WCGV-TV
Encyclopedia
WCGV-TV, digital
Digital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...

 channel 25 (virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....

 24.1), is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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...

, affiliated with MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...

 Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin, 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...

. The station is owned by 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...

 as part of 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....

 in Milwaukee with WVTV, and the station's transmitter site is on Milwaukee's northwest side, co-located with WVTV on 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...

 broadcast tower.

As an independent (1980–1986)

WCGV signed on the air on March 24, 1980. It was owned by B&F Broadcasting. At the time, it ran religious programs, old movies, cartoons, and drama shows during the day, along with daytime CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 and 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...

 programs which WITI and 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,...

 passed on airing, such as the 1983 Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour
Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour
The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour is an American television game show that combined two long-running game shows of the 1960s and 1970s – Match Game and Hollywood Squares – into an hour-long format....

. It also produced a local two-hour talk program called Tempo 24, which aired in the afternoon from 1980 to 1981. At night, the station ran programming from SelecTV, a subscription television provider running first-run films requiring a decoder box and payment to SelecTV to view. Friday evenings consisted of adult programming from the Playboy Channel outside of FCC safe harbor hours.

WCGV dropped SelecTV in 1984 once Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...

 launched their Milwaukee area operations and brought traditional pay-TV cable networks to the area, and eventually became a more serious contender against now-sister station WVTV for the title of the area's leading 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....

. The station was known simply as 'TV-24'. By then the station was owned by Arlington Broadcasting, which also owned WTTO
WTTO
WTTO is a CW affiliate for the Birmingham/Anniston/Tuscaloosa, Alabama market. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 28, however through the use of PSIP technology, digital television receivers display WTTO's virtual channel as 21. It is licensed to Homewood, a Birmingham suburb...

 Channel 21 Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

, WQTV (now WBPX)/Boston and KNXV/Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

. The latter two were later sold off.

Fox affiliation (1986–1994)

On March 15, 1987, WCGV joined Fox after Gaylord's WVTV
WVTV
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 , WVTV's sister station...

 turned down the network offer in 1986, becoming 'Fox 24'. The station joined on the condition that it be allowed to pre-empt The Late Show
The Late Show (1986 TV series)
The Late Show is an American late-night talk show and the first series broadcast on the then-new Fox Network. Originally hosted by comic actress Joan Rivers, it first aired on October 9, 1986 under the title The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers...

, which by the time WCGV received Fox affiliation had lost Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...

 as its host and was not doing well ratings-wise. The station also wanted to maintain as much of its existing schedule as possible, as WCGV had success counterprogramming the major network affiliates with a 10pm block of two episodes of The Bob Newhart Show
The Bob Newhart Show
The Bob Newhart Show is an American situation comedy produced by MTM Enterprises, which aired 142 original episodes on CBS from September 16, , to April 1, . Comedian Bob Newhart portrayed a psychologist having to deal with his patients and fellow office workers...

every weeknight until 1989, when it was replaced by the syndicated Arsenio Hall
The Arsenio Hall Show
The Arsenio Hall Show is an American variety/talk show that aired late weeknights in syndication from January 3, 1989 to May 27, 1994. The show was created and hosted by comedian/actor Arsenio Hall.- Background :...

.

By 1988, the station scored a major coup by acquiring the air rights to 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...

 and the 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....

, both previously seen on now-sister station WVTV. At this time, the station was based in studios on N. 27th St. which were formerly the home of WITI (Channel 6) until WITI's move to newer studios in Brown Deer
Brown Deer, Wisconsin
Brown Deer is a village in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. It is a suburb of Milwaukee. The population was 11,999 at the 2010 census...

 in 1978. In the late 1980s, Arlington Broadcasting was sold and became known as HR (as in Hal Roach
Hal Roach
Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. was an American film and television producer and director, and from the 1910s to the 1990s.- Early life and career :Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York...

 Studios, of Little Rascals/Our Gang fame) Broadcasting.

WCGV along with WTTO Birmingham came under the ownership of Abry in 1990. The station continued with the general entertainment format along with Fox shows. WCGV entered 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 Gaylord's WVTV in 1994. The two stations also merged operations, and WCGV moved into WVTV's studios at N. 35th St. and Capitol Drive.

UPN affiliation (1995–2006)

In early 1994, WITI became the new 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 in 1994 as a result of a deal between its owner (New World Communications
New World Communications
New World Pictures was an independent motion picture and television production company, and later television station owner in the United States from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s...

) and Fox. For a short time between September and November 1994, the station carried 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...

 games in the market from the network's NFC package
NFL on FOX
NFL on Fox is the brand name of the Fox Broadcasting Company's coverage of the National Football League's National Football Conference games, produced by Fox Sports...

 as a lame-duck affiliate, though without any pre-game programming, the only break in network coverage by WITI of the team since the 1977 affiliation switch between WISN and WITI, which took place in the off-season.

WCGV lost the Fox affiliation and briefly went independent again on December 1, 1994; however, it did not take the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 affiliation dropped from WITI (which went to WDJT-TV
WDJT-TV
WDJT-TV, channel 58, is the CBS-affiliated television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin broadcasting on UHF digital channel 46, that displays WDJT's virtual channel as its former analog channel assignment of 58 via PSIP...

), as the station would become a charter UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...

 affiliate in January 1995, following a pattern in which many former Fox affiliates in markets where New World owned a station decided to join either UPN or fellow upstart network WB. At this time the station was identified as "UPN 24", with a generic logo consisting of the station's call letters and channel number beneath the primary color
Primary color
Primary colors are sets of colors that can be combined to make a useful range of colors. For human applications, three primary colors are usually used, since human color vision is trichromatic....

 UPN 'shapes' logo of that time.

In 1995, Abry would be acquired by Sinclair making them the owners of WCGV, WTTO, and other Abry stations. WVTV was purchased by Glencairn Corp. (which was owned by a former Sinclair executive). This arrangement, however, prompted 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 to bring forward litigation, citing their concerns on racial issues in the face of one entity holding two broadcast licenses in a market. (WVTV finally became fully owned by Sinclair in 2000, after the FCC
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...

 overturned the rules that had prohibited duopolies.)

In January 1998, WCGV/Sinclair decided to drop the UPN affiliation over ratings and monetary matters, as did several other Sinclair stations in other markets when Sinclair signed a lucrative affiliation deal with The WB
The 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...

 (which included WVTV) to shift several stations from UPN. For eight months, the station returned to being independent and Milwaukee was left without a UPN affiliate. However, it saw its ratings drop without the network. It also received complaints from vocal Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

 fans who had to watch Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...

 on stations from other markets or tape trade
Tape trading
Tape trading is an unofficial method of distribution of demo tapes encompassing musical genres such as punk, hardcore, and extreme metal. The practice which was most prevalent during the 1980s and 1990s, also saw people distribute recordings of live music shows...

. Sinclair would then reverse its decision, and re-affiliated with UPN on August 4. Three months after reacquiring the UPN affiliation, WCGV made up for the pre-emptions by airing an all-day Voyager marathon, showing all 13 episodes missed over the last half of the 1997-98 season, with UPN's blessing. However, the station continued to omit the mention of UPN from its own branding, and called itself "Channel 24" until the beginning of the 2001–2002 TV season, when it readopted the "UPN 24" branding, one of only a very few UPN stations to do so, as UPN branding was required by the network.

WITI was not interested in airing Fox Kids
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...

 programming after it became a Fox station; therefore, Fox Kids
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...

 continued to air on WCGV for ten years after the affiliation switch (which included the station continuing to maintain a Fox 24 Kids Club through most of these years). However, as time went on, WCGV began to use its own logo bug to cover all Fox logos, and advertise the block sparingly on UPN's behest (which had its own children's block
UPN Kids
UPN Kids was a short-lived weekday and Sunday morning children's programming block on UPN that launched on September 10, 1995. During the 1998-1999 season, the block was called The UPN Kids Action Zone. The block aired for 2 hours each day...

 airing on the station up until its end in 2003). The station declined to renew the children's block, now known as Fox Box/4Kids TV
4Kids TV
4Kids TV was a Saturday morning television programming block on the Fox Broadcasting Company. The block was part of the Fox Network schedule...

, after the fall of 2004, and subsequently 4Kids TV moved to independent WMLW (Channel 41), where it aired Sunday mornings until its end on December 28, 2008.

MyNetworkTV (2006-)

On March 2, 2006 Sinclair announced that Channel 24 was to be the Milwaukee affiliate for MyNetworkTV, which was created by Fox Television Stations Group
Fox Television Stations Group
Fox Television Stations, Inc. is a group of television stations located within the United States which are owned-and-operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Fox Entertainment Group, part of News Corporation...

 in the wake of the January 24, 2006 announcement that the UPN and WB networks would cease operations in September 2006, and merge into one network, The CW. Sister station WVTV, the former WB affiliate, is Milwaukee's CW affiliate. This resulted in the Milwaukee duopoly becoming one of five My Network TV/CW duopolies owned and/or controlled by Sinclair; the other four are KVMY
KVMY
KVMY, branded as MyLVTV is a full-service television station in Las Vegas, Nevada, broadcasting locally in digital on UHF channel 22 as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. Founded March 8, 1982, the station is owned and operated by the Sinclair Broadcast Group...

/KVCW
KVCW
KVCW, branded as The CW Las Vegas, is the CW-affiliated television station for Las Vegas. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 29 from a transmitter in Henderson, Nevada southwest of I-515/U.S. 93/U.S. 95...

 in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

, WABM
WABM
WABM, channel 68, is the My Network TV affiliate for the Birmingham/Anniston/Gadsden/Tuscaloosa, Alabama television market. WABM is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which also owns the market's CW affiliate, WTTO. WABM broadcast in ATSC digital format on channel 36...

/WTTO
WTTO
WTTO is a CW affiliate for the Birmingham/Anniston/Tuscaloosa, Alabama market. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 28, however through the use of PSIP technology, digital television receivers display WTTO's virtual channel as 21. It is licensed to Homewood, a Birmingham suburb...

 in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

, WUXP/WNAB
WNAB
WNAB, virtual channel 58 is the CW-affiliated television station in Nashville, Tennessee. It is owned by Tennessee Broadcasting, although operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group under an outsourcing agreement. It currently serves as a sister station to WZTV and WUXP-TV. It is currently branded as...

 in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 and WRDC/WLFL
WLFL
WLFL is the CW-affiliated television station for North Carolina's Triangle licensed to Raleigh. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 27 from a transmitter located in Auburn, North Carolina. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 2 and in high definition...

 in Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...

/Durham, North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...

.

In the interim two weeks between the beginning of MyNetworkTV and UPN's end in early to mid-September, WCGV still showed select UPN programming on Sunday afternoons, airing Friday Night SmackDown, followed by Girlfriends
Girlfriends
Girlfriends is an American comedy-drama sitcom that premiered on September 11, 2000, on UPN and aired on UPN's successor network, The CW, before being cancelled in 2008...

, Everybody Hates Chris
Everybody Hates Chris
Everybody Hates Chris is an African American television period sitcom inspired by the teenage experiences of comedian Chris Rock , while growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York . The show is set from 1982 to 1987; however, Rock himself was a teenager during years...

, All of Us
All of Us
All of Us is an American sitcom that premiered on the now-defunct UPN network in the United States on September 16, 2003, where it aired for its first three seasons. October 1, 2006, the show moved to The CW, a new network formed by the merger of UPN and The WB All of Us is an American sitcom that...

from 12-5 p.m., all which were renewed by The CW and moved to Channel 18. WCGV is one of the few stations in the country to have been affiliated with both News Corporation-owned networks, Fox and MyNetworkTV.

Current programming

Currently, Channel 24's weekday schedule consists of mostly syndicated off-network sitcoms such as Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...

(in a long-time after primetime double run at 9pm), and The George Lopez Show, along with many former UPN and Fox sitcoms in their off-network runs. The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

has been syndicated on the station since that show's launch in syndication in September 1994 (four months before the station lost Fox), and airs weeknights at 6pm and 10pm, followed by Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...

in both timeslots. During daytime from 11am-2pm, Channel 24 airs 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...

followed by The Jerry Springer Show
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...

(which has a weeknight midnight repeat), and Jerry spin-off 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:...

.

During the weekend, the station airs off-network dramas like 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...

, The Shield
The Shield
The Shield is an American television drama series starring Michael Chiklis which premiered on March 12, 2002 on FX in the United States and concluded on November 25, 2008 after seven seasons...

, and ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

. On Sunday evenings, the one evening MyNetworkTV does not program, Channel 24 airs the network's Thursday night movie during football season or a syndicated film. The rest of the weekend features a variety of movies, sitcoms, dramas, and syndicated poker tournaments. The station had continued to air Milwaukee Bucks games, sharing rights with FSN Wisconsin
FSN Wisconsin
Fox Sports Wisconsin is a regional sports network serving the state of Wisconsin. Originally the "Wisconsin" sub-feed of Fox Sports North, the network officially became Fox Sports Wisconsin on April 1, 2007 with its own feed originating from facilities in Milwaukee; the network had formerly been...

 until the end of the 2006-07 season, when the team became FSN-exclusive http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=542381.

The station currently airs very little children's programming, with only Liberty's Kids
Liberty's Kids
Liberty's Kids is an animated television series produced by DIC Entertainment, originally broadcast on PBS Kids from Septemer 2, 2002 to April 4, 2003, although PBS continued to air reruns until August 2004...

carried on weekday mornings (one episode Monday-Thursdays, two on Friday, all at 7am) and Wild America
Wild America
Wild America is a documentary television series that focuses on the wild animals and wild lands of North America. By the mid-1970s, Marty Stouffer had put together several full length documentaries, but had failed to hit upon a project that was an outstanding success...

on Saturday morning to fulfill minimum FCC educational/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...

 programming requirements. WCGV was the last true Milwaukee commercial station (WVCY, although technically a commercial licensee, does not solicit advertising) to have some time where they were off the air, signing off for 4½ hours on early Monday mornings until March 10, 2008, when the station went with a full 168-hour schedule (although to note, the early Monday morning schedule consists of all paid programming due to the lack of a Shepard's Chapel program to air on Monday morning). WVCY followed with 24/7 programming in January 2010.

Since the 2007-08 season, the station has branded itself with the slogan "America's Hottest MyNetworkTV Station", based on the station's sign-on to sign-off ratings being the highest among the network's affiliates.

In late August 2010 the station began to air a live local high school football
High school football
High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....

 matchup under the title Allstate
Allstate
The Allstate Corporation is the second-largest personal lines insurer in the United States and the largest that is publicly held. The company also has personal lines insurance operations in Canada. Allstate was founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., and was spun off in 1993...

 Thursday Night Lights
every Thursday evening as part of Sinclair's push for more local programming on their MyNetworkTV affiliates. This pushes that evening's network programming (at this point a film) to Sunday evenings. The later broadcasts in the season were presented in 480i widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....

 format.

July 2010 flooding incident

On July 22, 2010 the Milwaukee area experienced a major flash flood
Flash 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 Programming
24.1 Main WCGV-TV programming / MyNetworkTV
24.2 The Country Network


On March 23, 2006, Sinclair announced that it would start multicasting The Tube
The Tube (TV channel)
The Tube Music Network was a music video network carried on free-to-air satellite television, select digital television subchannels and digital cable systems. The network's president and founder was Les Garland, a veteran of MTV and VH1. The Tube was a wholly owned subsidiary of The Tube Media Corp...

 onto the digital subcarriers of many of its stations across the country. The channel launched on WCGV's DT2 subchannel on June 15, 2006 http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=436575. On December 31, The Tube was dropped by WCGV due to new E/I
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...

 regulations put into effect by the FCC and The Tube not immediately inserting E/I programming within their schedule and putting the burden on local stations to do so, and the network went out of business on October 1, 2007, probably from several factors including the dropping by Sinclair.

In August 2010 Sinclair made a large group deal to bring The Country Network, a digital subchannel network featuring country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 videos throughout their entire broadcast day to the majority of their stations, 28 in all. WCGV relaunched their 24.2 subchannel to carry The Country Network on October 26, 2010.

Analog-to-digital conversion

On February 17, 2009, WCGV continued digital broadcasts on its current pre-transition channel number, 25. However, through the use of PSIP
Program and System Information Protocol
The Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch...

, digital television receivers display WCGV's virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....

 as 24.

On February 4, Sinclair announced that WCGV would still turn off their analog signal on February 17 despite the congressional action delaying the switchover to June 12. For the two weeks after February 17, WCGV and WVTV aired 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...

 programming on their signals, which features a looping program about the digital transition and local numbers for DTV hotlines. This was discontinued on March 4, 2009.

Cable carriage of digital signal

On June 28, 2007, Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...

 began carrying WCGV's digital signal on their southeastern Wisconsin systems on Channel 524 (now 1024), along with WVTV on Channel 518 (now 1018), 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 HD signal began to air over Channel 614 on Charter's southeastern Wisconsin systems.

Charter added WCGV's 24.2 Country Network subchannel to their systems on Channel 964 on February 9, 2011, with Time Warner Cable following on September 27, 2011, placing it on Channel 988.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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