sources . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message wfqx tv wfup wfqx cadillac traverse city michigan wfup vanderbilt michigan wwtv cadillac traverse city michigan wwup sault ste. marie michigan united states branding fox 32 general fox 32 news slogan northern michigan s news leader channels digital wfqx 32.1 uhf wfup 45.1 uhf wwtv 9.2 vhf wwup 10.2 vhf affiliations fox owner cadillac telecasting company operator heritage broadcasting group first air date wfqx october 6 1989 wfup january 11 1993 call letters meaning wfqx refers to fox wfup fox upper peninsula sister station s wwtv wwup tv former callsigns wfqx wgki 1989 2000 wfup wgku 1992 2000 wfvx 2000 2003 former channel number s wfqx 33 uhf analog 1989 2009 wfup 45 uhf analog 1993 2009 59 uhf digital 1995 2009 translators 31 w31bo alpena 64 w43cm pickford hessell 2005 43 w43cm pickford 2007 2008 54 w54cr traverse city 61 w61cr sault ste. marie 1995 2008 former affiliations upn secondary 1995 2006 transmitter power wfqx 200 kw wfup 108 kw wwtv 45 kw wwup 25 kw height wfqx 422 m wfup 324 m wwtv 497 m wwup 370 m facility id wfqx 25396 wfup 25395 wwtv 26994 wwup 26993 transmitter coordinates wfqx 44 08 12 n 85 20 33 w 44.13667 n 85.34250 w 44.13667 ; 85.34250 wfup 45 10 12.3 n 84 45 4.2 w 45.170083 n 84.751167 w 45.170083 ; 84.751167 wfup wwtv 44 8 11.7 n 85 20 34 w 44.136583 n 85.34278 w 44.136583 ; 85.34278 wwup 46 3 35.7 n 84 5 57.2 w 46.059917 n 84.099222 w 46.059917 ; 84.099222 wwup tv website mifox32.com wfqx tv is the fox affiliated television station for the northern lower and eastern upper peninsulas of michigan . licensed to cadillac it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 32 from a transmitter at studios on 130th avenue dighton road in tustin on grove hill . as with other network affiliates in this vast rural area the station operates a full time satellite wfup . licensed to vanderbilt it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 45 from a transmitter on hudson lookout in southeastern charlevoix county . unlike other network affiliates in northern michigan the wfqx and wfup combination is not known on air as fox 32 & 45 . the stations are simply referred to as fox 32 . aside from legal identification there is no on air mention that wfup exists . while the station is owned by cadillac telecasting company it is operated under a shared services agreement ssa by heritage broadcasting group which also owns cbs affiliate wwtv and full time satellite wwup tv . wfqx wfup broadcasts 24 hours each day although overnights are filled with home shopping and other paid programming . contents 1 history 2 programming 3 news operation 3.1 former on air staff 4 references 5 external links history edit the station first signed on the air as wgki on uhf channel 33 on october 6 1989 . its transmitter was just north of the current location in northern osceola county . the original call letters referred to founder gary knapp a former dj and television personality . despite its limited reach wgki was available on local cable systems . prior to wgki northern michigan received fox programming on cable from wkbd in detroit . in the station s early years the channel was extremely low budget . this was evident in the station s use of 1970s era electronic graphics for the first few years of broadcasting . due to the growing popularity of the fox network and shows such as the simpsons and married with children the station quickly grew . the on screen graphics were modernized and it started to use higher quality video equipment . in the early 1990s wgki launched several repeaters in the eastern upper peninsula unreached by the station s analog signal . by the mid 1990s the station moved into permanent studios southeast of cadillac along us 131 . on january 11 1993 the station launched wgku tv in vanderbilt as a full time satellite of wgki reaching the gaylord and petoskey areas . when wjbk in detroit switched its affiliation to fox in 1994 wgki started using that station s resources . the move also disallowed rival wkbd from distributing detroit red wings and tigers games to wgki . knapp made a station promo explaining the situation between the three stations . when the fox affiliation switch in detroit was made wgki replaced wkbd on cable systems in mid michigan and the eastern upper peninsula . this was done so viewers without a local fox station would maintain access to the network s programming . as a consequence wgki also expanded into parts of the flint lansing grand rapids and detroit markets via cable carriage . as a result some cable viewers especially in bay city saginaw and michigan s thumb area found out that most of wgki s programming especially those from fox were being blacked out by request of the local affiliate . soon after many systems outside northern michigan and the upper peninsula dropped wgki and or brought back wkbd . on january 15 1995 wgki became a secondary affiliate of upn . it aired the network s shows outside of prime time . wgki continued to air upn programming until 2006 when upn merged with the wb to form the cw at which point wgki ended its affiliation . in 1999 the channel increased its erp from 219 kw to 774 kw significantly increasing its coverage area . in 2000 knapp retired and sold his stations to rockfleet broadcasting for 12 million . part of the deal called for both channels to change call letters . wgki became wfqx tv and wgku became wfvx . the latter station later switched to wfup . the previous calls were moved to a former low powered sister station in bangor maine . on february 10 2007 wfqx upgraded its digital signal on uhf channel 47 from a transmitter shared with wgtu east of kalkaska to begin airing all fox programming in high definition for over the air viewers . prior to then the station offered a low power digital and hdtv signal near its studios southeast of cadillac . wfqx is available on charter digital channel 783 . on may 10 rockfleet broadcasting announced its intentions to sell wfqx wfup to cadillac telecasting . the federal communications commission fcc approved the sale in late october . after this approval the new owner entered into its ssa with heritage broadcasting group . it had been announced with the switch to digital broadcasting then scheduled for february 17 2009 wfup would shut down . however that channel had an application to perform a flash cut to digital only broadcasting on june 12 . at one point the station operated a digital signal on uhf channel 59 from its tower on hudson lookout . wfqx had an fcc issued construction permit to air a digital signal on uhf channel 32 using the previous analog channel 33 equipment but based from the wwtv tower at its studios . that spot is the highest point in michigan s lower peninsula . on august 4 2009 wfqx switched its longtime moniker fox 33 to fox 32 while adding a logo matching fox o & o stations . the station made the channel move with its psip also being adjusted to match the new signal . wfup s digital signal remained the same . the previous allotment is now used for wpbn tv s digital broadcasts . wfqx wfup are affiliates of the detroit lions television network which airs pre season games and the weekly syndicated show the ford lions report during the regular season . also because it is outside of the detroit lions blackout area it airs all regular season nfl on fox lions games . wfqx and pbs affiliate wcmu tv has been the only stations in the northern michigan market that offered analog translator stations . there had been one on channel 31 in alpena but this was shut down with wfup serving the area . in november 2009 wbkb tv added a new digital subchannel featuring primary fox and secondary mynetworktv programming . at one point wfqx operated a repeater on channel 40 in traverse city . that signal was shut down with the addition of one on channel 54 . this too has since been shut off . two translators that served the eastern upper peninsula were replaced with digital signals on new digital subchannels of wwtv and wwup . programming edit syndicated programming includes tmz on tv seinfeld the office access hollywood and the 700 club . news operation edit as wgki the station simulcasted wkbd s hour long prime time newscast at 10 o clock . in june 2000 wfqx launched a news department of its own and began producing a nightly 10 o clock broadcast . known as northern michigan s fox news at 10 this was plagued from the start by a lack of basic resources such as reporters and engineering upkeep . the station initially had its own weather department but later began outsourcing weather duties to accuweather in state college pennsylvania which pre taped weather segments and fed them to wfqx via satellite . as a result wfqx was criticized for being too late when severe weather was an issue or choosing not to cover an event . at some point in time the news title changed to fox 33 news at 10 and weekend broadcasts ended . on january 8 2007 wfqx began to air a simulcast of the weekday morning show of wjbk detroit s fox owned and operated station . branded as michigan s fox news morning and running from 6 00 am to 8 00 am it featured local weather cut ins from accuweather and was established as part of a cooperation between the two stations to provide advertising opportunities in detroit to businesses of northern michigan . on february 5 wqfx also began simulcasting the second half of wjbk s 10 pm news . after the sale of the channel to cadillac telecasting the station s news department was shut down . on october 31 wwtv began producing the weeknight 10 00 pm newscast and the wjbk simulcast at 10 30 pm was dropped . on january 7 2008 when cbs began requiring affiliates to carry the early show in its entirety the third hour of wwtv s michigan this morning which had been running from 7 00 am to 8 00 am was moved to wfqx wfup and expanded to two hours . that evening on wfqx wwtv launched the area s first 7 o clock news . in april 2013 wfqx along with sister station wwtv began airing its newscasts in high definition . former on air staff edit jim kosek weeknights references edit external links edit wfqx tv wfup fox 32 wwtv wwup tv 9 & 10 news query the fcc s tv station database for wfqx tv query the fcc s tv station database for wfup 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