WUTB

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WUTB-TV
Baltimore, Maryland
Branding	My 24
Slogan	Baltimore's My 24
Channels	24 (UHF) analog, 41 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	MyNetworkTV
Owner	Fox Television Stations Group
Founded	1968 (as WMET) 1983 (as WKJL) (current license dates back to 1983)
Call letters meaning	W United Television (former station owners) Baltimore
Former affiliations	Independent (1968-1972) Religious independent (1985-1987) Home Shopping Network (1987-1998), UPN (1998-2006)
Website	wutb.com

WUTB-TV "My 24" is a MyNetworkTV owned and operated station in Baltimore, Maryland, broadcasting on channel 24 (digital channel 41). The station is owned by Fox Television Stations Group, and is also Baltimore's broadcast outlet for the Washington Redskins preseason games. Its transmitter is located in Catonsville, Maryland.

Contents 1 History 2 Newscasts 2.1 Weekdays 2.2 Weekends 3 Logos 4 External links

[edit] History

In 1968, channel 24 signed on as WMET, a low-budget, low-powered station that was the sister station to WFAN in Washington, DC. Both stations were owned by United Broadcasting (which is unrelated to the United Television that was owned by Chris-Craft Industries, who later owned channel 24). In 1972, both stations ceased broadcasting due to financial difficulties.

The station was born again in 1983 as Christian station WKJL. The call letters stood for Where the Kingdom of Jesus Lives. Initially the station was on the air about 8 hours a day with religious shows. It was sold to Family Broadcast Group in 1985. In early 1986, the station expanded to an 18-hour broadcast day, featuring 6 hours of religious programming and 12 hours of family entertainment. The station began broadcasting 24 hours a day in June 1986, airing programming from the Home Shopping Network overnight.

Home Shopping Network announced its purchase of the station in September 1986. By November, the station aired HSN programming about 15 hours a day. The sale to HSN was finalized on January 23, 1987. The station then began running HSN programming 24 hours a day and changed its call letters to WHSW.

In January 1998, WNUV dropped UPN in favor of WB, so Chris-Craft Industries (co-owner of UPN) bought channel 24 to make it a UPN affiliate. On January 20, 1998, the call letters were changed to the current WUTB. Chris-Craft ran the station out of WWOR's facilities in Secaucus, New Jersey, and fed the station to its transmitter in Baltimore. On September 11, 2001, WUTB aired WWOR's local news coverage of the terrorist attacks.

On July 25, 2001, Fox Television Stations Group purchased Chris-Craft's television stations, including WUTB. It was rumored in November, 2002 that the station would become a Fox affiliate, but WBFF made a deal to keep its Fox affiliation.

In January 2006 UPN and The WB announced that they would merge into a new network, The CW. WUTB immediately dropped the UPN24 branding, becoming WUTB 24. Similar changes were made to Fox's other UPN affiliates (including its nearby sister station in Washington DC, WDCA). The announcement again touched off speculation that Fox would pull affiliation from WBFF and move it to WUTB until February 22, 2006, when Fox announced that WUTB will be part of a new primetime network called My Network TV to launch September 5, 2006 (it was later announced that rival WNUV will become an affiliate of the CW.) My Network TV will be operated by Fox Television Stations, Inc. and Twentieth Television. As of August 11, the station has adopted both the standard network logo and has gradually rebranded itself as my 24.

On 4 September 2006, Washington D.C.'s Fox O&O WTTG began simulcasting its weekday morning and 10 PM newscasts on WUTB. On all WUTB newscasts, the WTTG network bug is replaced with a My 24 News bug. The higher-ups at both stations cite the decision to simulcast as a by-product of cross-regional news interests and increasing overlap between the Baltimore and Washington media markets. [1] During the 2006 Major League Baseball World Series, the 10 PM newscast aired on WDCA.

[edit] Newscasts

All newscasts are rebranded from FOX 5 News.

[edit] Weekdays

• My 24 News at 5 AM (5-7 AM)
• My 24 News at 7 AM (7-9 AM)
• My 24 News at 10 PM (10-11 PM)

[edit] Weekends

• My 24 News at 10 PM (10-11 PM)

[edit] Logos

WUTB logo from 1998-2002	Variation on the 1998-2002 WUTB logo.	WUTB logo from 2002 to 2006	WUTB logo, used from January to July 2006
WUTB's current logo.

[edit] External links

• Station Website
• MyNetworkTV Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WUTB