WNFM-TV
 
|
|
| Fort Myers/Naples, Florida | |
|---|---|
| Branding | My TV 8 |
| Slogan | Southwest Florida's My TV 8 |
| Channels |
Analog: cable channel 8 |
| Affiliations |
MyNetworkTV This TV |
| Owner | Comcast |
| Founded | January 11, 1995 |
| Last air date | July 1, 2015 |
| Call letters' meaning | Naples/Fort Myers |
| Former callsigns | "WSWF" (1995–1998) WEVU-LP (official, 1998–2004) |
| Former channel number(s) | cable channel 10 (1995–1998) |
| Former affiliations |
The WB (1995–1998) UPN (1998–2006) Jewelry Television (overnights) |
"WNFM" was the MyNetworkTV-affiliated cable channel for Southwest Florida using a fictional call sign. It was broadcast exclusively on Comcast channel 8 (hence the My TV 8 branding) and was operated from the Comcast's Southwest Florida headquarters south of Naples Manor on Tower Road along SR 951/Collier Boulevard. WNFM and WAMY-TV in Huntsville, Alabama are the only MyNetworkTV affiliates that have fictional call letters. It was also the largest cable-only MyNetworkTV affiliate.
This channel began on January 11, 1995 as a WB affiliate. It aired exclusively on MediaOne channel 10 (then Southwest Florida's cable provider) and was not available over-the-air. It used the fictional call letters "WSWF" and was branded as "WB 10". In March 1998, WSWF switched affiliations with WTVK (now WXCW) and became a UPN affiliate.
However, anyone in the market that did not have cable could not get "TV 10" as it was later called, so UPN made an affiliation deal with low-powered WEVU-LP which would allow for additional coverage over-the-air. Several months later, WEVU owner Caloosa Television made a deal with MediaOne to have the cable system take over programming of the off-air station on analog VHF channel 7.
MediaOne then discarded the faux WSWF call letters in favor of WEVU-LP (already is use officially as assigned by the Federal Communications Commission) and adopted the on-air moniker "UPN 8" after changing its cable channel to that location (previously used by over-the-air WEVU). MediaOne replaced the over-the-air station's non-network programming with its own thus unifying the UPN affiliates in the market. During this period, the network could also be seen in Naples on low-powered WBSP-LP on VHF channel 9 because this translator repeated WEVU-LP's weak signal to the market's southern locations.
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