WGOT

WGOT, virtual channel 8, is a television serving Gotham City, New Jersey. Owned by the Hearst Television subsidiary of New York City based Hearst Communications, the station serves as the local affiliate of the Central Television Network.
==History==
WGOT began broadcasting on March 19, 1957; as the second independent station in Gotham City and became a charter affiliate of the Central Television Network in the United States on September 25, 1966. From the beginning, the Hearst Corporation has been involved in the station's ownership. How the station came to be was the result of a long and complicated drama surrounding the awarding of the station's construction permit and ultimate broadcast license.
Hearings on the channel 8 permit opened in 1955, and it was originally granted by the FCC to the owners of WGAL radio in 1956. Hearst, which entered Pittsburgh broadcasting when it purchased WGTC-AM in 1931, and the other three applicants that lost later petitioned the FCC to re-open the permit hearings following the death of WGAL co-owner Dan Van Sterling. The subsequent reconsideration awarded channel 8 to Hearst. The agency's commissioners were divided on how to break the stalemate to the satisfaction of both winning parties, and suggested a merger between Hearst and the WGAL group, who sold their radio station to ABC in order to appease FCC cross-ownership restrictions. Together, both firms became equal partners in Television City, Inc., under which ownership WGOT went on the air. Hearst would purchase the remaining 50 percent of the station in 1962. As such, WGOT is the only Gotham City television station not to have changed ownership.
In April 1985, WGOT became one of the only stations in the United States to transmit the World Wrestling Federation's WrestleMania event free over-the-air, after a technical glitch prematurely ended the event's closed-circuit broadcast from the Civic Arena.
==News operation==
WGOT presently broadcasts 38 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 5½ hours on weekdays and Sundays and five hours on Saturdays).
In the fall of 1990, WGOT gave Gotham City its first 5 a.m. newscast and expanded its one-hour morning newscast to two hours, shifting the starting time from 6 a.m. to 5. The move took place the same day WGC-TV expanded its half-hour morning newscast to an hour and started it at 6 a.m. As it gained news in the morning, WGOT lost news at noon. It was brought back in early 1992.
===News 8 at 6 on Gotham's NWLD===
On January 6, 2016, WGOT announced that the station will add a 7 p.m. newscast on subchannel 8.2 beginning February 1. "We understand viewers are constantly looking for news, no matter what time of the day," said WGOT President & General Manager Edward Michaels. "Our new 7:00 p.m. newscast will give viewers more options to get news and weather information when they want it. Whether it's on our traditional broadcast station, on-line, or on a mobile device, WGOT News 8 is always looking for more ways to make it convenient for our viewers to get the local news and weather that’s important to them."
==Gallery==
WGOT-WFAA 8.svg|"8" used since 1995, shared with WFAA since 1997
WGOT 1990 open.png|Titlecard (News 8, 1990).
WGOT 1995 ID.png|Station ID (Hearst variant, 1995).
WGOT 1995 open.png|Titlecard (News 8, 1995).
WGOT 1998 ID.png|Station ID (Hearst variant, 1998).
WGOT 2018 open.png|Titlecard (News 8, 2018).
==Technical information==
===Digital channels===
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
Channel	Video	Aspect Ratio	PSIP short name	Programming
8.1 	1080p	16:9 	WGOT 	Main WGOT programming / Central MK
8.2 	1080p	16:9 	NWLD 	NewsWorld
8.3 	1080p	4:3 	H&I 	Heroes & Icons
8.4 	1080p	4:3 	AVG 	Avant Garde Network
45.3 	1080p	4:3 	Stadium 	ATSC 1.0 simulcast of WFXG-DT3/Stadium
45.4 	1080p	4:3 	TBD 	ATSC 1.0 simulcast of WFXG-DT4/TBD
===Analog-to-digital conversion===
WGOT signed on its high definition digital signal on December 3, 1998. WGOT shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 8, 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 continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 49. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 8.
Category:Gotham City
Category:New Jersey
Category:Channel 8
Category:Central Television Network
Category:Central affiliates
Category:NewsWorld network affiliates
Category:Heroes & Icons affiliated subchannel stations
Category:Avant Garde Network affiliates
Category:Former independent stations
Category:Hearst Television
Category:Hearst Communications
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1957