WNDY-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WNDY-TV
city = Marion, Indiana
station_
station_slogan = Whatcha Wanna Watch
station_branding = MyNDY-TV
analog = 23 (UHF)
digital = 32 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = MyNetworkTV
CBS (secondary)
network =
founded =
airdate = October 1987
location = Indianapolis, Indiana
callsign_meaning = INDY (short for Indianapolis)
former_callsigns = WMCC (1987-1995)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = LIN TV Corporation
licensee = Indiana Broadcasting, LLC
sister_stations = WISH-TV
former_affiliations = independent (1987-1995)
The WB (1995-1998)
UPN (1998-2006)
effective_radiated_power = 5000 kW (analog)
1000 kW (digital)
HAAT = 294 m (analog)
270.9 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 28462
coordinates = coord|40|8|56.2|N|85|56|7.1|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.myndytv.com/ www.myndytv.com]

WNDY-TV is currently the My Network TV affiliate serving Indianapolis, Indiana, broadcasting on analog channel 23. Its tower is located 3 miles northeast of Cicero, Indiana; 246th Street just east of State Road 213. It is owned and operated by LIN TV and is sister station to WISH-TV and WIIH-CA. The station currently airs talk shows, reality shows, court shows, sitcoms and first-run shows.

History

The station signed in October 1987 as independent WMCC. Initially it ran a lot of paid programming, but slowly added classic TV sitcoms, cartoons and old movies. The station was programming a traditional general entertainment format by 1987. The station continued to acquire more recent sitcoms and added some talk and reality shows in the early 1990s. It became a The WB affiliate in 1995, and called itself INDY-TV WB23.

The station was purchased by the family of Tony George of Indianapolis Motor Speedway fame in 1995. It received its current call letters at the time of the purchase as well as a checkered-flag logo (a nod to the Speedway and its signature Indianapolis 500 race). The next year, the Hoosier Lottery awarded WNDY the rights to its programming, which had aired on WTTV since 1989; WTTV would regain those broadcasting rights in 1999.

In 1998, the station swapped affiliations with WTTV and became a UPN affiliate. For part of the year, the station aired programming from both UPN and The WB.

Paramount Stations Group (now CBS Television Stations) bought the station in 1999. By 2003, the station had stopped referring to itself by its channel number, simply using the name "UPN Indiana", due to its location on most area cable systems on channel 10 -- and the UPN division of the CBS Mandate for UHF stations. A few weeks before the Fall 2003 TV season, WNDY had a countdown stating the amount of days until "UPN Indy" would launch. It was reported that at the last minute the name was ditched in favor of "UPN Indiana" to appeal to the larger audience, rather than just those living in Indianapolis; another factor was that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had stopped channel 23 from using the word Indy.

In 2005, WNDY was acquired from CBS-Viacom by LIN TV, owners of Indianapolis stations WISH-TV and WIIH. The station rebranded as "WNDY UPN 23" in July 2005. The station serves as a secondary CBS affiliate, carrying the Saturday edition of "The Early Show", additional NCAA basketball tournament games when more than one team of local interest is playing, and prime-time programs bumped from WISH to make room for local special programming.

WNDY aired Indianapolis Colts games that were a part of ESPN's "Sunday Night Football" package, and currently does the same with ESPN's monday night games. The station also airs selected Ball State University men's basketball games as well as Mid-American Conference college football from ESPN Plus.

In September 2006 Time Warner and CBS Corp. shut down both The WB and UPN networks, and replaced them with a network, The CW Television Network; WTTV was chosen as the CW outlet in the Indianapolis market. WNDY joined News Corp's MyNetworkTV in September 2006. [http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6328421.html?display=Breaking+News] Accordingly, the station rebranded to "MyNDY".

On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that could result in the sale of the company. [http://www.lintv.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=298&Itemid=114]

On September 15, 2008, WISH-TV announced that LIN TV and Bright House Cable have not been able to reach an agreement for carriage of WISH-TV, WNDY-TV, and WIIH-CA on the cable service. LIN TV is seeking compensation for carriage, as other cable networks receive. LIN TV has reached agreements with all television service providers in the Indianapolis area except Bright House. The current agreement with Bright House will expire on October 2, 2008 [http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8908738] .

Newscasts

In March of 1996, WTHR, the NBC affiliate for Indianapolis, used to have a partnership agreement with WNDY-TV, the UPN affiliate for Indianapolis. Under the partnership, WTHR produced a 10 p.m. newscast for WNDY. However, the partnership ended when WNDY was purchased by LIN TV Corporation. WISH-TV then assumed responsibility of the production of WNDY's 10 p.m. newscast.

The WISH-TV produced newscast debuted on February 28, 2005.

Other WNDY's

WNDY was also the call-sign of the fictional television station in the 1990-91 CBS series "WIOU"; the show pre-dated channel 23's adoption of the WNDY calls by about four years. The calls were also used for the fictional Chicago radio station in the 1992 Dolly Parton film "Straight Talk".

WNDY was also the former call-sign of radio station WBRI.

External links

* [http://www.wndy.com WNDY.com] or [http://www.myndytv.com MyNdytv.com]
* [http://www.mynetworktv.com My Network TV Homepage]
* [http://www.lintv.com LIN TV Homepage]
*TVQ|WNDY-TV
*BIA|WNDY|TV|TV

References