WVTV
Encyclopedia
WVTV is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
, USA and serves as Southeast Wisconsin's The CW Television Network
affiliate. The station broadcasts from the Milwaukee Public Television
tower on Milwaukee's northeast side with WMVS
/WMVT
, along with WCGV (Channel 24), WVTV's sister station
. WVTV's signal covers most of the market including the cities of Racine
, Kenosha
, Sheboygan
and Waukesha
. WVTV is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group
under the holding company
WCGV, Inc..
and DuMont networks. On October 21, 1954, CBS, then affiliated with WCAN-TV, purchased WOKY-TV for $335,000 and announced it was moving its affiliation there. The purchase resulted in a call letter change to WXIX (for 19 in Roman numerals
), effective on February 27, 1955. For four years, WXIX was the CBS O&O in Milwaukee, but struggled because of UHF's light penetration into homes at the time, though it did better than comparable UHF stations. The station shifted to its current Channel 18 position in 1958 in a Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) channel alignment change. Shortly afterwards, CBS began to look for a stronger VHF station affiliate, and in 1959 signed an affiliation deal with WITI Channel 6. WXIX went dark, but went back on the air on July 20, 1959 after being purchased by Gene Posner, the owner of Cream City Broadcasting and others. From this point on WXIX was an independent station
, and in 1963 changed its call letters to WUHF after another ownership change.
The WXIX calls now reside on Cincinnati
's Fox
affiliate Channel 19, with the WUHF
call letters now based on Rochester, New York
's Channel 31 (another Fox station), a sister Sinclair station to Channels 18 and 24.
programs such as cartoons, classic off network sitcoms, more recent sitcoms, drama shows, sports, and movies. Being a Gaylord station, the channel focused on programming geared towards a rural and suburban audiences of the station's outer ring of coverage, as opposed to the more urban fare presented by Milwaukee's other stations. Long-time staples on WVTV included Hee Haw
(which was produced by sister division Gaylord Entertainment), The Lawrence Welk Show
as well as syndicated reruns of Green Acres
and The Andy Griffith Show
. Andy Griffith remains an ever-unchanging part of the station's daytime lineup.
The station aired the CBS version of The Merv Griffin Show
after WISN-TV
rejected it, and after Griffin was cancelled by CBS, The Dick Cavett Show
which had been pre-empted by then ABC affiliate WITI. The station also aired The Tonight Show
from 1984
until 1988
, due to WTMJ
(Channel 4) being denied permission by NBC
to air the program at a later time so that they could air syndicated programs after their late news.
As cable
became more popular, WVTV's signal started to be carried on most cable systems in Wisconsin. This resulted in the station becoming Super 18 in 1987, with the tagline 'Wisconsin's Superstation'. WVTV was also the longtime home of the Milwaukee Brewers
, Milwaukee Bucks
, and area college sports teams. The station was carried on Green Bay
area cable systems until June 2007, when WWAZ (Channel 68) replaced it http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070702/GPG07/707020521/1273/GPGlife.
The station had a one-hour primetime newscast called The 9 O'Clock Nightly News starting in 1989
, which featured anchors Liz Talbot and Duane Gay. Previously the station aired news and weather in a capsule format of two-to-five-minute segments in between programming (example).
WVTV continued to be the leading independent station until Fox's
programming over on competitor WCGV (Channel 24) became popular. The station's ownership went into a state of flux after Gaylord decided to leave the television business (except for its stake in The Nashville Network
). By 1994 the station would agree to enter into a local marketing agreement
with WCGV, which was owned by Abry Broadcasting. The stations merged operations together into WVTV's studios at N. 35th St and Capitol Drive, and the newscast on WVTV was discontinued shortly thereafter. Duane Gay would then move on to WISN
(Channel 12), where he continued on as a reporter, even after being diagnosed with a vicious form of soft tissue cancer in 1997; Gay would continue to work for Channel 12 in any capacity he physically could, and spoke well of his time at WVTV until he died on April 26, 2005 http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=321952.
WVTV was originally supposed to be a charter The WB affiliate in January 1995. However, the New World/Fox affiliation deal
in 1994 (which included Milwaukee's WITI (Channel 6) shifted network affiliations in many markets, which included Dallas/Fort Worth
, where Gaylord owned then-independent KTVT
(Channel 11). Because New World's KDFW
(Channel 4) in that market shifted from CBS to Fox, Gaylord took the CBS affiliation for KTVT, then used that leverage to gain CBS affiliation for their Seattle
–Tacoma
station, KSTW
(Channel 11).
Though WVTV was relatively unaffected by all of these shuffles and didn't take the CBS affiliation for Milwaukee (which eventually went to then-small WDJT (Channel 58)), Warner Bros. decided to not honor affiliation deals for Gaylord stations, keeping WVTV an independent and forcing Milwaukee viewers to watch The WB on cable via Superstation WGN
, which was then carrying the network nationally on cable. At this time Channel 18 was airing more syndicated talk shows during the day, and aired first-run syndicated programming such as Xena: Warrior Princess
and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
in prime time under the branding VTV Prime.
In 1996, Gaylord would sell WVTV to Glencairn Ltd., which continued the local marketing agreement with WCGV. (Two years earlier, Glencairn's first purchase attempt of WVTV had fallen through.) Sinclair had become WCGV's owner as a result of a merger with Abry. Glencairn in turn was owned by a former executive of Sinclair; thus Channel 18 was by default in the control of Channel 24 and Sinclair.
was pushing for more national distribution beyond the Tribune
stations and Superstation WGN. After Sinclair made a large affiliation deal with The WB for stations throughout their chain, WVTV was finally able to carry the network near the start of 1998 and changed its identification to WB18.
WVTV finally became fully owned by Sinclair in 2000, after a long legal battle between Sinclair and Jesse Jackson
and his Rainbow/PUSH
coalition about the racial issues of one concern holding two broadcast licenses in a market, the thinking being that the Glencairn ownership was making an end-around as an arm of Sinclair, and used the LMA to gain control of the station. By this point however, the FCC had overturned these rules that had disallowed a duopoly
of stations in a market, and the sale to Sinclair did go through despite these objections.
The station resumed airing a newscast in August 2003 under the title of WB18 News at 9, a mix of local news from WVTV's facility, and Sinclair's News Central
programming from its Baltimore, Maryland studios, with the local segments on weeknights anchored by Lisa Fielding, and Tami Hughes usually doing weekends. The program was reduced to a half-hour in September 2005 due to ratings concerns, and was eventually discontinued on March 31, 2006 due to cutbacks in Sinclair's news operations companywide. Fielding currently anchors and reports at various times on Chicago
news radio
station WBBM-AM
(780), while Hughes is now on WITI as a general assignment reporter.
Though some rumors indicated Channel 18 would resume a newscast which would be produced by another station in the market, there has not been any interest by Milwaukee's Big Four network stations.
Sinclair announced on May 2, 2006 that WVTV would become The CW's Milwaukee affiliate upon the network's launch on September 18, 2006. Sister station WCGV affiliated with My Network TV two weeks before on September 5, creating one of five Sinclair-owned and/or controlled The CW/My Network TV duopolies in the country. WVTV continued to identify as WB 18 all through the summer, fully launching their new The CW branding officially as CW 18 on September 18, though the week before the station's logo bug
was changed to the CW18 logo with "premieres Monday" to the left side.
, a double run of The Cosby Show
, followed by second runs of The Steve Wilkos Show
, Jerry Springer
, and Maury
, then The CW Daytime
lineup, which features Dr. Drew's Lifechangers. The station's early-evening lineup consists of two episodes of Excused, then How I Met Your Mother
and 30 Rock
, which both also air after CW primetime, then two episodes of Two and a Half Men
.
After The CW's primetime lineup, and the afformentioned sitcoms above, The Office
, Friends
, Everybody Loves Raymond
and The New Adventures of Old Christine
are all double-ran into late night, with Entertainment Studios
programming and Comics Unleashed
airing later in the night to complete the station's broadcast day.
Varied sitcoms air through the weekends, along with several movies throughout Saturday and Sunday and Sinclair's Ring of Honor Wrestling promotion, along with a new locally produced horror film presentation with local continuity from "Makovan", Dead of Night Theater, on early Sunday mornings. The station carries the minimum amount of educational and informational
children's programming, as the Toonzai lineup features one hour of E/I shows, and the station airs various syndicated E/I programming weekday mornings at 7am.
Despite its long broadcasting history, WVTV has been one of The CW's weaker affiliates in terms of viewership in recent years. Sinclair has put more promotional effort into WCGV than WVTV as the former's affiliation with MyNetworkTV allows more experimentation with their schedule. Both stations have seen their talk-heavy daytime lineups struggle against the classic television programming of Weigel's WBME-TV, which is one of the flagships of the Me-TV network . However, WVTV is guaranteed to stay with the CW until August 2016 because of Sinclair's affiliation agreement with the network.
on WTMJ, WVTV aired two Green Bay Packers
preseason games against the San Francisco 49ers
and Denver Broncos
on August 16 & 22, respectively, a role previously taken by WPXE
(Channel 55) in the 2004 pre-season .
ing event which caused major damage in several parts of Milwaukee County. The studios of WVTV/WCGV are located a half-mile south of Lincoln Creek and thus the building and equipment within the building suffered major damage, forcing the two stations off the air for the majority of the time after 6pm on July 22 until early morning July 24, when the two stations came back online, though not originating locally, but having programming brought into their master control
via another unknown Sinclair master control. For both stations this resulted in most of the station's paid programming and other timeslots where the Sinclair facility did not have an episode of the series within the schedule replaced with reruns of Coach
and advertising replaced with direct response national advertising. Both stations eventually resumed local operations later in the week of July 25, but were on basic 480i
service featuring no digital on-screen bugs at all due to damage to the station's high definition broadcasting equipment for most of the following month. HD operations were restored on August 20, 2010.
On February 17, 2009, WVTV ended programming on their analog signal, switching to nightlight
mode, featuring a loop of a digital transition analog program and local DTV hotline numbers. This mode was discontinued on March 4, 2009 and there is now no analog broadcast. On June 12, 2009 at 9 a.m., WVTV remained on channel 18 when the analog to digital conversion was completed. As the station was the only operation in Milwaukee to not retain their pre-transition digital channel, the digital channel 18 transmitter and antenna have been continually going under tuning adjustments since June 12, 2009 to the present day to finesse the signal.
began carrying WVTV's digital signal on their southeastern Wisconsin systems on Channel 1018, along with WCGV on Channel 1024 (formerly 518/524 before an October 2009 channel remapping), after Sinclair and Time Warner came to a compensation agreement for the stations http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=625146. Charter Communications
, the other dominant cable provider in the area, came to a compensation agreement in April 2007, but the HD signal was not added until June 9, 2009, when the station began to air over Channel 618 on Charter's southeastern Wisconsin systems.
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, USA and serves as Southeast Wisconsin's The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
affiliate. The station broadcasts from the Milwaukee Public Television
Milwaukee Public Television
For information on Channels 10 and 36 individually, see WMVS and WMVTMilwaukee Public Television is the branding name for the alliance between two Milwaukee based Public Broadcasting Service public television affiliates: WMVS, Channel 10, and WMVT, Channel 36...
tower on Milwaukee's northeast side with WMVS
WMVS
WMVS is a public television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin, including the cities of Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan, and Waukesha....
/WMVT
WMVT
WMVT is a public television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin, including the cities of Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan, and Waukesha....
, along with WCGV (Channel 24), WVTV's sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
. WVTV's signal covers most of the market including the cities of Racine
Racine, Wisconsin
Racine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city had a population of 82,196...
, Kenosha
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Kenosha is a city and the county seat of Kenosha County in the State of Wisconsin in United States. With a population of 99,218 as of May 2011, Kenosha is the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Kenosha is also the fourth-largest city on the western shore of Lake Michigan, following Chicago,...
, Sheboygan
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
-Airport:Sheboygan is served by the Sheboygan County Memorial Airport, which is located several miles from the city.-Roads:Interstate 43 is the primary north-south transportation route into Sheboygan, and forms the west boundary of the city. U.S...
and Waukesha
Waukesha, Wisconsin
Waukesha is a city in and the county seat of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, in the Upper Midwest region of the United States. The population was 70,718 at the 2010 census, making it the largest community in the county and 7th largest in the state. The city is located adjacent to the Town of Waukesha...
. WVTV is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group
The Sinclair Broadcast Group is an American telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the United States. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it owns a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of...
under the holding company
Holding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...
WCGV, Inc..
Early years (1953–1965)
On October 3, 1953, the station went on the air as WOKY-TV on channel 19. The station was owned Bartell Broadcasters, Inc., and aired some programming from the ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
and DuMont networks. On October 21, 1954, CBS, then affiliated with WCAN-TV, purchased WOKY-TV for $335,000 and announced it was moving its affiliation there. The purchase resulted in a call letter change to WXIX (for 19 in Roman numerals
Roman numerals
The numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...
), effective on February 27, 1955. For four years, WXIX was the CBS O&O in Milwaukee, but struggled because of UHF's light penetration into homes at the time, though it did better than comparable UHF stations. The station shifted to its current Channel 18 position in 1958 in a Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) channel alignment change. Shortly afterwards, CBS began to look for a stronger VHF station affiliate, and in 1959 signed an affiliation deal with WITI Channel 6. WXIX went dark, but went back on the air on July 20, 1959 after being purchased by Gene Posner, the owner of Cream City Broadcasting and others. From this point on WXIX was an independent station
Independent station
An independent station is in the category of television terminology used to describe a television station broadcasting in the United States or Canada that is not affiliated with any television network....
, and in 1963 changed its call letters to WUHF after another ownership change.
The WXIX calls now reside on Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
's Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
affiliate Channel 19, with the WUHF
WUHF
WUHF is the Fox-affiliated television station for Rochester, New York. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 28 from a transmitter on Pinnacle Hill on the border between Rochester and Brighton. The station can also be seen on Time Warner channel 7 and in high definition on...
call letters now based on Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
's Channel 31 (another Fox station), a sister Sinclair station to Channels 18 and 24.
Independent era (1966–1998)
Gaylord Broadcasting bought the station in 1966, and changed its call letters to WVTV. This started Channel 18 on its path to become one of the most popular independent stations in the country, with strong local programming such as The Bowling Game (which would eventually be syndicated across the Midwest), along with a strong slate of syndicatedTelevision syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programs such as cartoons, classic off network sitcoms, more recent sitcoms, drama shows, sports, and movies. Being a Gaylord station, the channel focused on programming geared towards a rural and suburban audiences of the station's outer ring of coverage, as opposed to the more urban fare presented by Milwaukee's other stations. Long-time staples on WVTV included Hee Haw
Hee Haw
Hee Haw is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 20-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being...
(which was produced by sister division Gaylord Entertainment), The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...
as well as syndicated reruns of Green Acres
Green Acres
Green Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...
and The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
. Andy Griffith remains an ever-unchanging part of the station's daytime lineup.
The station aired the CBS version of The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to September 26, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in...
after WISN-TV
WISN-TV
WISN-TV, virtual channel 12.1 , is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin serving as an affiliate of the ABC television network. Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin and parts of northeastern Illinois, including Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan and Waukesha...
rejected it, and after Griffin was cancelled by CBS, The Dick Cavett Show
The Dick Cavett Show
The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including:* ABC daytime ...
which had been pre-empted by then ABC affiliate WITI. The station also aired The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
from 1984
1984 in television
This article is a list of television-related events in 1984.-Events:*January 9 – Wendy's "Fluffy Bun" ad first airs, which propels Clara Peller and her "Where's the beef?" catchphrase to national prominence....
until 1988
1988 in television
The year 1988 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1988.For the American TV schedule, see: 1988-89 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:...
, due to WTMJ
WTMJ-TV
WTMJ-TV, digital channel 28 ; branded as "Today's TMJ4", is the NBC-affiliated television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the flagship station of the Journal Broadcast Group. Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin and parts of northeastern Illinois, including Racine, Kenosha,...
(Channel 4) being denied permission by NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
to air the program at a later time so that they could air syndicated programs after their late news.
As cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
became more popular, WVTV's signal started to be carried on most cable systems in Wisconsin. This resulted in the station becoming Super 18 in 1987, with the tagline 'Wisconsin's Superstation'. WVTV was also the longtime home of the Milwaukee Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
, Milwaukee Bucks
Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks are a professional basketball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. They are part of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1968 as an expansion team, and currently plays at the Bradley Center....
, and area college sports teams. The station was carried on Green Bay
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
area cable systems until June 2007, when WWAZ (Channel 68) replaced it http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070702/GPG07/707020521/1273/GPGlife.
The station had a one-hour primetime newscast called The 9 O'Clock Nightly News starting in 1989
1989 in television
For the American TV schedule, see: 1989–90 United States network television schedule.The year 1989 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1989.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...
, which featured anchors Liz Talbot and Duane Gay. Previously the station aired news and weather in a capsule format of two-to-five-minute segments in between programming (example).
WVTV continued to be the leading independent station until Fox's
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
programming over on competitor WCGV (Channel 24) became popular. The station's ownership went into a state of flux after Gaylord decided to leave the television business (except for its stake in The Nashville Network
Spike TV
Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...
). By 1994 the station would agree to enter into a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
with WCGV, which was owned by Abry Broadcasting. The stations merged operations together into WVTV's studios at N. 35th St and Capitol Drive, and the newscast on WVTV was discontinued shortly thereafter. Duane Gay would then move on to WISN
WISN-TV
WISN-TV, virtual channel 12.1 , is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin serving as an affiliate of the ABC television network. Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin and parts of northeastern Illinois, including Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan and Waukesha...
(Channel 12), where he continued on as a reporter, even after being diagnosed with a vicious form of soft tissue cancer in 1997; Gay would continue to work for Channel 12 in any capacity he physically could, and spoke well of his time at WVTV until he died on April 26, 2005 http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=321952.
WVTV was originally supposed to be a charter The WB affiliate in January 1995. However, the New World/Fox affiliation deal
Fox affiliate switches of 1994
The United States television network affiliate switches of 1994 were a series of events resulting from a multi-million dollar deal between Fox Broadcasting Company, known commonly as Fox, and New World Communications, an owner of several VHF television stations affiliated with major networks,...
in 1994 (which included Milwaukee's WITI (Channel 6) shifted network affiliations in many markets, which included Dallas/Fort Worth
Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex
The Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area, a title designated by the U.S. Census as of 2003, encompasses 12 counties within the U.S. state of Texas. The area is divided into two metropolitan divisions: Dallas–Plano–Irving and Fort Worth–Arlington. Residents of the area...
, where Gaylord owned then-independent KTVT
KTVT
KTVT, virtual channel 11, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, and serving the Dallas-Fort Worth designated market area. The station is co-owned with independent station KTXA , and the two stations share facilities in Dallas and Fort Worth...
(Channel 11). Because New World's KDFW
KDFW
KDFW, virtual channel 4 , is the Fox owned-and-operated television station in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex designated market area....
(Channel 4) in that market shifted from CBS to Fox, Gaylord took the CBS affiliation for KTVT, then used that leverage to gain CBS affiliation for their Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
–Tacoma
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
station, KSTW
KSTW
KSTW is a television station serving the Seattle, Washington media market. It is owned by CBS Corporation, and is a part of The CW Television Network. It broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 11...
(Channel 11).
Though WVTV was relatively unaffected by all of these shuffles and didn't take the CBS affiliation for Milwaukee (which eventually went to then-small WDJT (Channel 58)), Warner Bros. decided to not honor affiliation deals for Gaylord stations, keeping WVTV an independent and forcing Milwaukee viewers to watch The WB on cable via Superstation WGN
Superstation WGN
WGN America is a Chicago-based American superstation feed of WGN-TV, owned by Tribune Broadcasting. WGN America offers its national programming across North America without the CW network programming and most syndicated programs that are carried on the Chicago area feed...
, which was then carrying the network nationally on cable. At this time Channel 18 was airing more syndicated talk shows during the day, and aired first-run syndicated programming such as Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess is an American–New Zealand supernatural fantasy adventure series that aired in syndication from September 4, 1995 until June 18, 2001....
and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is a television series, filmed in New Zealand and the United States. It was produced from 1995, and was very loosely based on the tales of the classical Greek culture hero Heracles...
in prime time under the branding VTV Prime.
In 1996, Gaylord would sell WVTV to Glencairn Ltd., which continued the local marketing agreement with WCGV. (Two years earlier, Glencairn's first purchase attempt of WVTV had fallen through.) Sinclair had become WCGV's owner as a result of a merger with Abry. Glencairn in turn was owned by a former executive of Sinclair; thus Channel 18 was by default in the control of Channel 24 and Sinclair.
The WB (1997–2006)
WVTV continued to be an independent station until late in 1997, when The WBThe WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
was pushing for more national distribution beyond the Tribune
Tribune Company
The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...
stations and Superstation WGN. After Sinclair made a large affiliation deal with The WB for stations throughout their chain, WVTV was finally able to carry the network near the start of 1998 and changed its identification to WB18.
WVTV finally became fully owned by Sinclair in 2000, after a long legal battle between Sinclair and Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
and his Rainbow/PUSH
Rainbow/PUSH
Rainbow/PUSH is a non-profit organization formed as a merger of two non-profit organizations — Operation PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition — founded by Jesse Jackson. The organizations pursue social justice, civil rights and political activism.In December 1971, Jackson resigned from...
coalition about the racial issues of one concern holding two broadcast licenses in a market, the thinking being that the Glencairn ownership was making an end-around as an arm of Sinclair, and used the LMA to gain control of the station. By this point however, the FCC had overturned these rules that had disallowed a duopoly
Duopoly (broadcasting)
In United States broadcast television and radio, duopoly is a term used to describe a single company which owns two or more stations in the same city or community....
of stations in a market, and the sale to Sinclair did go through despite these objections.
The station resumed airing a newscast in August 2003 under the title of WB18 News at 9, a mix of local news from WVTV's facility, and Sinclair's News Central
News Central
News Central was a primetime newscast on Sinclair television stations in the United States, mixing locally produced news with nationally produced news and an opinion segment from Sinclair's Hunt Valley, Maryland studios...
programming from its Baltimore, Maryland studios, with the local segments on weeknights anchored by Lisa Fielding, and Tami Hughes usually doing weekends. The program was reduced to a half-hour in September 2005 due to ratings concerns, and was eventually discontinued on March 31, 2006 due to cutbacks in Sinclair's news operations companywide. Fielding currently anchors and reports at various times on Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
news radio
News Radio
News Radio can refer to:* NewsRadio, the NBC sitcom which aired from 1995–1999.* News radio, the all-news or news/talk radio format....
station WBBM-AM
WBBM (AM)
WBBM is an all-news CBS radio station in Chicago, Illinois broadcasting on the AM dial at 780 kHz. It is owned by CBS along with WBBM-TV....
(780), while Hughes is now on WITI as a general assignment reporter.
Though some rumors indicated Channel 18 would resume a newscast which would be produced by another station in the market, there has not been any interest by Milwaukee's Big Four network stations.
Sinclair announced on May 2, 2006 that WVTV would become The CW's Milwaukee affiliate upon the network's launch on September 18, 2006. Sister station WCGV affiliated with My Network TV two weeks before on September 5, creating one of five Sinclair-owned and/or controlled The CW/My Network TV duopolies in the country. WVTV continued to identify as WB 18 all through the summer, fully launching their new The CW branding officially as CW 18 on September 18, though the week before the station's logo bug
Digital on-screen graphic
A digital on-screen graphic is a watermark-like station logo that many television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen-area of their programs to identify the channel...
was changed to the CW18 logo with "premieres Monday" to the left side.
The CW (2006–current)
WVTV's current schedule consists of all The CW programming airing in pattern, as the station currently carries no sports programming. During the morning the station runs some paid religious programming and The 700 ClubThe 700 Club
The 700 Club is the flagship news talk show of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing in syndication throughout the United States and Canada. In production since 1966, it is currently hosted by Pat Robertson, Terry Meeuwsen, Kristi Watts, and Gordon P. Robertson, two of whom will host on any...
, a double run of The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
, followed by second runs of The Steve Wilkos Show
The Steve Wilkos Show
The Steve Wilkos Show is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Steve Wilkos. The show debuted on September 10, 2007, two months after Wilkos' departure as director of security on The Jerry Springer Show.-History:...
, Jerry Springer
The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show is a syndicated television tabloid talk show hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician, broadcast in the United States and other countries...
, and Maury
Maury (TV series)
Maury is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Maury Povich.When the series first aired in 1991, the show was called The Maury Povich Show and was produced by MoPo Productions in association with Paramount Domestic Television...
, then The CW Daytime
The CW Daytime
The CW Daytime is an afternoon programming block broadcast by The CW Television Network. It was formerly known as Daytime WB, which aired on the defunct The WB Television Network.-History:...
lineup, which features Dr. Drew's Lifechangers. The station's early-evening lineup consists of two episodes of Excused, then How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
and 30 Rock
30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
, which both also air after CW primetime, then two episodes of Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...
.
After The CW's primetime lineup, and the afformentioned sitcoms above, The Office
The Office
The Office is a popular mockumentary/situation comedy TV show that was first made in the UK and has now been re-made in many other countries, with overall viewership in the hundreds of millions worldwide. The original version of The Office was created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. It...
, Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, Everybody Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond is an American television sitcom that originally ran on CBS from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005. Many of the situations from the show are based on the real-life experiences of lead actor Ray Romano, creator/producer Phil Rosenthal and the show's writing staff...
and The New Adventures of Old Christine
The New Adventures of Old Christine
The New Adventures of Old Christine is an American comedy series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus which ran for five seasons on CBS from March 13, 2006, to May 12, 2010...
are all double-ran into late night, with Entertainment Studios
Entertainment Studios
Entertainers with Byron Allen is a television magazine interview series hosted by Byron Allen which usually airs in low-profile weekend timeslots in syndication, such as early afternoons against competing sports events on other stations a television station knows they will not compete well...
programming and Comics Unleashed
Comics Unleashed
Comics Unleashed is a half-hour comedic talk show produced by the Entertainment Studios production company and hosted by Byron Allen, with John Cramer as announcer and ' providing music support. The show features a panel of four guest comedians performing their standup bits thinly disguised as a...
airing later in the night to complete the station's broadcast day.
Varied sitcoms air through the weekends, along with several movies throughout Saturday and Sunday and Sinclair's Ring of Honor Wrestling promotion, along with a new locally produced horror film presentation with local continuity from "Makovan", Dead of Night Theater, on early Sunday mornings. The station carries the minimum amount of educational and informational
E/I
E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...
children's programming, as the Toonzai lineup features one hour of E/I shows, and the station airs various syndicated E/I programming weekday mornings at 7am.
Despite its long broadcasting history, WVTV has been one of The CW's weaker affiliates in terms of viewership in recent years. Sinclair has put more promotional effort into WCGV than WVTV as the former's affiliation with MyNetworkTV allows more experimentation with their schedule. Both stations have seen their talk-heavy daytime lineups struggle against the classic television programming of Weigel's WBME-TV, which is one of the flagships of the Me-TV network . However, WVTV is guaranteed to stay with the CW until August 2016 because of Sinclair's affiliation agreement with the network.
2008 Packers preseason games
Because of non-pre-emptable coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
on WTMJ, WVTV aired two Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
preseason games against the San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...
and Denver Broncos
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
on August 16 & 22, respectively, a role previously taken by WPXE
WPXE
WPXE-TV, digital channel 40, is the Ion Television O&O station for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with the city of license thirty miles south in Kenosha. However, the digital transmitter is situated within the traditional tower farm site on Milwaukee's northeast side with the antenna located on the...
(Channel 55) in the 2004 pre-season .
July 2010 flooding incident
On July 22, 2010 the Milwaukee area experienced a major flash floodFlash flood
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of geomorphic low-lying areas—washes, rivers, dry lakes and basins. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a storm, hurricane, or tropical storm or meltwater from ice or snow flowing over ice sheets or snowfields...
ing event which caused major damage in several parts of Milwaukee County. The studios of WVTV/WCGV are located a half-mile south of Lincoln Creek and thus the building and equipment within the building suffered major damage, forcing the two stations off the air for the majority of the time after 6pm on July 22 until early morning July 24, when the two stations came back online, though not originating locally, but having programming brought into their master control
Master control
Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room in television studios where the activities such as switching from camera to camera are coordinated...
via another unknown Sinclair master control. For both stations this resulted in most of the station's paid programming and other timeslots where the Sinclair facility did not have an episode of the series within the schedule replaced with reruns of Coach
Coach (TV series)
Coach is an American television sitcom that aired for nine seasons on ABC from 1989 to 1997. The series starred Craig T. Nelson as Hayden Fox, head coach of the fictional Division I-A college football team, the Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles...
and advertising replaced with direct response national advertising. Both stations eventually resumed local operations later in the week of July 25, but were on basic 480i
480i
480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC...
service featuring no digital on-screen bugs at all due to damage to the station's high definition broadcasting equipment for most of the following month. HD operations were restored on August 20, 2010.
Digital television
| Channel | Video | Aspect Aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,... |
Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18.1 | 1080i 1080i 1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels... |
16:9 16:9 16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ... |
WVTV-DT | Main WVTV programming / The CW |
On February 17, 2009, WVTV ended programming on their analog signal, switching to nightlight
Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act
The Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act, or SAFER Act, is a U.S. law to require the Federal Communications Commission to allow the continuation of full-power analog TV transmissions in 2009 for 30 more days, for the purpose of broadcasting public service announcements regarding the...
mode, featuring a loop of a digital transition analog program and local DTV hotline numbers. This mode was discontinued on March 4, 2009 and there is now no analog broadcast. On June 12, 2009 at 9 a.m., WVTV remained on channel 18 when the analog to digital conversion was completed. As the station was the only operation in Milwaukee to not retain their pre-transition digital channel, the digital channel 18 transmitter and antenna have been continually going under tuning adjustments since June 12, 2009 to the present day to finesse the signal.
Cable carriage of digital signal
On June 28, 2007, Time Warner CableTime Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
began carrying WVTV's digital signal on their southeastern Wisconsin systems on Channel 1018, along with WCGV on Channel 1024 (formerly 518/524 before an October 2009 channel remapping), after Sinclair and Time Warner came to a compensation agreement for the stations http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=625146. Charter Communications
Charter Communications
Charter Communications is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 4.7 million customers in 25 states. By revenues, it is the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, behind Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications...
, the other dominant cable provider in the area, came to a compensation agreement in April 2007, but the HD signal was not added until June 9, 2009, when the station began to air over Channel 618 on Charter's southeastern Wisconsin systems.