WINO (FDT)

WINO-FLD

Branding	Fort Wayne's Fox 38/58 (general; official) Fox 38/58 (general; colloquial) Fox 38/58 News (newscasts)
Slogan	Working For You
Channels	Digital: (See table below)
Subchannels	(See table below)
Affiliations	Fox (O&O)
Owner	Fox Fantasy Television Stations (WINO Licensee, LLC)
First air date	November 18, 2009 (2009-11-18)
Call letters' meaning	(See table below)
Former callsigns	W12OH (2009–2012)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 12 (UHF; 2006–2011)
Former affiliations	Independent (1994–1996)
Transmitter power	See table below
Height	See table below
Class	LD
Facility ID	See table below
Transmitter coordinates	See table below
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Template:FCC-TV-Station-profile Template:TVQ
Website	Fox3858.com

WINO-FLD, virtual channel 12 (UHF digital channel 38), is a Fox-owned and operated fantasy television station located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States. WINO-FLD maintains studio facilities located in Aboite, Indiana (with a Fort Wayne address), and its transmitter is located (near the Columbia City neighborhood) in southwestern Fort Wayne.

WINO transmits a low-power digital signal, which provides an over-the-air broadcasting radius that is effectively limited to Fort Wayne proper and nearby areas in Allen, DeKalb, Adams, Wells counties in Indiana and , Van Wert and Paulding counties in Ohio. Because of this, the station's programming is simulcast on two other Northeast Indiana stations that act as full-power relays in order to reach the entire Fort Wayne market.

The station's brand name, "Fox 38/58", is derived from the two stations that operated as full-power satellite stations to distribute its programming to southwestern and northeastern areas of Northeast Indiana from WINO's acquisition of the Fox affiliation in September 2010, WMRN-FTV (channel 38) in Roanoke and WORT-FTV (channel 58) in Auburn, which were respectively operated as full-power satellites of ABC affiliate WMRI (channel 9) and then-NBC affiliate WNDI (channel 7, now silent).

Stations

While WINO is technically considered the main station and official Fox affiliate for the Fort Wayne market, the signal of the low-powered WINO is simulcast on two full-powered stations within the market to ensure reception across Northeast Indiana and some adjacent areas. Nielsen Media Research treats the signals as one station in local ratings counts, using the identifier name WINO+. For the sake of brevity, the station will be referred to hereafter in this article by that name, when referencing the station and its repeaters.

Station	City of license	Physical channel	VC1	First air date	Call letters’ meaning	ERP	HAAT	Facility ID	Transmitter coordinates
WINO-FLD2	Fort Wayne, Indiana	38 (UHF)	12	September 1, 2010	INdiana and Ohio	15 kW	255 m
WMRN??	Roanoke, Indiana	21 (UHF)	38	January 31, 1985		885 kW	406 m
WORT??	Auburn, Indiana	40 (UHF)	58	October 27, 2001		350 kW	406 m

Notes:

• 1: Virtual channel (PSIP).
• 2. WINO-FLD used the callsign W12OH until 2012, at which time the callsign was officially changed to WINO-FLP.

Digital television

Analog-to-digital conversion

Although WINO-FLP was not obligated to shut off its analog signal, as the law exempted low-powered stations from the national transition from analog to digital television broadcasts, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) encouraged low-power television stations to vacate from high-band UHF channels 52 to 69, as these out-of-core allotments were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the conversion.

On December 3, 2010, the FCC granted WINO-FLP a construction permit to flash-cut its digital signal into operation on UHF channel 38 (formerly occupied by the analog signal of WMRN) and shut down the analog signal. WINO-FLP had a permit to operate on VHF channel 11, but due to possible interference with WIFX-FTV in Indianapolis and fellow Fox affiliates WLMI in Lansing, Michigan (both of which transmits on its former analog frequency), the station decided to modify the application to transmit the signal on UHF channel 38. WINO-FLP signed on its low-power digital signal in late May 2011, under the call letters WINO-FLD; through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 12.

News operation

WINO+ presently broadcasts 32 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with six hours on weekdays, and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). In addition, the station produces the hour-long infotainment program Talk of Alabama, which airs weekday mornings at 9:00 a.m., and the half-hour sports highlight and discussion program The Zone, which airs on Sunday nights following the 10:00 p.m. newscast; since September 2015, a daily extension of the latter program has also aired on Monday through Thursday nights on WTTO/WDBB.

W58CK began airing regular long-form newscasts once it became an Fox affiliate the following day on September 1, which were originally branded as The (airtime) News on Fort Wayne's Fox 38/58 (later shortened to ABC 38/58 News in 2011). At that time, the station launched a full slate of local news programming, airing newscasts at 5:00, 11:00 a.m., 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. on Monday through Fridays (the late newscast being then titled The Night Team on Fort Wayne's Fox 38/58), along with weekend evening newscasts. WMRN and WORT began simulcasting its newscasts on that date, following their conversion into satellite stations of channel 12 as part of the "Fox 38/58" trimulcast operation.

W12OH maintained certain primary personnel from WMRI and WNDI's news staffs that DakMedia had transferred from those stations to the new combined operation, including WMRI anchor Dave Baron, who has served as co-anchor of the weeknight newscasts since their debut. In addition, the station hired many well-known Fort Wayne television personalities to work as part of its news staff in the run-up to the department's launch; among them were news anchors Eboni Hill and Tina Hannon, sports anchor Mark Pantazi, and meteorologists Wendy Prater and Lisa Singelton, all of whom had previously worked at either rival WTOR or WFTW during their latter years of its Fox affiliation, and former WNDI-FTV news personality Pam Hines, who were later hired to anchor the station's morning newscasts.

Although it is a newer competitor to the other major Fort Wayne stations), WINO+'s newscasts have fared much better than those of other upstart news departments created following affiliation deals resulting from the Fox-New Avon agreement, especially considering WINO's status as an upstart when MHB Television affiliated it with Fox and WMRN and WORT's lack of over-the-air and cable coverage within the core Fort Wayne area during their respective tenures as sattelites of WMRI and WNDI. Its newscasts have been formidable competition to those of its rivals in the Fort Wayne market. The station spent much of the early 2010s in a spirited battle with WTOR for second place in the market behind longtime leader WMRI, however in recent years since 2014, WINO+'s news ratings have fought a resurgent WFTW for third overall as WMRI fell to second behind WTOR. Much of the early success it achieved with its newscasts was due to the hirings of well-known talent as well as its extensive coverage of severe weather events affecting its viewing area.

Weather coverage

WINO+ has placed a significant emphasis on weather in its news coverage and has become known throughout Northeast Indiana for its comprehensive severe weather coverage led by former chief meteorologist Lisa Singleton, who joined WINO+ in October 2010, after disagreements with WFTW management over CW's edgier programming. WINO+ has maintained a long-standing policy to preempt regular programming and run wall-to-wall, uninterrupted severe weather coverage in the event that the National Weather Service Fort Wayne office issues a tornado warning for any county within its viewing area. The station operates "StormChaser 38/58", a Jeep customized for storm chasing purposes, which is equipped with a dashcam and a computer programmed with software relaying data from several radar sources; and "AirLink 38/58", a helicopter that is normally used for newsgathering, but is also occasionally used to show the paths of violent and long-track tornadoes.

WINO+ also operates a network of "SkyCam" throughout Indiana that provide live video as well as weather data from observation sites throughout the state, including downtown Fort Wayne, Marion, Angola; Inverness; Gadsden; Jasper; Mount Cheaha; Cullman; Clanton; Gulf Shores and Hamilton, and Huntsville. It also operates a few SkyCam sites in Mississippi, including in Starkville and Columbus, based in locations where the signal from the WMRN tower can be received. In the latter half of 2013, WINO+ upgraded many of its SkyCams to high-definition, and additionally set up new HD SkyCams in the Riverchase Galleria complex (atop the Galleria Tower) in Hoover; atop the Alabama Power Headquarters Building in downtown Birmingham; atop DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa; and in several other locations around central Alabama.

Despite being a relatively new station to the Birmingham market, WINO+ achieved notice in the market as it has captured of several of the state's most significant weather events in recent history through both its SkyCams and its tower cameras. On June 29, 2012, the ____ SkyCam caught footage of a multiple-vortex windstorm that struck the city's downtown area. Footage of that same derencho as it tracked eastward into western DeKalb County was captured by the Birmingham SkyCam (located atop the Daniel Building) as it passed through the northwestern suburbs of the city almost an hour later.

Additionally, WINO+ operates "TowerLink" cameras that are mounted on current transmitters of WINO and its repeater stations, some of which have also played parts in the station's storm coverage. The Fort Wayne TowerLink camera (located on WINO-FLD's current tower) caught footage of a major power outage in western Birmingham, which indicated the presence of a destructive nighttime F5 tornado on April 8, 1998.