WAKT

WAKT is an NBC affiliate serving Panama City, Florida as well as the Emerald Coast area in Florida. Broadcasting on channel 7, WAKT is owned and operated by Berfield/Willis Broadcast Corporation, as a part of a duopoly with Central Television Network United States (TVUS) affiliate WWOR. Launched in 1953, WAKT is the oldest station in Panama City, FL. Following the merger of Oakhurst Broadcasting, Higgins Broadcasting, and Island Television into Adelphia Communications and Adelphia absorbing the remaining stations, Adelphia decided to shift focus on the stations that are in the top 50 DMA market. The remaining stations spun off to their own ownership group named Young Broadcasting, taking it's name from the former company before they merged in Media General. 
== History ==
WAKT was founded on December 1, 1953 as WJDM-TV as was owned by local businessman J.D. Manley. It became known by many people as "Wait Just A Darn Minute" (a play on its call letters) because it would frequently go off-the-air with technical problems.
At first, the station aired local programming such as church services and wrestling and went as an Independent outlet for a short period of time before securing a primary affiliation with NBC and secondary affiliations with CBS an. Mel Wheeler purchased the station in 1957, and in 1960, James Harrison Gray (the founder of Gray Communications) bought the station and changed the call letters to WAKT.
WAKT dropped CBS in the 1960s after WEFS signed on and became the default CBS affiliate for Panama City. 
In 2002, the Perry family decided to sell WAKT to Island Television. On Jan. 30, 2016, it was announced that Island Television, as well as Higgins Broadcasting, and Oakhurst Broadcasting, were merging into Adelphia Communications, and Adelphia took over as owners of the station. Following the merger of Oakhurst Broadcasting, Higgins Broadcasting, and Island Television into Adelphia Communications and Adelphia absorbing the remaining stations, Adelphia decided to shift focus on the stations that are in the top 50 DMA market. The remaining stations spun off to their own ownership group named Young Broadcasting, taking it's name from the former company before they merged in Media General.
On March 28, 2017, following the annoucement that Young Broadcasting would sell off many of it's television stations to various companies, WAKT was sold to Liberty City based Berfield/Willis Broadcast Corporation.
== Newscast ==
Launched in 1953, NBC 7 News was the only news in Panama City, until WPRC-TV launched in 1958. When ABC went to no. 1, so did WAKT's newscast, but in 1982, ABC shocked the market when they took away WAKT's affiliation and gave it to WQSU, Largely by default, WAKT returned to NBC and the newscast suffered. The newscast fell to 3rd by 1986, but ratings started to improve, and 1992, WAKT was once again the no. 1 newscast in the market.
However, when NBC's ratings suffered again, so did WAKT. And NBC 7 News' ratings fell to the bottom. From 2012-13, WAKT had finished not higher than 3rd in the newscast ratings. However since 2015, WAKT has finished as runners up, being a close second to market leader WQSU. 
Category:Channel 7
Category:Florida
Category:Panama City, Florida
Category:Former CBS affiliates
Category:Former ABC affiliates
Category:NBC network affiliates
Category:Berfield/Willis Broadcast Corporation