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WACX

Coordinates: 28°35′12.6″N 81°4′57.5″W / 28.586833°N 81.082639°W / 28.586833; -81.082639
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WACX
CityLeesburg, Florida
Channels
BrandingSuperChannel Orlando
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerAssociated Christian Television System, Inc.
History
First air date
March 6, 1982 (42 years ago) (1982-03-06)
Former call signs
WIYE (1982–1988)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 55 (UHF, 1982–2006)
  • Digital: 40 (UHF, until 2020)
TBN (1990s–2006)
Call sign meaning
  • Associated Christian (referring to owner)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID60018
ERP49.2 kW
HAAT510.5 m (1,675 ft)
Transmitter coordinates28°35′12.6″N 81°4′57.5″W / 28.586833°N 81.082639°W / 28.586833; -81.082639
Translator(s)
Links
Public license information
Websitesuperchannel.com

WACX (channel 55) is a religious independent television station licensed to Leesburg, Florida, United States, serving the Orlando area. Locally owned by the Bowers family and their ministry, Associated Christian Television System, the station maintains studios on Central Parkway in Altamonte Springs, and its transmitter is located near Bithlo, Florida.

WACX operates on a commercial license, even though it, like most religious stations, is supported through donations from viewers. Its schedule consists primarily of national and local religious programming.[2]

The station's owner is not the same entity as either American Christian Television Services, owner of WLMA in Lima, Ohio, or the defunct cable network the American Christian Television System.

History

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WACX first signed on the air on March 6, 1982, as WIYE, operating on analog channel 55. However, it has roots in a local Christian cable channel begun by Claud and Freeda Bowers in 1977.

Channel 55's signal originally did not make it too far out of Lake County. However, the station had grown enough that by 1987 it was able to move to a new transmitter capable of 5 million watts of power, boosting its coverage area to the entire Central Florida area. It became WACX in 1988, and began branding itself as "SuperChannel 55" because at the time it was the only station in the area airing at the maximum power allowed for a UHF station. (The WIYE calls now reside at a low-powered CBS affiliate in Parkersburg, West Virginia.)

From the 1990s through September 2006, WACX was affiliated with TBN, regularly airing select programs from the network; this affiliation ceased after TBN acquired WTGL-TV (channel 52) in Cocoa and changed its call sign to WHLV-TV. Since then, the station has regularly featured programming from The Inspiration Network (INSP) and periodically from God TV.

At one point, WACX controlled the "SuperChannel TBN" service on the Sky Angel religious satellite system, but this was replaced with the national TBN feed in 2006.

Technical information

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Subchannels

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The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WACX[3]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
55.1 480i 16:9 WACX-D1 Main WACX programming
55.2 WACX-D2 Aliento Vision
55.3 WACX-D3 GEB America
55.4 WACX-D4 SonLife
55.5 WACX-D5 QVC Over the Air
55.6 WACX-D6 Believer's Voice of Victory Network
55.7 WACX-D7 LibreVisión
55.8 WACX-D8 CBN News
55.9 WACX-D9 QVC2
55.10 WACX-D10 J.U.M.P. Global Network (JUMP Ministries)
55.11 WACX-D11 Mega TV Orlando

Analog-to-digital conversion

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WACX shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 55, in March 2006. The station's digital signal continued to be broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 40,[4] using virtual channel 55.

Translator

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WACX presently operates a digital translator station which rebroadcasts its signal into the GainesvilleOcala area. In addition, programming from WACX's main channel is carried on a digital subchannel of WJGV-CD (channel 48) in Palatka.[5]

City of license Callsign Channel ERP HAAT Facility ID Transmitter coordinates
Alachua WACX-LD 32 15 kW 160 m (525 ft) 168091 29°37′47.″N 82°34′24″W / 29.62972°N 82.57333°W / 29.62972; -82.57333 (WACX-LD)

Former translators

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Previously, WACX operated a network of analog translators which rebroadcast its signal into other parts of Florida:

Area served City of license Callsign Channel Notes
Tallahassee Madison W03AO 3 License canceled on September 24, 2013[6]
Tallahassee WACX-LP 9 Sold to Restoration Place, Inc. in August 2011 (now WWRP-LP).[7]
Tampa Bay Lakeland WLWA-LP 14 Went dark on June 15, 2006, after losing its transmitter site;[8] license canceled on April 24, 2009.[9]
Gainesville Alachua W69AY 69 Replaced with digital translator W40CQ-D (now WACX-LD);[10] license canceled on March 27, 2009.[11]

Majesty Building

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In 2001, Claud Bowers, the general manager of WACX, began construction of the Majesty Building, an 18-story office building in Altamonte Springs. However, no work was done on the building, which has been dubbed "The I-4 Eyesore" by many locals in the area, for over two decades.[12] Construction largely resumed in 2018.

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WACX". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "WACX-DT 55.1 Leesburg/Orlando Program Schedule". Superchannel.com. Associated Christian Television System. November 28, 2018.
  3. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WACX
  4. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved March 24, 2012.
  5. ^ "Gospel Vision TV". Pentecostal Revival Association. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  6. ^ "Facility Details « Licensing and Management System Admin « FCC". enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  7. ^ FCC Public Notice Report #534: "Media Bureau Call Sign Actions", August 31, 2011. Archived October 30, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. June 26, 2006. Retrieved May 25, 2009.
  9. ^ Hashemzadeh, Hossein (April 24, 2009). "Re: WLWA-LP, Lakeland, FL" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved May 25, 2009.
  10. ^ "Licensing and Management System". enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  11. ^ "Facility Details « Licensing and Management System Admin « FCC". enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  12. ^ "The 'I-4 Eyesore' has been under construction since 2001. It's showing glimmers of life". Tampa Bay Times. July 26, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
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