WJYS

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WJYS
Hammond, Indiana / Chicago, Illinois
Channels	62 (UHF) analog, 36 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	Religious/Shop At Home
Owner	{{{owner}}}
Founded	October 16, 1986
Call letters meaning	W Jesus Your Saviour
Former callsigns	We're Joyfully Your Station owner = Jovon Broadcasting Corporation
Transmitter Power	5000 kW/146 m (analog) 50 kW/455 m (digital)
Website	www.wjystv62.net

WJYS is a religious television station licensed in Hammond, Indiana, but headquartered in Tinley Park, Illinois, serving the Chicago, Illinois market on channel 62. In addition to religious services, the station airs local sports programming, turnkey automobile dealer infomercials, and overnight home shopping from Shop At Home.

In the early 90s, WEHS Channel 60, then owned by Home Shopping Network, tried to buy WJYS, which was also operating as a 24 hour a day shopping channel. However, then regulations didn't permit a duopoly in Chicago, and the sale never went through

In the mid 90s, WJYS tried to compete as a general market station, airing such shows as Laverne & Shirley and The Odd Couple. Due to its transmitter being located so far south of Chicago and topographical issues, the signal is difficult for many in the Chicagoland area to view.

The station later signed on a low-powered repeater on Channel 34; broadcast from the Sears Tower, it brought over the air coverage to areas of the city north of downtown. Channel 34 has since been spun off to different owners, and now operates today as a separate, unrelated station, WEDE-CA in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

WJYS is a minority-owned business and one of the few sole proprietorships in the industry. Operating 24 hours per day since 1991, WJYS has outlasted The WB, UPN, and PAX TV networks, and is among the longest operating stations without an ownership change.

Many speculate that Jovon is holding on to the station due to the digital change over. The lower UHF number (Channel 36) will allow it to rebrand itself in the digital age. Unlike the analog transmitter located in Tinley Park, WJYS-DT has a transmitter atop the Sears Tower on channel 36 that will make it equal to the other Chicago stations.

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WJYS

Broadcast television in the Chicago market (Nielsen DMA #3)
WBBM 2 (CBS) - W04CQ 4 (Silent) - WMAQ 5 (NBC) - WLS 7 (ABC) - WGN 9 (The CW) (The Tube on DT2) - WTTW 11 (PBS, Create on DT.2) - WOCK-CA 13 (Azteca América) - W13BQ 13 (DW) - W18AT 18 / W54BK 54 (LeSEA) - WYCC 20 (PBS) - W64CQ 22 (TBN) - WWME-CA 23 (Ind) - WHVI-LP 24 (LeSEA) - WCIU 26 (Ind) - WSPY-LP 30 (A1) - WFLD 32 (Fox) - WEDE-CA 34 (Ind) - WWTO 35 (TBN) - WCPX 38 (i) - WOCH-CA 41 (Ind) - WSNS 44 (TEL) - WFBT-CA 48 (Ind) - WPWR 50 (MNTV) - W54BE 54 (Edu. Ind) - WLFM-LP 55 (Ind) - WYIN 56 (PBS) - WXFT 60 (TFT) - WCHU-LP 61 (MTV3) - WJYS 62 (Ind) - WGBO 66 (UNI)
Local cable television channels
CLTV - Comcast SportsNet Chicago