View source for WVFX

{{short description|Fox/CW affiliate in Clarksburg, West Virginia}}
{{Update|date=April 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign               = WVFX
| city                   = Clarksburg, West Virginia
| logo                   = WVFX-TV.png
| logo_size              = 225px
| image                  = WVFX-DT2 2024.svg
| image_size             = 200px
| branding               = {{ubl|Fox 10|Clarksburg CW 10.2 (on DT2)}}
| digital                = 13 ([[VHF]])
| virtual                = 10
| translators            =
| affiliations           = {{ubl|'''10.1:''' [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]]|'''10.2:''' [[CW+]]|''for others, see {{section link||Subchannels}}''}}
| network                =
| owner                  = [[Gray Television]]
| licensee               = Gray Television Licensee, [[LLC]]
| operator               =
| location               = {{ubl|[[Clarksburg, West Virginia|Clarksburg]]–[[Weston, West Virginia|Weston]]–|[[Fairmont, West Virginia]]}}
| country                = United States
| founded                =
| airdate                = {{start date and age|1981|2|8|p=y}}
| last_airdate           =
| callsign_meaning       = West Virginia's Fox
| sister_stations        = [[WDTV]]
| former_callsigns       = WLYJ (1981–1998)
| former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 46 ([[UHF]], 1981–2009)|'''Digital:''' 10 (VHF, 2003–2020)}}
| former_affiliations    = [[Religious broadcasting|Religious]] [[Independent station|Ind.]] (1981–1998)
| erp                    = 110 kW
| haat                   = {{convert|212.2|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| class                  =
| facility_id            = 10976
| coordinates            = {{coord|39|18|2|N|80|20|36|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}}
| licensing_authority    = [[FCC]]
| website                = {{url|https://www.wdtv.com/}}
}}
'''WVFX''' (channel 10) is a [[television station]] licensed to [[Clarksburg, West Virginia]], United States, serving [[North-Central West Virginia]] as a dual affiliate of [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] and [[The CW Plus]]. It is owned by [[Gray Television]] alongside [[Weston, West Virginia|Weston]]-licensed [[CBS]] affiliate [[WDTV]] (channel 5). The two stations share studios on Television Drive in [[Bridgeport, West Virginia|Bridgeport]] (along [[Interstate 79#West Virginia|I-79]]/[[Jennings Randolph]] Expressway); WVFX's transmitter is located in an [[unincorporated area#United States|unincorporated area]] between Clarksburg and [[Arlington, Harrison County, West Virginia|Arlington]].
==History==
The station signed on February 8, 1981, and aired an [[analog television|analog]] signal on [[UHF]] channel 46. It was a [[Religious broadcasting|religious]] [[independent station]] using the calls WLYJ (standing for "We Love You [[Jesus]]"). Much of the programming consisted of national religious [[evangelical]]s and local fund-raising appeals to continue operation of the station. In 1998, WLYJ was sold to Davis Television and converted to a full commercial operation, also becoming the area's first Fox affiliate and changing their call letters to WVFX to match. Prior to WVFX's affiliation with Fox, the network's programming was only available on cable via [[Pittsburgh]] affiliate [[WPGH-TV]]; as the market's primary [[NFL]] team, the [[Pittsburgh Steelers]], only featured two home games on Fox as part of the network's [[NFL on Fox|NFC-specific]] package, the network's priority of affiliating with a station in the market had been low before Withers picked up the affiliation.
Davis Television sold WVFX to [[Withers Broadcasting]] in 2007. Since the Clarksburg–Weston–[[Fairmont, West Virginia|Fairmont]] market has only five full-power stations, this amount is too few to allow a duopoly under normal [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) guidelines, but Withers was able to acquire WVFX under a failed station waiver issued by the FCC, as it was able to demonstrate that due to the market's conditions and channel 46's struggles to remain on the air as WLYJ and under Davis's ownership, that independent ownership was unlikely to turn WVFX around as a going concern. Withers initially maintained WVFX's on West Pike Street/[[West Virginia Route 20|SR 20]] in downtown Clarksburg, merging its full operations into the WDTV facility over time. Before the digital transition and the relocation of its transmitter to WDTV's site north of Clarksburg, WVFX struggled with reception over-the-air across the market, since much of the region is a rugged [[dissected plateau]]. Most stations in the market depend primarily on [[multichannel video programming distributors]] for most of their viewership. After moving to the WDTV transmitter site with the digital transition, it began to use its new [[VHF]] channel 10 for its on-air branding, and withdrew all mention of channel 46.
Fairmont is technically the [[media market|market]]'s largest city because [[Morgantown, West Virginia|Morgantown]] (though only {{convert|20|mi|km|0}} north) has the largest population of any city in the geographic area but it is part of the Pittsburgh market. Locations around Morgantown are within reach of over-the-air signals from Pittsburgh stations. Over time, availability of WPGH-TV has been withdrawn in the market in preference to WVFX due to Fox's 'one to a market' carriage policies in [[retransmission consent]] negotiations.
On May 13, 2016, Withers sold WVFX and WDTV to Gray Television for $26.5 million to complete its withdrawal from the television industry.<ref name="tvnc-saletogray">{{cite news|title=Gray Buying WDTV-WVFX Clarksburg, WV|url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/94755/gray-buying-wdtvwvfx-clarksburg-wv|access-date=May 13, 2016|work=TVNewsCheck|date=May 13, 2016}}</ref> Gray was approved to continue owning WVFX with WDTV under the 2007 failing station waiver originally sought by Withers, and assumed operational control of the stations through a [[local marketing agreement]] on June 1.<ref name="fcc-saletogray">{{cite web|title=Application For Consent To Assignment Of Broadcast Station Construction Permit Or License|url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1726616&Service=DT&Form_id=314&Facility_id=10976|website=CDBS Public Access|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]|access-date=May 19, 2016|date=May 18, 2016}}</ref> The sale was completed on May 1, 2017.<ref>[http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1756109&Service=DT&Form_id=905&Facility_id=10976 Consummation Notice], ''CDBS Public Access'', [[Federal Communications Commission]], Retrieved May 3, 2017.</ref>
==Newscast==
{{see|WDTV#News operation}}
WDTV has carried a 10 p.m. primetime newscast on WVFX-DT1 since late 2010.
==Technical information==
===Subchannels===
The station's digital signal is [[Multiplex (TV)|multiplexed]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Subchannels of WVFX<ref>[http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WVFX#station RabbitEars TV Query for WVFX]</ref>
! [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! [[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! Short name
! Programming
|-
! scope = "row" | 10.1
| rowspan="2" | [[1080i]]|| rowspan="6" | [[16:9]] || WVFX-DT || [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 10.2
| CW || [[The CW Plus]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 10.3
| rowspan="4" |[[480i]]
| StartTV || [[Start TV]]
|-
![[WDTV|10.4]]
|WVFXCBS
|[[CBS]] ([[WDTV]]) in [[Standard-definition television|SD]]
|-
! scope="row" | 10.5
| Grit || [[Grit (TV network)|Grit]]
|-
!10.6
|Oxygen
|[[Oxygen (TV channel)|Oxygen]]
|}
===Analog-to-digital conversion===
WVFX shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 46, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television in the United States [[Digital television transition in the United States|transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts]] under federal mandate. The station's digital signal broadcasts on its pre-transition VHF channel 10, and also converted their [[virtual channel]] to 10 on the same date to take advantage of that channel number's better branding potential.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds |format=PDF |access-date=March 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829004251/http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |archive-date=August 29, 2013 }}</ref> The station shifted to transmitting on channel 13 in 2020 as a part of the FCC's spectrum reallocation, and continues to use channel 10 as its virtual channel.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Clarksburg/Weston TV}}
{{TV Stations West Virginia}}
{{Gray TV}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wvfx}}
[[Category:1981 establishments in West Virginia]]
[[Category:The CW affiliates]]
[[Category:Fox Broadcasting Company affiliates]]
[[Category:Gray Television]]
[[Category:Grit (TV network) affiliates]]
[[Category:Start TV affiliates]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1981]]
[[Category:Television stations in Clarksburg, West Virginia|VFX]]