WWHO

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WWHO
Chillicothe / Columbus, Ohio
Branding	WWHOTV The CW
Slogan	Free To Be!
Channels	53 (UHF) analog, 46 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	The CW
Owner	LIN Television
Founded	September 7, 1987
Call letters meaning	WWOHiO
Former callsigns	WWAT (1987-1993)
Former affiliations	Independent (1987-1995), UPN (1997-2006), The WB (1995-2006, secondary since 1997)
Transmitter Power	5,000 kW Analog 1,000 kW Digital
Website	www.wwhotv.com

WWHO is the Columbus, Ohio television affiliate for The CW television network. The station is licensed to Chillicothe, Ohio, though it operates out of a facility in Columbus with its transmitter located just south of the city. WWHO is owned and operated by the LIN Television Corporation.

WWHO broadcasts at 5,000,000 watts, the maximum allowed by the Federal Communications Commission covering Columbus and areas south. WWHO-DT (WWHO's digital signal) operates on channel 46.

Contents 1 History 2 Logos 3 Programming 4 Newscast 5 External links

[edit] History

WWHO began operating on September 7, 1987 as independent station WWAT, named after its owner, Wendell A. Triplet. It was the first general-entertainment independent station in Columbus since WTTE joined Fox a year earlier. At this time WWAT's primary transmitter was based in Chillicothe; a small repeater signal was carried in the Columbus market on channel 17. The call letters WWHO (and the nickname "Who-53") were adopted in 1993 after the station built a new transmitter near Columbus. At the same time, the station was added to many cable providers in the Columbus market.

The station operated as an independent station for a number of years until the launch of the The WB television network on January 11, 1995. Then owned by Fant Broadcasting and under a Local marketing agreement with former NBC-owned and operated WCMH-TV (which NBC acquired in a merger with the Outlet Company in 1995), WWHO (then "WB 53") remained a WB affiliate until the Paramount Stations Group (a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures, whose parent company is Viacom) agreed to acquire the station in 1997, along with sister station WLWC in Providence and sell Hartford's NBC affiliate WVIT to NBC in return. At that time the station became a secondary UPN affiliate. Not long after, WWHO became a primary UPN affiliate (as "UPN 53" initially, then identifying as "UPN Columbus," without a channel number) and began cutting back on its WB programming. Prior to that, UPN had been secondary on Fox affiliate WTTE. On February 10, 2005, it was announced that the Viacom Television Stations Group (the successor to the Paramount Stations Group as a result of Viacom merging with CBS in 1999) was selling WWHO and WNDY-TV (in the Indianapolis market) to the LIN Television Corporation for $85 million.

WCMH once produced a 10 p.m. newscast for WWHO. On February 10, 2005, LIN Television announced its intention to bring 10 p.m. news back to WWHO. This half-hour newscast, which is produced by WBNS-TV, debuted on September 1, 2005, with a rebranding of the station as "UPN 53."

When UPN and The WB merge to form The CW Television Network in 2006, WWHO was the obvious choice as the Columbus affiliate for the new network. It already carried WB and UPN programming. More importantly, the only other viable candidate was WSFJ-TV, a religious-oriented station that would have likely preempted much of The CW's racier programming. (The only other station in the market, WGCT-CA, broadcasts at only 83 watts and barely covers Columbus itself.) UPN had previously affiliated with religious station KNLC in St. Louis in 1997, but yanked the affiliation in 1999 due to numerous preemptions. For similar reasons, The WB yanked its affiliation from its original outlet in Louisville, WBNA, in 1999. It was not likely that the new network would want a repeat of this experience in Columbus.

Although LIN had some hesitancy about the CW's business model, the two companies made it official on April 16, 2006. [1] This will make WWHO the largest CW affiliate owned by LIN Television .

Before WWHO was announced as a CW affiliate, there was a chance that the station might become an affiliate of My Network TV. However, this option ended when LIN TV announced its affiliation deal with My Network TV, and WWHO was not on the list. It was rumored that WTTE might have picked up My Network TV as a secondary affiliation. However, this possible secondary affiliation will not happen as WSYX-TV, the area's ABC affiliate (and sister station to WTTE), will feature programming from My Network TV on a digital subchannel starting in September.

On July 31 the station rebranded with a new logo and slogan, "The CW on WWHO TV."

[edit] Logos

In 1993, WWHO was known as WWAT.

The 2002 logo with UPN logo change.

The logo used for WWHO after it was sold to LIN.

WWHO's new logo reflecting the anticipation of The CW Television Network.

[edit] Programming

• The People's Court
• Divorce Court
• Judge Hatchett
• Inside Edition

In addition to UPN and WB network programming, WWHO previously aired the nationally syndicated morning news program "The Daily Buzz". The station dropped the program in mid-summer 2005, following disputes with the program's syndicator.

[edit] Newscast

10 tv Eyewitness News @10 on The CW on WWHO tv

• Sunday-Saturday 10-10:30 pm

[edit] External links

• WWHO TV
• LIN Television Corporation
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WWHO
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information about Television Station WWHO

Broadcast television in the Columbus market  (Nielsen DMA #32)
WCMH 4 (NBC) - WSYX 6 (ABC - MNTV on DT2) - WGCT 8 (IND) - WBNS 10 (CBS) - WDEM-LP 17 (AS) - WCLL-CA 19 (Daystar) - WOUB 20 / WOUC 44 (PBS) - WBKA-CA 22 (A1) - W23BZ 23 (TBN) - WTTE 28 (Fox - The Tube on DT2) - WCSN-LP 32 (i) - WOSU 34 (PBS) - WXCB-CA 42 (TBN) - WSFJ 51 (i) - WWHO 53 (The CW)