| Salem, Indiana/Louisville, Kentucky | |
|---|---|
| Branding | MyTV Louisville |
| Channels | Digital: 51 (UHF) |
| Subchannels | 58.1 MyNetworkTV 58.2 My Family TV |
| Affiliations | MyNetworkTV |
| Owner | Block Communications, Inc. (Independence Television Company) |
| First air date | March 16, 1994 |
| Call letters' meaning | MYNetworkTV Ohio Valley |
| Sister station(s) | WDRB |
| Former callsigns | WFTE (1994-2006) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 58 (1994-2009) |
| Former affiliations | independent (1994-1995) UPN (1995-2006) |
| Transmitter power | 1000 kW (digital) |
| Height | 390.4 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 34167 |
| Website | www.wmyo.com/ |
WMYO is a television station serving the Louisville, Kentucky market as a My Network TV affiliate on channel 58. The station is owned by the Independence Television subsidiary of Block Communications with sister-station WDRB in Louisville (the local Fox affiliate). WMYO is licensed in Salem, Indiana, with its transmitter in Floyds Knobs, Indiana and studios located in downtown Louisville. It is the only full-power Louisville-area station licensed to the Indiana side of the market.
The station was originally licensed to Don Martin Jr. of Salem, Indiana. Martin sold the license in 1993 to Tom Ledford of Salem, Indiana who worked with WDRB to program the station under an early local marketing agreement.
On March 16, 1994, WMYO signed on the air as independent station WFTE Big 58. WFTE also aired episodes from the first season of NYPD Blue, an ABC program that was turned down by the local ABC affiliate, WHAS-TV. As many ABC affiliates did when it premiered, WHAS refused to air the controversial program, but ceded to viewer and advertiser pressure when the show gained ratings traction.
On January 16, 1995, WFTE became an affiliate of the newly-launched UPN. WFTE was sold in 2001 to current owners Independence Television Company, who rebranded the station Great 58.
Eleven years after the births of the UPN and WB networks on January 24, 2006, it was announced that UPN would shut down operations and merge with rival network, The WB, forming the new CW Television Network. The WB is seen locally on WBKI-TV and on March 1, 2006, it was announced that WBKI would take the affiliation with The CW, leaving WFTE without its UPN programming.
In response to the merger, News Corporation, owners of the Fox network carried by sister-station WDRB, created My Network TV. WMYO began carrying the new programming starting September 5, 2006, after the shutdown of UPN[1].
On July 7, 2006, WFTE changed its call letters to WMYO to reflect its affiliation with My Network TV. [2].
WMYO formerly had Indiana University football and basketball and Big Ten Conference sports rights before the conference moved all of their games to cable and the Big Ten Network in 2007. WMYO also carried some Notre Dame football games from NBC in lieu of WAVE-TV (Channel 3), which carried the Southeastern Conference regional football package from Raycom Media until the end of that rights agreement in 2009.
WMYO previously aired The Daily Buzz weekday mornings 6 to 8 a.m. It has since moved to WBKI who airs it from 7 to 9. Beyond weather warnings denoted with WDRB's news logo on the bottom of the screen, WMYO only carries WDRB newscasts in pre-emption situations such as primetime Fox Sports broadcasts such as NASCAR races and MLB and NFL games.
In early 2011 the master control for both WDRB and WMYO was upgraded to allow syndicated and local programming outside of the MyNetworkTV schedule to air in high definition, along with 16:9 weather warning capability on WMYO.
The station began to map out a 58.2 digital subchannel in early 2011, though it only carried a color bar pattern with text reading "WMYO58-2SALM" to provide station identification until December 1, 2011, when the station secured the local affiliation for My Family TV (which is wholly unrelated to MyNetworkTV in any manner), which debuted on that same day.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||