| WNLO | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Buffalo, New York | |
| Branding | CW 23 News 4 |
| Channel | Digital: 32 (UHF) |
| Subchannels | 23.1 The CW |
| Affiliations | CBS (secondary) |
| Owner | LIN TV Corporation (WIVB Broadcasting, LLC) |
| First air date | May 13, 1987 |
| Callsign meaning | Western New York / BuffaLO |
| Sister station(s) | WIVB-TV |
| Former callsigns | WNEQ-TV (1987-2001) |
| Former channels | 23 (UHF analog, 1987-2009) |
| Former affiliations | PBS (1987-2001) Independent (2001-2002) UPN (2002-2006) |
| Effective power | 1,000 kW |
| Height | 303 m |
| Facility ID | 71905 |
| Antenna coordinates | 43°1′48″N 78°55′15″W / 43.03°N 78.92083°W |
| Website | cw23.com |
WNLO is the CW-affiliated television station for Buffalo, New York. Its broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter on Whitehaven Road on Grand Island. Owned by the LIN TV Corporation, the station is sister to CBS affiliate WIVB. The two share studios on Elmwood Avenue south of the Kenmore section of Buffalo. Syndicated programming on WNLO includes: Legend of the Seeker, King of Queens, Family Feud, and COPS. They can be considered an alternate CBS affiliate because it airs CBS Morning News on weekday mornings. The station is also responsible for airing CBS programs when WIVB is unable to do so because of a breaking news emergency or other reasons.
History
The station began operation on May 13, 1987 as WNEQ-TV, the second public television station serving the Buffalo market. The channel 23 allocation was originally intended to be part of a statewide plan for public television that would have seen a signature tower housing transmitters for channel 23 as well as FM station WBFO 88.7 at the University at Buffalo Amherst Campus, where studios were to be located, during the development of the futuristic "New U.B." complex in the 1970s. Budget constraints canceled the scheme and years of tension between the University of Buffalo and WNED board members ended allowing WNED to go forward with their plans for the UHF channel.
The station was operated under an educational license and was sister station to WNED-TV which had a commercial license used as an educational station. WNEQ's programming day began daily at 4 P.M. and usually had between 6–7 hours of broadcast per day. In 1992, many cable systems in the Hamilton and Niagara regions began carrying WNEQ displacing long standing WQLN from Erie, Pennsylvania in the process. In Fall 1998, most cable systems in the Hamilton and Niagara regions started to remove WNEQ because they were struggling with limited channel capacity and the fact that they only offered between 6-7 hours of programming per day. One year later, Rogers Communications began carrying WNEQ on their digital tier for customers in the Greater Toronto area.
The Buffalo market was unable to support two public stations as both struggled financially. As a result, the educational foundation put WNEQ up for sale. LIN TV (owner of CBS affiliate WIVB) wanted to buy WNEQ and run it as a commercial operation. However, that was problematic due to WNEQ's status as an educational license. One solution was for LIN TV to purchase WNED instead, which was already a commercial license, and make WNEQ the area's primary PBS station. This was rejected since 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 donation the viewer-supported station would receive. Eventually, the FCC agreed to re-classify channel 23 as a commercial license and channel 17 as an educational license. As a result, the Buffalo market retained an educational license and LIN TV was given the go-ahead to purchase the converted-to-commercial WNEQ.
In March 2001, the company closed on their purchase of WNEQ and converted it to a general entertainment independent station with the current call sign WNLO. With the launch came the securing of the UPN affiliation for the Buffalo market as of 2003 when that network's agreement with the weaker WNGS expired. On cable in Toronto, WNLO was replaced with WTVS from Detroit, Michigan in January 2001 when it relaunched as the current station. In 2005, Rogers submitted a successful request to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to allow carriage of WNLO in Ontario. 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 also was available over-the-air for a good portion of southern Ontario.
On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that they would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents, CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. In April, WNLO removed UPN from their station logo following the lead of News Corporation-owned UPN affiliates. On September 18, The CW launched on the station. Starting on November 2, WNLO began broadcasting The CW in high definition on 32.1 (PSIP 23.1). Until that date, they were rebroadcasting CBS HD (WIVB-DT) since UPN had little to no high definition programming to broadcast.
On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that they was exploring strategic alternatives that could result in the sale of the company. In early-July 2007, WNLO launched its own website. Previously, the station had its own section within WIVB's web address. In late-2008, the company broke off all retransmission deals with Time Warner Cable which resulted in WNLO being dropped from the cable lineup. 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 federal must carry regulations. Time Warner had initially refused to accept these fees and, on October 2, 2008, WNLO and sister station WIVB were removed from Time Warner lineups. LIN TV and Time Warner reached an agreement with the two stations and they were returned to Time Warner lineups on October 30. As part of the agreement, WNLO's high definition signal began to be carried on Time Warner's digital lineup for the first time.
WNLO is not available in portions of Cattaraugus County, New York (the portion served by Atlantic Broadband) where WSEE-DT2 out of Erie is used as a less expensive alternative. WNLO switched off its analog transmitter at 9 in the morning on Friday, June 12, 2009. Its digital operations remained on their pre-transition assignment, channel 32. Through the use of PSIP, most television receivers display WNLO's channel number as 23.1. Channel 23 is now used by Ion Television owned-and-operated station WPXJ-DT.
Newscasts
Since March 2001, WIVB has been airing a nightly 10 o'clock newscast on this station. During the week, it competes with another news show that airs on MyNetworkTV affiliate WNYO-TV. Produced by NBC affiliate WGRZ-TV, this has consistently lagged behind WNLO in the ratings because it is not a seven day operation. Starting on February 2, 2009, this station began airing a two hour extension of WIVB's weekday morning newscast. They also re-air that station's weekend morning broadcast and present live weekend evening news at 6.
Wake Up! on CW 23
(Weekday Mornings 7 to 9)
- Anchors:
- Melissa Holmes
- Joe Arena - 7 o'clock hour
- Weather:
- Reporter:
- Jericka Duncan
Wake Up! Weekend
(Weekends 12 to 1 P.M.)
- Anchor:
- Michele McClintick
- Weather:
- Lindsay Schwarzwaelder
News 4 Weekend
(Weekend Evenings 6 to 7 P.M.)
- Anchor:
- Mylous Hairston
- Weather:
- Lindsay Schwarzwaelder
- Sports:
- Paul Peck
The 10 O'Clock News (10 to 10:30 P.M.)
Weeknights
- Anchor:
- Lisa Flynn
- Weather:
- Don Paul
- Sports:
Weekends
- Anchor:
- Mylous Hairston
- Weather:
- Lindsay Schwarzwaelder
- Sports:
- Paul Peck
WNLO features additional news personnel from WIVB. See that article foe a complete listing.
External links
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