WXLV-TV

WXLV-TV (channel 45) is a television station licensed to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Piedmont Triad region.

It was sold to Television Corporation Stations—later renamed TVX Broadcast Group—in 1980 and changed its call sign to WJTM-TV, becoming the Triad's first general-entertainment independent station.

[3] Good News TV had been formed after the local Calvary Baptist Church voted to set aside $139,000 (equivalent to $744,000 in 2023[4]) for the construction of the proposed outlet; one of the directors was Stuart Epperson, the founder of Salem Communications.

[5] The station was originally proposed to operate on a non-commercial basis with Christian religious programs and some secular classic films, though it eventually decided to accept some commercial advertising.

The proprietors of Piece Goods, twin brothers Dudley and John Simms, also appeared on air giving editorials that were strongly conservative in character.

[14] The station's programming turned out to be more middle-of-the-road than the religion-heavy, family-friendly lineup once advertised, including films with sexual mentions and violence, as the Simms brothers sought to make channel 45 profitable.

The Simms brothers disappeared from the airwaves, while TVX announced it would seek better programming and build a more powerful transmitter facility on Sauratown Mountain.

[16] The call letters were changed to WJTM-TV[a] on October 20, 1980,[3] as TVX sought to bring to Winston-Salem the programming style that had made WTVZ immediately competitive in Norfolk.

[19][20] Even as TVX took over, Piece Goods found itself facing lawsuits for debts the station had owed to a bank prior to the sale.

He fatally shot 48-year-old William Norbert Rismiller, the station's general sales manager, then kidnapped a secretary and took her to his great-aunt's house, where he lived.

WXII broadcast a fake apology to his house in cooperation with a local cable system, and he released the hostage that afternoon after more than six hours.

[22] Two days after the murder, TVX applied to change WJTM-TV's call sign to WNRW (William Norbert Rismiller, Winston-Salem), which became effective on June 25 and was accompanied by memorial advertising in such publications as Broadcasting.

However, beginning at the end of 1986, that station began to fight through a years-long bankruptcy proceeding, burdened by expensive purchases of syndicated programming.

[28] It did not emerge from bankruptcy until July 1991; two months later, in September, WNRW and WGGT signed an agreement to simulcast almost all of the broadcast day, a combination billed as a "super station".

In the meantime, during the first season of the NFL on Fox, the station took the step of allowing fans to vote by telephone on which NFC football game it would telecast each week.

"[31] The timing of the affiliation switch in the Triad market was mostly driven by the station ownership juggling that New World had to conduct with WGHP.

To obtain permission to share the WXLV call sign from its existing user, the FM radio station at Lehigh Carbon Community College in Pennsylvania, it donated a used audio board.

General manager Will Davis noted that the news department had not turned a profit in 2001 due to a soft economy and its low ratings.

[63] The transaction was designated in July 2018 for hearing by an FCC administrative law judge, and Tribune moved to terminate the deal the next month.