WIWN
FCC | |
Facility ID | 60571 |
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ERP |
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HAAT |
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Transmitter coordinates | 43°5′46.2″N 87°54′15.0″W / 43.096167°N 87.904167°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
WIWN (channel 68) is a television station licensed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, United States (in the Green Bay market), but primarily serving the Milwaukee area as an affiliate of Cozi TV. It is owned by CNZ Communications as sister to Milwaukee-licensed low-power, Class A station WMKE-CD (channel 21). The two outlets share studios on West Stratton Drive in suburban New Berlin; WIWN's transmitter is located on North Humboldt Boulevard in Milwaukee's Estabrook Park neighborhood.
History
The station first signed on the air in 2000 as WMMF-TV, which carried programming from
Most of the station's audience prior to 2007 received its signal over-the-air, as WWAZ and Pappas had previously not pursued any must-carry provisions with local cable and national satellite providers because of affiliation uncertainties; for instance, the station was not carried on the Charter Communications system in Fond du Lac. From Iron Ridge, the station's coverage area ranged from most of the northern part of the eleven-county Milwaukee market area, to the eastern portion of the Madison market, along with the southern portions of the Green Bay market. However, as the station's transmitter was located west of the Kettle Moraine range that bisects the station's coverage area, communities in Sheboygan and Ozaukee counties were unable to receive the station without an outdoor antenna at minimum.
However, this changed in mid-2007, when Pappas filed a must-carry provision with Time Warner Cable's Northeastern Wisconsin system, and the station was subsequently added in Green Bay and the Fox Cities on June 26, 2007,[4] replacing Milwaukee CW affiliate WVTV (channel 18), which had aired on the provider since the mid-1980s during that station's phase of becoming a superstation with intrastate coverage across Wisconsin. Eventually though, FamilyNet was added to Charter systems through a national deal to add it to their digital family tier,[5] and carriage of WWAZ was of no priority to Charter, as the station carried the network without any local deviation, along with having on-air malfunctions to the point their hourly station identification would often not show up.
The station ceased broadcasting in January 2008 as the financial issues of Pappas Telecasting elsewhere began to build up, resulting in the ceasing of operations of sister station KCWK in Walla Walla, Washington. After the station went silent, a slide on the station's slot on Time Warner Cable went up containing the sentence "WWAZ-TV informed Time Warner Cable that it has ceased broadcast operations until further notice." On January 15, 2008, WWAZ-TV filed a request with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to cease broadcasting in analog before the end of the digital television transition period and become a digital-only station, broadcasting on UHF channel 44.[6] The request was approved in late July 2008.[7] The station continued to broadcast for a short time before permanently ending its analog service within two weeks.
Pappas filed for
Move to Milwaukee area
In August 2009, the FCC conditionally approved the move to channel 5 after the build-out of the new transmitter, which was approved for the traditional tower site on the northeast side of Milwaukee from the
The petition to move was contested by
The application was approved mainly due to
On August 12, 2012, it was reported that the station had begun to broadcast, airing programming from WeatherNation TV; it also changed its call letters to WIWN, which became official one day later on August 13.[11] The network was carried fully in 1080i high definition, with forced framing to widescreen for standard definition viewers via the AFD#10 code.[12] DirecTV picked up the station shortly after it came to air for their southeastern Wisconsin lineup under must-carry requested from Pappas.
The station acquired its first cable carriage in April 2014, when Charter added the stations to their southeastern Wisconsin systems as part of Charter's new retransmission consent agreement for Pappas stations elsewhere in the country, finally bringing the station carriage in its city of license of Fond du Lac. It airs on channel 22 on those Charter systems, along with channel 616 in high definition. Time Warner Cable added the station for their area systems on December 5, 2014, on standard channel 68 and in high definition on channel 1068.[13]
On June 16, 2014, Pappas Telecasting and their bankruptcy trustees agreed to a purchase of the station for $1.8 million by Caballero Acquisition LLC, a station group mainly made up of low-power television stations in California and Texas formerly owned by
As of November 10, 2014, all WeatherNation programming was removed from the station's schedule, and outside of a daily 9 a.m. slot to carry required
On December 1, 2014, the station began to air programming from the religious
Charter added WIWN-DT4/LATV to the provider's Latino/Hispanic tier on May 4, 2016, over channel 201 on their area systems.
On April 13, 2017, the FCC announced the results of the 2016
On May 1, 2017, WIWN moved Sonlife (who had acquired their own carriage independently nationwide on
On September 1, 2017, WIWN replaced Evine with
In July 2019, the station received permission from the FCC to increase their power from its previous 9 kW to 35 kW due to complaints of over-the-air viewers unable to receive the station, as the low VHF frequencies like channel 5 have proven troublesome for reception in the digital age. CNZ/Milwaukee Media has also put forward an application for a permanent increase to 49 kW.[17]
On March 11, 2022, WIWN filed a petition with the FCC to move its RF channel from low VHF 5 to high VHF 7, and to add a second
On November 21, 2023, it was announced that WIWN would be sold to Jimmy Swaggart and Sonlife itself, through the Family Worship Center Church, for $8.9 million.[2] Milwaukee Media will retain WMKE-CD.
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
68.1 | 720p | 16:9 |
COZI TV | Cozi TV |
68.2 | 480i | ThisTV | This TV | |
68.3 | Quest | Quest | ||
68.4 | GetTV | Get | ||
68.5 | Oxygen | Oxygen | ||
68.6 | TBD | TBD | ||
68.7 | DABL | Dabl | ||
68.8 | SBN | Sonlife
| ||
68.9 | TWIST | Blank | ||
68.10 | WIWN 10 | Blank | ||
68.11 | CARZ | RVTV | ||
68.12 | RCTV | Rare Collectibles TV |
References
- ^ a b "Channel Substitution/Community of License Change". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. March 11, 2022. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
- ^ a b "Assignments". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. November 21, 2023. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WIWN". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "Warren Gerds column: Mr. Monk gets a bobble-head, Fourth of July marathon". Green Bay Press-Gazette. July 2, 2007. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
- ^ "Home". madison.com. Retrieved January 26, 2024.[dead link]
- ^ "PUBLIC NOTICE" (PDF). hraunfoss.fcc.gov. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
- ^ FCC Lets Two More Stations Pull Analog Plug, Broadcasting & Cable, July 28, 2008.
- ^ "CDBS Docs". fjallfoss.fcc.gov. Retrieved January 26, 2024.[dead link]
- ^ "CDBS Print".
- ^ "Report and Order" (PDF). hraunfoss.fcc.gov. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
- ^ "New OTA Station?". milwaukeehdtv.org. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
- ^ Kirchen, Rich (August 27, 2012). "Milwaukee's newest TV station: WeatherNation". Retrieved March 7, 2014.
- ^ "Wisconsin Programming Legal Notices". Time Warner Cable. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
- ^ "Asset Purchase Agreement". FCC. June 16, 2014. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
- ^ "Consummation Notice". CDBS Public Access. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
- ^ "Hey #Milwaukee we now have Quest programming available for you on channel 68.3!!!!" (Press release). WIWN Facebook. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
- ^ Ellis, Jon (July 18, 2019). "VHF Low TV Station Gets Approval for Temporary Power Boost". Northpine. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
- ^ "FCCInfo Results". fccinfo.com. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
- ^ "RabbitEars.Info". rabbitears.info. Retrieved January 27, 2024.