 | |
| |
|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Branding | CW 23 |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WIVB-TV | |
| History | |
First air date | May 13, 1987 (38 years ago) (1987-05-13) |
Former call signs | WNEQ-TV (1987–2001) |
Former channel numbers |
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| |
Call sign meaning | Western New York, Buffalo |
| Technical information[3] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 71905 |
| ERP | 800 kW |
| HAAT | 415 m (1,362 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 42°39′33″N78°37′32″W / 42.65917°N 78.62556°W /42.65917; -78.62556 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WNLO (channel 23) is atelevision station inBuffalo, New York, United States, serving as the local outlet forThe CW. It isowned and operated by network majority ownerNexstar Media Group alongsideCBS affiliateWIVB-TV (channel 4). WNLO and WIVB-TV share studios on Elmwood Avenue inNorth Buffalo; through achannel sharing agreement, the two stations transmit using WNLO's spectrum from atower inColden, New York.
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The station signed on the air as WNEQ-TV on May 13, 1987, and was the secondpublic television outlet serving the Buffalomarket. It was operated under aneducational license and was sister station toWNED-TV (channel 17), which had a commercial license but operated as an educational station (WNED-TV operated on channel 17 because of the donation of equipment to it byWBUF-TV, a defunct commercial station). The analog UHF channel 23 allocation was originally intended to be part of a plan for a statewide public television network (the concept of which would much later becomeThinkBright) that would have seen a signature tower housing transmitters for channel 23 as well asWBFO (88.7 FM) on theUniversity at Buffalo'sAmherst Campus. Studios were to be located there as well during development of the futuristic "New U.B." complex in the 1970s. Budget constraints curbed the plan and years of tension between the university and WNED-TV board members ended allowing the station to go forward with its plans for the UHF channel.
WNEQ-TV's broadcast day began daily at 4 p.m. and it usually aired between six and seven hours of programming per day. In 1992, many cable providers inHamilton andNiagara began carrying WNEQ-TV, displacing long-standingWQLN fromErie, Pennsylvania, in the process. In fall 1998, most of the cable providers in those regions started to remove WNEQ as they were struggling with limited channel capacity and because it had a limited daily program schedule. One year later,Rogers Cable began carrying WNEQ on its digital tier for customers in theGreater Toronto Area.
The Buffalo market was unable to support two public stations, and both WNEQ-TV and WNED-TV struggled financially. As a result, the educational foundation put WNEQ-TV up for sale.LIN TV (owner of CBS affiliate WIVB-TV) wanted to buy WNEQ-TV and run it as a commercial station. However, that was problematic because WNEQ-TV was operating under an educational license. One solution was for LIN to instead purchase channel 17 (which already had a commercial license), resulting in channel 23 becoming the area's primary PBS station (and presumably inheriting the WNED-TV call sign). This solution was also rejected, since UHF channel 17 had long been established as a PBS station and a move to channel 23 might cause confusion among viewers, potentially reducing the amount of donations that the viewer-supported station would receive.
In 2000, theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) agreed to reassign channel 23 to a commercial license and assigned channel 17 an educational license. Consequently, the Buffalo market retained an educational-licensed station and LIN TV was permitted to purchase the converted-to-commercial WNEQ-TV.
In March 2001, LIN closed on its purchase of WNEQ-TV and converted it to a general entertainmentindependent station under the call sign WNLO, though it would not merge its transmitter facilities with new sister station WIVB until 2019, instead continuing to transmit from the WNED tower. In 2003, WNLO secured theUPN affiliation for the Buffalo market when the network's affiliation agreement with the weaker-rated WNGS (channel 67, nowWBBZ-TV) expired. On cable in Toronto, WNLO was replaced withWTVS fromDetroit in January 2001 when it relaunched as a commercial station. In 2005, Rogers submitted a successful request to theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to allow carriage of WNLO inOntario. The station would not compete on advertising revenue from the Toronto area (as Rogers suggested with another Buffalo station it carried,WNYO-TV) and the signal was also available over-the-air in a good portion of theGolden Horseshoe ofSouthern Ontario.
On January 24, 2006,CBS Corporation andTime Warner announced the shutdown of both UPN andThe WB effective that fall. In place of these two networks, a new "fifth" network—"The CW" (its name representing the first initials of parent companiesCBS andWarner), jointly owned by both companies, would launch, with a lineup primarily featuring the most popular programs from both networks.[4][5][6] On February 22,News Corporation announced it would start up another new network calledMyNetworkTV.[7][8] This new service, which would be a sister network toFox, would be operated byFox Television Stations and its syndication divisionTwentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations that were not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates another option besides becoming an independent station, as well as to compete against The CW. In April, WNLO removed the UPN branding from its station logo following the lead of News Corporation's UPN affiliates. MyNetworkTV launched on September 5 onSinclair Broadcast Group-owned WNYO-TV (channel 49), while WNLO became part of The CW upon its launch on September 18, 2006.
On November 2 of that year, WNLO began broadcasting CW network programming in high definition on its digital signal. Until this point, it was rebroadcasting WIVB-TV'shigh definition feed, because UPN had little to no HD programming to broadcast. On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced the company was exploring strategic alternatives that could have resulted in its sale. In early July 2007, WNLO launched its own website; previously, the station's web page was merely a separate section within WIVB-TV's website.
On March 10, 2010, the station acquired a universal cable channel slot on Time Warner Cable systems throughoutWestern New York after years of being on different channels throughout the provider's service area. The station moved to channel 11 because Time Warner Cable ended a reserve for former channel 11 slot holder WNGS, which had been off the air for several months.[9] Most cable providers had previously placed WNLO on channel 9, which had to be cleared for the move of TWC's in-house cable-only news channelYNN Buffalo from cable channel 14, which had not been available to all of its subscribers.
On March 21, 2014, it was announced thatMedia General would acquire LIN.[10] The merger was completed on December 19, bringing WIVB-TV and WNLO under common ownership withABC affiliateWTEN and under the same management as Fox affiliateWXXA-TV, both inAlbany.[11]
On January 27, 2016, Media General announced that it had entered into a definite agreement to be acquired byNexstar Broadcasting Group. The combined company is now known as "Nexstar Media Group," and owns 171 stations (including WIVB and WNLO).[12][13]
WNLO can be considered an alternate CBS affiliate as it simulcasts theCBS Overnight News and theCBS Morning News from WIVB-TV. The station is also responsible for airing CBS programs when WIVB-TV is unable or otherwise chooses not to air a program due to local orsyndicated programming commitments.
In 2015, WNLO acquiredRaycom Sports'sACC Network package ofcollege football and men'sbasketball broadcasts from theAtlantic Coast Conference. The ACC package had previously aired on WBBZ-TV for the previous two seasons.
In April 2019, WNLO announced the acquisition of a package ofBuffalo BisonsMinor League Baseball games, mostly on Saturday nights, once approximately every two weeks.[14] WNLO also holds broadcast rights to theBuffalo Bandits lacrosse team, whose games are among the station's most-watched programs.[15]
After WIVB-TV took over operations of WNLO in March 2001, the CBS affiliate began producing a nightly half-hour prime time newscast on channel 23. Known asThe 10 O'Clock News, it competed with another newscast in the timeslot on Pax affiliate WPXJ-TV that was produced byNBC affiliateWGRZ (channel 2; it was eventually dropped in 2003). On April 20, 2006, WGRZ started producing a half-hour prime time newscast for The WB (now MyNetworkTV) affiliate WNYO-TV (WNYO-TV briefly had its ownNews Central-based newscast from 2005 to 2006). In order to gain more viewers than WNLO, the second WGRZ 10 p.m. newscast originally featured ten minutes of news and weather, with the rest of the half-hour dedicated to sports. However, due to low ratings, the sports segment was reduced to a traditional segment seen after weather.
WNLO consistently led WNYO-TV in the ratings, for a number of reasons. By May 2011, it was the highest-rated late newscast (10 or 11 p.m.) in all of Western New York among viewers 18 to 54, beating all of the market's 11 p.m. newscasts; among total viewers, it trails WGRZ and sister station WIVB-TV.[16] On February 2, 2009, WNLO began airing a two-hour extension of WIVB-TV's weekday morning newscast. Known asWake Up! on CW 23, it aired from 7 to 9 a.m., and competed against WIVB-TV's broadcast ofThe Early Show. The station aired its own locally produced morning talk show,Winging It! Buffalo Style during the 8 a.m. hour, which upon its debut, reduced WNLO'sWake Up! newscast to one hour. The station also rebroadcasts WIVB-TV's hour-long weekend morning newscast,Weekend Wake Up!, from noon to 1 p.m., and simulcasts that station's hour-long 6 p.m. newscast on Sunday nights.
On February 1, 2012, WIVB-TV became the third and last television station in the Buffalo market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition; the newscasts that WIVB-TV produces for WNLO were included in the upgrade. On January 6, 2014, WIVB-TV expanded the 10 p.m. weeknight newscast on WNLO to one hour (the move was originally planned to maintain a lead-in forThe Arsenio Hall Show, which the station had planned to air at 10:30 but could not get the syndicator to distribute until 11 p.m.; that show would be canceled in May, while the newscast remains at its full length). The newscast remains a half-hour on weekends. In either 2013 or 2014, the WNLO portion ofWake-Up! expanded to 2 hours, once again from 7 to 9 a.m., movingWinging It! Buffalo Style to 9 a.m.;Winging It! was canceled effective January 2015.[17]
In December 2017, WIVB announced that it would begin producing a half-hour early evening newscast at 6:30 p.m. for WNLO which premiered on January 15, 2018, serving as a local alternative to the national network evening news programs seen on WGRZ,WKBW-TV and WIVB.[18]
| License | Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WNLO | 23.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WNLO-HD | The CW |
| 23.2 | 480i | Rewind | Rewind TV | ||
| WIVB-TV | 4.1 | 1080i | WIVB-HD | CBS | |
| 4.2 | 480i | QVC | QVC | ||
| 49.4 | 480i | 16:9 | GetTV | GetTV (WNYO-TV) |
In June 2013, WNLO announced it would begin carryingBounce TV, an African American-oriented television network, on its seconddigital subchannel; the network began to be carried on channel 23.2 on July 1.[20]
WNLO discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, overUHF channel 23, at 9 a.m. on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 32,[21] usingvirtual channel 23. The UHF channel 23 allotment formerly allocated to WNLO for its analog signal is now used for the digital signal ofIon Television affiliateWPXJ-TV (virtual channel 51).
WIVB began to share WNLO's physical channel in summer 2018 after Nexstar sold WIVB's existing spectrum in the FCC transition auction, moving to the WNLO/WNED tower temporarily. In the summer of 2019, WNLO/WIVB shifted to its post-transition channel, and began to transmit from theWIVB-TV Tower in Colden, and merged the two stations' operations fully together, including physicaltransmitter.
In October 2008, LIN TV broke off all retransmission deals with Time Warner Cable. LIN TV was demanding a fee of 25 cents per month per subscriber to carry each of its stations as it is entitled to under federalmust carry regulations. TWC had initially refused to accept these fees and, on October 2, WNLO and sister station WIVB-TV were removed from the provider's lineups. LIN TV and TWC reached an agreement for the two stations and each were returned to the cable provider's lineup on October 30. As part of the agreement, WNLO's high definition signal began to be carried on TWC's digital tier for the first time. Another retransmission consent dispute threatened to take WIVB-TV and WNLO offDish Network lineups in March 2011.
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** Owned by third parties but operated by Nexstar through various agreements. | ||
