WXII

About WXII

WXII-TV is a television station in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, broadcasting on channel 12 and affiliated with NBC. Owned by Hearst Television, the station serves the Piedmont Triad alongside Greensboro and High Point. It signed on in September 1953 as WSJS-TV, the second television station to go on the air in Winston-Salem in four days and the market's NBC affiliate from its debut. The station relocated its transmitter to Sauratown Mountain in Stokes County in 1955 and for years split ABC programming with WFMY until WGHP signed on in 1963. The WXII call letters reflect its channel 12 identity.

Signing on as WSJS-TV

The station was the second TV station to go on the air in Winston-Salem in four days in September 1953, with WTOB-TV starting service September 26 with ABC and DuMont programs. As WSJS-TV, the television arm of the Piedmont Publishing Company's WSJS radio, it took the NBC affiliation from its debut, while WFMY in Greensboro, which had carried NBC secondarily, became a sole CBS affiliate.

The early television operation was accommodated in the radio station's existing offices on Spruce Street, expanding into a basement previously used to store newsprint. Local programs such as The Johnny Comas Show and the station's newscasts attracted audiences, with staff moving back and forth between radio and television.

Growing the signal

In 1955, the station relocated its transmitter facility to Sauratown Mountain in Stokes County and increased its effective radiated power to the maximum 316,000 watts, giving channel 12 commanding coverage of the Piedmont Triad. WTOB-TV ceased broadcasting in 1957, and ABC programs were split between WSJS-TV and WFMY until WGHP began on channel 8 in 1963.

The Sauratown Mountain transmitter site has served the station for seven decades, a landmark of Triad broadcasting.

The Pickford ownership dispute

The station's early ownership involved Hollywood star Mary Pickford, who held a stake alongside Piedmont Publishing. When Piedmont exercised its option to buy out Pickford's stake, she and her husband Charles "Buddy" Rogers disputed the price, leading to a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court. After an 11-week trial, the judge ordered the sale at a price just above what Piedmont had paid. The matter was finally settled in 1966 when Pickford and Rogers sold their stake back to Piedmont Publishing.

The colorful episode reflected the speculative early days of television station ownership, when entertainment figures invested in the new medium.

Becoming WXII

The station took the WXII call letters, with the Roman numerals reflecting channel 12, and has been the Triad's NBC affiliate throughout its history. The NBC relationship has brought the network's news, sports, and entertainment programming to Winston-Salem through the network's dominant eras.

As the market's NBC outlet, the station has carried the network's major sports properties, from the Olympics to NFL football and Notre Dame athletics.

Hearst Television ownership

WXII is owned by Hearst Television, one of the country's premier station groups. Hearst's ownership has brought the station corporate resources and a commitment to local journalism consistent with the group's reputation for community service.

The station's operations reflect Hearst's emphasis on investigative reporting and severe weather coverage across its station portfolio.

News operation

WXII's news operation serves the Winston-Salem portion of the Piedmont Triad, with newscasts covering the region's distinctive stories, from the city's tobacco and banking heritage to its universities, arts community, and medical centers. The station's journalists cover the Triad alongside competitors WFMY and WGHP.

The station's severe weather coverage is critical in a region vulnerable to ice storms, tornadoes, and tropical systems.

Technical operations

WXII broadcasts on digital UHF spectrum displayed as virtual channel 12 from its Sauratown Mountain transmitter. The station ended analog programming on VHF channel 12 in 2009 as part of the digital television transition.

The station's subchannels carry additional programming services, extending its multicast offerings.

Digital presence

WXII's digital home is wxii12.com, offering live streaming, on-demand video, and comprehensive coverage of Triad news, weather, and sports. The station maintains mobile apps and active social media accounts under the WXII 12 brand.

As part of Hearst Television, the station's digital operations are integrated with the company's digital media platforms. Its official website is https://www.wxii12.com.

The World Series debut

The station began broadcasting as WSJS-TV on September 30, 1953, and has been an NBC affiliate since its first day on air. It was the second television station to start in Winston-Salem, days after WTOB-TV channel 26, which lasted four years, and was owned by Triangle Broadcasting, a consortium of the Piedmont Publishing Company, publisher of the Winston-Salem Journal and Twin City Sentinel newspapers and owner of radio station WSJS, and actress Mary Pickford, who sold her shares in 1966. The original call letters stood for Winston-Salem Journal Sentinel. It is the third-oldest surviving television station in North Carolina, behind Charlotte's WBTV and WFMY-TV. The station at first was owned by a partnership of Piedmont Publishing and Hollywood star Mary Pickford and her husband Charles "Buddy" Rogers, taking its calls from Piedmont Publishing's WSJS radio. Originally housed in cramped quarters at the WSJS radio studios in the basement on Spruce Street, the first broadcast was of the first game of the 1953 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Channel 12 originally broadcast its signal from an antenna near Kernersville, and WSJS-TV opened its new transmitter site atop Sauratown Mountain in 1955. The station has always been affiliated with NBC, while ABC programming was shared through a secondary affiliation with WFMY until WGHP channel 8 signed on in October 1963. In 1959, Piedmont exercised an option agreement to buy out Pickford and Rogers and gained complete control of the station; the matter ended up in court when Pickford and Rogers felt that Piedmont had undervalued their shares, but it was eventually resolved in Piedmont's favor.

Multimedia and the name change

After divesting the newspapers, which were sold to Media General in 1968, and starting a cable television system, Triangle Broadcasting sold the station to Multimedia, Inc. in 1972; in being separated from WSJS radio, the station became WXII. Originally housed in cramped quarters at the WSJS radio studios, in 1966 it moved to its present facility, the purpose-built Broadcast House. Longtime publisher Gordon Gray formed Triangle Broadcasting to hold onto the WSJS stations after the newspapers were sold; Gray also acquired the cable franchise for Winston-Salem, Summit Cable. When the FCC ruled that one person could not own a television station and a cable system in the same market, Gray sold off WSJS-TV. The station struggled in the late 1970s and early 1980s due to poor news ratings, which were strong in Forsyth County but weak elsewhere, and the underperformance of the NBC network.

The Pulitzer trade and Hearst

After being part of a trade to Pulitzer Publishing in 1983, WXII slowly improved its standing in the market and its news ratings. In the late 1990s, it owned and operated WXII 830 AM, an all-news radio station. By the time Pulitzer exited broadcasting in 1998, WXII, which still emphasized "Western Piedmont"-area news from Winston-Salem and counties to the west, was competitive in the Triad, a market once dominated by WFMY-TV. The station is owned by Hearst Television alongside Lexington-licensed CW affiliate WCWG channel 20. WXII-TV and WCWG share studios on Coliseum Drive in Winston-Salem and broadcast from the same transmitter on Sauratown Mountain in Stokes County. WXII-TV is carried on cable channel 11 in most parts of the market, with subchannels 12.2 carrying Me-TV, 12.3 Story Television, and 12.4 QVC2.