WTLJ

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WTLJ
city =
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding = TCT 54
analog = 54 (UHF)
digital = 24 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = TCT
network =
founded =
airdate = November 1986 [The "Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook" says November 1, while the "Television and Cable Factbook" says November 3.]
location = Muskegon, Michigan
callsign_meaning = Witnessing
The
Love of
Jesus
-or-
We
Trust and
Love
Jesus
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Tri-State Christian Television, Inc.
licensee = TCT of Michigan, Inc.
sister_stations =
former_affiliations =
effective_radiated_power = 4370 kW (analog)
280 kW (digital)
HAAT = 294 m (analog)
281 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 67781
coordinates = coord|42|57|20|N|85|54|5.4|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.tct-net.org/ www.tct-net.org]

WTLJ is a television station broadcasting in the Grand Rapids, Michigan metropolitan area on WTLJ channel 54 in Muskegon and Grand Rapids, and W26BX channel 26 (originally W24BO channel 24) in Kalamazoo. It is an owned and operated affiliate of Tri-State Christian Television.

The station identification shows that it is licensed to Muskegon and Grand Rapids, with the translator licensed to Kalamazoo.

Its offices and transmitter are located in Allendale Township, Michigan, of Ottawa County, just southwest of Grand Valley State University.

History

Before the original WMKG-TV 54 went on the air, channel 54 in Michigan was assigned to Lansing. It was occupied by DuMont affiliate WILS, which later became WTOM-TV (calls now used on channel 4 in Cheboygan), and was on the air from 1953 until 1956. Channel 54 was then reassigned to Muskegon. [http://members.tripod.com/ekimmell2/old.html] [http://www.michiguide.com/history/tv.html] WMKG-TV 54, a full-power station, broadcast in the late 1960s from the Occidental Hotel in downtown Muskegon. That station, which had no network affiliation and relied heavily on live, local programming, had left the air by the mid-1970s.

In the early-1980s, WTLJ originally had the call letters WMKT with the intention of focusing on the Muskegon and Holland areas. That station was never built. (Muskegon has its own station, WMKG-LP, which fulfills this purpose.)

In November 1986, Miami Valley Christian Television of Springfield, Ohio launched WTLJ, as a Christian channel, which remains to this day. During its first few weeks on the air, Master Control Operator ________ _________, attending the station alone, answered the front door to sign for a Fed Ex package of a sindicated program, and inadvertently locked himself out of the building. Fortunately, the switcher was locked on a network feed, so the 1/2 hour it took to get back into the building went pretty much un-noticed to a potential audience of 4 million viewers. The station would eventually be sold to its present-owners, Tri-State Christian Television.

History of its Kalamazoo repeater, W26BX, is unknown, other than the fact that the move from channel 24 to 26 was approved in December 1998, and the move was actually made in January 2002. The move was necessary, as WTLJ plans to have a digital signal on channel 24 in the future.

Programming

WTLJ broadcasts its own live programs in its studio in Allendale. The programs are called "Ask The Pastor" and "Down Home".

Management

The director of WTLJ as of January 2005 is Victor VanDeVenter.

Interesting Information

WTLJ has collaborated with the Ottawa County Department of Corrections. This collaboration has led to the station taking in probationers to give them the opportunity to complete court ordered mandatory community service.

References

* [http://www.michiguide.com/dials/tv/wtlj.html WTLJ-TV Channel 54 Muskegon. "Michigan's Radio & TV Broadcast Guide"] .

External links

* [http://www.tct-net.org/ TCT Network]
*TVQ|WTLJ
**TVQ|W26BX
*BIA|WTLJ|TV|TV

References