WNWO-TV

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WNWO-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station in Northwest Ohio that is licensed to Toledo. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 49 (virtual channel 24.1) from a transmitter northeast of Oregon. Owned by Barrington Broadcasting, the station has studios on South Avenue in Toledo even though the address says South Byrne Road. Syndicated programming on WNWO includes: Judge Judy, Judge Joe Brown, The Doctors, The Dr. Oz Show, and Martha Stewart. It can be viewed over-the-air and on cable in Southeastern Michigan, Windsor, Ontario, and Essex County, Ontario.

Digital programming

The station's signal is multiplexed. On WNWO-DT2 and Buckeye CableSystem digital channel 625 is the Retro Television Network (a.k.a. RTV). On WNWO-DT3 and Buckeye CableSystem digital channel 626 is America One.

Virtual channel	Physical RF channel	Video	Aspect	Programming
24.1	49.1	1080i	16:9	main WNWO programming / NBC HD
24.2	49.2	480i	4:3	WNWO-DT2 RTV
24.3	49.3	480i	4:3	WNWO-DT3 America One

History

Overmyer Broadcasting founded the station on May 3, 1966 as WDHO-TV (for Daniel H. Overmyer). Logically, it should have signed on as Toledo's ABC affiliate or signed on as a full-time NBC station. However, the FCC had just required all-channel tuning two years earlier. As a result, even though Toledo was big enough to support three full network affiliates, ABC opted to retain its affiliation with WSPD-TV (now WTVG) and NBC opted to retain its secondary affiliations with WSPD and WTOL. Instead, WDHO signed-on as the unlikely flagship of "The Overmyer Network" very soon renamed "The United Network" (no relation to UPN) which began operations one year later on May 1, 1967. The sole program on The United Network, The Las Vegas Show starring comedian Bill Dana, was canceled along with the network after being on-the-air for a month.

WDHO then became Toledo's first independent station carrying syndicated and local programming plus CBS, NBC, and ABC shows turned down by WSPD and WTOL. Finally in 1970, WDHO persuaded ABC to move all its programming there. Channel 24's affiliation with ABC was not a successful one. Creditors threatened the station's existence several times and even the trailer housing their business offices were in danger of repossession. It did not help that WXYZ-TV in Detroit was available over-the-air in much of the Toledo market or that WEWS-TV in Cleveland and WPTA in Fort Wayne had Grade B signals in parts of the area. Overmyer Broadcasting (which once also owned a chain of independent stations including KEMO in San Francisco, WATL in Atlanta, and WPHL-TV in Philadelphia) declared bankruptcy during the 1980s and WDHO was seized by the Bank of Boston (now Bank of America). In 1986, the station was sold through a bankruptcy proceeding for $19.6 million dollars to a local group, Toledo Television Investors, LTD.

The new owners changed the station's call letters to the current WNWO-TV which stand for NorthWest Ohio on June 1, 1986. In October 1994, Capital Cities Communications and ABC announced it would buy WTVG. Almost out of desperation, WNWO approached NBC which was about to be evicted from WTVG. On October 28, 1995, WNWO became the new affiliate for NBC in Toledo. Ironically for being unsolicited by this station, the network swap increased the value of WNWO as a television station owing to the ratings of NBC relative to ABC in 1995. The station was soon sold to the Malrite Communications Group. They merged with Raycom Media in 1998. However, that company owned FOX affiliate WUPW at the time and had to sell it to avoid breaking the FCC's ownership rules in effect at the time which did not allow duopolies. WNWO was once again put up for sale in 2005 after Raycom merged with The Liberty Corporation who owned WTOL. The sale of WNWO was necessary because the FCC does not allow duopolies between two of the four largest stations in a single market.

Raycom chose to keep WTOL because of CBS' and even more so WTOL's higher ratings at the time. On March 27, 2006, the company announced that Barrington Broadcasting will be acquiring twelve Raycom stations including WNWO. The group deal was finalized on August 11. As a result, WNWO joined Marquette's WLUC-TV, Saginaw's WEYI-TV, and Northern Michigan's WPBN-TV / WTOM-TV as part of Barrington's family of stations serving Michigan. Also in 2006, WNWO began airing The Tube (a 24-hour music video channel) on its second digital subchannel. This would end on October 1, 2007 when The Tube shut down. This slot is now taken up by the Retro Television Network. In June 2009, the station's digital signal remained at channel 49 following the digital transition. However, it can be tuned to channel 24 using PSIP.

News operation

While owned by Malrite, the company invested heavily in its property reportedly spending (according to the station's present owner) $3 million to upgrade the station. New studios and offices were built on the site of the former WDHO off of South Byrne Road in Toledo expanding the facility by 10,000 ft². The station went from a newsroom of eight people and one half-hour newscast a day to over thirty people and three hours of news a day. In 1997, the completely revamped news operation went on-air with anchors Dan Lovett and Lissa Guyton, Bill Spencer presenting the weather, and Jim Tichy (the only hold over from the previous newscast) presenting sports. Despite a large advertising campaign with the slogan "Building A Better Station For You", the newscasts did not do well in the ratings. There was a lot of turnover on the anchor desk and a number of personalities (including Jon Clark, Angela Atalla, and Nora Murray) left the station.

It has fallen into a distant last place behind WUPW. Again, WNWO is disadvantaged with higher rated NBC affiliates (WDIV in Detroit, WLIO in Lima, WCMH-TV in Columbus, and WKYC-TV in Cleveland) being available over-the-air in parts of the Toledo market at city-grade or Grade B signal strength. However, out-of-market CBS and ABC affiliates are also available over-the-air in the same capacity, but WTOL and WTVG's ratings have not suffered. On August 10, 2007, WNWO launched the first weeknight 7 o'clock newscast in the area. Airing for an hour, this show allows busy working people to watch news when they need it not when it has traditionally been broadcasted. Unlike most NBC affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, it does not air local news in the weekday Midday or 5 P.M. hours. Weeknights at 6:30, WNWO-DT3 offers INN National News, a nationally syndicated newscast produced by the Independent News Network in Davenport, Iowa. In weather segments, they use radar data from several regional sites known in a system on-air as "NBC 24 Triple Doppler".

Notable past employees

• Jodine Costanzo (WPXI)
• Allison Payne (WGN-TV)

External links

• WNWO-DT "NBC 24"
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