WTVO

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WTVO
Rockford, Illinois
Branding	WTVO Channel 17
Slogan	News Where You Live
Channels	17 (UHF) analog, 16 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	ABC, My Network TV (digital and cable-only)
Owner	Nexstar Broadcasting, through its subsidiary Mission Broadcasting
Founded	May 3, 1953 on Channel 39; moved to channel 17 in 1967
Call letters meaning	Winnebago TeleVision Organization (Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County)
Former affiliations	NBC (1953-95)
Transmitter Power	646 kW/203 m (analog) 196 kW/201 m (digital)
Website	www.wtvo.com

WTVO-TV (Channel 17) is the Rockford, Illinois-based affiliate of the ABC television network. The station is owned by Mission Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Nexstar Broadcasting Group. The station originates from 1917 North Meridian Road, on Rockford’s West Side, in a neighborhood where other major television stations (WREX Channel 13 and WIFR Channel 23, in particular) are located.

[edit] History

WTVO is the oldest television station in the greater Rockford area, and is also the oldest continuously operating UHF station in the northern portion of Illinois. This station went on the air on May 3, 1953 on Channel 39, but moved over to the Channel 17 frequency in 1967. In a sense of irony, current sister station WQRF has operated from Channel 39 since it signed-on in November 1978.

WTVO was a locally owned station until 1986, when Young Broadcasting of New York purchased the station. For most of its history, WTVO was affiliated with the NBC television network. However, after a 42-year run as the local NBC station, it swapped its network affiliation with WREX-TV, taking the ABC affiliation in August 1995. Another ownership change came on November 22, 2004, when Mission Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Texas-based Nexstar Broadcasting bought WTVO from Young for $21 million. Currently, the station is operating under a joint sales and shared services agreement with WQRF, but in effect, WTVO functions as the senior partner of this agreement. As a result, WQRF originates from the WTVO facility, and WTVO produces programming for WQRF, including a nightly newscast at 9pm.

WTVO operates a secondary programming service, Rockford’s My Network TV (formerly Rockford UPN 16) on its digital subchannel, Channel 16.2.

For a number of years, WTVO carried selected Chicago Cubs telecasts, originating from WGN-TV. However, in 1988, those telecasts moved to WIFR-TV.

WTVO, during its days as a NBC affiliate, preempted a good number of network shows, particularly in weekday and Saturday daytime, as well as the Saturday edition of the NBC Nightly News in the 1980s.

A significant figure in WTVO’s history was news anchor Bruce Richardson. He spent over 35 years at the station, from 1956 until his retirement in June 1992. Richardson had the longest reign as a local news anchor in the history of Rockford television.

[edit] Rockford’s My Network TV

WTVO’s secondary programming service was launched on September 22, 2003, as Rockford UPN 16. Prior to the launch of Rockford UPN 16, UPN programming to the Rockford area was provided by Janesville, Wisconsin-based WHPN (Channel 57; now WBUW), which also served the near-by Madison, Wisconsin television market. However, in 2002, a change in WHPN’s ownership prompted a change in network affiliation, going from UPN to The WB, as WHPN’s new owner, Acme Communications, was a major station group involved in The WB. Since UPN moved to a cable/digital-only channel in Madison (UPN14), Rockford cable systems imported Chicago’s WPWR-TV (Channel 50) into the market as the de-facto UPN affiliate for Rockford until UPN 16 signed-on.

Now, with The CW signing-on in September 2006, which replaces UPN and The WB, UPN 16 will become the Rockford home of My Network TV, and as a result, it changed its on-air imaging to reflect the new network affiliation; although the legal call letters are still WTVO-DT2. The CW programming will be on WREX’s cable/digital secondary service.

[edit] External links

• www.wtvo.com - WTVO's website
• Rockford's My Network TV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WTVO