WMLW-CA
Encyclopedia
WMLW-CA, channel 41 is a LPTV independent
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....

 television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...

. Its transmitter
Transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...

 is located in Milwaukee's Lincoln Park
Parks of Milwaukee
-List of parks in Milwaukee County park system:The Milwaukee County Park system was awarded the 2009 National Gold Medal Award "for excellence in the field of park and recreation management" by the National Recreation and Park Association.-Other parks:...

. The station is owned and operated by Weigel Broadcasting
Weigel Broadcasting
Weigel Broadcasting is an American locally based television broadcasting company. The company is based in downtown Chicago, Illinois, alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV , at the apt address of 26 North Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood.- History :The company was founded by Chicago...

, which also owns Milwaukee's 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...

 affiliate WDJT
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...

 (Channel 58).

Despite the station's low-power 'Class A' status, WMLW has made deals with local area cable
Cable
A cable is two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly. In mechanics cables, otherwise known as wire ropes, are used for lifting, hauling and towing or conveying force through tension. In electrical engineering cables are used to carry...

 systems such as 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...

 and 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...

 to air the station, which extends the coverage area throughout the entire market, in addition to the station's programming being carried on a digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...

 of WDJT on Channel 58-2 in 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...

 standard definition.

History

WMLW had been around one way or another since the early 1980s on low-power translator stations, Channel 55 as W55AS at first, then by 1989, moving to Channel 65 as W65BT. The station has been owned by Weigel since signing on. Until the late 1990s the channel would air the Stock Market Observer during the trading day (7am-5pm), which was produced by sister station WCIU (Channel 26) in Chicago; in fact, the station launched as a full translator of WCIU, receiving that station via a microwave link between WCIU's Sears Tower
Sears Tower
Sears' optimistic growth projections were not met. Competition from its traditional rivals continued, with new competition by retailing giants such as Kmart, Kohl's, and Wal-Mart. The fortunes of Sears & Roebuck declined in the 1970s as the company lost market share; its management grew more...

 transmitter and a receiving dish atop the First Wisconsin/Firstar Center, and was Weigel's first successful attempt since trying to acquire the Channel 49 license in Racine in 1965 to establish a station in Milwaukee. At night a mix of home shopping, infomercials, religion, the Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 Univision
Univision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...

 network (before the launch of W46AR in 1990) and low-cost programming was scheduled. The channel was watched by few because of low cable carriage and better TV choices in the Milwaukee market, along with Weigel having to establish WDJT's presence in the market, especially after receiving CBS affiliation in late 1994.

In 1999, Weigel obtained construction permits for new channel positions in the wake of having to move its Milwaukee low-power operations (which included then-Univision station W46AR (Channel 46), now Telemundo
Telemundo
Telemundo is an American television network that broadcasts in Spanish. The network is the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world, and the second-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, behind Univision....

 affiliate WYTU-LP
WYTU-LP
WYTU-LD is a digital television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin branded as Telemundo Wisconsin. The station airs on digital channel 17 via a low power digital television signal, along with a full-power simulcast on full power sister station WBME-TV via digital subchannel 49.4, and both...

 (Channel 63)) to accommodate the HDTV signal for WDJT on Channel 46, along with the start-up of Weigel's new Lincoln Park transmitter for WDJT and the low-power stations, which united the company's transmission operations into one facility. Towards the end of September 2000, the programming from Channel 65 moved to the new Channel 41 under the callsign W41CI; onscreen identification became 'TV-41'.

In the first year, the station improved its programming, airing Weigel/Bridge Information Systems
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...

' WebFN financial news
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

 service during the day, and entertainment at night. The America One
America One
America One is an over-the-air television network in the United States. The network serves over 170 LPTV, Class A, Full Power, Cable and Satellite affiliate stations...

 network aired through the overnights and mornings (also to fulfill educational/informational program requirements), and news cut-ins from Channel 58 would air all day. Then in the middle of November 2001, Channel 41 would acquire LPTV status, allowing it to have a lettered call sign, which would end up being WMLW-LP.

In 2002, the station began shifting to more of a true 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....

, with the WebFN venture folding in the wake of the dot-com crash
Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...

, freeing up the 7am-5pm timeslot for other programming. Weigel acquired more shows for the station and found itself in a unique position as Milwaukee's only true independent television station.

Sinclair
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...

 co-owned 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...

 and WCGV decided to focus more on their WB and 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...

 (currently The CW
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...

 and My Network TV) programming instead of occasional sports coverage (which often pre-empted the network schedules, much to the annoyance of the local fanbases of each of the two network's shows; WCGV retained broadcast rights for the 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....

) until the end of the 2006-07 season), and took themselves out of the race for local college and high school sports rights; there was also a lack of interest on the part of FSN North
Fox Sports Net
The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.- Beginnings :...

, which wanted to focus on teams with statewide interest, not just within the Milwaukee metro area
Metro Area
Metro Area is a Brooklyn-based dance music production team composed of Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani.- History :Geist grew up in Wayne, New Jersey, while Jesrani is from upstate New York...

. Thus, Weigel decided to use Channel 41 in order to take the rights for these sports and use the lure of the teams to have cable companies carry the station, knowing that it would be the only way to make Channel 41 a viable player in Milwaukee broadcasting.

Time Warner was strongly opposed to adding Channel 41 to their lineups across Southeastern Wisconsin, arguing that the station wasn't full-power and the sports were only a lure to add another unneeded station to their lineups. This came after must-carry
Must-carry
In cable television, governments apply a must-carry regulation stating that locally-licensed television stations must be carried on a cable provider's system.- Canada :...

 rules pushed them to air religious station WWRS-TV
WWRS-TV
WWRS-TV is a religious television station licensed to Mayville, Wisconsin, serving the Milwaukee and Madison markets as an owned and operated station of the Trinity Broadcasting Network The station's signal on digital channel 43 covers much of south eastern and south central Wisconsin, along...

 (Channel 52), and move Madison's PBS affiliate, WHA-TV
Wisconsin Public Television
Wisconsin Public Television is a state network of public television stations operated primarily by the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin–Extension...

, to digital cable to free up a basic channel. Weigel then encouraged viewers to call and write Time Warner and Charter to add the station to their lineups in the wake of being the Milwaukee station that would air the WIAA
Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association is the regulatory body for all high school sports in Wisconsin. Its history dates to 1895, making it the first high school athletic organization in the country...

 high school basketball championships, using promotions on WDJT and in local newspapers to send the message.

After much campaigning, Charter would add WMLW to their basic tier of service (Channel 8 in most cities, Channel 21 in 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...

), with Time Warner airing the station at first only over digital cable
Digital cable
Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.-Background:...

, allowing the WIAA coverage to be seen on cable on some level. A compromise would later be reached between Weigel and Time Warner as a part of WDJT retransmission consent
Retransmission consent
Retransmission consent is an option granted to US television stations as part of the law that granted such stations the option to elect must-carry rights. Under retransmission consent, a full-power US television station may elect to negotiate with a cable system operator for carriage of its...

 negotiations, and the station would become a part of the basic package throughout Time Warner's area, moving from TW Channel 741 to TW Channel 7 in the fall of 2003. After finding cable carriage, the station began to identify only by the WMLW call letters and rarely mentioned the channel number except in a few promotions, and visually in FCC-required identifications.

WMLW would stop airing America One after 2002, and began programming the entire day shortly thereafter. In mid-September 2003, WMLW became a 'Class A' television station and legally identifies as WMLW-CA.

Local musical artist Pat McCurdy
Pat McCurdy
Pat McCurdy is a cabaret singer/songwriter from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He regularly tours the upper midwestern part of the United States with regular stops in Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago, Green Bay, and Minneapolis. His shows usually consist of just him and his guitar and include improvised...

 is the songwriter and singer of the station's jingle
Jingle
A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...

 and theme song, wmlw means Milwaukee. The station had a minor logo change in December 2010, keeping the same general theme but with a font change.

The call letters "WMLW" were also utilized from 1982 to August 1989 by the current day WJJO
WJJO
WJJO is a radio station broadcasting at 94.1 FM in Madison, Wisconsin. . It describes itself as having an "active rock" format, targeting adults 18 to 49. WJJO is considered one of the hardest active rock radio stations in the country, and was voted #1 Rock Station in the country by the music...

 (94.1) in Watertown
Watertown, Wisconsin
Watertown is a city in Dodge and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Most of the city's population is in Jefferson County. Division Street, several blocks north of downtown, marks the county line. The population of Watertown was 21,598 at the 2000 census...

, with the calls standing for mellow as part of that station's then-soft rock
Soft rock
Soft rock is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock music to compose a softer, more toned-down sound. Soft rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of acoustic guitars, pianos, synthesizers and sometimes...

 format.

WMLW-DT

WMLW-DT broadcasts on digital channel 13.
Virtual
channel
Physical
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
41.1 13.1 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...

 
4:3  WMLW-LD Main WMLW-CA programming


Currently, the station's digital signal can be seen on WDJT's subchannel, channel 46-2 (58-2), and launched their digital channel with the calls WMLW-LD (for "low power digital") on Channel 13 in mid-December 2007. The simulcast on WDJT-DT2 remains due to channel 13's poor signal coverage at present to protect Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...

' WZZM-TV
WZZM-TV
WZZM channel 13 is the Western Michigan affiliate television station for the American Broadcasting Company. It's based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, broadcasting at 16.5 kilowatts of power from a tower located in Newaygo County, near Grant...

, which is receivable across Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...

 and has a transmitter closer to the Michigan lakeshore than other Grand Rapids stations. As WZZM moved their digital signal from channel 39 back to channel 13 in June 2009, these reception issues remain, and WDJT-DT2 for all intents and purposes is the signal which takes priority in station identification
Station identification
Station identification is the practice of radio or television stations or networks identifying themselves on air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name...

 sequences and is utilized as the signal source for cable and satellite services.

At the beginning of 2009, Weigel proposed to move WMLW's analog signal to channel 24 in order to reduce interference from WGBA-TV (Channel 26) from Green Bay, which has their digital signal on channel 41 , along with WIFR
WIFR
WIFR, virtual channel 23, is the CBS television affiliate based in Rockford, Illinois and licensed to nearby Freeport. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 41, though it formerly broadcast its analog signal on channel 23, which it continues to use as its virtual digital channel via PSIP....

 (Channel 23) from Rockford, Illinois
Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...

, also on digital channel 41. The move is possible since the former Milwaukee analog occupant of channel 24, WCGV, ceased analog operations in early March 2009 . No further action has been taken on this application however, and it is assumed WMLW's analog operations will end on channel 41 once analog service is ended either by FCC action or exhaustion of the analog transmitter (as Weigel has done once their South Bend low-power stations reached end-of-life on their analog transmitters).

General entertainment

The station, being an independent, relies heavily on syndicated
Television 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...

 programming, including sitcoms, game shows and courtroom programming, along with second next-day or next-week runs of programming aired on WDJT, of which Inside Edition
Inside Edition
Inside Edition is a thirty-minute American television syndicated news program, first aired on CBS on October 9, 1988. It was originally similar to the programs Hard Copy and A Current Affair, but now more closely resembles a condensed version of breakfast television, exclusively with pre-recorded...

, Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...

and The Doctors
The Doctors (2008 TV series)
The Doctors is an American syndicated talk show airing daily in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Sweden and Finland. It debuted on September 8, 2008. The hour-long daytime program is produced by Phil McGraw and his son Jay McGraw and is distributed domestically and globally by CBS Television...

make up the network's mid-morning schedule, along with The Insider
The Insider (TV series)
The Insider is an American tabloid television news program covering events and celebrities. It debuted on September 13, 2004 as a spinoff of Entertainment Tonight and started as a popular segment that took viewers "behind closed doors" and gave them "inside" information...

after the 9pm newscast.

The station's court shows include Judge Mathis
Judge Mathis
Judge Mathis is a syndicated television legal reality show produced originally by Black Pearl Productions. In 2008, it entered its tenth season produced by AND Syndicated Productions and Telepictures. It is taped at NBC Tower in Chicago, but includes cases and litigants from other U.S....

and The People's Court
The People's Court
The People's Court is a US television court show in which small claims court cases are heard, though what is shown is actually a binding arbitration....

, along with episodes from the Tom Bergeron
Tom Bergeron
Tom Bergeron is an American television personality and game show host, best known as the host of the ABC reality series Dancing with the Stars and host of America's Funniest Home Videos . He was also host of Hollywood Squares and a fill-in host for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire...

 era of America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos is an American reality television program on ABC in which viewers are able to send in humorous homemade videotapes. The most common videos usually feature slapstick physical comedy arising from incidents, accidents and mishaps...

. Game shows aired are Family Feud
Family Feud
Family Feud is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Two families compete against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey question posed to 100 people...

, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and Cash Cab
Cash Cab
Cash Cab is a TV game show devised by Adam Wood that originated in the United Kingdom and has been licensed to television networks in numerous other countries...

, while in the late afternoon the Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry is an American actor, director, playwright, entrepreneur, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman...

 sitcoms Meet the Browns
Meet the Browns (TV series)
Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns is an American sitcom created and produced by playwright, director, and producer Tyler Perry. The show revolves around a senior family living under one roof in Decatur, Georgia led by patriarch Mr. Brown and his daughter Cora Simmons. The show premiered on Wednesday,...

and House of Payne
Tyler Perry's House of Payne
Tyler Perry's House of Payne is an American comedy-drama television series created and produced by playwright, director, and producer Tyler Perry. The show revolves around a multi-generational family living under one roof in Atlanta, Georgia led by patriarch Curtis Payne and his wife Ella...

air, along with two episodes of 3rd Rock from the Sun
3rd Rock from the Sun
3rd Rock from the Sun is an American sitcom that aired from 1996 to 2001 on NBC. The show is about four extraterrestrials who are on an expedition to Earth, which they consider to be a very insignificant planet...

, and the station's highly-promoted double run of The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...

before primetime. A second run of Dr. Phil
Dr. Phil (TV series)
Dr. Phil is a reality/talk television show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002...

airs before the 9pm newscast.

In late night, WMLW's schedule consists of a double run of repeats of Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001, as the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama...

, two episodes of 'Til Death
'Til Death
’Til Death is an American sitcom which aired on the Fox network from September 7, 2006, to June 20, 2010. The series was created by husband-and-wife team Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, who were also the writers and executive-producers...

sandwiched between a double run of 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...

and South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...

, followed by a second run of the Tyler Perry sitcoms, then lower-tier syndicated programming such as Who Wants to Date a Comedian?
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...

and E! True Hollywood Story
E! True Hollywood Story
E! True Hollywood Story is an American documentary series on E! that deals with famous Hollywood celebrities, movies, TV shows and well-known public figures...

.

Weekends outside of sports rights are devoted mainly to syndicated second-run dramas like Heartland
Heartland (Canadian TV series)
Heartland is a Canadian television drama series which debuted on CBC Television on October 14, 2007. The series is loosely based on the Heartland books by Lauren Brooke....

(the 2007 CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...

 series), Cold Case, Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...

, NUMB3RS
NUMB3RS
Numb3rs is an American television drama which premiered on CBS on January 23, 2005, and concluded on March 12, 2010. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, and follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes and his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes , who helps Don solve crimes...

, Without a Trace
Without a Trace
Without a Trace is an American television drama which originally ran on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009. The series was set in New York City and concerned a fictitious FBI Missing Persons Unit.-Premise:...

and Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...

, along with weekend runs of the station's sitcoms and some second-run cable reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 such as Dog the Bounty Hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter is a reality television show on A&E which chronicles Duane "Dog" Chapman's adventures as a fugitive recovery agent, or bounty hunter...

.

Previously, the station used to broadcast classic sitcoms and dramas before the rise of Weigel's Me-TV format, but slowly removed most of them from their lineup by the fall of 2008 with the full launch of sister station WBME-TV (Channel 49)'s Me-TV iteration for mostly new or recent programs, though the station continues to air Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...

at 6am weekdays.

From September 2004 until December 28, 2008, WMLW also carried the children's programming block offered by the Fox network, 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...

 (formerly Fox Kids/FoxBox
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...

), due to 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 WITI (Channel 6) declining to carry the block, taking over for WCGV-TV
WCGV-TV
WCGV-TV, digital channel 25 , is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, affiliated with MyNetworkTV Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin, including the cities of Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan and Waukesha...

 when they let their carriage lapse. WMLW aired the 4Kids lineup on Sunday mornings at 8:00, one day and one hour later than its usual Saturday timeslot for most of the time zone, and did not pick up the replacement Weekend Marketplace
Weekend Marketplace
Weekend Marketplace is a two hour Saturday morning block of paid programming airing on Fox that began airing on January 3, 2009, replacing the 4Kids TV Saturday morning cartoon block that aired using time leased by 4Kids from Fox from 2002 until the last Saturday of 2008...

infomercial
Infomercial
Infomercials are direct response television commercials which generally include a phone number or website. There are long-form infomercials, which are typically between 15 and 30 minutes in length, and short-form infomercials, which are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds in length. Infomercials...

 block from Fox at the start of 2009, which remains unseen in the Milwaukee market.

The station currently carries a three-hour block of syndicated 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...

 programming on Saturday mornings (along with Weigel's Green Screen Adventures
Green Screen Adventures
Green Screen Adventures is a children's television series which premiered in 2007. The series was originally produced for local broadcast on WCIU-TV in Chicago, which is the flagship station of Weigel Broadcasting, and is designed to fit the FCC's educational and information programming...

) to suffice the station's E/I programming requirements. The majority of the station's paid programming airs early on Saturday morning, most of Sunday morning, and weekday mornings at 4:30am.

Sports programming

WMLW justifies being carried by the area's cable systems with a strong sports lineup, consisting of Marquette Golden Eagles
Marquette University
Marquette University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1881, the school is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities...

 (with rights shared with TWC Sports 32
Time Warner Cable Sports 32
Time Warner Cable Sports 32 is a regional sports network operated by the Milwaukee and Eastern Wisconsin cable franchise of Time Warner Cable. Broadcasting on Channel 32 exclusively on Time Warner systems in the Milwaukee and Green Bay/Fox Cities areas, the channel launched in February 2007...

) and UW–Milwaukee Panthers men's and women's college basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....

, which are broadcast by either a local announce team and camera crew or coverage from ESPN +
ESPN Plus
ESPN Plus, the popular name of ESPN Regional Television, is an American television program syndicator. ERT is based along with sister network ESPNU in Charlotte, North Carolina...

 or the Horizon League
Horizon League
The Horizon League is a ten school, NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose members are located in five of the Midwestern United States....

's internal broadcasting unit. The station also broadcasts other Big East Conference
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...

 games (including college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

, despite Marquette's lack of a program in that sport), along with the coach's shows of all the college sports teams mentioned above, the aforementioned WIAA tournaments, and some sports talk programs such as Sidelines from Madison's tvw.

Previously before 2011, the station aired Labor Day
Labor Day
Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...

 coverage of the US Open from CBS, because of WDJT's commitment as the local affiliate for Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...

' annual MDA telethon, along with the first three hours of the show in primetime so WDJT could carry CBS programming. In 2011, WITI aired the telethon instead in its new six-hour primetime format.

From 2008-2011, the men's final for each US Open that year (all delayed to Monday afternoon due to weather conditions on Sunday afternoon and in 2011, earlier days) was aired on WMLW; as the second Monday in September is traditionally the debut date for new and returning syndicated programming WDJT passed along the tennis coverage in order to launch their new series, though in 2011 most of WDJT's syndicated programming moved up their season starts to a day later to compensate.

The station carries a postgame show for any Packer
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 carried by CBS and Channel 58, using WDJT's sports staff, along with other sports analysis shows under the title The Sports Fanatics.

Milwaukee Brewers

Weigel Broadcasting acquired the right to air fifteen 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...

 regular seasons baseball games (along with a Brewers/Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...

 spring training
Spring training
In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play...

 game) in the 2007 season http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=566493, the first time the team aired games non-nationally on a local broadcast station since Fox Sports Wisconsin became the team's exclusive broadcaster in 2005. Several of the games in the package aired on WMLW due to Fox Sports Wisconsin's contractual priority to carry 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....

 basketball and prevent programming conflicts.

The telecasts are produced by Fox Sports Wisconsin and are simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...

 on that network outside of the Milwaukee market, and retain the look of the network (except for WMLW microphone flags and a lack of the FSBREWERS bug in the upper right-hand corner, and adaptation of graphics to fit WMLW's 4:3 frame rather than FSN's usual 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 ...

-optimized presentation), while WMLW/WDJT sell ad time during the games. A few games are added to the WMLW package every year depending on early-season weather postponements and the team's standing in the pennant race later in the season.

The same arrangement of fifteen regular season games and three spring training games has been in place for subsequent seasons , along with a WDJT-produced postgame show called The Final Out. As WMLW currently broadcasts only in 480i on their LD signal, these games are not available in high definition, neither on WMLW or Fox Sports Wisconsin. Spanish sister station WYTU also carries several Sunday games a year with Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 play-by-play, though under a separate production and announce team which uses Fox Sports Wisconsin's camera positions.

Previous sports rights

Previously, the station carried ESPN Plus
ESPN Plus
ESPN Plus, the popular name of ESPN Regional Television, is an American television program syndicator. ERT is based along with sister network ESPNU in Charlotte, North Carolina...

's regional college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 and basketball packages for the Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...

, which included Wisconsin Badger
Wisconsin Badgers
The Wisconsin Badgers are the collegiate athletic teams from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This NCAA Division I athletic program has teams in football, basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, soccer, cross country, tennis, swimming, wrestling, track and field, rowing, golf, and softball...

 games, until 2007, when the new Big Ten Network launched in late August 2007, as part of a ten year exclusivity deal between the Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...

, ABC
ESPN on ABC
ESPN on ABC is the brand used for sports programming on the ABC television network. Officially the broadcast network retains its own sports division; however, for all practical purposes, ABC's sports division has been merged with ESPN, a sports cable network majority-owned by ABC's parent, The...

 and ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 went into effect. All non-network Badger sports now air on BTN.

Newscasts

In September 2008, the station began to air The Daily Buzz
The Daily Buzz
The Daily Buzz is a nationally syndicated breakfast television news and infotainment program. The show is produced by Fisher Communications and is owned and distributed by ACME Communications; it is broadcast every weekday morning from studios at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida...

, a program previously unseen in Milwaukee as Sinclair does not carry that morning show on any of their stations, but discontinued carrying it in September 2010 to air the Canadian program Steven and Chris
Steven and Chris
Steven and Chris is a Canadian television talk show, which debuted on CBC Television on January 14, 2008. The show is hosted by Steven Sabados and Chris Hyndman, formerly of the home renovation show Designer Guys, who host celebrity guests and talk about topics ranging from entertainment, cooking,...

that season.

In October 2007, during the 2007 World Series
2007 World Series
-Game 1:Wednesday, October 24, 2007 at Fenway Park in Boston, MassachusettsThe Red Sox cruised to a blowout win in Game 1 behind ALCS MVP Josh Beckett, who struck out nine batters, including the first four he faced, en route to his fourth win of the 2007 postseason...

 when Fox affiliate WITI could not air their 9 p.m. newscast in its regular time slot because of the games, WDJT's news department decided to test out a 9 p.m. newscast airing on WMLW on those nights. The station decided to make the arrangement permanent and began to air the newscast on January 1, 2008, under the title CBS 58 News at 9 on WMLW. The show features Channel 58's 10pm news team , although WITI has since solved the pre-emption problem by using their Antenna TV
Antenna TV
Antenna TV is an American digital broadcast television network, primarily featuring classic television series from the 1950s to the 1990s, along with some feature films. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting, a division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...

 subchannel to air the 9pm news on pre-emption nights. Some breaking news from WDJT is simulcast on WMLW, along with the station's weather warnings and alerts.

CBS 58 News at 9 on WMLW
(weeknights 9-9:30 p.m.)
  • Anchors:
    • Michele McCormack
    • Paul Piaskoski
  • Weather:
    • Mark McGinnis
  • Sports:
    • Evan Fitzgerald


WMLW-CA features additional news personnel from WDJT. See that article for a complete listing.

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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