CW in Cleveland/Akron/Canton

[mjlarochelle]

There has been no definite decision yet on whether WUAB/43 (UPN) Lorain or WBNX/55 (WB) Akron will pick up the CW affiliation in the fall. One remote possibility I see is both stations becoming CW affiliates, and it wouldn't be unprecidented in that market.

Of course for many years there were the two ABC affiliates in that market, WEWS/5 Cleveland and WAKC/23 Akron; WAKC became the market's PAX/i affiliate as WVPX.

But while there no longer are two ABC affiliates there, there are still two PBS stations in that market. Cleveland has WVIZ/25, and Akron has WEAO/49, which is based at Kent State University.

So I wouldn't rule out both Winston (WBNX) and Raycom (WUAB) winning CW affiliation. It's not likely, but it could still happen.<P ID="signature">______________
From WNBC-TV New York this is Liiiiive at Fiiiiive!</P>

 

[fybush]

> So I wouldn't rule out both Winston (WBNX) and Raycom (WUAB)
> winning CW affiliation. It's not likely, but it could still
> happen.

It's roughly as likely as my being named to replace Katie Couric when she leaves Today.

The dual-affiliation situation for ABC in the market went way back to the days when WAKR-TV was running low power on channel 49 and was truly serving a market separate from WEWS. In today's must-carry environment, both WBNX and WUAB have full-market carriage from the Pennsylvania line west to Sandusky and south almost to Youngstown. (WUAB actually has carriage even beyond there, since it's been serving as UPN for Erie, PA as well.)

No way CW affiliates with two stations in one market, regardless of what their cities of license might be.<P ID="signature">______________
Tower Site Calendar 2006 JUST RELEASED! - <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html#calendar>www.fybush.com</a></P>

 

[OldAkronite]

> No way CW affiliates with two stations in one market,
> regardless of what their cities of license might be.

And I'll chime in as well from the market in question, and I'm also about as likely to be tabbed to replace Katie Couric.

There is no separate "Akron/Canton" TV market.

There may have been sort of a defacto Akron/Canton market in the past, with Akron's Channel 23, Canton-based independents like WOAC/67 (and earlier, then-WJAN/17), and Kent-based public TV WEAO/49, simulcasting WNEO/45 Alliance. But nearly all of that - except 45/49 - has fallen apart.

Akron licensed WBNX/55 has aimed at Cleveland pretty much its entire run on the air, despite studio facilities in the old Cathedral of Tomorrow complex in the Akron suburb of Cuyahoga Falls. They moved their stick up north years ago into the Parma antenna farm.

WAKC/23, of course, eventually shed its ABC affiliation and became a PAX O&O targeting Cleveland as WVPX. It had that Akron/Canton newscast produced by WKYC (recently moved to Time Warner), but outside of that one hour a day, it aimed at Cleveland. The newscast was basically imposed on Paxson by the city of Akron as a condition of zoning required for a tower upgrade.

WOAC/67 became a home shopping station (owned by Shop At Home or whatever it's called now), got a significant power boost, and aims at the entire Cleveland market from a new stick in the Akron suburb of Kent.

WDLI/17 became a Trinity Broadcasting O&O, got its own power boost, and aims at the entire market. Its DT stick is in Summit County's Copley Township, near WVPX/23.

What's left? Only two low-power operations - WAOH-LP 29 Akron (simulcasting on W35AX Cleveland), run out of the Media-Com operation...owner of long-time Akron talk station WNIR/100.1 and Fox Sports Radio affiliate WJMP/1520...and WIVM-LP 52 Canton (and WIVN-LP/29 Newcomerstown/New Philadelphia), owned by the Image Video folks.

To keep this on topic - there won't be two CW Network affiliates in ANY market, aside from perhaps co-owned simulcasters (a la the "FOX 21/27" combo in Roanoke/Lynchburg)...and certainly not in Northeast Ohio as proposed by the original to this thread.

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>

 

[Radiofreewill]

> In today's must-carry environment, both WBNX and WUAB
> have full-market carriage from the Pennsylvania line west to
> Sandusky and south almost to Youngstown.

Actually, WUAB's cable carriage goes even farther west than Sandusky; Time Warner's systems in Bowling Green and Findlay have it.<P ID="signature">______________
The only thing I gotta do is stay terrestrial and die!</P>