WNYO-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WNYO-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding = My TV Buffalo
analog = 49 (UHF)
digital = 34 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = MyNetworkTV
network =
founded =
airdate = September of 1987
location = Buffalo, New York
callsign_meaning = Western New York / Ontario
former_callsigns = WNYB-TV (1987-1996)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Sinclair Broadcast Group
licensee = New York Television, Inc.
sister_stations = WUTV
former_affiliations = Fox (1987-1990)
TBN / TCT (1990-1996)
The WB (1996-2006)
effective_radiated_power = 4,900 kW (analog)
175 kW (digital)
HAAT = 376 m (analog)
288.3 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 67784
coordinates = coord|42|46|53.6|N|78|27|25.9|W|type:landmark_scale:2000 (analog)
coord|43|1|34.9|N|78|55|39.6|W|type:landmark_scale:2000 (digital)
homepage = [http://www.mytvbuffalo.com/ mytvbuffalo.com]

WNYO-TV, channel 49, is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for Buffalo, New York. Its analog transmitter is located north of U.S. 20A near the Wyoming and Erie County line. The station's digital transmitter is located on the northeastern side of Grand Island. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station is sister to Fox affiliate WUTV. The two stations share studios on Hertel Avenue in the northwest section of Buffalo about 2.5 miles south of its border with the village of Kenmore. Syndicated programming on WNYO includes: "Family Guy", "The Simpsons", "", "According to Jim", and "That '70s Show". The station is widely available on cable in Ontario, Canada distributed in the eastern areas (Kingston, Brockville, and Cornwall) via a fiber optic line. WNYO is also the MyNetworkTV affiliate on digital cable systems in Canadian markets that utilize Buffalo stations such as Toronto.

History

Channel 49 began broadcasting in September of 1987 as a Fox affiliate, known on-air as "Fox 49", with the call sign "WNYB-TV"'. It operated under a corporate deal from its owner, TVX Broadcast Group. In 1988, the station was sold to Act III Broadcasting which almost immediately turned around and offered to buy WUTV from Citadel Broadcasting. Citadel accepted the offer in 1989 and the sale was finalized in June of 1990. Act III moved WNYB's stronger programming, including its Fox affiliation, to WUTV. WNYB was then sold to Tri-State Christian Television and began to carry religious programming full-time including programming from the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Grant Broadcasting acquired channel 26 in Jamestown in 1995 and negotiated with Tri-State Christian Television for WNYB in exchange for channel 26 and cash as well as a new broadcasting facility.

The station changed hands in the Spring of 1996 and became a WB affiliate at night with Kids WB programming airing late in the afternoons. TBN and other Christian programming continued to air for the rest of the day until September of 1996. At that point, Trinity Broadcasting continued to air from 9 A.M. to 12 P.M., from Midnight to 7 A.M. on weekdays, and until 3 P.M. on Sundays. Channel 49 also became WNYO-TV. Because channel 26 was still not operable, the Christian WNYB intellectual unit was unable to move there in 1996. Finally, in January of 1997 the Christian programming moved to channel 26 along with the WNYB call letters. The Sinclair Broadcast Group purchased WUTV in 1997 and WNYO in 2001 making WUTV and WNYO sister stations. 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 February 22, News Corporation announced that they would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This new service, which would be a sister network to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division, Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming independent. It was also created to compete against The CW. MyNetworkTV launched on September 5 and WNYO became an affiliate of the network. Former UPN affiliate WNLO, which is owned by LIN TV, became an affiliate of The CW when that network officially launched on September 18.

News operation

From August 16, 2004 until March of 2006, WNYO produced a nightly 10 o'clock newscast called "WB 49 News at 10" as part of Sinclair's "News Central" operation. However, despite record growth in ratings by WNYO's newscast within the broadcast group and a five year verbal commitment to its staff from Sinclair, the station's newscast was shutdown. That was due to poor financial planning by Sinclair. It occurred as part of the systematic shutdown of Sinclair news operations around the country which actually began roughly 12 months after the inaugural newscast at WNYO. "News Central" folded at the end of March 2006. On April 13, Sinclair announced that NBC affiliate WGRZ-TV would begin to produce a new 10 P.M. newscast for WNYO using WGRZ's current news staff. Originally to be called "2 On NYO 10 at 10", the newscast began broadcasting on April 20 known as "2 News on 49, Ten at 10". The production is now known as "2 on Your Side at 10" and originates from WGRZ's studios on Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo. The broadcast originally aired 10 minutes of news and weather with a sports show, called "The Sports Zone", completing the half hour. However, due to low ratings, "The Sports Zone" was cut to only 6-8 minutes of sports news. Unlike the other 10 P.M. newscast that airs on WNLO, WNYO's news broadcasts only on weeknights. It has consistently lagged behind the WIVB-TV-produced newscast on WNLO in the ratings possibly because it is not a seven day operation. Sister station WUTV airs no local newscasts despite its Fox network affiliation.

"2 On Your Side at 10"
"(Weeknights 10 to 10:30 P.M.)"
*Anchors:
**Scott Levin
**Mary Alice Demler
*Weather:
**Kevin O'Connell
*Sports:
**Ed Kilgore

"WNYO features additional news personnel from WRGZ. See that article for a complete listing."

Logo gallery

External links

* [http://www.mytvbuffalo.com/ WNYO-TV/DT "My TV Buffalo"]
* [http://www.wgrz.com/ WRGZ-TV/DT "Channel 2"]
*TVQ|WNYO-TV