WAWV-TV
 |
|
|
Terre Haute, Indiana United States |
|
|---|---|
| Branding | WAWV (general) WAWV News (newscasts) |
| Channels |
Digital: 39 (UHF) Virtual: 38 () |
| Subchannels | 38.1 ABC 38.2 Grit 38.3 Bounce TV |
| Affiliations | ABC (1973–1995, 2011–present) |
| Owner |
Mission Broadcasting (Mission Broadcasting, Inc.) |
| Operator | Nexstar Media Group |
| First air date | April 3, 1973 |
| Call letters' meaning | ABC Wabash Valley |
| Sister station(s) | WTWO |
| Former callsigns | WIIL-TV (1973–1979) WBAK-TV (1979–2005) WFXW (2005–2011) |
| Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 38 (UHF, 1973–2009) |
| Former affiliations | Fox (1995–2011) |
| Transmitter power | 850 kW |
| Height | 248 m (814 feet) |
| Facility ID | 65247 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 39°14′36″N 87°23′7″W / 39.24333°N 87.38528°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | mywabashvalley.com |
WAWV-TV, virtual channel 38 (UHF digital channel 39), is an ABC-affiliated television station located in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. The station is owned by Mission Broadcasting; Nexstar Media Group, which owns NBC affiliate WTWO (channel 2), operates WAWV under joint sales and shared services agreements. The two stations share studio and transmitter facilities located on U.S. 41 and U.S. 150 in unincorporated Sullivan County (south of Farmersburg). On cable, WAWV-TV is available on Time Warner Cable channel 8 in standard definition and in high definition on digital channel 708.
The station first signed on the air on April 3, 1973 as WIIL-TV. Originally assigned to broadcast on UHF channel 66, the station eventually gained permission to broadcast on UHF channel 38. It originally operated as an ABC affiliate, taking the affiliation from CBS affiliate WTHI-TV (channel 10) and NBC affiliate WTWO (channel 2), which had each split the network's programming part-time through secondary affiliations. The station was founded by Alpha Broadcasting, which heavily invested in the new operation. However, the local market situation immediately sent the station into the red. Like many ABC affiliates that signed on during this time in medium-to-small markets, WIIL was hampered by ABC's marginal ratings; the network would not be on par with CBS and NBC in terms of affiliates and ratings until later in the decade. Additionally, viewers had strongly entrenched viewing habits with longer-established VHF stations WTWO and WTHI – although WTWO was less than a decade old. It didn't help matters that most of the southern half of the market was able to receive ABC programming from WTVW in Evansville. Indiana's mostly flat terrain allowed WTVW's signal to penetrate further than would have been the case in hilly or mountainous terrain.
...
Wikipedia