WFXU (channels 15 and 57) is an independent television station licensed to Live Oak, Florida, United States, serving the Tallahassee, Florida–Thomasville, Georgiamarket and also having a secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV.It is owned by Gray Media alongside CBS affiliate WCTV (channel 6).The two stations share studios on Halstead Boulevard in Tallahassee (along I-10); WFXU's transmitter is located in Hamilton County, Florida, between Jasper and Jennings.
Due to its transmitter being located on the eastern fringe of the Tallahassee–Thomasville market, WFXU's signal is unable to reach Tallahassee proper. In order to serve the entire market, two of WFXU's subchannels are relayed on WCTV from that station's transmitter in unincorporated Thomas County, Georgia, southeast of Metcalf, along the Florida state line.
History
WFXU began broadcasting June 15, 1998, as a full-time satellite of Fox affiliate WTLH, intending to improve that station's signal in the eastern part of the market.It broadcast an analog
signal on UHF channel 57 from the transmitter location near Jasper.
Originally owned by L.O. Telecast, Inc., WFXU was sold to KB Prime Media in 1999[1] and to WTLH owner Pegasus Communications in 2002 (the sale was approved because despite Tallahassee not having enough stations to support a duopoly under Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules; Pegasus had helped fund WFXU's construction).[2] That April, WFXU broke off from WTLH and became a UPN affiliate.
WFXU's signal was not nearly strong enough to cover the entire market. To make up for this shortfall in coverage, it launched WTLF on May 7, 2003, as a full-time satellite.Pegasus declared bankruptcy in June 2004 over a dispute with DirecTV over marketing of the direct broadcast satellite service in rural areas.
On April 1, 2005, WFXU and WTLF switched to The WB, via The WB 100+; UPN promptly signed with WCTV, which launched a new subchannel to carry the network.[3] Prior to this, The WB was carried on a cable-only WB 100+ station, "WBXT", which was operated by WTXL-TV (channel 27).On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that they would merge to form The CW. It was announced on April 24 that WTLH would create a new second digital subchannel to become Tallahassee's CW affiliate. These plans were modified around August 2006 to make WFXU/WTLF the primary CW affiliate, with a simulcast on WTLH-DT2; this took effect when the network premiered on September 18.
Although most of the Pegasus station group was sold in August 2006 to private investment firm CP Media, LLC of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania,[4] WFXU was instead sold to Budd Broadcasting that November.[5] Since then, the station has operated intermittently as an independent station, with CW programming being seen only on WTLF and WTLH-DT2. More recently, it resumed operations from October 17 to November 14, 2010, and from November 12 to early December 2011 after being silent since November 2009; this was done in order to avoid forfeiture of the broadcast license.
In June 2008, WFXU applied to relocate its digital transmitter to west of High Springs, near Gainesville, with the intent of refocusing its viewership on that market.The FCC dismissed the application that December.[6] The call letters were changed to WTXI on December 12, 2011, parking the call letters for a co-owned station in Miami; a week later, the station returned to WFXU.[7]
The station had a construction permit, which would have enabled the station to broadcast at 1,000 kilowatts at 278.9 m HAAT, from a transmitter site along US 441 in northern Columbia County, about 20 mi north of Lake City, allowing rimshot coverage into Gainesville, Jacksonville, and Waycross, Georgia. This permit expired sometime in the late 2010s.
Gray Television agreed to purchase WFXU, along with translator WUFX-LD, on June 26, 2017, in a $600,000 deal.The sale made WFXU and WUFX-LD sister stations to WCTV in Thomasville, Georgia, and WCJB-TV in Gainesville.[8] The sale was completed on December 27.[9]
As of September 14, 2013, WFXU returned to the air, this time as a Soul of the South affiliate; it then switched to Retro TV as of April 8, 2016.On April 30, 2018, WFXU became affiliated with MyNetworkTV and MeTV.[10]
On January 5, 2026, WFXU started airing two local newscasts from sister station WCTV on weekdays at 7 a.m. and every night at 10 p.m. This resulted from the end of a news-sharing agreement between WCTV and WTWC-DT2 which has aired WCTV-produced newscasts since 2003 (on WTLH from 2003 to 2014, and then on WTWC's second subchannel from 2015 to 2026).[11]
Subchannels
The station's signal is multiplexed: {{legend|#E6FFF7|Simulcast of subchannels of another station}}
