WOFL
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| WOFL | |
|---|---|
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| Orlando, Florida | |
| Branding | Fox 35 |
| Slogan | The Most Powerful Name in Local News |
| Channels | Analog: 35 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | Fox |
| Owner | Fox Television Stations (Fox Television Stations, Inc.) |
| First air date | October 15, 1979 |
| Call letters’ meaning | Orlando, FLorida |
| Sister station(s) | WRBW |
| Former affiliations | independent (1979-1986) |
| Transmitter Power | 2570 kW (analog) 1000 kW (digital) |
| Height | 451 m (analog) 392 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 41225 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.myfoxorlando.com |
WOFL, "Fox 35", is the Fox owned-and-operated television station serving the Orlando, Florida metropolitan area. It is licensed to Orlando, with studios located in Lake Mary. It broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 35, and its digital signal on UHF channel 22.
Its transmitter is located in Bithlo, Florida. Its Digital TV transmitter has a power of 1,000kW. Its Analog TV transmitter has a power of 2,570kW.
WOFL and sister station WTVT of the bordering Tampa market commonly share reporters and footage, as other station groups do.
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[edit] History
The channel 35 frequency in Orlando was first occupied by WSWB, which went on air in the early 1970s. It was owned by Sun World Broadcasters, hence the callsign. Its original studio was on East Colonial Drive, now the home of WMFE. However, Sun World was in major financial troubles, and as a result, the station went off the air.
Then-unknown media mogul Ted Turner made an attempt to buy the station, however, it failed because of ensuing legal actions. In fact, for a brief time, the station’s 44-acre transmission site was owned by Turner, while the tower and broadcasting equipment were tied up in a judgment claim held by Pat Robertson, owner of the Christian Broadcasting Network. Because of this mess, channel 35 remained off the air until the license was granted to a group of investors known as The Omega Group, with the Meredith Corporation holding an option to eventually buy out the other partners. The station signed back on the air in 1979. Channel 35 then received a new set of call letters, WOFL. The WSWB call letters are now used on the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre affiliate of The CW.
Meredith Corporation exercised its full purchase option from Omega in 1982, and the station eventually moved to a new studio building in Lake Mary in 1986, a major change from the prior studios located in a converted bank building in the middle of Orlando's South Orange Blossom Trail adult-entertainment district.
At the inception of the Fox Broadcasting Company in 1986, WOFL became one of that network's charter affiliates. WOFL was frequently ranked as one of the country's leading Fox affiliates during the network's early years, achieving a number one ranking on several occasions through the early 1990's. It was also the most profitable station in Meredith's multi-station group, despite being the only UHF "independent" station at that time. In the mid-1990s, WOFL took over the operations of Gainesville's Fox affiliate, Ocala-based WOGX channel 51. WOFL began expanded news operations in March 1998, as Fox was pushing for its affiliates to have news. The newscasts were simulcast on WOGX. It launched its digital TV signal on channel 22 in January 2000, and began broadcasting in widescreen format in January 2002.
In 2002, Meredith traded WOFL and WOGX to News Corporation's Fox Television Stations Group, and, in return, Meredith received KPTV in Portland, Oregon. This made WOFL a Fox owned-and-operated station (O&O), and sister station to UPN affiliate WRBW channel 65. Fox had acquired WRBW and KPTV several months earlier when they acquired the stations of the United Television group. This tradeoff protected WOFL as the Fox affiliate. After the trade was finalized, WRBW's operations were integrated with those of WOFL. WOFL was the only network O&O in the Orlando-Daytona Beach market until UPN and the WB were folded into The CW (which is shown on WKCF). In response, Fox formed My Network TV, which airs on the former Fox-owned UPN stations, including WRBW.
WOFL began broadcasting in 720p HDTV format in September 2004.
Most of WOFL's programming, including Fox programming, was originally seen in Citrus County on W49AI in the 1980s. The station did nor air WOFL's late-night programming however, as it signed off at Midnight. This arrangement continued until WOGX became a Fox affiliate in 1991.
On April 23, 2007, WOFL launched a new logo, modeled after that of sister station WTVT in Tampa Bay. Ironically, the channel number font harkens back to a WOFL logo from the mid-1980s. WOFL renovated their set, started to use new news music, and as well as a slogan change (from "First on Fox" to "The Most Powerful Name in Local News", reflecting the national Fox News slogan).
[edit] Digital television
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Digital channels
| Subchannel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 35.1 / 22.1 | main WOFL/Fox programming |
[edit] Analog-to-digital conversion
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009 [1], WOFL will remain on its current pre-transition channel number, 22. [2] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display WOFL's virtual channel as 35.
[edit] Newscasts
WOFL's sister station in Ocala, WOGX Fox 51, airs Fox 35 Morning News, Fox at 5, and Fox 35 News at 10:00 as well.
The station premiered FOX 35 News at 10:00 in 1998, and became the first independently produced newscast in the Orlando market outside of the major-network affiliates; WESH, NBC Channel 2; WKMG, CBS Channel 6; and WFTV, ABC Channel 9. It did not begin competing with the major network affiliates in the 5pm time slot until March 2006 with the debut of FOX at 5.
Monday-Friday
- Fox 35 Morning News - 5:00AM-9:00AM
- Fox at 5 - 5:00PM-6:00PM
- Fox 35 News at 6:00 - 6:00PM-6:30PM
- Fox 35 News at 10:00 - 10:00PM-11:00PM
- Fox 35 NewsEdge at 11:00 - 11:00PM-11:30PM
Saturday-Sunday
- Fox at 5 - 5:00PM-6:00PM (unless pre-empted by sports)
- Fox 35 News at 10:00 - 10:00PM-11:00PM
[edit] Personalities
[edit] News Anchors
- Cale Ramaker, weekday 6PM, 10PM, and 11PM anchor
- Corrina Sullivan, weekday 6PM and 10PM anchor
- Amy Kaufeldt, weekday 5PM anchor
- Mike Dunston, weekday 5PM anchor
- Tom Johnson, weekday morning anchor
- Heidi Hatch, weekday morning anchor
- Lauren LaPonzina, weekday morning anchor
- Keith Landry, weekend 5PM and 10PM anchor
- Elizabeth Alvarez, weekend 5PM and 10PM anchor
[edit] Meteorologists
- Glenn Richards, chief meteorologist (AMS)
- Jim Van Fleet, morning meteorologist (NWA)
- Cris Martinez, meteorologist/traffic reporter
[edit] Sports Anchors
- Kevin Holden, sports anchor
[edit] News Reporters
- Holly Bristow, general assignment reporter
- Alexis Brito, general assignment reporter
- Valerie Boey, general assignment reporter
- Shannon Butler, general assignment reporter
- Melissa DiPane, general assignment reporter
- Steve Gehlbach, general assignment reporter
- Cheryl Getuiza, general assignment reporter
- Shay Harris, general assignment reporter
- Tracy Jacim, general assignment reporter
- Kelly Joyce, general assignment reporter
- David Martin, general assignment reporter
- Patrick Pegues, general assignment reporter
- Tom Sussi, consumer investigator
- Christine van Blokland, morning features reporter
[edit] Newscast Timeline
- 1998: Fox 35 News at 10, a 30 minute newscast premieres
- Fall 1999: Fox 35 News at 10 expands to 1 hour
- September 2000: Fox 35 Morning News launchs as Good Day Orlando
- 2002: Added 6am Newscast, later moved to 5am
- March 2006: Fox at 5 debuts
- Fall 2006: Fox at 5 expands to 7 days a week, except for if there is Fox Sports games on that day, in which case the newscast may be moved to 6pm
- August 20, 2007: Fox 35 News at 6 debuts
- January 2008: Fox 35 NewsEdge at 11 begins
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- MyFoxOrlando.com Official website
- MySpace WOFL FOX 35 MySpace
- WOFL on Orlando TV Times
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WOFL
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WOFL-TV
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