WSCG (TV)

WSCG, virtual channel 34 (UHF digital channel 35), is a TCT Network-operated television station licensed to Baxley, Georgia, United States, serving southeastern Georgia's Coastal Empire (including Savannah) and southern South Carolina's Lowcountry. Owned by Winemiller Television, LLC, it is a sister station to Beaufort, South Carolina-licensed low-powered Court TV affiliate WSCG-LD, channel 14 (and its Savannah-licensed translator WGCB-LD, channel 36). Radiant Life Ministries, a sister company to Tri-State Christian Television, operates full-power WSCG under a local marketing agreement (LMA); an outright sale of the station is pending approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). WSCG and WSCG-LD share studios on Sams Point Road in Beaufort; the full-power station's transmitter is located on Fort Argyle Road/SR 204 in unincorporated western Chatham County, Georgia.

WSCG
Baxley/Savannah, Georgia/
Beaufort/Hilton Head, South Carolina
United States
CityBaxley, Georgia
ChannelsDigital: 35 (UHF)
Virtual: 34 (PSIP)
BrandingWSCG TV 34
Programming
Affiliations34.1: TCT
34.2: True Crime Network
34.3: Cozi TV
34.4: Quest
34.5: Court TV Mystery
Ownership
OwnerWinemiller Television, LLC
(Lowcountry 34 Media, LLC)
OperatorRadiant Life Ministries
(via LMA; outright sale pending[1])
History
FoundedNovember 1, 1991
First air dateMay 1, 1992 (1992-05-01)
Former call signsWUBI (1992–1998)
WGSA (1998–2018)
Former channel number(s)Analog:
34 (UHF, 1992–2009)
Former affiliations
Call sign meaningWe're in South Carolina and Georgia
Technical information
Licensing authorityFCC
Facility ID69446
ClassDT
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT349 m (1,145 ft)
Transmitter coordinates32°2′46.2″N 81°20′26.2″W
Translator(s)See below
Links
Public license informationProfile
LMS
WebsiteWSCG TV 34

History

The station signed on as WUBI on May 1, 1992 and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 35. It was an independent station at first but joined The WB in 1995 and became known as "WB 34". The station affiliated with UPN in early 1997 as "UPN 13" (using the station's cable channel for branding) after ABC affiliate WJCL originally carried UPN as a secondary affiliate. From 1997 until 1998, The WB's programming was only seen on cable and satellite providers in the Baxley and Savannah areas via the national feed of Chicago-based superstation WGN-TV. From 1998 onwards, WGN was displaced on those providers by a cable-only WB-affiliated station using the fictional call letters "WBVH" (known on-air as "WB 15") as a member of The WB 100+ Station Group.

During the analog era, WGSA's transmitter was located on the western fringe of the Savannah market and was too far away to provide most of the area with a good signal. As a result, it was seen in Savannah itself on Class A repeater WGSA-CA. That repeater was originally W34BO and was assigned in mid-November 1992 on channel 34 but the frequency proved problematic. It became WUBI-LP on channel 38 in late-April 1996 but there were still reception problems. It became WGSA-LP on channel 50 in mid-September 1998 with a further upgrade to Class A (-CA) status in August 2001. The WGSA-CA license was canceled by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on February 3, 2015, due to the station having been silent since May 2, 2012.

In January 2006, it was announced that The WB and UPN would end operations in September 2006 to form The CW, a combination of the best programs from both networks. It was made public on April 23 that WGSA would affiliate with The CW. In response to this announcement, Comcast removed "WBVH" from its channel lineup. Its successor, The CW Plus, affiliated with WGCW-LP, a low power station co-owned with WGSA on channel 38 and available exclusively on Comcast channel 240 as part of their digital lineup. WGCW was also available over-the-air via WGSA's second digital subchannel until September 11, 2016.

WGSA had a modified construction permit for digital television on channel 35 which made it high-power for the first time and put the station's transmitter site just west of Savannah.[2] On September 28, 2007, the Savannah Morning News reported after years of being the only local station Comcast rebroadcast from an over-the-air signal, WGSA had a fiber-optic cable placed into their master control connecting directly to the cable company giving the station a much clearer signal.[3]

On April 1, 2016, it was announced that WGSA would lose its CW affiliation to the second digital subchannel of WSAV-TV on September 12 of that year.[4][5][6] Following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy auction in September 2017, Lowcountry 34 Media, LLC (operated by Jeff and Janet Winemiller) agreed to buy the station from Southern TV Corporation for $1.2 million.[7] Lowcountry 34 Media had reserved the call sign WSCG for assignment when it took control February 1, 2018.[8] WSCG resumed broadcasting April 1, 2018 under new ownership.

On May 21, 2019, it was announced that Lowcountry 34 Media would sell WSCG to HC2 Holdings for $2.6 million. The sale received FCC approval on July 2, 2019; however, Winemiller Television filed a notice of non-consummation of the purchase on November 7.[9][10][11] Subsequently, on January 28, 2020, Lowcountry 34 Media announced it would sell the station to Tri-State Christian Television affiliate company Radiant Life Ministries for $3 million. Following the closure of the purchase, which is expected to occur during the spring or summer of 2020, channel 34 will convert into an owned-and-operated station of the TCT Network; this would result in WSCG becoming the first full-power religious station in the Savannah market. (Religious programming in the market has historically been offered by low-power stations including WHDS-LD [channel 32.1], a repeater of Atlanta-based WATC-DT, and two now-defunct LPTVs: TBN station WDID-LP [channel 26], which went silent in August 2015 and had its license canceled by the FCC in February 2017, and SonLife Broadcasting Network affiliate WXSX-CA [channel 46], which had its license canceled in May 2019.)[1][12] In addition, Lowcountry 34 Media also announced that it would sell WSCG-LD and translator WGCB-LD to Marquee Broadcasting.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[13]
34.1720p16:9WSCG-1TCT
34.2480i4:3WSCG-2True Crime Network
34.3WSCG-3Cozi TV
34.4WSCG-4Quest
34.5WSCG-5Court TV Mystery

Analog-to-digital conversion

WSCG (as WGSA) shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 34, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal broadcasts on its pre-transition UHF channel 35.[14][15]

Translators

In addition to its main signal, WSCG operated two digital translators.

Call letters Channel City of license Transmitter location
W14EP-D14Beaufort, etc., SCnear Burton, SC
W36EZ-D36Hinesville/Richmond Hill, GAnorthern unincorporated Long County, southwest of Smiley Crossroads

The two former translators now operate independently as WSCG-LD and WGCB-LD, respectively, with WSCG-LD broadcasting its own programming and WGCB-LD acting as its translator. WGSA's signal was also repeated by WGCW-LP in Savannah, Georgia. WGCW-LP's license was cancelled by the Federal Communications Commission effective February 16, 2017, due to having been silent since September 12, 2016.

Newscast

In-early October 2013, WGSA established a news share agreement with NBC affiliate WSAV-TV, channel 3 (at the time owned by Media General). The arrangement resulted in a prime time newscast debuting on this station.[16] Known on-air as WSAV News 3 at 10, the program was seen for thirty minutes on weeknights. It was effectively "moved" from previously airing at 7 p.m. on MyNetworkTV/MeTV outlet WSAV-DT2 (now a CW affiliate). With the switch to 10 o'clock, the show later broadcast in high definition on WGSA and was seen through a standard definition simulcast on WSAV-DT2. The newscast was also streamed live on WSAV's website.[17]

gollark: Anyway, how is progress in the apioforum software?
gollark: Ideally you would be able to say "break if it doesn't fit and line up the columns" but alas, CSS.
gollark: I… see. Seems fine* then.
gollark: Phones have small but highly pixelulous screens now.
gollark: No idea, I'm not sure if CSS provides a better way at all?

See also

References
  1. Miller, Mark K. (January 29, 2020). "TCT Buying WSCG Savannah, Ga. For $3M". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  3. "Savannahnow.com". Archived from the original on 2013-02-02.
  4. Stabilizing After Ownership Changes Broadcasting and Cable, April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  5. WSAV to launch The CW this fall The Island Packet, April 1, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  6. "WSAV-TV | WSAV CW". WSAV-TV. Retrieved 2016-08-13.
  7. "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  8. "Media Bureau Call Sign Actions" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. December 8, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
  9. Mark K. Miller (May 21, 2019). "WSCG Savannah Sold For $2.6 Million". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  10. "Consent of Assignment". Federal Communications Commission. July 2, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  11. "Notification of Non-consummation" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. November 7, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  12. Adam Jacobson (January 28, 2020). "A Radiant Deal In Georgia For The Winemillers". Radio-Television Business Report. Streamline-RBR, Inc. Retrieved January 29, 2020. (subscription required)
  13. RabbitEars TV Query for WSCG
  14. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  15. "CDBS Print".
  16. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2014-01-22.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. "Live Stream". 2015-05-19. Retrieved 2016-08-13.
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