ohio branding cleveland 19 general cleveland 19 news newscasts metv cleveland 19.2 subchannel slogan cleveland s news center ; asking questions . getting answers . newscasts channels digital 10 vhf virtual 19 psip subchannels 19.1 cbs 19.2 metv translators 24 uhf akron affiliations cbs 1994 present owner raycom media woio license subsidiary llc first air date may 19 1985 call letters meaning ohio sister station s wuab former channel number s analog 19 uhf 1985 2009 former affiliations independent 1985 1986 fox 1986 1994 transmitter power 3.5 kw height 304 meters facility id 39746 transmitter coordinates 41 23 15.00 n 81 41 43.00 w 41.3875000 n 81.6952778 w 41.3875000 ; 81.6952778 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website cleveland19.com woio virtual channel 19 vhf digital channel 10 is a commercial television station licensed to shaker heights ohio serving greater cleveland and much of surrounding northeast ohio . owned by raycom media as part of a local duopoly with wuab woio broadcasts over two digital subchannels 19.1 is available in both high definition and standard definition and serves as the cleveland affiliate for cbs ; 19.2 is available exclusively in standard definition and serves as the cleveland affiliate for metv . the woio studios are located in downtown cleveland while the station transmitter resides in the cleveland suburb of parma . contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 fox affiliation 1.3 cbs affiliation 1.4 cleveland browns 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 early years 4.2 19 action news 4.2.1 tabloid style 4.3 high definition 4.4 cleveland 19 news 5 notable alumni 6 coverage in canada 7 references 8 external links history edit early years edit the channel 19 allocation in the cleveland television market dates back to the 1950s when a construction permit for a television sister to whk radio was issued to the plain dealer . when whk was sold to metropolitan broadcasting later metromedia in 1958 the construction permit for what was to have been whk tv was surrendered to the fcc . however the channel 19 allocation remained . on may 22 1968 a new construction permit was issued to community telecasters of cleveland inc. for a new station with the call letters wctf tv . the limited programming available and the rising cost of building wctf kept delaying plans and the sign on date for the station . in august 1972 an agreement was made to sell the construction permit to joseph t. zingale . zingale backed out of the agreement in february 1974 due to a price dispute . on january 1975 united artists broadcasting tried to buy the permit and move wuab to channel 19 but zingale filed a protest claiming that community telecasters still held the construction permit . in may 1976 the fcc took the wctf tv permit away from community telecasters during a review board . zingale then tried to acquire the license for wctf but the dispute eventually caused the construction permit to be deleted by the fcc . 1 2 hubert b. payne the former local sales manager at wkyc tv channel 3 won a construction permit for a new channel 19 in 1983 . payne had been the first african american local sales manager at a local network affiliate he signed it on for the first time on may 19 1985 as woio . 3 the present day channel 19 is a new construction permit dating back to 1983 . the call letters stand for wonderful ohio . 4 prior to that time the woio call letters were assigned to a radio station on 1060 am now wilb in canton . later in 1985 payne sold channel 19 to malrite communications group then owner of whk radio as well as cincinnati s wxix tv later that year . 5 woio aired a typical independent lineup of off network sitcoms classic movies off network drama series and religious programs . that fall woio added cartoons in the morning and the late afternoon . by the end of 1985 channel 19 had surpassed wclq channel 61 now wqhs dt as the market s second highest rated independent station behind only wuab . fox affiliation edit on october 9 1986 woio became the market s fox affiliate after wuab turned down an offer to join the network . it branded itself as fox nineteen or woio nineteen with the nineteen rendered in script font . soon afterward it became the over the air flagship of the cleveland cavaliers a relationship that continued for six years and also carried cleveland browns preseason games and other team produced programming notably the weekly show browns insider cleveland force misl indoor soccer and cleveland state vikings college basketball . it also appeared on cable providers in the youngstown market which did not have a fox affiliate of its own until wyfx lp signed on in 1998 ; woio continues to be carried on cable in that market to this day . in 1994 malrite entered into a local marketing agreement with wuab s owner cannell communications and as a result woio began to be jointly operated alongside wuab . both stations moved to facilities located at downtown cleveland s reserve square apartment hotel complex . wuab also became the new over the air flagship of the cavaliers which it continues in this capacity today . woio s news studios were once a movie theater for the reserve square apartments when they first opened originally as the park centre apartments in 1973 . in 1978 due to a loss of theater ownership the park theater closed . when woio wuab started news operations they gutted the movie theater and used the space for their news set . 6 cbs affiliation edit woio and wuab s studio facility in downtown cleveland . in may 1994 wjw tv channel 8 announced it would end its affiliation with cbs after 40 years and join fox as part of a group affiliation deal with that station s owner new world communications . 7 after the deal was announced cbs briefly wooed abc affiliate wews tv channel 5 to switch to the network but wews owner the e.w. scripps company used the threat of moving wews along with wxyz tv in detroit to sign a long term deal with abc . cbs then quickly cut an affiliation agreement with woio . after the switch became official on september 3 channel 19 moved its sitcoms animated series not carried by fox kids which moved to wbnx tv as wjw declined carriage of the block and cavaliers games to wuab . woio primary logo as cleveland s cbs 19 used from 2002 to august 24 2015 . on april 6 1998 raycom media announced that it would acquire malrite communications including the lma with wuab . 8 in 1999 woio and wuab respectively rebranded as hometeam 19 and hometeam 43 . 9 the stations tried to put an emphasis on local coverage and play on the fact that at the time they carried all three of cleveland s major professional sports teams indians and cavaliers games were carried on wuab with browns games airing on woio by way of cbs nfl coverage . in late 2001 raycom hired controversial station manager bill applegate as woio and wuab s general manager . raycom chose to rebrand woio s newscasts 19 action news while identifying as cleveland s cbs 19 for general promotional purposes . 10 on august 24 2015 as part of a universal rebranding of woio and wuab channel 19 updated its branding to the uniform cleveland 19 wuab similarly rebranded as cle 43 . 11 12 cleveland browns edit woio and the cleveland browns entered into a television partnership in april 2005 in effect resuming an agreement that ended with the original team s 1995 relocation to baltimore . replacing former longtime television partner wkyc tv woio acquired the rights to air all preseason games as well as a preseason draft show exclusive training camp reports and a monday night coaches show . on july 18 2006 the browns announced that the team was ending its partnership with woio 13 the result of a controversy over the station s coverage of the drowning of team owner randy lerner s six year old niece . on its newscasts woio aired a 9 1 1 recording of nancy fisher lerner s sister calling for assistance . although woio was within its legal bounds to air the tape the browns thought that it was an unnecessary invasion of the family s privacy . 14 woio subsequently filed a lawsuit against the browns on july 26 2006 alleging breach of contract and seeking to retain the broadcast rights to browns games as the agreement had one year left to run . 13 the browns contract with woio ended on august 1 2006 ; two days later . 15 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 16 19.1 1080i 16 9 woio dt main woio programming cbs 19.2 480i 4 3 me tv metv on august 1 2011 woio became the cleveland affiliate of the classic tv network metv which is carried on digital subchannel 19.2 ; that subchannel had previously operated as weather now consisting of a 24 hour loop of weather forecasts and local radar imagery . 19.2 is also carried on some northeast ohio cable providers . analog to digital conversion edit woio shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 19 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition vhf channel 10 . 17 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 19 . woio operates a digital fill in translator station in akron on uhf channel 24 18 which began operating on august 12 2011 . the translator serves the south central portion of the cleveland market where viewers lost woio s signal after the june 2009 digital transition . the channel 10 digital signal causes co channel interference with ctv two owned and operated station cfpl dt channel 10 in london ontario during temperature inversion and tropo skip events . woio may be forced to relocate as cfpl launched its digital signal on vhf 10 on august 31 2011 following the digital transition for canadian television stations . on october 22 2009 woio boosted its effective radiated power to 9.5 kw to allow its signal to penetrate the akron area until it could move to a more stable uhf signal . programming edit woio currently carries the entire cbs network programming lineup ; although it is one of several cbs affiliates that airs face the nation in separate half hour blocks with the second half hour of the program airing on sunday late nights ; it also splits the network s cbs dream team children s program block on saturday mornings with the first two hours which airs two hours earlier than most cbs stations airing before and the final hour airing immediately after cbs this morning saturday . syndicated programs broadcast on woio include jeopardy rachael ray wheel of fortune and who wants to be a millionaire . news operation edit woio presently broadcasts 34 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with six hours on weekdays one hour on saturdays and three hours on sundays . in addition it also presently produces an additional 14 hours of locally produced newscasts each week for wuab consisting of 2 hours on weekdays and one hour each on saturdays and sundays . combined across both stations woio produces a total of 48 hours of newscasts each week . unlike most cbs affiliated stations in large and