WWME-CA

WWME-CA/LD

Chicago, Illinois
Branding	Me-TV
Slogan	Memorable Entertainment Television
Channels	Analog: 23 (UHF) Digital: 39 (UHF) WCIU 26.3 (27.3) (UHF)
Affiliations	Me-TV/Independent
Owner	Weigel Broadcasting (Channel 23 Limited Partnership)
Founded	October 28, 1987
Call letters' meaning	W W Memorable Entertainment Television (Me-TV)
Sister station(s)	WCIU-TV, WMEU-CA
Former callsigns	W23AT (1987–2001) WFBT-CA (2001–2005)
Transmitter power	51 kW (analog) 15 kW (digital)
Website	http://www.metvnetwork.com

WWME-CA is a class A station in Chicago, Illinois. It is owned by Weigel Broadcasting, which also owns sister stations WCIU-TV and WMEU-CA. This station is the flagship of the Me-TV network. Me-TV is also broadcast on WCIU's digital subchannel 26.3.

History and programming

The low-powered station that is currently WWME-CA started as W23AT, a translator of WFBT. Until January 1, 2005, WFBT-CA was a brokered-time ethnic station. This was originally the format of sister station WCIU from 1964 until December 31, 1994.

The "Me-TV" moniker originated on then-WFBT-CA as a block of TV shows from 12-3 p.m. This consisted of shows like Jack Benny, Sergeant Bilko, Carol Burnett, Maude, and One Day at a Time. The Me-TV branding was never used on WCIU. This block of programming underwent several changes adding and subtracting shows and expanding time periods.

On January 1, 2005, Weigel rechristened Chicago ethnic station as WWME-CA, and began carrying the Me-TV lineup full-time. The station's former ethnic programming and call letters (WFBT Chicago) moved to channel 48. On March 1, 2008, that station became WMEU-CA and became MeToo, an extension of the original station. The two low-power stations also air locally on WCIU-TV's digital subchannels. Initially, the two stations ran similar schedules, but by 2008, one would air sitcoms while the other aired dramas, and vice-versa. WWME also broadcasts Chicago Public Schools Public League events.^{[citation needed]}

On March 11, 2008 WWME-CA signed on RF channel 39 at 1.8kW becoming Chicago's first low-power digital station. From early 2009 to December 2010, its subchannel on the WCIU-DT signal also appeared as Virtual Channel 23.1, while WWME-CA was mapped to virtual channel 23.2.^{[citation needed]}

On September 14, 2009, Me Too to aired many off-network dramatic programs (such as Perry Mason, Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Twilight Zone). The original Me-TV likewise switched to a sitcom-intensive format (running such shows as The Bernie Mac Show, All in the Family, The Three Stooges and Frasier).

On December 1, 2010, WCIU dropped their FBT foreign broadcasting digital subchannel and for two weeks aired a simulcast of WCIU-TV on WCIU digital subchannel 26.6. The new digital subchannel, The U Too, was officially launched on January 5, 2011. The new digital network is airing on WCIU digital subchannel 26.2, replacing Me-TV, which moved to WCIU digital subchannel 26.3 on December 15, 2010. Digital subchannel 26.6 disappeared on that day while 26.2 aired a simulcast of WCIU-TV. In addition, PSIP channel 48.1 was discontinued (to be later used by the future WMEU-CA) while 23.1 reverted to being the virtual channel number for WWME-CA (23.2 was also discontinued). WWME added Bounce TV, an upstart digital subchannel network aimed at African-Americans, on its September 2011 launch as part of affiliation agreement with Weigel Broadcasting.

Digital Television

Channel	Video	Aspect	Name	Programming
23.1	480i	4:3	WWME-CA	Me-TV
23.2			Bounce	Bounce TV

Analog nightlight programming

To provide a full-schedule analog nightlight signal for the Chicago area, WWME's analog signal was converted on June 12, 2009 to carry a simulcast of Weigel's flagship full-power station WCIU-TV. From June 13 to July 12, 2009, WWME also carried WMAQ-TV (Channel 5)'s morning and early evening newscasts, along with sports partner WGN-TV (channel 9)'s 9 p.m. newscasts, excepting nights with sports coverage. Me-TV continues to air its regular schedule on WCIU-TV (virtual channel 26.3) and WWME-LD 39 (virtual channel 23.1).

On January 10, 2011, WWME-CA analog signal replaced its simulcast of WCIU's main channel in favor of simulcasting The U Too's programming from WCIU's digital channel 26.2.

Me-TV Network

On November 22, 2010, Weigel announced that they would take the Me-TV concept national and compete fully with RTV and Antenna TV, while complimenting its successful sister network This TV.

With the national network, Chicago's local Me-TV merged with MeToo, and airs both comedy and drama programming together as locally-programmed channel MeToo. The national Me-TV airs on WCIU subchannel 26.3 and WWME-CA, while the new MeToo moved to WCIU subchannel 26.4 and WMEU-CA.

Sí! Me-TV

From Saturday, August 4, 2007 to Sunday, January 25, 2009, WWME expanded its classic television brand by introducing Sí! Me-TV, classic television in Spanish. Programming in that block featured Spanish-dubbed versions of American shows from the Universal library, such as Hercules, Xena, Miami Vice, Quantum Leap and The Incredible Hulk. Some programs seen in that block were available to the station only in Spanish, due to restrictions imposed on the English-language originals. Sí! Me-TV also offered a Spanish public affairs program in the block, which began at a later date.

The "Sí" in "Sí! Me-TV" was the Spanish word for "yes". However, the first two parts of the "Sí! Me-TV" moniker were based on the phrase "see me".

External links

• Official website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WWME