united states branding wink tv general wink news newscasts slogan southwest florida s news leader channels digital 50 uhf virtual 11 psip subchannels 11.1 cbs 11.2 24 7 weather affiliations cbs owner fort myers broadcasting company first air date march 23 1954 ; 62 years ago 1954 03 23 call letters meaning from sister radio station wink am sister station s wjua wink fm wnpl wtlq fm former channel number s analog 11 vhf 1954 2009 digital 9 vhf 2008 2011 former affiliations all secondary dumont 1954 1955 nbc 1954 1968 abc 1954 1974 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 26.800778 ; 81.762833 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 . contents 1 history 2 programming 3 digital television 3.1 digital channels 3.2 analog to digital conversion 4 references 5 external links history edit 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 . 1 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 . wink tv was a major beneficiary of a quirk in the fcc s plan for allocating stations . in the early days of broadcast television there were twelve vhf channels available and 69 uhf channels later reduced to 55 in 1983 . the vhf bands were more desirable because they carried longer distances . since there were only twelve vhf channels available there were limitations as to how closely the stations could be spaced . after the fcc s sixth report and order ended the license freeze and opened the uhf band in 1952 it devised a plan for allocating vhf licenses . under this plan almost all of the country would be able to receive two commercial vhf channels plus one noncommercial channel . most of the rest of the country 1 2 would be able to receive a third vhf channel . other areas would be designated as uhf islands since they were too close to larger cities for vhf service . the 2 networks became cbs and nbc 1 represented non commercial educational stations and 1 2 became abc which was the weakest network usually winding up with the uhf allocation where no vhf was available . however fort myers is sandwiched between miami fort lauderdale channels 2 4 6 7 and 10 and west palm beach channels 5 and 12 to the east and tampa bay channels 3 8 10 and 13 to the north . this created a large doughnut in southwest florida where there could be only one vhf license . wink tv was fortunate to gain that license and as a result was the only local station that provided a clear picture to outlying portions of the market until cable television arrived in the mid 1970s . the station has identified almost exclusively with its call letters since the mid 1980s . this is due in large part to the extremely high penetration of cable and satellite in southwest florida one of the highest in the nation . cable and satellite are all but essential for acceptable television in much of the market even in digital . on october 20 2007 wink tv became the first television station in southwest florida to begin broadcasting in high definition . in january 2008 several programming changes were made on wink tv . it began airing the early show which was replaced by cbs this morning in january 2012 in its entirety after cbs began requiring all of its affiliates to air the full two hour broadcast of the program . citation needed on may 26 2011 wink tv debuted an hour long 4 p.m. newscast one of many added on television stations around the united states on that date to replace the oprah winfrey show which ended its 25 year run the day before . 2 on june 11 2011 wink tv debuted a 90 minute morning newscast on saturday and sunday mornings . 3 wink tv also added a half hour late morning newscast at 10 a.m. on september 6 2011 . 4 on september 16 2013 wink tv expanded its weekday morning newscast a half hour early to 4 30 a.m. and expanded the extension of that program on wxcw by one hour to 7 to 10 a.m. 5 in january of 2015 wink tv expanded the 6 30 p.m. newscast to weekends on wxcw . 6 in august 2015 matt dougherty a former wink tv investigative reporter and weekend news anchor 7 filed a lawsuit against the station s owner fort myers broadcasting company alleging he was fired by the station s news director for refusing to hinder a federal investigation and participate in an illegal cover up . 8 9 10 11 12 the station settled with dougherty in march 2016 and the news director was ousted from his job . 13 14 news director russ kilgore had been in the position at wink tv for more than seven years . 14 notable former staff include hoda kotb 1989 1991 citation needed trey radel 15 and kerry sanders . citation needed programming edit syndicated programs broadcast on wink tv include live with kelly tmz on tv castle inside edition and rachael ray . wink tv broadcasts 40 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with seven hours on weekdays two hours on saturdays and three hours on sundays . citation needed wink tv operates two news bureaus the charlotte county bureau in the charlotte sun newsroom in charlotte harbor the collier county bureau in naples . the station s weather radar is located next to its studios . the boston red sox have held spring training in fort myers since 1993 and wink tv shares its coverage of the team with fellow cbs station wbz tv in boston . citation needed wink tv is one of two fort myers stations carried by comcast in venice and wauchula . it is the only southwest florida based station carried on comcast s sebring system . 16 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 17 11.1 1080i 16 9 wink hd main wink tv programming cbs 11.2 480i 4 3 wink d2 24 7 weather analog to digital conversion edit wink tv discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over vhf channel 11 at noon on february 17 2009 . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition vhf channel 9 . 18 the station s digital signal relocated to uhf channel 50 in mid 2011 19 using psip to display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 11 . citation needed references edit station history in fort myers wink replacing oprah with newscast media bistro april 29 2011 . on the heels of new afternoon newscast wink prepares weekend expansion media bistro may 24 2011 . wink adds 10 a.m. newscast to daily programming media bistro august 22 2011 . more news on wink ... florida newscenter september 11 2013 . wink s 6 30 p.m. newscast expands to weekends on wxcw . the changing newscasts blog january 28th 2015 . matt dougherty news anchor and investigative reporter newsmanmatt . matt dougherty news anchor and investigative reporter newsmanmatt . retrieved 2015 11 16 . fired news anchor matt dougherty sues cbs station wink news . new times broward palm beach . retrieved 2015 11 16 . lawsuit wink reporter fired in retaliation for story . www.naplesnews.com . retrieved 2015 11 16 . fired news anchor sues station over story . the news press . retrieved 2015 11 16 . wink reporter sues station over firing . www.adweek.com . retrieved 2015 11 16 . news press fired news anchor sues station over story new york attorney susan chana lask . www.appellate brief.com . retrieved 2015 11 16 . newsblues serving up tasty television news gossip since 1998 . . www.newsblues.com . retrieved 2016 03 31 . a b news director ousted in south florida . ftvlive . retrieved 2016 03 31 . knox merrill 7 november 2012 . former wink anchor trey radel elected to the u.s. house of representatives . mediabistro . retrieved 26 september 2013 . http www.wtsp.com news local story.aspx storyid 211996 rabbitears tv query for wink dtv tentative channel designations for the first and second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . http licensing.fcc.gov cgi bin ws.exe prod cdbs forms prod prefill and display.pl application id 1353988 & service dt & form id 301 & facility id 22093 external links edit wink tv official website broadcast center fort myers broadcasting co. sun broadcasting inc. query the fcc s tv station database for wink tv v t e broadcast television in southwest florida including cape coral fort myers and naples reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television local stations wuvf wlze 2 analog 18.1 51.1 uni 18.2 51.2 unim s wink 11.1 11.2 cbs wana ld 16 aza w17ck 17 tbn wbbh 20.1 nbc 20.2 news wgps lp 22.1 estrella tv 22.2 gettv 22.3 sbn 22.4 grit wxdt lp 23 wydt ca 32 wzdt lp 39 tach tv weathernation wzvn 26.1 abc 26.2 metv wgcu 30.1 pbs 30.2 world 30.3 create pbs encore 30.4 the florida channel wftx 36.1 fox 36.2 escape 36.3 laff wwdt cd 43.1 tmd wxcw 46.1 the cw 46.2 mundomax hd 46.3 mundomax sd wrxy 49.1 ctn 49.2 ctni adjacent locals tampa bay sarasota wfla 8.1 nbc 8.2 metv wtsp 10.1 cbs 10.2 antenna tv wtvt 13.1 fox 13.2 movies wsnn ld 39.1 snn 39.2 grit 39.3 laff wwsb 40.1 abc wtog 44.1 the cw 44.2 decades wftt dt 50.1 unim s 50.2 bounce tv 50.3 gettv west palm beach wptv 5.1 nbc 5.2 metv 5.3 laff wpec 12.1 cbs 12.2 weathernation 12.3 comet wtce 21.1 tbn 21.2 church 21.3 juce tv 21.4 enlace 21.5 soac wtvx 34.1 the cw 34.2 aza 34.3 mntv 34.4 latv wxel 42.1 pbs . 42.2 create 42.3 v me 42.4 world t.e.n. wtcn ca 43 mntv wwhb ca 48 aza whdt 59.1 newsmax tv gun tv wfgc 61.1 ctn miami ft. lauderdale wpbt 2.1 pbs 2.2 florida create world 2.3 v me wfor 4.1 cbs 4.2 decades wtvj 6.1 nbc 6.2 cozi tv wplg 10.1 abc 10.2 metv 10.3 movies wltv dt 23.1 uni 23.2 unim s wami