WGTU-DT2

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WGTU-DT2
station_
station_slogan = Northern Michigan's
Home of The CW
station_branding = Northern Michigan's CW
analog =
Charter channel 61
digital =
WGTU-DT 31.2 (UHF)
affiliations = The CW (via The CW Plus)
location = Cadillac / Traverse City /
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
callsign_meaning = see WGTU
owner = Tucker Broadcasting
(SSA with Barrington Broadcasting)
licensee =
founded = unknown
sister_stations = WPBN-TV
former_callsigns = "WBVC" (until 2006)
former_affiliations = The WB (via The WB 100+ 1995-2006)
effective_radiated_power = 64.8 kW (digital)
HAAT = 393 m (digital)
facility_id = 59280 (digital)
coordinates = coord|44|44|53.0|N|85|4|8.0|W|type:landmark (digital)
homepage =

WGTU-DT2 is the CW-affiliated television station for the northern Lower and eastern Upper Peninsulas of Michigan. The station is part of The CW Plus, a special CW feed that broadcasts on cable and / or over-the-air on a digital signal. The CW Plus serves smaller television markets with a DMA rank below 100 (the Northern Michigan market has a rank of 116). WGTU-DT2 is a second digital subchannel of ABC affiliate WGTU which is owned by Tucker Broadcasting but operated through a shared services agreement (SSA) by Barrington Broadcasting (owner of NBC affiliate WPBN-TV and its full time satellite, WTOM-TV).

Over-the-air, it broadcasts a digital signal on UHF channel 31.2 from WGTU's transmitter that is located northeast of Kalkaska. Although WGTQ in Sault Ste. Marie is a full time satellite of WGTU, it does not offer The CW on its digital signal. WGTU-DT2 is also offered on Charter cable channel 61. The station is known on-air as "Northern Michigan's CW 61" which refers to the cable channel location. It is operated out of WGTU's studios on East Front Street in downtown Traverse City.

History

The station began its life as WB affiliate "WBVC". It was part of The WB 100+ which was a similar operation to the current CW Plus service. It was identified on-air as " Northern Michigan's WB 61" and the call sign, 'WBVC", was used in a fictional manner because it only broadcasted on cable. On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that they would end broadcasting and merge.

The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. On July 25, a new logo for WBVC appeared on WGTU's website. At that time, the website did not post any announcements about WBVC's future as a CW affiliate. However, that changed a few weeks before the new network started. UPN programming aired in a delayed arrangement on Fox affiliate WFQX-TV. The CW began broadcasting on September 18.

On that date, WBVC became known on-air as "Northern Michigan's CW 61" and WFQX dropped its secondary affiliation with UPN. After WBVC was added to a new second digital subchannel of WGTU, it began to use the WGTU-DT2 call sign in an official manner. On September 19, 2007, there was an application filed to the FCC by Max Media to sell WGTU to Tucker Broadcasting for $10 million dollars. After FCC approval, which occurred in April of 2008, Tucker entered into a shared service agreement (SSA) with Barrington Broadcasting which resulted in WPBN operating WGTU.

According to the FCC filing, WPBN will sell advertising time and provide news and other programming for WGTU. After WPBN renovates their studios this summer, the operations of WGTU and WGTU-DT2 will move to that location. Although on cable, WGTU-DT2 has the infamous poor on-air quality that WGTU has suffered from over the years. Like most CW Plus affiliates, the station airs the nationally syndicated morning show, "The Daily Buzz", on weekday mornings from 6 to 9. Except for local commercials and station IDs, it broadcasts The CW Plus.

Logos

External links

* [http://www.wgtu.com WGTU / WGTQ "ABC 29&8"] (has WBVC's CW logo that redirects to The CW)
* [http://www.tv7-4.com WPBN-TV / WTOM-TV "TV 7&4"]
* [http://www.cwtv.com The CW]