WACY

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WACY
Appleton - Green Bay
Branding	My new 32
Channels	32 (UHF) analog, 59 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	MyNetworkTV
Owner	Ace TV, Inc. (LMA with WGBA and Journal Broadcast Group)
Founded	1983 (as WXGZ) 1994 (as WACY)
Call letters meaning	W - ACe Y
Former callsigns	WXGZ (1984-1992)
Former affiliations	Independent [as WXGZ] (1984-1987) Fox [as WXGZ] (1987-1992) UPN [as WACY] (1995-2006)
Website	Mynew32.com

WACY is a television station in Wisconsin with studios at 1391 North Road, Green Bay, Wisconsin, and a transmitter some 25 miles (40 km) southwest in the town of Glenmore, Wisconsin. WACY is currently affiliated with MyNetworkTV.

Contents 1 Station history 1.1 WXGZ era: 1984-1992 1.2 WACY era: 1992-present 2 Technical 3 Future 4 Station Logo History 5 External links

[edit] Station history

[edit] WXGZ era: 1984-1992

The station began as WXGZ in 1984, and was the first television station to be based out of Appleton, under the ownership of Appleton Midwestern Television. The Appleton Post-Crescent reported on January 31, 1984 that the station was on the air with tests; the station formally launched programming on March 7, 1984. For the station's first three years, it station was independent, showing off-network sitcoms and syndicated programming.

WXGZ was a charter affiliate for Fox beginning in 1987. WXGZ was the first station in the Green Bay-Appleton television market to begin broadcasting in stereo, and identified itself as Super 32 after making this change. Some viewers may remember Oscor the Clown (a.k.a. Wayne Oscor), who was the mascot of the station's children's lineup and a Sunday morning show starting in approximately 1986 called Oscor's Place [1]. The major sponsor for the show was Chuck E. Cheese's forerunner brand, Showbiz Pizza.

The station ran into financial problems by November of 1991 however, and APTV ended up having to declare bankruptcy. After an unsuccessful search for a new buyer for the station or more financing, WXGZ was forced to sign off permanently on February 14, 1992, ending their history with a half hour program with a history of the station and photos of staff saying their goodbyes before the general manager of WXGZ closed the station. WGBA (Channel 26) would then take over the Fox affiliation for Green Bay/the Fox Cities the next day.

The station's license was left in the hands of a holding company from March to August of 1992, at which time it was bought by Ace TV, Inc. Channel 32 remained off the air for two years, with occasional word that the station was intended to begin broadcasting again "in the near future".

[edit] WACY era: 1992-present

WXGZ's license to operate was at last put to use in 1994. Ace TV, still owner of WXGZ's license, changed the call letters to WACY, using the Ace of Spades as the station's logo. The station was put back on the air with the help of WGBA, which arranged to put WACY on solid financial footing by creating a local marketing agreement where they would program Channel 32, allow WACY to use WGBA's studios, and sell ad time for the station.

WACY relaunched as an independent station (airing mostly syndicated programming) for a short time, before becoming a charter UPN affiliate in January 1995, along with a secondary off-hours affiliation with The WB.

In late 1994, the station began to air local programming also. One of the most durable programs was called Who, What, When, Where. The show was hosted by Jim C. Hoffman and Dan Davies, who (at that time) were hosting shows on public access cable in Oshkosh. The series featured various interviews, advertisements (notably Ron and Llyod's supermarket and WNAM radio), and entertainment sketches performed by Davies. The show changed its name to N.E.W. Now in early 1997. Occasionally, a special interview was conducted for the Green Bay, Wisconsin audience, in accordance with the agreement between WACY and WGBA. N.E.W. Now ended in 1997. A new show, "It's the Law", hosted by Oshkosh lawyer George E. Curtis began operation in 1999; Hoffman produced the new series. Another local program of note was Polka, Polka, Polka, which aired Sunday mornings from a Manitowoc supper club/dance hall.

In August 1995, WGBA became the market's NBC affiliate after WLUK (Channel 11) switched affiliation to Fox. Due to this, WACY took most of Channel 26's children's programs to air throughout the day and decided to change over to an all day children's programming format, under the branding WACKY 32. The schedule ran from 6am-11am and 1pm-5pm (11am-1pm was filled with general programming and infomercials), and consisted of various programming lineups, including UPN Kids, The Disney Afternoon, syndicated product such as Garfield and Friends, Scooby Doo, Dennis the Menace and Sonic the Hedgehog, along with some educational and informational-compliant programs like The New Zoo Revue. WACY also aired Kids' WB on-pattern in the mornings and afternoons, and aired Pokémon in its one-season syndicated run before it became a part of Kids' WB. The lineup contained local continuity from Cuddles the Clown.

This programming strategy continued until 1999, when by then the effect of the rules on children's advertising and competition from cable networks like Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon made it hard for broadcast stations to financially justify airing children's programming more than necessary. The station also lost their secondary WB affiliation after ACME Communications bought WIWB (then WPXG, Channel 14) from Paxson Communications in that same year, converting it from PAX TV to a primary WB affiliate. Kids' WB then moved to Channel 14, and WACY began to move towards a general programming direction. The station continued to air UPN's Disney's One Too children's block weekdays until its discontinuation in September 2003 by the network.

The UPN and WB networks announced that they would be merging into a new network, The CW in January 2006, which would take to the air in September of the same year. As WIWB claimed the CW affiliation, WACY went with Fox's new secondary network, MyNetworkTV as of March 22 [2], and by early June, WACY was beginning to distance itself from their former network, airing only the first hour of UPN programming on most weeknights, and replacing the second hour with infomercials. WACY discontinued UPN after September 4, leaving WIWB to finish the network's run in Green Bay by airing Veronica Mars on Saturday nights, and Friday Night Smackdown on Sunday afternoon until the network's end.

Currently the station runs a weekday lineup outside of network hours made up of mostly off-network sitcoms, court shows, and other programs such as South Park and COPS, along with mostly infomercials in the overnights and morning hours. Movies make up a majority of the weekend schedule.

The station also airs a high school football game of the week on Friday nights in the fall featuring local teams. The Friday night editions of Desire and Fashion House air after these games.

Channel 32 began to use the My Network TV branding in late July 2006, and is now called My new 32, with the "new" standing for both the new network and the station's coverage area, northeastern Wisconsin (commonly abbreviated as N.E.W.). The new logo is also the first time since WACY's sign-on that no elements of the Ace of Spades appear, and the WACY call letters are being played down in favor of My new 32, Green Bay/Appleton.

A late-night feature on weekends is the "Ned the Dead" movie program. While it has moved around the schedule a lot, it can currently be seen Saturday nights around 10 pm. The show features a B movie from the fifties (usually scifi or horror) with "Ned" doing wraparounds and comic relief. The actor who plays Ned also is the spokesperson for Van Vredee's, a local appliance store. The store sponsors the "Ned the Dead" show.

[edit] Technical

WACY has a transmitter for analogue TV on channel 32 (1050 kilowatts; 578-584 MHz) and a digital television channel 59 (1000kW; 740-746 MHz).

[edit] Future

In 2004, Journal Broadcast Group (owners of Milwaukee's WTMJ-TV (Channel 4)). announced plans to buy WGBA for $43.2 million, and the sale closed in October of that year. WGBA and WACY have a local marketing agreement with WGBA providing studio space, weather coverage, staff for the high school football games, and other facilities. Journal Communications said at the time of the purchase it would continue the agreement and has agreed to buy WACY should the Federal Communications Commission change its bylaws to allow the purchase.

[edit] Station Logo History

WXGZ's second version of their logo, used from fall 1987 until the station signed off in February 1992. Originally a straigher version of the 32 without the Super branding was used from 1984-1987.	The first WACY/UPN-era logo, used from January 1995-August 2001. In the short period where WACY was independent, the logo was the same without the UPN logo.	Second UPN logo, used from August 2001-August 2002.	Last UPN logo, used from August 2002-July 2006.
WACY's current logo, inaugurated in late July 2006, using the My new 32 branding.

[edit] External links

• Official site
• WACY program guide
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WACY
• WACY TV Lineup and Demographic Data