WVTV
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WVTV-TV (Channel 18) is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin, including the cities of Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan and Waukesha. WVTV is an affiliate of The WB television network. WVTV is also owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns Milwaukee's WCGV. Its transmitter is located in Milwaukee.
History
The station went on the air as WOKY-TV on channel 19 in 1953. CBS then purchased the station in 1955. This resulted in a call letter change to WXIX (for 19 in Roman numerals). For four years, WXIX was the CBS O&O in Milwaukee, but struggled because of UHF's light penetration into homes at the time. The station shifted to it's current Channel 18 position in 1958 in a FCC channel alignment change. CBS was looking for a stronger VHF station, so in 1959 it shifted the affiliation to WITI Channel 6. From this point on WXIX was an independent station, and in 1963 changed the call letters to WUHF after an ownership change.
Gaylord Broadcasting would buy the station in 1966, and change the call letters to WVTV. This would start Channel 18 on the path of being one of the most popular independent stations in the country, with strong local programming such as The Bowling Game, along with a strong slate of syndicated programs and movies.
As cable became more popular, eventually WVTV's signal would 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 would continue to be the independent leader up until the time Fox's programming over on competitor WCGV (Channel 24) became popular. After Gaylord decided to leave the television business except for their stake in The Nashville Network, the station's ownership was in flux. By 1994 the station ended up being sold to Glencairn Corp., which immediately entered into a local marketing agreement with WCGV, owned by Sinclair. 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 stations would then merge operations together into WVTV's studios at N. 35th St and Capitol Drive.
The station continued to be independent after this point, until 1998 when The WB was pushing for more national distribution beyond the Tribune stations and WGN's cable superstation, which was then carrying the network. WVTV picked up the network in 1998 and changed their identification to 'WB18'. Shortly thereafter WGN's superstation ended distribution of the WB nationwide, owing to more local stations affiliating with the network like WVTV.
WVTV would finally become 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 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.
Today WVTV airs all WB programming, and a slate of mostly syndicated dramas, sitcoms, talk shows, along with some dating shows. The station also has a half-hour newscast at 9pm every night, consisting of a mix of local news and Sinclair's News Central programming from their Baltimore, Maryland studios.
External links
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