cw television network wgn tv or its sister stations wgn am wgn america or kwgn tv . wgno new orleans louisiana united states branding wgno new orleans general news with a twist wgno news newscasts slogan god bless louisiana channels digital 26 uhf virtual 26 psip subchannels 26.1 abc 26.2 antenna tv 26.3 escape affiliations abc owner tribune broadcasting tribune television new orleans inc. first air date october 16 1967 ; 48 years ago 1967 10 16 call letters meaning greater new orleans or we ve got new orleans former slogan retained as a homage to tribune s chicago flagship station wgn tv and a portmanteau of wgn and no abbreviation for new orleans sister station s wnol tv former callsigns wwom tv 1967 1971 former channel number s analog 26 uhf 1967 2009 former affiliations primary independent 1967 1995 the wb 1995 1996 secondary abc 1967 1980s cbs 1967 1980s nbc 1967 1980s fnn 1981 1985 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 286 m facility id 72119 transmitter coordinates 29 56 59.0 n 89 57 28.0 w 29.949722 n 89.957778 w 29.949722 ; 89.957778 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website wgno.com wgno virtual and uhf channel 26 is an abc affiliated television station located in new orleans louisiana united states . the station is owned by the tribune broadcasting subsidiary of the tribune media company as part of a duopoly with cw affiliate wnol tv channel 38 . the two stations share studio facilities located at the galleria on galleria drive just south of i 10 in metarie ; wgno maintains transmitter facilities located on paris road highway 47 in chalmette . on cable the station is available on cox communications and at & t u verse channel 11 and in high definition on cox communications and at & t u verse channel 1011 . contents 1 history 1.1 as an independent station 1.2 as a wb affiliate 1.3 as an abc affiliate 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 sports programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable on air staff 4.2 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit as an independent station edit the station first signed on the air on monday october 16 1967 as wwom tv standing for the wonderful world of movies ; the station signed on at 5pm with a greeting by then mayor victor h. schiro and its first program was the 1927 al jolson film the jazz singer . it was the first independent station in the state of louisiana and the first commercial television station to sign on in new orleans since wwl tv channel 4 debuted as the market s cbs affiliate on september 7 1957 . originally owned by david wagenvoord the station was only on the air for eight hours a day from late afternoon to midnight ; its programming consisted mostly of older movies some theatrical cartoon shorts and a few off network syndicated programs . during its first decade on the air the station also cherry picked several programs from nbc abc and cbs that wdsu channel 6 wvue tv then on channel 12 now on channel 8 and wwl tv chose not to broadcast . 1 in 1969 the station experimented with a 24 hour daily schedule claiming to be the first television station in the united states to broadcast on such a schedule ; however this format was short lived . 2 wwom tv s logo from 1969 showing its attempt to broadcast 24 hours a day from the times picayune . the station was sold to communications corp. of the south in 1971 ; after the purchase was finalized the station changed its call letters to wgno on march 9 1972 . around this time the station began running more off network syndicated sitcoms and westerns along with a moderate amount of cartoons . the station expanded its programming schedule to about 12 hours each day by 1972 then began signing on at 10 00 a.m. in 1974 ; wgno expanded its daily programming hours to about 19 hours a day by 1975 . the station was sold to seymour smith and his family in 1976 continuing to program a general entertainment format with vintage sitcoms older movies and religious programs . wgno began to be carried on many cable providers in southern louisiana including within the baton rouge market during the 1970s before it was replaced by atlanta based superstation wtcg . in 1981 wgno also ran business news programming from the financial news network . from 1982 to 1987 wgno aired a series of public service announcements featuring a character called tom foote ; tom was a local entertainer seen in area schools and in the french quarter . for a time the station produced an hour long program called tom foote s video clubhouse as well as news for kids produced by foote . wgno was purchased by glendive media in 1978 who would in turn sell the station to tribune broadcasting in 1983 . by coincidence the station s callsign reflects a connection with tribune s flagship television station in chicago wgn tv whose own call letters stand for world s greatest newspaper in reference to the longtime slogan of the company s founding newspaper the chicago tribune ; however channel 26 had the wgn lettering in its callsign twelve years before tribune even bought the station ; this connection coupled with the fact that two other tribune owned television stations also incorporated the wgn name in their callsigns denver s kwgn tv and atlanta s wgnx now wgcl tv the former of which remains owned by the company channel 26 kept the wgno call letters . under tribune the station continued to grow and wgno remained the leading independent station in the market even as other competitors signed on the air wnol tv channel 38 in march 1984 and later wccl channel 49 now wpxl tv in march 1989 . wgno reportedly turned down an offer by fox to become a charter affiliate of the network prior to its october 1986 launch ; fox programming instead went to wnol which its then owners tvx broadcast group used as leverage to get fox to sign a deal to affiliate with the majority of the company s independent stations . as a wb affiliate edit on november 2 1993 the warner bros. television division of time warner announced the formation of the wb television network in which the tribune company held a minority ownership interest initially 12.5 % before eventually expanding to 22 % . as a result tribune affiliated the majority of its independent stations with the network as charter affiliates . 3 4 this effectively ended wgno s 28 year run as an independent station upon the wb s launch on january 11 1995 . at that time the wb only offered a few hours of programming each week airing only for two hours on wednesday nights at the time of its launch before adding a three hour sunday evening lineup and a monday saturday children s program block in september 1995 ; as a result wgno continued to run syndicated programming for the remainder of the broadcast day . as an abc affiliate edit that same year burnham broadcasting sold longtime abc affiliate wvue tv now owned by the louisiana media company and three other stations to sf broadcasting a joint venture between savoy pictures and fox resulting in all four stations dropping their big three affiliations and joining fox . on august 14 1995 abc signed a 10 year affiliation agreement with tribune broadcasting for wgno to become its new orleans affiliate . 5 wvue switched its affiliation to fox on january 1 1996 as sf broadcasting s only abc affiliate to join that network ; khon tv in honolulu wala tv in mobile and wluk tv in green bay were all affiliated with nbc prior to their switches resulting in a three way swap that resulted in wgno becoming the market s new abc affiliate while the wb affiliation along with cartoons and some syndicated programs that were part of wgno s inventory moved to former fox affiliate wnol tv channel 38 . as a result of joining abc channel 26 became the second tribune owned station to switch to a big three network atlanta sister station wgnx now owned by the meredith corporation as wgcl tv was set to affiliate with the wb at its launch but joined cbs one month prior in december 1994 after waga tv switched from cbs to fox through a deal with new world communications and only the third big three station in its portfolio along with kdal tv now kdlh in duluth a cbs affiliate that tribune had owned from 1960 to 1970 . from 1999 when tribune sold cbs affiliate wgnx now wgcl tv in atlanta to the meredith corporation until 2013 wgno was the only tribune owned television station that was affiliated with a big three network by 2007 the company s other 22 stations were and remain affiliates of either fox the cw or mynetworktv . however tribune s december 2013 acquisition of local tv added eleven additional big three stations to its portfolio ; the purchase also displaced wgno wnol as the company s smallest television stations by market size with the fort smith arkansas duopoly of cbs affiliate kfsm tv and mynetworktv affiliate kxnw filling that role . 6 7 tribune broadcasting began managing the operations of wnol under a local marketing agreement in 1996 . the company merged with channel 38 s then owner qwest broadcasting a company run by a group of minority investors led by quincy jones in 2000 creating the market s first television duopoly with wgno . despite now being placed under common ownership wgno and wnol continued to operate separately from one another wnol continued to be based out of its existing studio facility on canal street . in july 2005 wgno relocated from its studio facilities at the world trade center new orleans in the city s central business district to a facility at the new orleans centre . former wgno logo used from 2005 to 2011 . as hurricane katrina approached the louisiana coast in august 2005 wgno s operations were moved to fellow abc affiliate wbrz tv in baton rouge . for a time after the hurricane hit the station s evening newscasts were produced out of various locations throughout the new orleans area as the main studio at the world trade center new orleans was inaccessible . wgno eventually established temporary facilities including a makeshift studio and control room from two trailers outside of the louisiana superdome with most of the station s broadcast equipment being purchased from ebay resellers . in april 2006 wgno announced that its broadcast operations would temporarily relocate back to the world trade center building as new orleans centre management decided not to re open the complex and terminated the station s lease agreement wgno had only moved into the facility a few weeks before katrina hit the area . in february 2007 tribune announced that rather than move wgno to wnol s facility on canal street the station would instead move its operations to the galleria building in nearby metairie ; this made wgno the first new orleans area television station to move its studio facilities outside of the city proper . station management indicated that they wanted to keep wgno s operations in new orleans but could not find a facility that was suitable . 8 the station began broadcasting from new high definition ready studios inside the galleria on august 29 2007 coinciding with the second anniversary of hurricane katrina which included a brand new news set and weather center . on april 1 2012 tribune broadcasting removed all wgno wnol and its then 21 other television stations from satellite provider