WZAW-LD

WZAW-LD
Wausau, Wisconsin
United States
Branding WZAW Fox
WZAW News
Slogan The News You Can Trust
Channels Digital: 33 (UHF) &
WSAW-DT 7.3 (VHF)
Virtual: 33 (PSIP) &
WSAW-DT 7.3 (PSIP)
Subchannels 33.1 Fox
33.2 MeTV
33.3 Movies!
Translators 7.3 (UHF) W42DH-D3 Sayner/Vilas County, WI
Affiliations Fox
Owner Gray Television
(Gray Television
Licensee, LLC)
Founded May 27, 2015
First air date July 1, 2015
Call letters' meaning disambiguation of WSAW
("Z" added in honor of former News Director Mark Zelich)
Sister station(s) WSAW-TV, WEAU, WMTV
Transmitter power 15 kW
72 kW (WSAW-DT3)
Height 326 m
373 m (WSAW-DT3)
Class LD
Facility ID 183262
6867 (WSAW-DT3)
Transmitter coordinates 45°3′22.1″N 89°27′53.5″W / 45.056139°N 89.464861°W / 45.056139; -89.464861
44°55′14.2″N 89°41′28.7″W / 44.920611°N 89.691306°W / 44.920611; -89.691306 (WSAW-DT3)
Website www.wsaw.com/fox

WZAW-LD is the low-powered, Fox-affiliated television station for Central Wisconsin's Northern Highland that is licensed to Wausau. It broadcasts a 720p high definition digital signal on UHF channel 33 (or virtual channel 33.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter, northeast of Nutterville, in unincorporated Marathon County. Owned by Gray Television, the station is sister to CBS affiliate WSAW-TV and the two outlets share studios on Grand Avenue/U.S. 51 in Wausau.

Overview

Since WZAW transmits at low-power, its signal does not reach Rhinelander or other areas to the north and east (such as Eagle River and Crandon). Therefore, the station is simulcast on WSAW's third digital subchannel in HD to increase its over-the-air broadcasting radius, along with WSAW's Sayner translator, W42DH-D3, which also maps to PSIP channel 7.3.

History

On July 1, 2015, Gray bought the non-license assets of the market's previous Fox affiliate WFXS-DT (owned by Davis Television, LLC). Due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ownership restrictions, Gray established this new low-powered station to become the new Fox affiliate. All of WFXS' program streams including its existing PSIP channel numbering was then moved to WZAW. Subsequently, WFXS ceased broadcasting after nearly sixteen years on-the-air and its studios on North 3rd Street in Wausau were shut down.[1][2]

In consenting to the interference that would be caused by WZAW operating under special temporary authority on channel 31 (the same RF channel as WFXS) rather than its licensed channel 33, Davis Television stated that it would return the WFXS license to the FCC for cancellation following the sale.[3] In August 2015, WSAW launched a prime time newscast on this Fox outlet known as WZAW News at 9. The half-hour broadcast offers direct competition to WAOW's thirty-minute, weeknight-only news airing at the same time on its CW digital subchannel.

In September 2016, WZAW moved from virtual channel 55 and RF channel 31 to RF and virtual channel 33.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.