branding nbc 24 general nbc 24 news newscasts slogan life is better here channels digital 49 uhf virtual 24 psip subchannels 24.1 nbc 24.2 asn 24.3 comet tv 24.4 retro tv owner sinclair broadcast group wnwo licensee llc founded may 3 1966 ; 50 years ago 1966 05 03 call letters meaning we re northwest ohio former callsigns wdho tv 1966 1986 former channel number s 24 uhf analog 1966 2009 former affiliations independent 1966 1970 united network 1967 abc 1970 1995 the tube dt2 ; 2006 2007 transmitter power 118 kw height 409 m 1 342 ft facility id 73354 transmitter coordinates 41 40 3 n 83 21 22 w 41.66750 n 83.35611 w 41.66750 ; 83.35611 coordinates 41 40 3 n 83 21 22 w 41.66750 n 83.35611 w 41.66750 ; 83.35611 website nbc24.com wnwo tv is the nbc affiliated television station in northwest ohio that is licensed to toledo . it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 49 virtual channel 24.1 from a transmitter northeast of oregon . owned by sinclair broadcast group the station has studios on south byrne road . it can be viewed over the air and on cable in southeastern michigan windsor ontario and essex county ontario . contents 1 digital channels 2 history 2.1 carriage dispute 3 news operation 3.1 widescreen newscasts 3.2 notable former on air staff 4 references 5 external links digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 1 24.1 1080i 16 9 wnwo dt main wnwo tv programming nbc 24.2 480i 4 3 wnwo as american sports network 2 24.3 wnwo ct comet tv 24.4 wnwo rt retro tv although 24.4 carries retro tv programming viewers have confirmed that some programs are pre empted with paid advertising . history edit overmyer broadcasting founded the station on may 3 1966 as wdho tv for daniel h. overmyer . overmeyer owned several independent stations across the country including kemo in san francisco watl in atlanta and wphl tv in philadelphia . logically wdho should have signed on either as a full time abc or nbc station . however the federal communications commission fcc had just required all channel tuning two years earlier . as a result even though toledo was big enough to support three full network affiliates abc opted to retain its affiliation with wspd tv now wtvg . nbc opted to retain its secondary affiliations with wspd tv and cbs affiliate wtol and have wima tv now wlio in lima cover the southern part of the toledo market . instead wdho signed on as the unlikely flagship of the overmyer network very soon renamed the united network no relation to upn which began operations one year later on may 1 1967 . the sole program on the united network the las vegas show starring comedian bill dana was canceled along with the network after being on the air for only a month . wdho then became toledo s first independent station carrying syndicated and local programming plus cbs nbc and abc shows turned down by wspd and wtol . finally on june 15 1969 wdho persuaded abc to move all its programming there . channel 24 s affiliation with abc was not a successful one . for most of that time it was essentially the third station in a two station market . on several occasions creditors nearly forced the station into receivership . at one point the trailer housing its news department was in danger of repossession . it did not help that then abc o & o wxyz tv in detroit was available over the air in much of the toledo market or that wews tv in cleveland and wpta in fort wayne had grade b signals in parts of the area . overmyer broadcasting declared bankruptcy during the 1980s . wdho was seized by the bank of boston now bank of america in 1982 . the bank of boston sold the station through a bankruptcy to a local group toledo television investors ltd. for 19.6 million in 1986 . the new owners changed the station s call letters to the current wnwo tv on june 1 1986 . in december 1994 detroit s longtime cbs affiliate wjbk switched to fox . cbs heavily wooed wxyz to drop its decades long affiliation with abc and switch to cbs . fearing that it would be relegated to uhf in detroit abc cut a deal to buy wtvg which provides at least grade b coverage to most of the southern portion of the detroit market . almost out of desperation wnwo approached nbc which was about to be evicted from wtvg . on october 28 1995 wnwo became the new affiliate for nbc in toledo . wnwo logo used from 2004 until july 2011 ironically since it was the result of an unsolicited offer the network swap increased wnwo s value . nbc was still the top rated network at the time . toledo television investors then sold wnwo to malrite communications group in 1996 which merged with raycom media in 1998 . however that company owned fox affiliate wupw at the time and had to sell it because the fcc did not allow duopolies at the time . wnwo was once again put up for sale in 2005 after raycom merged with the liberty corporation owner of wtol . raycom couldn t keep both stations because the fcc does not allow one person to own two of the four largest stations in a market . raycom chose to keep wtol because of cbs and even more so wtol s higher ratings at the time . on march 27 2006 the company announced that barrington broadcasting would be acquiring 12 raycom stations including wnwo . the group deal was finalized on august 11 . as a result wnwo joined marquette s wluc tv saginaw s weyi tv and northern michigan s wpbn tv wtom tv as part of barrington s family of stations serving michigan . coincidentally raycom would regain control of wupw in 2012 through a shared services agreement with wtol . also in 2006 wnwo began airing the tube a 24 hour music video channel on its second digital subchannel . this would end on october 1 2007 when the tube shut down . this slot then became the retro television network and later in march 2016 the american sports network . on june 12 2009 the main channel turned off its analog signal forever . the station s digital signal remained at channel 49 following the digital transition . however it can be tuned to channel 24 using psip . in early 2010 wnwo tv applied to double its power output from 59 kw to 118 kw after the station had complained of potential co channel interference from wdli tv in cleveland which was proposing to move from channel 39 to channel 49 . 3 in may 2011 wnwo began showing some of their syndicated programming in high definition . with detroit s abc affiliate wxyz tv switching its second sub channel from the retro television network over to the live well network wnwo now acts as the unofficial rtv affiliate for the southern half of the detroit market as well as the toledo market . wnwo s logo from 2011 to 2014 still used during station identification . in july 2011 wnwo unveiled a brand new logo . the new logo is of a blue square with the call letters wnwo inside of it . the logo change is part of a complete rebranding of the station which had been known as nbc 24 since the 1995 affiliation switch . on february 28 2013 barrington broadcasting announced the sale of its entire group including wnwo tv to sinclair broadcast group . 4 the sale was completed on november 25 . 5 on april 21 2014 sinclair broadcast group announced that a new management team has been put into place at wnwo to help grow and improve the station s position in the northwest ohio television market . the new management team included a new general manager news director general sales manager digital content manager and promotions director . 6 on july 28 2014 it was officially announced that longtime toledo news anchor laura emerson would return to toledo and join wnwo as evening co anchor . emerson was the evening anchor at wupw for over 16 years before leaving the station in 2012 . emerson s first newscast at wnwo was on august 10 2014 . 7 carriage dispute edit december 15 2013 saw the expiration and non renewal of the retransmission contract between wnwo tv and local cable company buckeye cablesystem . with the two unable to reach an agreement on a monetary price to continue wnwo s cable coverage buckeye had to drop the station at sinclair s request as per fcc regulations which state a station can not be retransmitted without its permission consent and blocked out any nbc programming aired on detroit s wdiv tv also carried on cable with infomercials from qvc . wnwo s analog and high definition channels were replaced by those of cbet dt the cbc television o & o in nearby windsor ontario canada . this allowed buckeye to provide coverage of the 2014 winter olympics and the 2014 stanley cup playoffs via cbc to their customers . cable coverage of both properties on nbcu s cable properties such as nbcsn and cnbc was unaffected by the dispute as nbcuniversal s carriage agreements for their cable networks were unrelated in whole to the wnwo dispute . on july 14 2014 the carriage dispute between sinclair broadcast group and buckeye cablesystem officially ended with the two parties coming up with a new two year agreement . as a result of the agreement buckeye cablesystem subscribers in the toledo area began receiving the wnwo tv signal once again . cbet whose standard definition channel was part of the buckeye cablesystem line up prior to the dispute had both versions remaining on the system though relocated to different channel positions . 8 news operation edit while owned by malrite the company invested heavily in its property reportedly spending according to the station s present owner 3 million to upgrade the station . new studios and offices were built on the site of the former wdho off of south byrne road in toledo expanding the facility by 10 000 square feet 930 m2 . the station went from a newsroom of eight people and one half hour newscast a day to over thirty people and three hours of news a day . in 1997 the completely revamped news operation went on air with anchors dan lovett and lissa guyton blizzard bill spencer presenting the weather and jim tichy the only hold over from the previous newscast presenting sports . despite a large advertising campaign with the slogan building a better station for you the newscasts did not do well in the ratings trailing wtol and wtvg by wide margins and at times trailing wupw s then in house news operation as well . there was a lot of turnover on the anchor desk and a number of personalities including jon clark angela atalla and nora murray left the station . widescreen newscasts edit on august 15 2011 wnwo began broadcasting their newscasts in 16 9 widescreen . with the switch to widescreen wnwo began using new graphics and music for its newscasts . wnwo officially unveiled an entirely new set costing around 100 000 on october 31 2011 during its morning newscast . as of december 2015 wnwo is the only major station in toledo that has yet to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in true high definition . notable former on air staff edit jodine costanzo now at wpxi in pittsburgh pennsylvania david custer allison payne retired from wgn tv in chicago illinois paul w. smith now at wjr in detroit michigan references