 which is a half-hour later than most affiliates in the Central Time Zone.
On January 23, 2013, the station debuted a brand new set that has a working newsroom behind the main anchor desk. Also, the new set shows the Circle 7 logo, but no longer features the ABC logo, since the station is affiliated with both ABC and CBS.

Notable former staff