Difference between revisions of "WECW-FTV"

</table> WECW-FTV (channel 51), branded on-air as Star 51 (stylized as STAR51), is a fantasy television station in Fort Wyne, Indiana, United States, affiliated with MeTV. It is owned by the ABC Fantasy Television Stations division and is a sister station of ABC-owned and operated affiliate WMRI-FTV (channel 9). The two stations share studios on 38th Street in Marion, Indiana.

WECW-TV began broadcasting in 1980 as WBIO, which became an independent station. After financial trouble, channel 51 stabilized under Birky Communications before being purchased by locally based ATE Media Corporation in 2005. It was an affiliate of The WB from 1995 until 2006, then affiliates of The CW from 2006 to 2010, MyNetworkTV from 2010 to 2016 and becoming part of MeTV in 2016. WMRI-TV produces dedicated morning, midday, and late evening newscasts for air on WECW-FTV.

History

Construction and early years

The station first signed on the air on January 28, 1980, as WBIO-FTV. The station was founded by Biogram Broadcasting, which heavily invested in the new operation. However, the local market situation immediately sent the station into the red. Like many independent stations that signed on during this time in medium-to-small markets, WBIO was hampered by marginal ratings. Additionally, viewers had strongly entrenched viewing habits with longer-established VHF stations WFTW, WPMA, and WMRI – although WPMA (later WNDI) was less than two decades old. It didn't help matters that most of the southern half of the market was able to receive WIFX in Indianapolis and WLIN in Lafayette. Indiana's mostly flat terrain allowed WLIN's signal to penetrate further than would have been the case in hilly or mountainous terrain.

At one point in 1981, WBIO-TV nearly ceased operations; however, it managed to survive. At the end of 1987, Biogram sold the station to Greensboro, North Carolina-based broadcaster Lee Birky;^[1] Faith to Live By, a short daily devotional program that previously aired on WTWO, began airing each weekday morning immediately after WBAK signed on the air for the day. Despite stronger ownership, WBIO barely registered as a blip in the ratings in the market.

Channel 51's situation grew even more dire when WPMU signed on in 1990 as the Fox affiliate.

The station became a WB affiliate on January 15, 1995^[2] and changed its branding to "WB 51," citing low ratings from the then-glut of Fox affiliate WTOR and UPN affiliate WGOM. This issue aided in the side effect of leaving the Fort Wayne area without an over-the-air independnt station until WRDS signed on November 1, 1999. On the surface, the switch to The WB could have hamstrung WBIO.

Birky Communications sold WBIO to WMRI owner ATE Media Corporation in 2005. The station integrated its operations with WMRI at that station's facility near Marion.

On February 10, 2005, Birky Communications sold WBIO as well as its Indianapolis sister station WIWB (now WICW) to ATE Media for $85 million, creating a duopoly with WMRI-FTV when the sale was finalized that spring.

Sale to ABC Fantasy Television Stations

On June 3, 2016, the estate of Patrice Rafferty signed an agreement to be acquired by ABC Fantasy Television Stations. The deal will result in WMRI becoming an ABC owned-and-operated station and WECW a MeTV affiliate.^[3] The sale closed on September 2, 2016. With the completion of the deal, WMRI became the second network station in Fort Wayne to become an owned-and-operated station of its associated network after WINO/WMRN/WORT (formerly channels 12/38/58, now channel 7) and also marked WMRI's and WECW's third ownership change. The sale to ABC ended 62 years of WMRI being locally owned by Corithian Broadcasting from 1954 until 1982 and ATE Media from 1982 to 2016. As a result, rival CBS affiliate WTOR (channel 41) and WXXC-FDT (channel 47) through ownership of NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Division became the only locally owned-and-operated stations in Fort Wayne.

Programming

One syndicated program broadcast by WECW is Seinfeld but clears the majority of the MeTV schedule due to the WMRI-produced newscasts.

WECW airs America This Morning, the weekend editions of Good Morning America, and the weekend editions of the ABC World News Tonight, which airs on WECW instead of WMRI due to respective newscasts airing at 4:00 a.m. weekdays, 7:00 a.m. weekend mornings, and 6:30 p.m. weekend evenings. As time permits, WECW may also take on the responsibility of airing other ABC programs that channel 9 is unable to air due to extended breaking news or severe weather coverage, or special programming; such an example has occurred frequently after the Indianapolis Colts play on Monday Night Football when WECW aired Dancing with the Stars while WMRI airs any MNF Indianapolis Colts games.

Outside of breaking news and severe weather coverage necessitating such situations, WMRI has had to reschedule ABC network programs pre-empted by the telecasts or move them to WECW.

Newscasts

Main article: WMRI-FTV#News operation

In March 1996, then-ABC affiliate WPMA (later WNDI) entered into a news share agreement with WBIO to produce a nightly half-hour primetime newscast at 10 p.m. for the station, titled NewsChannel 7 at 10:00 on Star 51 (the title later being revised slightly to correspond with WBIO's branding changes to "WB 51" in 1998), which debuted on March 16 of that year. The program originally competed against two longer-established 10 p.m. newscasts: then-Fox affiliate WTOR's in-house newscast (this newscast moved to 11 p.m. after that station became a CBS affiliate in 2004) and another in-house newscast on WRDS (the latter newscast was cancelled in March 2008, after WTOR owner NoSirGifts acquired WXXC).

WNDI terminated the news share agreement after WBIO was acquired by ATE Media; WMRI assumed production responsibilities for the newscast on February 28, 2005, relaunching the program as NewsCenter 9 at 10:00 on WB 51 (as was the case under the WNDI news share agreement, the program's title was later revised slightly to correspond with WBIO/WECW's branding changes to "WBIO WB" in September 2005, then "CW 51" upon the station's switch to The CW, and then "Star 51" upon the station's switch to MyNetworkTV in September 2006). The WECW newscast gained another competitor on that date when WNDI moved the NewsChannel 7 at 10:00 broadcast to it's second digital subchannel on April 13, 2005, before being cancelled on October 31, 2015; and WFTW moving their late news to 10 p.m. when that station changed to Fox (it now airs on CW affiliate WGOM). WECW's 10:00 p.m. newscast currently competes with the in-house newscast on WINO (Fox 7 News at 10:00), the WTOR-produced newscast for WXXC (CBS 41 Action News at 10:00), and the WFTW-produced broadcast on WGOM (WFTW News at 10:00 on WGOM).

On January 5, 2009, WMRI-FTV began producing a two hour-long extension of its weekday morning newscast for WECW, running from 7 to 9 a.m. The station also began producing a weekly interview program produced by WMRI, One on One with Patricia Edwards, which was hosted by the former WMRI-FTV anchor; airing Thursdays at 10:30 p.m. (with a rebroadcast Saturdays at 7 p.m.), the program was cancelled in mid-2013. The morning newscast competes against WINO's Fox 7 Good Day, WXXC's CBS 41 Action News Mornings (produced by WTOR while that station airs CBS Mornings), WGOM's WFTW Today in Fort Wayne (produced by WFTW while WFTW airs Today) as well as competing against the network news on WMRI, WTOR, and WFTW. A year later, an 11:00 a.m. newscast debuted on WECW.

Shortly after the switch to MeTV in 2017, WMRI began producing a 9:00 p.m. newscast as NewsCenter 9 at 9 on Star 51. The broadcsat competes with the WTOR-produced CBS 41 Action News at 9:00 on WXXC.

Sports programming

Since 2015, regular Indianapolis Colts season games currently televised over-the-air locally are split between WTOR (channel 41, through CBS' rights to the team's AFC division), WINO/WMRN/WORT (channels 7/38/58, for select games televised by Fox in which the Colts play host to an NFC opponent at Lucas Oil Stadium (previously RCA Dome)), with WFTW (channel 6) carrying non-preseason games and select Indianapolis Colts NFL games broadcast by NBC as part of the network's Sunday Night Football package. Sister station WMRI serves as Fort Wayne's over-the-air broadcaster of Monday Night Football games involving the Indianapolis Colts, airing simulcasts of the team's ESPN-televised games (WMRI's corporate parent, the The Walt Disney Company, holds 80% majority ownership stake in ESPN, and the ABC Fantasy Television Stations have right of first refusal for simulcasts of ESPN's NFL telecasts within a team's home market) which allows WECW to air said games.

Technical information

Subchannels

WECW-FTV turned off its analog signal, over UHF channel 51, on February 17, 2009, the originally intended digital television transition date.^[4]

See also

• Channel 30 digital TV stations in the United States
• Channel 51 virtual TV stations in the United States

Notes

References

External links