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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the television station in Crandon, Wisconsin. For the protest known alternately as the "Women's March on Washington" and abbreviated as "WMOW", see 2017 Women's March.

WMOW
Satellite of WAOW, Wausau, Wisconsin
Channels
BrandingWMOW 4; News 9 WAOW
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
FoundedDecember 4, 1998
First air date
February 9, 2001 (23 years ago) (2001-02-09)
Former call signs
WBIJ (2001–2010)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 4 (VHF, 2001–2009)
  • Digital: 12 (VHF, 2010–2020)
Call sign meaning
 Metonga Lake; "OW" refers to its sister station status with WAOW and Madison's WKOW [1]
Technical information [2]
Licensing authority
 FCC
Facility ID81503
ERP3.2 kW
HAAT119 m (390 ft)
Transmitter coordinates 45°34′23.4″N 88°52′58.7″W / 45.573167°N 88.882972°W / 45.573167; -88.882972
Links
Public license information
Website waow.com

WMOW (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Crandon, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is a full-time satellite of Wausau-licensed WAOW (channel 9) which is owned by Allen Media Group. WMOW's transmitter is located just east of downtown Crandon; its parent station maintains studios on Grand Avenue/ US 51 in Wausau. Besides the transmitter, WMOW does not maintain any physical presence locally in Crandon.

History

Founded December 4, 1998, the station first signed-on February 9, 2001, as WBIJ. It was a FamilyNet affiliate owned by Dennis Selenka. The station aired an analog signal on VHF channel 4. Since WBIJ was granted its construction permit after the finalization of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) digital television allotment plan on April 21, 1997, it did not receive a companion digital channel.

After Dennis Selenka's death on September 30, 2008, [3] Quincy Newspapers purchased WBIJ from his widow for $1.5 million on February 13, 2009. The company announced its intention to run WBIJ as a second satellite station of WAOW to serve the northeast portion of the Wausau market in a similar capacity that WYOW does for the extreme northern part of the market. [4] In the meantime, WBIJ signed off on June 12 at the end of the digital transition for full-service stations as it did not yet have digital facilities ready.

Quincy brought the station back on-the-air as WMOW on June 4, 2010, as an affiliate of The CW. [5] This station operates its digital signal on VHF channel 12 which was the former analog home of NBC affiliate WJFW-TV.

On June 19, 2011, WAOW (and in turn WMOW-DT2) became the market's second television outlet to upgrade local news to high definition level. Included in the change was a redesigned set and updated graphics scheme. [6][ failed verification]

Sale to Allen Media Group

On January 7, 2021, Quincy Media announced that it had put itself up for sale. [7] On February 1, Gray Television announced it would purchase Quincy's radio and TV properties for $925 million. As Gray already own's WSAW-TV in the Wausau/Rhinelander market, and both that station and WAOW rank among the market's top four stations, it agreed to sell WAOW in order to satisfy FCC requirements. [8]

On April 29, Gray announced that WMOW and WAOW would be divested to Allen Media Group, a subsidiary of Los Angeles–based Entertainment Studios, in a $380 million deal that includes, among other Quincy-owned stations, WKOW/ Madison, WXOW/ La Crosse, and WQOW/ Eau Claire. The deal closed in August 2021, [9] and did not see Gray have any direct ownership or control of those stations. [10] Gray, however, kept WYOW, [11] which later turned into a full-power satellite of WSAW.

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WMOW [12]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
4.1 720p 16:9 WMOW-CW Catchy Comedy
4.2 WMOW-DT ABC ( WAOW)
4.3 480i 4:3 THIS-TV Catchy Comedy
4.4 16:9 CourtTV Court TV
4.5 Justice True Crime Network
  Simulcast of subchannels of another station

References

  1. ^ Call Letter Origins from Nelson.OldRadio.com (accessed September 7, 2020)
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WMOW". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ Selenka, Joanne L. (February 4, 2009). "Application For Consent To Assign Broadcast Station Construction Permit Or License Or To Transfer Control Of Entity Holding Broadcast Station Construction Permit Or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
  4. ^ "Quincy Takes WBIJ for $1.55 Million". TelevisionBroadcast.com. February 13, 2009. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
  5. ^ "WMOW On The Air". WAOW — Newsline 9. June 4, 2010. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
  6. ^ "NewsTeam - WAOW - Newsline 9, Wausau News, Weather, Sports". October 10, 2011. Archived from the original on April 25, 2011.
  7. ^ "TV Station Owner Quincy Media Up for Sale," from Northpine.com, January 7, 2021
  8. ^ Goldsmith, Jill (February 1, 2021). "Gray Television Acquires Quincy Media For $925 Million In Cash". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  9. ^ "Gray Television Closes Quincy Acquisition", Gray Television, August 2, 2021.
  10. ^ "Gray Sells Divestiture Stations From Quincy Media Transaction to Allen Media for $380 Million," press release from GlobeNewswire, April 29, 2021
  11. ^ "FCC Filings Provide Details of Gray TV’s Plans for Quincy Media Stations," from Northpine.com; February 12, 2021
  12. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WMOW

External links

  1. ^ https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=776263#station
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