WCLJ-TV

TV station in Bloomington, Indiana

WCLJ TV (channel 42) is a television station licensed to Bloomington, Indiana, United States, serving the Indianapolis area as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Scripps News. It is owned by Inyo Broadcast Holdings alongside Ion Television affiliate WIPX TV (channel 63, also licensed to Bloomington). WCLJ TV and WIPX TV share offices on Production Drive (near I 74/I 465) in southwestern Indianapolis; through a channel sharing agreement, the two stations transmit using WIPX TV's spectrum from an antenna on SR 252 in Trafalgar, Indiana.

The station was built by the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and first signed on the air on August 27, 1987. TBN entered into an agreement with Ion Media Networks on November 14, 2017, which gave Ion the option to acquire the licenses of WCLJ TV and three other TBN stations that had sold their spectrum in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s incentive auction. Ion exercised the option on May 24, 2018. The sale was completed on September 25, 2018, creating a duopoly with existing Ion Television station WIPX TV. Ion immediately moved Ion Life (later Ion Plus) to the station in order to provide the network with full market coverage equivalent to that of WIPX DT1. On February 27, 2021, the date Ion Plus ceased broadcasting, WCLJ switched to Bounce TV, sharing the affiliation with WNDY DT2. On May 5, 2024, WCLJ switched from Bounce to sister network Scripps News, with Bounce moving to sister station WIPX DT3.

+Subchannel of WCLJ TV Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming 42.1 720p 16:9 SCRIPPS Scripps News

On June 1, 2015, JUCE and Smile of a Child were consolidated into a single network on the third subchannel to accommodate the addition of a new network, TBN Salsa, on the fifth subchannel where Smile of a Child used to reside. As a result of the change, children's programming that previously aired on Smile of a Child was carried on 42.3 from 7 a. m. to 7 p. m. On April 1, 2018, the channel switched off its non shared signal, leaving it to air only on its new frequency shared with WIPX TV.

WCLJ TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 42, on February 17, 2009, earlier than the June 12, 2009, official date on which full power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre transition UHF channel 56, which was among the high band UHF channels (52 69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to its analog era frequency, UHF channel 42.