WNLO

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WNLO-TV
Buffalo, New York
Branding	The CW 23 WNLO
Channels	23 (UHF) analog, 32 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	The CW
Owner	LIN TV
Founded	1987 (as WNEQ-TV)
Call letters meaning	Western New York, BuffaLO or Western New York & Lower Ontario
Former affiliations	PBS (1987-2001), Independent (2001-2002), UPN (2002-2006)
Transmitter Power	955 kW/314 m(analog) 1000 kW/314 m (digital)
Website	WNLO's website at WIVB.com

WNLO-TV (CW 23 WNLO) is the CW affiliate for the Buffalo, New York television market, with transmitter facilities located at 870 Whitehaven Road on Grand Island. It is owned by LIN TV, which also owns CBS affiliate WIVB. It runs a general entertainment format of sitcoms, reality shows, talk shows, cartoons, and court shows, as well as first-run shows from The CW and a 10 PM daily newscast produced by sister station WIVB.

[edit] History

The station began operation in 1987 as WNEQ-TV, the second public television station serving the Buffalo market. The station was an educational license, and a sister station to WNED Channel 17 (which was a commercial licence used as an educational station). WNEQ's programming day began daily at 4 PM and usually had between 6-7 hours of programming per day.

In 1992, many cable systems in the Hamilton and Niagara regions began carrying WNEQ, displacing long standing WQLN from Erie, PA in the process. In the fall of 1998, most cable systems in the Hamilton and Niagara regions started to remove WNEQ because they were struggling with limited channel capacity and the fact that they only offered between 6-7 hours of programming per day. In the fall of 1999, Rogers began carrying WNEQ on their digital tier for customers in the Greater Toronto Area. WNEQ was replaced with WTVS from Detroit, MI in January 2001 when WNEQ relaunched as the current WNLO.

The Buffalo market was unable to support two public stations as both stations struggled financially. As a result, the educational foundation put WNEQ up for sale.

LIN TV wanted to buy WNEQ and run the station as a commercial operation. That, however, was problematic due to WNEQ's status as an educational license. One solution was for LIN to purchase WNED/17 instead (which was already a commercial license) and make WNEQ the area's primary PBS station. This was rejected since Channel 17 had long been established as a PBS station, and a move to Channel 23 might cause confusion among viewers, potentially reducing the amount of donation the viewer-supported station would receive. Eventually, the FCC agreed to re-classify channel 23 as a commercial license, and channel 17 as an educational license. As such, the Buffalo market retains an educational license, and LIN was given the go-ahead to purchase the converted-to-commercial WNEQ.

In March 2001, LIN closed on their purchase of WNEQ and converted it to a general entertainment independent station as WNLO whose initial programming included Buffalo's first 10 PM newscast. With the launch came the securing of the UPN affiliation for the Buffalo market as of 2003 when that network's agreement with the weaker WNGS expired.

In 2005, Rogers Cable submitted a request to the CRTC to allow carriage of WNLO in Canada. Since WNLO would not compete on advertising revenue from the Toronto area (as Rogers suggested with the another Buffalo station carried on Rogers, WNYO), the request was approved [1].

In January 2006 it was announced that UPN and The WB will end operations in September 2006 to form The CW with the best of programs from UPN and the WB. It was announced on April 18 that WNLO will affiliate with The CW, beginning in September 2006.

In April of 2006 WNLO removed UPN in their station logo, following the lead of FOX/News Corp. owned UPN Affiliates at the time.

On September 23, 2006, WNLO pre-empted the 8 to 10 a.m. block of Kids WB in favor of CBS'S The Early Show Kids WB airs from 7 to 8 and 10 to Noon Saturdays.

As of November 2, 2006 WNLO is now broadcasting The CW HD on 32.1 (23.1). Up until November 2nd they were rebroadcasting CBS HD (WIVB-DT).

[edit] Logo gallery

Logo used while independent.

Logo used during UPN affiliation.

Logo used after the announcment of The CW.

Logo currently used.

[edit] External links

• WNLO Homepage at WIVB.com
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WNLO