WMLW-CA

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WMLW-CA
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Branding	wmlw (visually in lowercase letters)
Slogan	wmlw Means Milwaukee (general) The Game's on Us (sports)
Channels	WMLW-CA 41 (UHF) analog, WDJT 46-2 (UHF) (current), 13 (VHF) (pending) digital
Affiliations	Independent 4Kids TV (children's block)
Owner	Weigel Broadcasting (Channel 41/63, LP)
Founded	1999 (in previous incarnations since 1983)
Call letters meaning	W-MiLWaukee
Former affiliations	America One (secondary until 2002)
Website	wmlw.com

WMLW-CA (Channel 41) is a LPTV independent television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its transmitter is located in Milwaukee's Lincoln Park. The station is owned and operated by Weigel Broadcasting, which also owns Milwaukee's CBS affiliate WDJT (Channel 58). Despite the station's low-power 'Class A' status, WMLW has made deals with local area cable systems such as Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications to air the station, which extends the coverage area throughout the entire market. Currently, the station can also be seen on WDJT's digital signal, on channel 46-2 (58-2); however, it will be airing on its own digital channel (VHF channel 13) in the future.

Contents 1 History 2 Programming 3 Sports 4 External links

[edit] History

WMLW had been around one way or another since the early 80's on low-power translator stations, Channel 55 as W55AS at first, then by 1989, moving to Channel 65 as W65BT. The station has been owned by Weigel since signing on. Until the late 90's the channel would air the Stock Market Observer during the trading day (7am-5pm), which was produced by sister station WCIU (Channel 26) in Chicago. At night a mix of home shopping, infomercials, religion and low-cost programming was scheduled. The channel was watched by few because of low cable carriage and better TV choices in the Milwaukee market.

In 1999, Weigel obtained construction permits for new channel positions in the wake of having to move its Milwaukee low-power operations (which included then-Univision station W46AR (Channel 46), now Telemundo affiliate WYTU-LP (Channel 63)) to accommodate the HDTV signal for WDJT on Channel 46. Towards the end of September 2000, the programming from Channel 65 moved to the new Channel 41 under the callsign W41CI; onscreen identifcation became 'TV-41'.

In the first year, the station improved its programming, airing Weigel/Bridge Information Systems' WebFN financial news service during the day, and entertainment at night. The America One network aired through the overnights and mornings (also to fulfill educational/informational program requirements), and news cut-ins from Channel 58 would air all day. Then in the middle of November 2001, Channel 41 would acquire LPTV status, allowing it to have a lettered call sign, which would end up being WMLW-LP.

In 2002, the station began shifting to more of a true independent station, with the WebFN venture folding in the wake of the dot com crash, freeing up the 7am-5pm timeslot for other programming. Weigel acquired more shows for the station and found itself in a unique position as Milwaukee's only true independent television station.

Sinclair co-owned WVTV and WCGV decided to focus more on their WB and UPN (currently The CW and My Network TV) programming instead of occasional sports coverage (which often pre-empted the network schedules, much to the annoyance of the local fanbases of each of the two network's shows; to note WCGV retains broadcast rights for the Milwaukee Bucks), and took themselves out of the race for local college and high school sports rights; there was also a lack of interest on the part of FSN North, which wanted to focus on teams with statewide interest, not just within the Milwaukee metro area. Thus, Weigel decided to use Channel 41 in order to take the rights for these sports and use the lure of the teams to have cable companies carry the station, knowing that it would be the only way to make Channel 41 a viable player in Milwaukee broadcasting.

Time Warner was strongly opposed to adding Channel 41 to their lineups across Southeastern Wisconsin, arguing that the station wasn't full-power and the sports were only a lure to add another unneeded station to their lineups. This came after must-carry rules pushed them to air religious station WWRS-TV (Channel 52), and move Madison's popular PBS affiliate to digital cable to free up a basic channel. Weigel then encouraged viewers to call and write Time Warner and Charter to add the station to their lineups in the wake of being the Milwaukee station that would air the WIAA high school basketball championships, using promotions on WDJT and in local newspapers to send the message.

After much campaigning, Charter would add WMLW to their basic tier of service (Channel 8 in most cities, Channel 21 in Sheboygan), with Time Warner airing the station at first only over digital cable, allowing the WIAA coverage to be seen on cable on some level. A compromise would later be reached between Weigel and Time Warner, and the station would become a part of the basic package throughout Time Warner's area, moving from TW Channel 741 to TW Channel 7 in the fall of 2003. After finding cable carriage, the station began to identify only by the WMLW call letters and rarely mentioned the channel number except in a few promotions, and visually in FCC-required identifications.

WMLW would stop airing America One after 2002, and began programming the entire day shortly thereafter. In mid-September of 2003, WMLW became a 'Class A' television station and legally identifies as WMLW-CA.

[edit] Programming

The station, being an independent, relies heavily on syndicated programming such as sitcoms and dramas, and airs several hours of courtroom shows a day such as The People's Court, Judge Mathis, Judge Maria Lopez and Judge Hatchett, along with The Tyra Banks Show, Family Feud and South Park (which is edited for syndication and aired in a late night double run at 11pm). A nightly movie also airs from 7pm-9pm, along with a late rebroadcast of WDJT's 10pm newscast. WMLW is also the home of second runs of syndicated programming from WDJT like The Insider, Inside Edition, and Jeopardy!. Weekends are devoted to classic sitcoms and dramas, sports talk programming, and weekend syndicated programs like Smallville and the digitally remastered version of Star Trek.

Some breaking news from WDJT is simulcast on WMLW, along with the station's weather warnings and alerts. The station also carries all Powerball drawings live at 9:59pm on Wednesday and Saturday nights.

WMLW also carries the children's programming block offered by the Fox network, 4Kids TV (formerly Fox Kids), due to Fox-O&O WITI (Channel 6) declining to carry the block. Until September 2004, WCGV (Channel 24) aired this programming, but let the agreement lapse. WMLW now currently airs the 4Kids lineup on Sunday mornings at 8:00, one day and one hour later than its usual Saturday timeslot for most of the time zone.

WMLW currently airs reruns of the cult low-budget horror and science fiction movie-lampooning series Svengoolie from their Chicago sister station WCIU (Channel 26) on Saturday nights.

[edit] Sports

WMLW justifies being carried by the area's cable systems with a strong sports lineup, consisting of the Wisconsin Badgers college football and college basketball games carried regionally by ESPN+, Marquette Golden Eagles and UW-Milwaukee Panthers men's and women's college basketball, and other ESPN+ Big East Conference games (including football, despite Marquette's lack of a program in that sport), along with the coach's shows of all the college sports teams mentioned above, the afformentioned WIAA tournaments, and some sports talk programs. It also airs Labor Day coverage of the US Open from CBS, because of WDJT's commitment as the local affiliate for Jerry Lewis' annual MDA telethon, and a postgame show for any Packer games carried by CBS and Channel 58, using WDJT's sports staff.

Channel 41 has also acquired the right to air fifteen Milwaukee Brewers regular seasons baseball games (along with a Brewers/Cubs spring training game) in the 2007 season [1], the first time the team has aired games non-nationally on a local broadcast station since FSN North became the team's exclusive broadcaster in 2005. The telecasts are produced by FSN North and retain the look of the network (except for a Brewers logo on the score bar where the FSN North logo would usually appear), while WMLW/WDJT sell ad time during the games.

WMLW is expected to lose the rights to carry UW-Madison sports after August 2007, when the new Big Ten Network launches on satellite/cable, and the first year of a ten year exclusivity deal between the Big Ten Conference, ABC and ESPN goes into effect. All Big Ten events programming will move to BTC, ABC, and the various ESPN channels, taking away broadcast rights from local stations when ESPN+ is discontinued for the Big Ten. How this affects WMLW's sports schedules is unknown at this time.

[edit] External links

• Home page
• History of Milwaukee television
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WMLW