WFQX-DT2
 | |
| Cadillac/Traverse City, Michigan United States | |
|---|---|
| Branding | The CW Northern Michigan |
| Slogan | Northern Michigan's Home of The CW |
| Channels |
Digital: 32.2 (UHF) Virtual: 32.2 (PSIP) |
| Affiliations | The CW (via The CW Plus) |
| Owner | Cadillac Telecasting Company |
| Operator |
Heritage Broadcasting Group (via SSA) |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Call letters' meaning |
The WB TraVerse City (previous affiliation) |
| Former callsigns |
"WBVC" (1998–2006, 2008–2018) WGTU-DT2 (2006–2008) |
| Former affiliations | The WB (1998–2006, via The WB 100+) |
| Transmitter power | 200 kW |
| Height | 422 m (1,385 ft) |
| Facility ID | 25396 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 44°8′12″N 85°20′33″W / 44.13667°N 85.34250°W |
| Website | The CW Northern Michigan |
WFQX-DT2 is a CW Plus-affiliated television station licensed to Cadillac, Michigan, United States, serving the northern Lower and eastern Upper peninsulas of Michigan. It is a second digital subchannel of Fox affiliate WFQX-TV (channel 32) that is owned by Cadillac Telecasting Company and operated under a shared services agreement (SSA) by Heritage Broadcasting Group, owner of Cadillac-licensed CBS affiliate WWTV (channel 9) and Sault Ste. Marie-licensed full-time satellite WWUP-TV (channel 10). Over the air, WFQX-DT2 broadcasts a standard definition digital signal on virtual and UHF channel 32.2 from a transmitter co-located with its parent station's studios on 130th Avenue in unincorporated Osceola County, just northeast of Tustin.
On cable, WFQX-DT2 can be seen on Charter Spectrum channel 61 in Cadillac, Cheboygan, Gaylord, Manistee, Petoskey, Sault Ste. Marie, Traverse City, and surrounding areas. It is also seen on cable channel 17 in Big Rapids, Evart, Ludington, and Reed City and cable channel 13 in Grayling and Roscommon. DirecTV customers get The CW via its Green Bay affiliate WCWF, while Dish Network does not offer a CW affiliate. AcenTek in Mesick, which is one of very few non-Spectrum cable systems in the Traverse City market, gets The CW via Kalamazoo's WWMT-DT2.
History
The station began in 1998 as "WBVC", a WB affiliate. It was part of The WB 100+ which was a similar operation to the current CW Plus service. WBVC was identified on-air as "Northern Michigan's WB 61" and the call sign was used in a fictional manner because it only aired on cable. WGTU provided promotional and advertising services for WBVC which was based at the ABC affiliate's studios on East Front Street in Downtown Traverse City. Prior to the cable-only WBVC, Northern Michigan received WB programming on cable from WGN in Chicago, which carried the network's lineup nationally via its superstation feed until 1999.
On January 24, 2006, Time Warner and CBS Corporation (the latter of which took over UPN after the split of Viacom into two companies occurred in December 2005) announced that they would shut down The WB and UPN in September 2006 and merge those two networks' resources to create The CW, a new television service whose initials represented the names of both of those respective companies. UPN aired in a delayed arrangement on Fox affiliates WFQX-TV/WFUP. On July 25, a new logo for WBVC appeared on WGTU's website. At that time, there were no announcements posted about its future as a CW affiliate. However, that changed a few weeks before the new network started. The CW began broadcasting on September 18. On that date, WBVC became known on-air as "Northern Michigan CW" and WFQX dropped its secondary affiliation with UPN. After the station 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 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by Max Media to sell WGTU to Tucker Broadcasting for $10 million. After approval in April 2008, Tucker entered into a shared services agreement with Barrington Broadcasting that resulted in WPBN operating WGTU. After the closing of the deal with Tucker Broadcasting, the CW subchannel went dark and the programming service became exclusively available via cable with no local affiliate selling advertising. It resumed using the fictitious WBVC call letters.
As WFQX-DT2
In 2018, WFQX-DT2 had assumed the CW affiliation from the once cable-exclusive "WBVC" "Northern Michigan CW 61" operated by Charter Communications, allowing over-the-air access to the network for the first time in 10 years, rebranding it as "The CW Northern Michigan".
See also
External links