{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:
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- Template:Infobox television station
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WXLV-TV, "ABC45" based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is the ABC affiliate serving the Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point designated market area. It is licensed to Winston-SalemWXLV-TV broadcasts on UHF Channel 45 and can be found on cable channel 7 on most systems.
History
The station signed on in 1979 as independent station WGNN-TV. It later changed its call sign to WJTM. Over the years the station ran a general entertainment format consisting of cartoons, movies, sitcoms, and dramas. The station was bought by TVX Broadcasting in 1983, and changed its call letters to WNRW in 1984. It became the market's FOX affiliate in 1986.
TVX sold off many of its smaller stations in 1988, including WNRW, which it sold to Act III Broadcasting. Meanwhile, WGGT Channel 48 filed for bankruptcy in the late 1980s, and still had not emerged from it by 1991. Act III then bought WGGT's programming, which it moved onto WNRW's lineup. WGGT then began to simulcast WNRW, creating a strong combined signal with over 60% overlap known as the "Piedmont Superstation."
The simulcast continued after Act III was bought by Abry in 1993. It took on a secondary UPN affiliation in when that network debuted in January 1995. Eventually in September 1995, when Fox acquired longtime ABC affiliate WGHP, the ABC affiliation went to Channels 45 and 48, and all the Fox programming including Fox Kids went to WGHP. WNRW also changed its calls to WXLV.
In 1996, Sinclair and Glencairn acquired WXLV and WGGT respectively from Guilford Broadcasters. The simulcast was discontinued, and the two stations entered into a local marketing agreement instead with all UPN programming moving to WGGT in 1997, which was renamed WUPN-TV. Since the Smith family, founders of Sinclair, owned most of Glencairn's stock, Sinclair effectively had a duopoly in the Triad. A similar situation existed in the Triangle, where Sinclair owned WLFL-TV and Glencairn owned WRDC-TV. Sinclair bought WUPN outright in 2000.
The station opened a news department after becoming an ABC affiliate. However, it had no luck whatsoever competing with WFMY-TV, WGHP and WXII-TV, and ended its morning and weekend newscasts in 2000. The news operation shut down entirely on January 11, 2002. The following year, WUPN began airing a 10pm newscast featuring former WFMY anchor Frank Fraboni as well as content from Sinclair's News Central package. The newscast, rebranded ABC 45 News Late Edition, aired at 11pm on WXLV from 2004 until 2005, when both newscasts were pulled by Sinclair for poor ratings. WXLV and sister station KDNL in St. Louis are the only two ABC affiliates under Sinclair to have no newscast to this day.
In Early 2006, many viewers complained about WXLV's HDTV signal not being carried on Time Warner Cable. WXLV released a statement about it. [1]
External links