WCLJ-TV (channel 42) is a television station licensed to Bloomington, Indiana, United States, serving the Indianapolis area as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Court TV. It is owned by Inyo Broadcast Holdings alongside Ion Television affiliate WIPX-TV (channel 63, also licensed to Bloomington). WCLJ-TV and WIPX-TV share offices on Production Drive (near I-74/I-465) in southwestern Indianapolis; through a channel sharing agreement, the two stations transmit using WIPX-TV's spectrum from an antenna on SR 252 in Trafalgar, Indiana.[1]

WCLJ-TV
CityBloomington, Indiana
Channels
Programming
AffiliationsCourt TV
Ownership
Owner
  • Inyo Broadcast Holdings
  • (Inyo Broadcast Licenses LLC)
WIPX-TV
History
First air date
August 27, 1987 (37 years ago) (1987-08-27)
Former call signs
WCLJ (1987–2008)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 42 (UHF, 1987–2009)
  • Digital: 56 (UHF, until 2009), 42 (UHF, 2009–2018), 27 (UHF, 2018–2019)
Technical information[3]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID68007
ERP175 kW
HAAT310.7 m (1,019 ft)
Transmitter coordinates39°24′12″N 86°8′50″W / 39.40333°N 86.14722°W / 39.40333; -86.14722
Links
Public license information

History

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The station was built by the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and first signed on the air on August 27, 1987.

TBN entered into an agreement with Ion Media Networks on November 14, 2017, which gave Ion the option to acquire the licenses of WCLJ-TV and three other TBN stations that had sold their spectrum in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s incentive auction. Ion exercised the option on May 24, 2018.[4] The sale was completed on September 25, 2018, creating a duopoly with existing Ion Television station WIPX-TV.[5] Ion immediately moved Ion Life (later Ion Plus) to the station in order to provide the network with full-market coverage equivalent to that of WIPX-DT1; since then, the station has aired various digital subchannels, all of them owned by Scripps Networks.

Technical information

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Subchannels

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Subchannels of WIPX-TV and WCLJ-TV[6]
License Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
WIPX-TV 63.1 720p 16:9 ION Ion Television
63.2 480i CourtTV Court TV
63.3 Bounce Bounce TV
63.4 Mystery Ion Mystery
63.5 Defy TV Defy TV
63.6 Jewelry Jewelry TV
63.8 QVC2 QVC2
WCLJ-TV 42.1 720p CourtTv Court TV

On June 1, 2015, JUCE and Smile of a Child were consolidated into a single network on the third subchannel to accommodate the addition of a new network, TBN Salsa, on the fifth subchannel where Smile of a Child used to reside.[7] As a result of the change, children's programming that previously aired on Smile of a Child was carried on 42.3 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.[8] On April 1, 2018, the channel switched off its non-shared signal, leaving it to air only on its new frequency shared with WIPX-TV.[1]

Analog-to-digital conversion

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WCLJ-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 42, on February 17, 2009, earlier than the June 12, 2009, official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate.[9] The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 56, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to its analog-era frequency, UHF channel 42.[10]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Modification of a Licensed Facility for DTV Application". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. Archived from the original on January 20, 2018. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  2. ^ "ION Plus and Qubo Ceased Operations on February 26, 2021". Xfinity Help & Support. October 14, 2021. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  3. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WCLJ-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  4. ^ "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. June 8, 2018. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  5. ^ "Consummation Notice". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. September 25, 2018. Archived from the original on October 1, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  6. ^ "TV Query for WIPX". RabbitEars.info.
  7. ^ Kent Gibbons (May 29, 2015). "TBN Salsa Targets English-Speaking Hispanics". Multichannel News. NewBay Media. Archived from the original on May 31, 2015. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  8. ^ "Seventh slideshow image: 'new soac.png'". June 10, 2015. Archived from the original on May 27, 2016. Retrieved May 31, 2016. TBN Salsa is on the air - Available on TBN's 'over the air' broadcast stations in the United States on sub channel 5. ... Smile of a Child airs 7am-7pm & JUCE airs 7pm-7am on subchannel 3.
  9. ^ Galer, Sarah (April 15, 2016) [Updated 2016; originally published February 17, 2009]. "Eight Indiana TV stations to end analog on Tuesday". WTHR. Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 27, 2018. Retrieved March 27, 2018. The Indiana stations are WFWA (PBS), WISE-TV (NBC) and WPTA (ABC) of Fort Wayne; WCLJ-TV and WIPB (PBS) of Indianapolis; and WSJV (Fox), WNDU-TV (NBC) and WSBT-TV (CBS) of South Bend-Elkhart.
  10. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.