WJXX first went on the air on June 25, 1997 owned by Allbritton Communications. It was the first station in the country designed for digital television, a medium which was then fairly new. The station was initially slated to be an independent, but just before it signed on, Allbritton signed a long-term affiliation deal with ABC. As a result, WJXX took the affiliation from longtime affiliate WJKS. That station then became a WB affiliate and changed its callsign to WJWB (it is now WCWJ). On May 21, 2008, as expected, First Coast News debuted its new website.