WGHP

From Free net encyclopedia

WGHP ("FOX8") is the FOX television station which serves the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem, North Carolina DMA. It is licensed to High Point and owned and operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company.

FOX8 currently offers about 8 hours of local newscasts a day, along with a number of first-run syndicated shows and a few off-network sitcoms.

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History

The station began operation in 1963, and it was owned by Southern Broadcast Company. It was originally the Piedmont Triad's ABC affiliate. The station didn't carry Dark Shadows during it's network run on ABC and broadcast old movies instead, according to a February 1971 issue of the North Carolina edition of TV Guide magazine. Likewise, it did not carry The Edge of Night during its run on ABC from 1975 to 1984. Harte-Hanks Broadcasting's purchase of Landmark Television (successor to Southern) in 1977 resulted in the company owning both WGHP and WFMY-TV, and WGHP was consequently sold to Gulf Broadcasting in 1978.

WGHP was owned by Gulf Broadcasting until 1984, when it was acquired by Taft in a group deal. Great American Broadcasting purchased other Taft properties in 1987, but Taft would keep WGHP until 1992 when Great American bought the station as well.

In 1994 it was agreed that New World would buy most of Great American's (now known as Citicasters) TV stations, but WGHP (along with WBRC Birmingham) would be sold directly to Fox. Fox was able to close on WGHP and WBRC in the Summer of 1995. On September 4, 1995, WGHP took the Fox affiliation and became an official Fox owned-and-operated station (O&O). It took all Fox programs, including Fox Kids Network which it showed from 1-4pm, where soap operas from ABC had previously run. The ABC affiliation went to WNRW channel 45 (now WXLV-TV).

In 1996, Fox Kids moved to WBFX (now WTWB-TV). WTWB dropped Fox's children programming in late 2001, but WGHP did not pick it up. As a result, Fox's 4Kids TV does not air in Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point.