WACY-TV
kW | |
HAAT | 297.3 m (975 ft) |
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Transmitter coordinates | 44°21′30″N 87°58′48.4″W / 44.35833°N 87.980111°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
WACY-TV (channel 32) is an
History
Early history and troubles
The station first signed on the air on March 7, 1984, as WXGZ-TV, and was the first television station licensed to and based out of Appleton; it was originally owned by Appleton Midwestern Television. The
A noted local personality on WXGZ was "Oscor the Clown" (played by Wayne Lowney), who served as the mascot of the WXGZ children's lineup and hosted a Sunday morning program starting in 1986 called Oscor's Place,[2] a show whose major sponsor was Chuck E. Cheese's predecessor brand, ShowBiz Pizza Place. Outside of Fox programming, WXGZ was noteworthy for airing the successful first-run syndicated programs Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Arsenio Hall Show.
By November 1991, Appleton Midwestern Television ran into financial problems and declared bankruptcy. After an unsuccessful search for a new buyer for the station or more financing, WXGZ was forced to sign-off permanently on the night of February 14, 1992, ending its eight-year history with a half-hour retrospective featuring on-air and behind-the-scenes footage at the station. WXGZ staff announcer Ed Myers and general manager Roy Smith said the last of the station's goodbyes, after which WXGZ closed operations. The next morning, fellow independent station WGBA-TV (channel 26) became the market's new Fox affiliate, and acquired some of WXGZ's syndicated programming inventory (including Arsenio and Star Trek: The Next Generation).
After WXGZ's shut down, the station's license was left in the hands of a holding company from March to August 1992, at which point it was bought by Ace TV Incorporated. Channel 32 remained off-the-air for two years with occasional word that the station intended to begin broadcasting again "in the near future."
Revival as WACY-TV
WXGZ's license to operate was put back into use in June 1994. License holder Ace TV, Inc., a corporation solely owned by Shirley A. Martin,[3] put WXGZ back on the air with the help of WGBA and its then-owner Aries Telecommunications, who arranged to put WXGZ on solid financial footing through the entrance of a local marketing agreement with Ace TV, allowing WGBA to operate and program WXGZ through its studios and sell advertising time for the station.
At the outset, programming on WXGZ (whose logo was an
By August 1995, the station – which would change its
One of WACY's most durable programs was called Who, What, When, Where, a show hosted by
In 2004,
MyNetworkTV affiliation (2006–2022)
On February 22, 2006,
After the 2005–06 television season ended, WACY began distancing itself from UPN, reducing its carriage of the network's programming on Monday through Thursdays to only one hour per night during the summer of 2006, with
After affiliating with MyNetworkTV, WACY adopted a new branding in late-July 2006, becoming "My New 32"—with "New" referring to both the "new" network, and as an abbreviation of "Northeast Wisconsin"—and in the process downplaying the WACY call sign (aside from official station identification) and abandoning the ace of spades logo that the station used in some form since its return to the air in 1994.
As far back as the latter years of WACY's UPN affiliation, the station aired a weekly high school football game featuring local schools on Friday nights in the fall (billed as Friday Night Thunder), with select University of Wisconsin–Green Bay men's and women's basketball games added in 2007. All sports broadcasts on WACY featured WGBA's sports anchors, while visual presentation depended on the in-house camera system from the arena where the game was played instead of station-owned cameras. The broadcasts of high school games were discontinued in 2008, in part due to the addition of SmackDown to MyNetworkTV's Friday night lineup and also due to a lean financial period for the stations during the Great Recession, at a time when WGBA's news and sports staff were cut back due to budget concerns, WTMJ began to take control of several of WGBA's newscasts, and infomercials occupied portions of WACY's programming schedule. Sports broadcasts would return to WACY in August 2011 under the N.E.W. Sports Showdown banner, featuring both high school sports as well as St. Norbert College athletics (added in 2011)[8][9] and Wisconsin Timber Rattlers baseball (added in the spring of 2013 until 2017, returned/revived in 2024).[10]
A late-night feature that aired on WACY's weekend lineup was the movie program Ned the Dead. Hosted by the ghoulish "Ned" (played by local actor and radio personality Steve Brenzel), the show – which began on WLUK-TV in the 1980s as Ned the Dead's Chiller Theater before eventually moving to WACY – featured presentations of B-movies (mainly sci-fi or horror features from the 1950s), with "Ned" providing wraparound segments of comic relief. Over the years, Ned would move toward airings of low-budget color films and additional segments of Ned and his colorful troupe of sidekicks.[11] Though Ned the Dead would move around WACY's schedule during its time on the station, the show aired mainly at 11 p.m. on Saturdays and was sponsored by the Van Vredee's chain of local furniture/appliance stores (Brenzel serves as the stores' spokesperson). Ned the Dead ended its WACY run on December 12, 2010.[12]
2012 full purchase of station by Journal
In May 2012,
The FCC would approve Journal's request of WACY's license transfer on September 4, 2012, specifically citing two points Journal had included in its request: The financial and operational status of WACY before the grandfathered LMA commenced in 1994 (and which Journal inherited when it bought WGBA in 2004), and WGBA's ability to "produce and broadcast [on WACY] programming that furthers the public interest," programming that WACY would otherwise not have been able to produce. Also cited was channel 32's bankruptcy as WXGZ.
Summer 2013 Time Warner Cable carriage dispute
After several extensions of the original June 30, 2013, expired agreement, and the invocation of the
A
By August 15, WGBA and WACY's channel slots on Time Warner Cable were replaced with a simulcast of
Journal and Time Warner Cable came to an agreement for carriage on September 20, 2013, to last at least through the 2016 Summer Olympics, returning WGBA and WACY to their lineups as of 7 p.m. that evening. However, Journal conceded that the analog and cable-ready positions were less important than carriage in the high definition tier, so while WGBA's high definition signal remained on channel 1007, the standard definition signal moved to channel 13, WACY's former SD slot, with WACY shifting to channel 83 with high definition coverage coming at the start of the year.[27] However, MeTV subchannel 26.2 remained removed from Time Warner systems, though southern portions of the Green Bay market already receive MeTV Milwaukee flagship WBME-CD (channel 41) on the basic lifeline tier.[28]
Sale to the E. W. Scripps Company
On July 30, 2014, the E. W. Scripps Company announced that it would acquire Journal Communications in an all-stock transaction. The combined firm would retain their broadcast properties, including WTMJ-TV and its radio siblings, with the print assets being spun off as Journal Media Group.[29] The deal was approved by the FCC on December 12, 2014,[30] with shareholders of the two companies approving it on March 11, 2015;[31] the merger/spin-off between Journal and Scripps formally closed on April 1.
E. W. Scripps and Time Warner Cable announced a new multi-year carriage agreement on February 1, 2016, that includes WGBA and WACY, along with WACY's new subchannels also coming to Time Warner in addition to those of WGBA.[32]
In October 2021, WACY-TV began to discontinue the "MyNew32" branding (and its secondary "My32" branding used since 2016) in favor of the on-air "TV 32" branding, downplaying their affiliation with MyNetworkTV.[33]
Return to independence (2022–present)
On June 3, 2022, WACY ended their affiliation with MyNetworkTV with no public notice, and returned to being an unaffiliated independent station for the first time since January 1995. The station replaced MyNetworkTV programming with
Local programming
Locally-produced programming includes the cooking show Mad Dog & Merril's Midwest Grillin (Mad Dog and Merril are longtime Northeast Wisconsin-based cooking experts). The station also airs local high school and college sports, under the umbrella title of N.E.W. Sports Showdown. The same title is also used for a broad schedule of professional minor league sports carried by the station, including the United States Hockey League's Green Bay Gamblers. Beginning with the 2017–18 season, the station also broadcasts NBA G League games involving the Oshkosh-based Wisconsin Herd, which is owned by the Milwaukee Bucks and affiliates with that team.
Until 2016 when WCWF acquired local rights to the
On June 15, 2020, WACY debuted a half-hour weeknight 9 p.m. newscast produced by WGBA, titled My News at 9 with a repeat of NBC 26 Tonight (originally aired at 6:30 p.m. on WGBA) at 9:30 p.m. The title remains unchanged even after the station's MyNetworkTV disaffiliation.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's digital signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
32.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
WACY | Main WACY-TV programming |
32.2 | 480i | LAFF | Laff | |
32.3 | Mystery | Ion Mystery | ||
32.4 | CourtTV | Court TV | ||
32.5 | JewelTV | Jewelry Television | ||
32.6 | Scripps | Scripps News | ||
14.4 | 480i | 16:9 | Stadium | The Nest (WCWF-DT4) |
14.5 | DABL | Dabl (WCWF-DT5) |
WACY transmitted one
Analog-to-digital conversion
WACY-TV shut down its analog signal, over
One week after the transition, Journal chose to suffix all of their owned television stations with the "-TV" suffix as part of the FCC's one-time allowance during the transition to allow stations to suffix either "-TV" or "-DT" to their call signs if not previously included on their permanent digital channel; this included WACY despite its separate ownership by ACE TV at the time, which became WACY-TV in FCC correspondence and on-air station identifications on June 17, 2009.
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WACY-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ McAdams, Deborah D. (September 4, 2012). "FCC Oks Journal Green Bay Duopoly With $2 Million WACY-TV Purchase". TVTechnology.
- ^ "Journal Communications' Broadcast Group Completes Acquisition of Green Bay Television Station," press release from Journal Communications, July 10, 2004 (via The Free Library)
- ^ "News Corp. to launch new mini-network for UPN stations". USA Today. February 22, 2006. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- ^ News Corp. Unveils MyNetworkTV, Broadcasting & Cable, February 22, 2006.
- ^ "Journal's Appleton station to join MyNetworkTV". March 22, 2006.
- ^ "N.E.W. Sports Showdown". Archived from the original on June 25, 2011.
- ^ "WACY to televise 20 St. Norbert sports events," from the archives of Green Bay Press-Gazette, April 6, 2011
- ^ "Timber Rattlers Announce 2013 TV Broadcast Schedule," press release from Wisconsin Timber Rattlers via OurSportsCentral, February 18, 2013
- ^ "Green Bay fixture Ned the Dead likes show's makeover," from Green Bay Press-Gazette archives
- ^ Warren, Gerds (December 14, 2010). "Warren Gerds column: Teen show will get a Packers presence". Green Bay Press-Gazette. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
- ^ "Asset Purchase Agreement". FCC.
- ^ "FCC File# BALCDT – 20120503AEN, Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". Federal Communications Commission. May 3, 2012.
- ^ Jessell, Harry A. (May 4, 2012). "Journal hopes to buy WACY for $2M". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
- ^ Eggerton, John (September 4, 2012). "FCC Okays Journal Request for Green Bay Duopoly Waiver". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
- ^ "File No. BALCDT-20120503AEN" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. September 4, 2012.
- ^ "Application Search Details". Federal Communications Commission. October 24, 2012.
- ^ Kirchen, Rich (October 23, 2012). "Journal closes acquisition of WACY-TV in Fox Valley". Milwaukee Business Journal. American City Business Journals.
- ^ Kirchen, Rich (June 28, 2013). "Time Warner Cable, Channel 4 owner agree to extension". The Business Journal (Milwaukee). American City Business Journals. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
- ^ Dudek, Duane (July 25, 2013). "Conspiracy theories, frustration multiply as Time Warner pulls WTMJ-TV". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Journal Communications. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
- ^ Dudek, Duane (July 10, 2013). "Stalemate in Journal Broadcast negotiations with Time Warner". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Journal Communications. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
- ^ Dudek, Duane (August 10, 2013). "Packers ratings strong despite blackout of WTMJ on Time Warner". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Journal Communications. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
- ^ Reynolds, Mike (August 9, 2013). "TWC Customers File Lawsuit over Retrans Disconnect with Milwaukee Station; Plaintiffs Seek Class-Action Status over Disconnect with Journal Broadcast's WTMJ". Multichannel News. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
- ^ "JBG Answers". Retrieved August 15, 2013.
- OnMilwaukee.com. LIFTdigital Solutions. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
- ^ "Journal Broadcast Group and Time Warner Cable Reach Agreement" (Press release). Journal Communications. September 20, 2013. Retrieved September 21, 2013.
- ^ "TWC Conversations: Q: Why are WGBA-D2 (Me TV), WTMJ-D2 (Storm Team), WTMJ-D3 (Live Well) no longer available? A: We have agreed with Journal to carry the channels that we believe deliver the most value to our customers". Time Warner Cable. September 21, 2013. Archived from the original on September 22, 2013. Retrieved September 21, 2013.
- ^ Glauber, Bill (July 30, 2014). "Journal, Scripps deal announced". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Journal Communications. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
- ^ "Scripps-Journal Merger Gets FCC OK". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. December 12, 2014.
- ^ Cornell, Joe (March 16, 2015). "Journal Communications, Scripps Spin/Merger set for April 1". Forbes. Forbes LLC.
- ^ McAdams, Deborah (February 1, 2016). "Retrans Quietly Accomplished: E.W. Scripps, Time Warner Cable". TVTechnology. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
- ^ @CameronMoreland (October 15, 2021). "Week 9 @showdown32 game features @LuxCascoHS vs @VikingsDenmarkCoverage begins at 7pm Friday, Oct 15 on WACY TV…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "RabbitEars.Info". rabbitears.info.
- ^ Lafayette, Jon (May 18, 2015). "Scripps Stations to Launch Grit and Escape Networks; Expanded distribution for LAFF comedy channel". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved May 19, 2015.
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.