WXII-TV

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WXII-TV
Image:Wxii12.jpg
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Branding WXII 12/WXII 12 News
Channels 12 (VHF) analog,
31 (UHF) digital
Affiliations NBC
Owner Hearst-Argyle Television
Founded 1953
Call letters meaning W XII (roman numeral for 12)
Former callsigns WSJS-TV (1953-1972)
Former affiliations ABC (secondary, 1953-63)
Website www.wxii12.com

WXII-TV, channel 12(Analog)/31(Digital), is the NBC television station licensed for the GreensboroHigh PointWinston-Salem, North Carolina (Piedmont Triad) designated market area. It is licensed to Winston-Salem and is currently owned by Hearst-Argyle Television, a unit of the Hearst Corporation. Its transmitter is located on Sauratown Mountain in Stokes County, North Carolina.

[edit] History

The station began operation in 1953 as WSJS-TV, owned by Piedmont Publishing, publishers of the Winston-Salem Journal and Twin City Sentinel along with WSJS radio, and has always been affiliated with NBC. ABC was shared with WFMY-TV until WGHP signed on in 1963.

When Piedmont Publishing was sold to Media General in 1968, Gordon Gray, the longtime publisher of both papers, held onto WSJS-AM-FM-TV as Triangle Broadcasting. However, in 1972, the FCC ruled that in all but a few grandfathered cases, one person could not own a radio station and a television station. Gray was thus forced to sell WSJS-TV to Multimedia, Inc., who renamed the station WXII-TV.

Pulitzer acquired the station in a swap deal in 1983. When Pulitzer bowed out of broadcasting in 1997, Hearst bought the entire group, including WXII.

[edit] Trivia

  • The letters "XII" from "WXII" are the Roman numerals for the number "12", which is the station's channel number. At the time of the call letter change in 1972, the station ran a promotional ad parodying the death of Julius Caesar to amplify the Roman numeral theme.
  • In 2006, Morning News traffic reporter Jenny Stencel did her traffic update as a rap. The footage spread rapidly across the Internet and national television, including MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

[edit] External links

NBC Network Affiliates in the state of North Carolina

WECT 6 (Wilmington) - WITN 7 (Washington) - WXII 12 (Winston-Salem) - WNCN 17 (Goldsboro / Raleigh) - WCNC 36 (Charlotte)

See also: ABC, CBS, Fox, PBS, UPN, WB and Other stations in North Carolina