please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . march 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message wgtu wgtq wgtu traverse city cadillac michigan wgtq sault ste. marie michigan united states branding abc 29 & 8 tv 7 & 4 on dt2 slogan get connected fair . accurate . honest . on dt2 channels digital wgtu 29 uhf wpbn dt2 47 uhf wgtq 8 vhf wtom dt2 35 uhf subchannels 29.1 8.1 abc hd 29.2 8.2 nbc sd 7.2 4.2 abc sd owner cunningham broadcasting traverse city wgtu tv licensee inc. operator sinclair broadcast group first air date wgtu august 23 1971 wgtq october 29 1976 call letters meaning wgtu grand traverse uhf wgtq grand traverse quality sister station s wpbn tv wtom tv wbvc weyi tv wbsf wsmh wwmt wsbt tv former channel number s wgtu 29 uhf analog 1971 2009 31 uhf digital wgtq 8 vhf analog 1976 2009 9 vhf digital transmitter power wgtu 68.4 kw wpbn dt2 500 kw wgtq 15 kw wtom dt2 78 kw height wgtu & wpbn dt2 393 m wgtq 288 m wtom dt2 168 m facility id wgtu 59280 wpbn dt2 21253 wgtq 59279 wtom dt2 21254 transmitter coordinates wgtu & wpbn dt2 44 44 53.3 n 85 4 8.6 w 44.748139 n 85.069056 w 44.748139 ; 85.069056 wgtq 46 3 8.2 n 84 6 38.8 w 46.052278 n 84.110778 w 46.052278 ; 84.110778 wgtq wtom dt2 45 39 0.6 n 84 20 36.9 w 45.650167 n 84.343583 w 45.650167 ; 84.343583 wtom tv website upnorthlive.com wgtu is the abc affiliated television station for the northern lower and eastern upper peninsulas of michigan that is licensed to traverse city . it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 29 from a transmitter east of kalkaska . like other network affiliates in this vast rural area it operates a full time satellite wgtq . licensed to sault ste. marie this station airs a high definition digital signal on vhf channel 8 from a transmitter approximately thirty miles sse of sault ste. marie near goetzville in southeastern chippewa county . together the two are known on air as abc 29 & 8 and serve 23 counties in the northern lower peninsula three counties in the eastern upper peninsula and portions of northern ontario including sault ste. marie s canadian sister city . owned by cunningham broadcasting wgtu is operated through a local marketing agreement lma by sinclair broadcast group owner of nbc affiliate wpbn tv and full time satellite wtom tv . however sinclair effectively owns wgtu due to cunningham s ownership structure . both stations share studios on m 72 west of traverse city . contents 1 history 1.1 programming 2 newscasts 3 references 4 external links history edit wgtu began broadcasting on august 23 1971 . before that abc programming in northern michigan was split between cbs affiliates wwtv wwup soap operas game shows and wpbn wtom weekend sporting events . during mid 1975 translator k55aw channel 55 was added to serve the alpena area . on october 29 1976 it added wgtq in sault ste. marie to bring the full abc schedule to the eastern upper peninsula . for many years wgtq was available in large portions of the canadian provinces of ontario and quebec . however it has not been seen in canada since the early 2000s . in sudbury the persona cable system pulled wgtq in favor of wxyz tv from detroit . in rouyn noranda and val d or quebec cablevision replaced wgtu with boston s wcvb tv . in the canadian sault local cable provider shaw communications opted instead for flint s abc affiliate wjrt tv though it was later replaced by wxyz . from the start wgtu was locally owned most recently by tom scanlan who at one time also owned marquette s wbup until its 2003 sale to max media . in 1998 the station began to provide promotional and advertising services for cable only wb affiliate wbvc which was based at wgtu s original studios on east front street in downtown traverse city . in early november 2006 wgtu and wgtq upgraded their digital signals to begin offering abc in high definition which can also be seen on charter digital channel 788 . on september 19 2007 an application was filed to the federal communications commission fcc by max media to sell wgtu wgtq and its cw cable only station to tucker broadcasting for 10 million . after fcc approval tucker entered into a shared sales agreement with barrington broadcasting . according to the fcc filing wpbn would sell advertising time and provide other programming for wgtu . the same was approved in april 2008 . after wpbn renovated its studios over the summer wgtu moved its operations from its longtime studios in traverse city into wpbn s studios . at some point in time what had become cw affiliate wbvc was added to a new second digital subchannel of wgtu . this was done to offer non cable viewers access to its programming . it also began using the wgtu dt2 call sign in an official manner . on june 12 2009 wgtu and wgtq reverted their digital signals back to the previous analog signal locations as part of the switch to digital only broadcasting . on the same day wgtu dropped wbvc from its second digital subchannel replacing it with a simulcast of wpbn . this is because wtom s digital signal no longer covers the upper peninsula side of the market . wgtu no longer operates wbvc . on february 28 2013 barrington announced that it would sell its entire group including wpbn wtom to sinclair broadcast group . at the same time wgtu wgtq were acquired by cunningham broadcasting . sinclair also acquired the lma with wgtu wgtq ; all but one of cunningham s stations are operated by sinclair under lmas . 1 the sale was completed on november 25 . 2 nearly all of cunningham s stock is held by trusts for the smith family founders and owners of sinclair . thus for all intents and purposes sinclair owns both stations . cunningham previously known as glencairn has long been used as a shell corporation to allow sinclair to operate duopolies where sinclair can not legally own them . 3 4 the traverse city cadillac sault sainte marie has only seven full power stations too few to legally permit a duopoly . also even if the traverse city cadillac market had enough full power stations to allow a duopoly a wpbn wgtu duopoly still wouldn t be legal as both stations are among the top four stations in the market . programming edit wgtu airs 24 hours a day seven days a week . syndicated programming on the station includes the dr. oz show the insider meredith and judge judy . it clears the entire abc schedule even though through 2008 network programming on the last sunday in january was preempted for the yearly cbn 700 club telethon as a part of its commitment to airing the 700 club weekday mornings since the 1980s . this was also due to cbn personality tim robertson son of pat owning an interest in former station owner max media . this caused complaints about the pre empted abc sports programming . the issue became moot when tucker barrington discontinued airing the show in fall 2008 when it moved to fox affiliates wfqx wfup . newscasts edit wgtu initially had a full fledged news department . however it made little headway against wwtv and wpbn . the news department was significantly cut back in 1984 and for more than a quarter century it aired almost no local newscasts at all . the only local news on the station were weekday morning news weather and sports cut ins at 25 and 55 past the hour during good morning america as well as a ten minute news and weather update seen weeknights at 11 . after wgtu consolidated its operations with wpbn it became possible that a full fledged local newscast would return to wgtu . on september 13 2010 that station finally took advantage of this channel being housed in the same facility and launched a weeknight newscast at 6 30 on wgtu known as upnorthlive news . the news weather update seen weeknights at 11 remains as well but it is taped in advance as was the case before this station merged with wpbn . one notable former news anchor from wgtu is marc schollett who is now the weeknight anchor on wpbn and in 2013 began to anchor upnorthlive news at 6 30 on wgtu wgtq . references edit malone michael february 28 2013 . sinclair s chesapeake tv acquires barrington stations . broadcasting & cable . retrieved march 1 2013 . http www.sbgi.net site mgr temp barrington % 20closes.pdf glencairn s dicey lmas broadcasting & cable march 29 1999 . fcc fines sinclair for glencairn control broadcast & cable december 10 2001 . external links edit upnorthlive.com official website query the fcc s tv station database for wgtu query the fcc s tv station database for wgtq v t e broadcast television in northern lower michigan and the eastern upper peninsula of michigan including traverse city reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television traverse city and cadillac wpbn 7.1 nbc 7.2 abc 7.3 comet tv wwtv 9.1 cbs 9.2 fox wllz lp 12analog mntv cozi w23eb d 23.1 3abn wmnn ld 26.1 news 26.2 atv 26.3 laff 26.4 escape 26.5 grit wgtu 29.1 abc 29.2 nbc 29.3 comet tv wfqx 32.1 fox 32.2 cbs wfup 45.1 fox 45.2 cbs roscommon wuro ld 18.1 metv 18.2 movies 18.3 this tv 18.4 fgo 18.5 heartland 18.7 classifieds wkjc fm 18.8 classifieds wups sault ste. marie michigan and the straits of mackinac wtom 4.1 nbc 4.2 abc 4.3 comet tv wgtq 8.1 abc 8.2 nbc 8.3 comet tv wwup 10.1 cbs 10.2 fox w28dy d 28.1 3abn sault ste. marie ontario chbx 2analog ctv ciii dt 12.1 global chch 38analog ind. public television wcmu 14 wcmw 21 wcmv 27 .1 pbs hd .2 pbs sd .3 create adjacent locals alpena wcml 6.1 pbs hd 6.2 pbs sd 6.3 create wbkb 11.1 cbs 11.2 fox mntv 11.3 abc grand rapids wwmt 3.1 cbs 3.2 the cw wood 8.1 nbc 8.2 bounce tv 8.3 wx radar wzzm 13.1 abc 13.2 accuwx wxmi 17.1 fox 17.2 antenna tv 17.3 this wgvu 35.1 pbs 35.2 create 35.3 mhz 35.4 schedules wgvu am audio mid michigan wnem 5.1 cbs 5.2 mntv wjrt 12.1 abc 12.2 metv 12.3 wxn wdcq 19.1 pbs 19.2 mhz wv 19.3 create 19.4 kids weyi 25.1 nbc 25.2 cw 25.3 bounce tv wbsf 46.1 cw 46.2 nbc wsmh 66.1 fox 66.2 gettv 66.3 zuus marquette wjmn 3.1 cbs wluc 6.1 nbc 6.2 fox wnmu 13.1 pbs 13.2 pbs hd 13.3 create green bay wbay 2.1 abc wfrv 5.1 cbs wluk 11.1 fox cable only stations fox sports detroit mgtv wbvc 61 the cw cbmt cbc montreal defunct cjic tv cblt 5 5 cbc cico 20 tvo cblft 26 radio canada w46ad 46 pbs w54cr 54 fox w67cs 67 tbn w69av 69 pbs michigan broadcast television areas by city alpena detroit duluth mn flint saginaw bay city grand rapids kalamazoo green bay wi lansing jackson marquette northern michigan south bend in toledo oh see also ontario tv milwaukee tv v t e abc network affiliates in the state of michigan wxyz 7 detroit wbup 10 marquette wbkb dt 11.3 alpena wjrt 12 flint wzzm 13 grand rapids wgtu 29 wpbn dt 7.21 traverse city wgtq 8 wtom dt 4.21 sault ste. marie cheboygan wotv 41 battle creek wlaj 53 lansing 1 wgtu s signal is rebroadcast on wgtq ; wpbn s signal is rebroadcast on wtom ; both wpbn and