WBNX to be acquired by Nexstar & re-affiliate with the CW in Fall 2025 creating a duopoly with FOX affiliate WJW

[IM42A]

I thought the story of WAKR/WAKC becoming an ABC station was because, at the time, ABC was secondary on WEWS, and that's why they jumped over to Akron and a station that would clear everything without question, whereas WEWS would bump ABC programming for local content, i.e. The Morning Exchange instead of a portion of "Good Morning America." It just stuck around once WEWS lost the DuPont Network because there wasn't a reason to yank the affiliation, and there were never any plans to until Paxson bought the network and killed it off.

I can see that from the excellent Wikipedia article on WAKR/WAKC. WAKR was actually the Cleveland/Akron market's first primary ABC affiliate. Also, from what I read, WAKR/WAKC's ABC affiliation was never in any danger until Paxson's decision, and as I noted upthread, ABC has historically been pretty copacetic about allowing dual affiliates in a market (looking at you, NBC).

I'd always wondered about WAKR's relatively low viewership percentages in Television Factbook, and the article brings out one possibility, that tabulated viewers got confused between WEWS and WAKR.

 

[K.M. Richards]

It just stuck around once WEWS lost the DuPont Network because there wasn't a reason to yank the affiliation, and there were never any plans to until Paxson bought the network and killed it off.

DuMont Network.

 

[Rusty Muck]

I thought the story of WAKR/WAKC becoming an ABC station was because, at the time, ABC was secondary on WEWS,

That is not it at all. WAKR-TV got an ABC affiliation thanks to WAKR radio being with ABC radio (and its direct predecessor NBC Blue/Blue Network) when they started up in 1940. ABC was in the process of merging with United Paramount Theaters (which gave them a needed capital infusion) and was signing up as many affiliates as they possibly could.


In Cleveland, ABC was still secondary on WXEL Channel 9, a primary DuMont affiliate; WEWS did not join ABC until April 1955.

and that's why they jumped over to Akron and a station that would clear everything without question, whereas WEWS would bump ABC programming for local content, i.e. The Morning Exchange instead of a portion of "Good Morning America."

The Morning Exchange begat Good Morning America; MX creator/WEWS GM Don Perris is credited as a co-creator of GMA.

It just stuck around once WEWS lost the DuPont Network because there wasn't a reason to yank the affiliation, and there were never any plans to until Paxson bought the network and killed it off.

WEWS carried DuMont's lone remaining program, Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena, until November 1957.

 

[radiofollower]

George Storer was tight with CBS, so when Storer Broadcasting bought channel 8, they got the affiliation away from WEWS.

 

[snowdog88]

March 3rd will mark one year since Nexstar took over WBNX. I'm still not happy with Nexstar's unprofessional presentation and the lack of anyone reading my emails/feedback at Dick Goddard Way. And now Nexstar wants to own TEGNA (WKYC) as well, so I can expect over compressed audio over on 3.1 sometime soon. I wish their engineering team was more like Gray, Weigel, or Winston. At least they reply back to me and address the issues that I mention. Nexstar is like, quit complaining, it's free. Deal with it.

Also, Gracenote (who provides the listings for my Samsung TV and many others) still has the CW logo for WUAB 43.1 and WBNX's old logo for 55.1. Did no one contact them about the change?

 

[K.M. Richards]

That is not it at all. WAKR-TV got an ABC affiliation thanks to WAKR radio being with ABC radio (and its direct predecessor NBC Blue/Blue Network) when they started up in 1940. ABC was in the process of merging with United Paramount Theaters (which gave them a needed capital infusion) and was signing up as many affiliates as they possibly could.

In Cleveland, ABC was still secondary on WXEL Channel 9, a primary DuMont affiliate; WEWS did not join ABC until April 1955.

The Morning Exchange begat Good Morning America; MX creator/WEWS GM Don Perris is credited as a co-creator of GMA.

WEWS carried DuMont's lone remaining program, Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena, until November 1957.

Thank you for correcting most of @jtakach98's misconceptions. It bothers me -- a lot -- when people do some research before making statements of "fact" which are nothing more than what was in their own mind.

Even I often look up things before I post if I think I have remembered something wrong, or need to establish a timeline which I likely did not commit to memory originally.

Search engines are your friend. So are the newspaper archives.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Oops. I left a word out.

It bothers me -- a lot -- when people don't do some research before making statements of "fact" which are nothing more than what was in their own mind.