('''''East Tennessee's WB''''') is the
WB affiliate in the
Knoxville, Tennessee television market.
Licensed to
Crossville, Tennessee , the station serves the
East Tennessee region, broadcasting from offices in Knoxville. It broadcasts on analog
UHF channel 20.
The station began operation in October
1997 as a WB affiliate. Originally billed as "WB20", it renamed itself as "East Tennessee's WB" in September
2003 as part of a nationwide rebranding push by The WB. During the 2001 and 2002 television seasons, it ran selected shows from the
UPN lineup on weekends, as there was no UPN station in the market at that time.
The station is owned and operated by
ACME Communications .
WBXX is consistently one of the highest-rated WB stations in the country, and has been recognized as such by the WB network.
On March 9, 2006, it was
announced that WBXX would affiliate with
The CW Television Network , as part of a group deal with the network and ACME Communications.
WBXX currently airs two news programs. ''10 News at 10'' is co-production with
WBIR , the Knoxville
NBC affiliate. While many stations air a 10pm newscast, ''10 News at 10'' differs from these in that it is only ten minutes long, featuring primarily the top stories of the day, and a local weather forecast. The station's late-night programming has accordingly been shifted 10 minutes later.
Weekday mornings, the station airs ''
The Daily Buzz '', a three-hour news/entertainment show syndicated by the station's parent company.
Beginning in
1998 , the station aired a series of interstitials called "WB20 Kids Club" (later "The Dubba Clubba"), hosted by Joe Cool, who presented information and contests to viewers in several vignettes each weekday, covering topics such as science, biology, conservation, music, and pet care. Joe Cool was played by comedian
Jackson Bailey . While popular with children, the program was a victim of its own success. Originally programmed as a way to fill time when the station was young and had available airtime inventory, rising ratings and increased demand from advertisers forced the producers to shorten the segments, and by
2003 the show was taken off the air due to a lack of available inventory.
