WTLJ

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title: "WTLJ" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1986-establishments-in-michigan", "buzzr-affiliates", "movies!-affiliates", "muskegon,-michigan", "religious-television-stations-in-michigan", "story-television-affiliates", "television-channels-and-stations-established-in-1986", "television-stations-in-west-michigan", "tri-state-christian-television-stations", "west-(tv-network)-affiliates"] description: "Television station in Muskegon, Michigan" topic_path: "arts/film" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTLJ" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Television station in Muskegon, Michigan ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox television station dual"]

Field	Value
name1	WTLJ
city1	Muskegon–Grand Rapids, Michigan
digital1	24 (UHF)
virtual1	54
affiliations
owner	Tri-State Christian Television
licensee	Radiant Life Ministries, Inc./TCT of Michigan, Inc.
country	United States
airdate1
callsign_meaning1
former_channel_numbers1	Analog: 54 (UHF, 1986–2009)
erp1	310 kW
haat1	283 m
facility_id1	67781
coordinates1
licensing_authority	FCC
website
name2	WJGP-LD
city2	Kalamazoo, Michigan
digital2	25 (UHF)
virtual2	26
former_callsigns2
former_channel_numbers2
erp2	15 kW
haat2	138.4 m
facility_id2	67780
class2	LD
coordinates2
::

| name1 = WTLJ | city1 = Muskegon–Grand Rapids, Michigan | logo = | branding = | digital1 = 24 (UHF) | virtual1 = 54 | affiliations = | owner = Tri-State Christian Television | licensee = Radiant Life Ministries, Inc./TCT of Michigan, Inc. | country = United States | airdate1 = | callsign_meaning1 = | former_channel_numbers1 = Analog: 54 (UHF, 1986–2009) | erp1 = 310 kW | haat1 = 283 m | facility_id1 = 67781 | coordinates1 = | licensing_authority = FCC | website = | name2 = WJGP-LD | city2 = Kalamazoo, Michigan | digital2 = 25 (UHF) | virtual2 = 26 | former_callsigns2 = | former_channel_numbers2 = | erp2 = 15 kW | haat2 = 138.4 m | facility_id2 = 67780 | class2 = LD | coordinates2 =

WTLJ (channel 54) is a religious television station licensed to Muskegon, Michigan, United States, serving West Michigan as an owned-and-operated station of Tri-State Christian Television (TCT). The station's transmitter is located in Allendale Charter Township in Ottawa County, just southwest of Grand Valley State University. Its signal is relayed on translator station WJGP-LD (channel 26; originally W24BO channel 24) in Kalamazoo.

Until June 2018, the station aired its own locally produced programs, Ask the Pastor and Down Home, from a studio adjacent to its transmitter. This ended with the elimination of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s Main Studio Rule earlier in the year and a decision by TCT's operators to consolidate all programming operations at its headquarters in Marion, Illinois.

History

The UHF channel 54 allocation in Michigan was originally assigned to Lansing. It was occupied by DuMont affiliate WILS, which later became WTOM-TV (call letters now used on channel 4 in Cheboygan), and was on the air from 1953 to 1956. The channel 54 allocation was then reassigned to Muskegon. Full-power station WMKG-TV broadcast for the first time on April 3, 1967 at 5:30 p.m. from the Occidental Hotel in downtown Muskegon. That station, which operated as an independent station and relied heavily on live, local programming, had left the air by 1971, following the abrupt closure of the station.

In January 1983, WTLJ was originally assigned the call letters WMKT with the intention of focusing on the Muskegon and Holland areas. That station was never built (Muskegon has its own station, WMKG-CD, which fulfills this purpose).

On November 3, 1986, Springfield, Ohio–based Miami Valley Christian Television launched WTLJ, as a Christian-oriented independent station. The station would eventually be sold to its present owners, Tri-State Christian Television. The history of its Kalamazoo repeater, WJGP-LD, is unknown, other than the fact that its application to move its signal from UHF channel 24 to channel 26 was approved in December 1998; the channel switch occurred in January 2002 to facilitate WTLJ's eventual digital channel 24.

The station was receivable in analog on the western shore of Lake Michigan in the Wisconsin cities of Sheboygan and Milwaukee because of channel 54's transmitter being close to the Lake Michigan shore, although TCT does not explicitly market to those cities or have any cable coverage. With the termination on March 4, 2009, of the analog channel 24 signal of Milwaukee's WCGV, the station's digital signal is also easily picked up in Wisconsin.

WTLJ is carried on AcenTek systems serving Buckley, Copemish, Hoxeyville, Mesick, Old Mission, South Boardman, and Thompsonville (all located in the Traverse City market).

WTLJ formerly collaborated with the Ottawa County Department of Corrections to allow probationers to operate the station to receive community service credits and complete their sentences.

Technical information

Subchannels

The stations' signals are multiplexed: ::data[format=table title="Subchannels of WTLJ{{cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WTLJ#station|title=RabbitEars TV Query for WTLJ|website=[[RabbitEars]]|accessdate=March 26, 2025}} and WJGP-LD{{cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WJGP#station|title=RabbitEars TV Query for WJGP|website=[[RabbitEars]]|accessdate=March 26, 2025}}"] | Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming | WTLJ||WJGP-LD | 54.1 || 26.1 | 54.2 || 26.2 | 54.3 || 26.3 | 54.4 || 26.4 | 54.5 || 26.5 | 54.6 || 26.6 | 54.7 || 26.7 | 54.8 || 26.8 | 54.9 || 26.9 | 54.10 || 26.10 | 54.11 || 26.11 | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 720p | 16:9 | WTLJ HD | TCT | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 480i | 4:3 | SBN | SBN | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | HSTV | Healing Streams TV | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | STORY | Story Television | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | MOVIES | Movies! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | SHOPLC | Shop LC | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | DABL | Dabl | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | BUZZR | Buzzr | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | WEST | WEST | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | JTV | Jewelry TV | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ONTV4U | OnTV4U (infomercials) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::

Analog-to-digital conversion

WTLJ shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 54, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 24, using virtual channel 54.

References

References

1. (July 2, 2018). "WNYB-TV ends local productions, station site is for sale". [[The Buffalo News]].
2. "Old Tv Newscast Titles, Part One (Alaska-Louisiana)".
3. "History of Michigan TV Broadcasting: Michiguide.com".
4. (March 29, 1967). "New TV Station On Air Monday". [[Muskegon Chronicle.
5. (July 3, 1971). "Station's Picture Is Vague". The Muskegon Chronicle.
6. (January 28, 1983). "Public Notice". The Muskegon Chronicle.
7. Iddings, Bill. (November 1, 1986). "Channel 54 due to sign on Monday". [[Muskegon Chronicle.
8. [http://www.acentek.net/Portals/0/Traverse%20CIty%20Guide_acentek_may%2015.pdf Traverse City Guide] acentek.net May 2015 {{dead link. (September 2023)
9. "RabbitEars TV Query for WTLJ".
10. "RabbitEars TV Query for WJGP".
11. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130829004251/http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf List of Digital Full-Power Stations]

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