(Canon to the Bobbyleeverse) Press space or click the logo. Callsign History: WGOT-TV (1953-1973; 1st era) WGOT (1973-1988) WGOT-TV (1988-p.d.; 2nd era) Affiliation History: CBS (1953-1995) ABC (1995-p.d.) Ownership History: The North City Informer (1953-1973) The A.S. Abell Company (1973-1986) Integrity Communications (1986-1991) AnchorMedia (1991-1994) River City Broadcasting (1994-1997) Sinclair Broadcasting Group (1997-p.d.) History: WGOT-TV launched on January 1, 1953, taking over as CBS affiliate in Gotham City from WCKB-TV. Owned by the local newspaper, The North City Informer, it was a sister station to WGOT (930 AM & 104.3 FM) Like WNKW-TV, the station would preempt select CBS programming to air local & syndicated programming. Beginning in 1962, WGOT-TV began branding itself as WGOT Television as part of an effort to emphasis the growth of TV as a format. This was reversed in 1967. In 1973, due to FCC rules forbidding cross-ownership of newspapers & TV stations in the same area, WGOT-TV was sold to The A.S. Abell Company. It dropped the TV suffix after the sale due to its radio counterparts being sold separately & dropping the WGOT call-letters. Beginning in 1980, WGOT would begin airing the entire CBS schedule. Around the same time, the station introduced the "boxy 9" symbol, which it used for the next 2 decades. The A.S. Abell Company would merge with Times-Mirror (owner of WWGC-TV) in 1986. However, to comply with FCC rules, WGOT was sold off to Integrity Communications, a company led by the station's then-general manager Shelbie Warrick. In 1988, the TV suffix was brought back for WGOT-TV after WNEJ (the former WGOT) regaining the WGOT call-letters after FCC backing relaxing on its rules regarding call-letter usage. That same year, WGOT-TV began branding itself as "NewsChannel 9". As part of Integrity's effort to focus on expansion, it sold off its former flagship station WGOT-TV to AnchorMedia in 1991, in order to allow Integrity to begin its expansion plans. In 1994, River City Broadcasting bought AnchorMedia. Amid a larger affiliation switch in the area, ABC agreed to move to WGOT-TV in 1995, in order to allow RCB's own KOVR-TV to Sacramento to become a CBS affiliate. Sinclair Broadcasting Group acquired River City Broadcasting in 1997, becoming the station's current owner. The station would drop its "boxy 9" symbol after 21 years in 2001, replacing it with a logo based on that of sister station WSYX-TV in Columbus, Ohio.
