WJYS

WJYS
Hammond, Indiana/Chicago, Illinois
United States
City Hammond, Indiana
Branding WJYS, The Way
Channels Digital: 36 (UHF)
Virtual: 62 (PSIP)
Subchannels (see article)
Affiliations Independent
Owner Oxford Media Group
First air date March 2, 1991 (1991-03-02)
Call letters' meaning

Joseph & Yvonne Stroud (original owners)

W Jesus Your Savior or
We're Joyfully Your Station.
Former channel number(s) Analog:
62 (UHF, 1991–2009)
Transmitter power 145 kW
Height 510 m
Facility ID 32334
Transmitter coordinates 41°52′44″N 87°38′10″W / 41.87889°N 87.63611°W / 41.87889; -87.63611Coordinates: 41°52′44″N 87°38′10″W / 41.87889°N 87.63611°W / 41.87889; -87.63611
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website wjys.tv

WJYS, virtual channel 62 (UHF digital channel 36), is an independent television station serving Chicago, Illinois, United States that is licensed to Hammond, Indiana. WJYS maintains studio facilities located on South Oak Park Avenue in Tinley Park, Illinois, and its transmitter is located atop the Willis Tower on South Wacker Drive in the Chicago Loop. On cable, the station is also available on RCN channel 10, WOW! channel 13, Comcast Xfinity channel 17 in the suburbs (channel varies by location), 18 in Chicago and AT&T U-verse channel 62.

History

The station first signed on the air on March 2, 1991, originally operating as a 24-hour-a-day home shopping channel. In 1995, WJYS became more of a general entertainment station, picking up a number of syndicated programs. These shows included Laverne & Shirley, The Rifleman, The Odd Couple, Little House on the Prairie, Gunsmoke, Highway to Heaven and Matlock, along with older movies and anime programming, plus the Indiana Lottery game show Hoosier Millionaire. By 1997, channel 62 was running infomercials and religious programming most of the day and by 2000, most of the entertainment shows were gone from the station. Today, WJYS offers both religious and secular paid programming, as well as some entertainment programs.

Unlike the analog transmitter once located in Tinley Park, WJYS-DT has a transmitter atop the Willis Tower on channel 36, allowing for greater signal coverage.[1] The WJYS signal during the analog television era reached approximately 7.5 million people in the Chicago metropolitan area, expanding to nearly 11 million households across Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan following the June 2009 digital television transition as its digital transmitter facilities on Willis Tower replicated the coverage area of the major broadcast stations in the market.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[2]
62.1 480i 4:3 WJYS-DT Main WJYS programming
62.2 MCTV Simulcast WEDE-CD
62.3 PRISM Partial simulcast of WJYS 62.1
62.4 PRISM 2 TBD

WJYS' digital signal is multiplexed and the station leases its digital subchannels to other networks. Channel 62.2/36.2 is leased to WEDE-CD, a Class-A TV station in the Chicago market broadcasting from Willis tower. Its signal reaches about 8 million people. WEDE-CD currently airs a 24-hour independent network called My Christian TV, which is also carried on Comcast Xfinity digital channel 386.

Channel 62.3/36.3 is labeled PRISM and carries the same programming as 62.1 on a two-hour delay with a small, increasing schedule of multicultural programs in Spanish, Chinese, and Polish including TV Polnews.

Channel 62.4/36.4 is labeled PRISM2.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WJYS shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 62, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 36.[3] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 62, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

Programming

The station's schedule primarily features local, national and international religious programming, along with paid programming (including long-form direct response, automobile dealer programs, programs advertising local businesses and other infomercials). WJYS' locally-produced programs include Horace Smith, Salem Baptist Church, Charis Bible College, Triedstone Baptist Church, the jazz trio show Yvonne's Piano, Haitian Relief with Steve Munsey and Emmy Award-winning music show JBTV. WJYS also produced local commercials for Chicago State University.

References

  1. ↑ Polar Plot linked to the FCC database for WJYS.
  2. ↑ "RabbitEars TV Query for WJYS". RabbitEars. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  3. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
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