| Mobile, Alabama/Pensacola, Florida | |
|---|---|
| City of license | Gulf Shores, Alabama Ft. Walton Beach, Florida |
| Branding | WFNA |
| Channels | Digital: 25 (UHF) |
| Subchannels | 55.1 CW |
| Affiliations | The CW |
| Owner | LIN TV Corporation (LIN of Alabama, LLC) |
| First air date | September 2, 2001 |
| Call letters' meaning | Florida N Alabama[1] |
| Sister station(s) | WALA-TV |
| Former callsigns | WBPG (2001-2009) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 55 (2001-2009) |
| Former affiliations | The WB (2001-2006) |
| Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
| Height | 308 m |
| Facility ID | 83943 |
| Website | wfnatv.com |
WFNA is the CW Television Network affiliate for the Mobile, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida market. The station is owned by LIN Broadcasting along with WALA in the same market. The city of license is Gulf Shores, Alabama.
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WFNA began broadcasting as WBPG on Channel 55 on September 2, 2001, replacing WFGX as the area's WB Television Network affiliate after the station reverted to independent status on August 31 of the same year. WFGX's signal reaches mostly the Pensacola side of the market, but WBPG could reach both areas. The original call letters were WGMP (meaning Gulf Shores, Mobile, Pensacola) before the station went on the air. Pegasus Broadcasting originally owned the station until Emmis Communications, owners of WALA purchased the station in 2003. Both stations have since been located under one facility. Its transmitter is located at the WALA-TV tower near Spanish Fort, Alabama.
When LIN acquired WALA-TV on November 30, 2005, the company began operating WBPG (which had already been WALA's sister station under Emmis) under a local marketing agreement (LMA). A little over seven months later, on July 7, 2006, LIN purchased WBPG outright.
On September 18, 2006, WBPG joined the CW Television Network, formed by the merger of the WB and the United Paramount Network.
With WALA having been relaunched using the myFox format, WBPG is now relaunched on a separate website on late August 2007.
The station changed its call letters to WFNA in October 2009, as part of a larger rebranding campaign that took effect on December 18.[1] The new branding de-emphasizes the network branding in favor of the station's call letters — a practice similar to that of Tribune Broadcasting's CW affiliates.
Because it was granted an original construction permit after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997 [1], WBPG did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. However, because Channel 55 is out-of-core for DTV (and has been auctioned to Qualcomm for use by their MediaFLO mobile video system), WBPG was assigned channel 25 by the FCC for digital broadcasting post-transition.
The station was broadcasting a digital signal on sister station WALA-DT (10.2) until March 2007.
WBPG signed off analog broadcasting on February 17, 2009 (the original date chosen for the digital TV transition) and now broadcasts full-time on digital channel 25, though its virtual channel appears as 55.1 through PSIP protocol.
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 55.1 | Main WFNA programming / The CW |
| 55.2 | Bounce TV (Coming 9/26/2011) |
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