WINK-TV
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Fort Myers/Naples, Florida United States |
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| Branding | WINK-TV (general) WINK News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | Southwest Florida's News Leader |
| Channels |
Digital: 50 (UHF) Virtual: 11 () |
| Subchannels | (see article) |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | Fort Myers Broadcasting Company |
| First air date | March 23, 1954 |
| Call letters' meaning | From former sister radio station WINK-AM |
| Sister station(s) | WJUA, WINK-FM, WNPL, WTLQ-FM |
| Former channel number(s) | 11 (VHF analog, 1954–2009) 9 (VHF digital, 2008–2011) |
| Former affiliations |
DuMont (1954–1955) NBC (1954–1968) ABC (1954–1974) all secondary |
| Transmitter power | 1,000 kW |
| Height | 443 m |
| Facility ID | 22093 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 26°48′2.8″N 81°45′46.2″W / 26.800778°N 81.762833°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | winknews.com |
WINK-TV, virtual channel 11 (UHF digital channel 50), is a CBS-affiliated television station located in Fort Myers, Florida, United States. The station is owned by the McBride family and their Fort Myers Broadcasting Company. WINK's transmitter is located north of Fort Myers Shores. The station broadcasts on Comcast channel 5 and in high definition on digital channel 433.
The station began broadcasting on March 23, 1954, owned by the family of taxicab magnate and Cleveland Browns founder Mickey McBride along with WINK radio (1240 AM, now WJUA at 1200 AM; and 96.9 FM). WINK-TV was the first television station in Southwest Florida and is the fifth-oldest surviving station in the state. Although the call letters appear to be an outgrowth of its CBS affiliation, in fact they were simply carried over from its radio sister, which adopted them in 1944--seven years before the CBS Eye made its first appearance. It carried programming from the four major networks of its era: CBS, NBC, ABC and DuMont in the first two decades of its existence. However, it has always been a primary CBS affiliate.
The DuMont network ended operations in 1956. In December 1968, WINK-TV finally gained a local competitor when WBBH-TV signed on and took the NBC affiliation. The two stations continued to share ABC until WEVU-TV (now WZVN-TV) signed on in 1974. However, viewers could watch the full ABC and NBC schedules via stations from Miami/Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Tampa/St. Petersburg, which were and continue to be available with outdoor antennas.
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Wikipedia