WFXS-DT

WFXS-DT

Wittenberg/Wausau/ Rhinelander, Wisconsin United States
City	Wittenberg
Branding	Fox 55
Channels	Digital: 31 (UHF) Virtual: 55 (PSIP)
Affiliations	Silent
Owner	Davis Television, LLC (Davis Television Wausau, LLC)
First air date	December 1, 1999
Last air date	July 1, 2015
Call letters' meaning	Wisconsin's FoX Station
Former callsigns	WFXS (1999–2009)
Former channel number(s)	55 (UHF analog, 1999–2009)
Former affiliations	Fox (1999–2015) DT2: Untamed Sports TV (2009–2011) MeTV (2011–2015) DT3: RTV (2009–2014) Movies! (2014–2015)
Transmitter power	685 kW
Height	325 m
Class	DT
Facility ID	86204
Transmitter coordinates	45°3′21.5″N 89°27′57″W / 45.055972°N 89.46583°W / 45.055972; -89.46583

WFXS-DT was the Fox-affiliated television station for Central Wisconsin's Northern Highland that was licensed to Wittenberg. It broadcast a 720p high definition digital signal on UHF channel 31 (or virtual channel 55.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter, northeast of Nutterville, in unincorporated Marathon County. Owned by Davis Television, WFXS had studios on North 3rd Street in Wausau.

History

The station signed on December 1, 1999 as WFXS and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 55. It was an affiliate of Fox from its start; before WFXS went on-the-air, programming from the network was seen in North-Central Wisconsin on some Charter systems from the Green Bay station that carried Fox (WGBA until 1995, and WLUK-TV thereafter). Other cable systems in the market carried the national Foxnet feed.

Some Fox programming was also shown locally through a secondary affiliation on ABC affiliate WAOW from the early-1990s until WFXS began operations; this included the NFL on Fox following the launch of Fox Sports in 1994. On a side note, Davis Television was the previous owner of fellow Fox affiliate WVFX in Clarksburg, West Virginia.

Transition to digital

Since it was granted an original construction permit after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finalized the digital television allotment plan on April 21, 1997,^[1] the station did not initially receive a companion channel for a digital television station, and was thus required to "flash-cut" to digital upon completing the transition to digital. WFXS installed a direct fiber optic line to Charter's local headend for use by it and satellite providers to allow the services to carry a high definition signal. The FCC eventually allocated UHF channel 50 (later assigned to channel 31) to its digital service. WFXS was required to surrender analog channel 55 after its conversion, as that spectrum was sold to Qualcomm for use by its MediaFLO mobile video application.

Like all Wausau commercial stations, WFXS decided to go ahead with the February 17, 2009 conversion date despite the DTV Delay Act changing the actual switch date to June 12. At that time, the station's digital antenna was installed. However, the weather that week was bitterly cold and uncooperative. Several issues caused problems such as hydraulic fluid freezing on the heavy winch system (required to lift the new antenna), high winds, and the installation not going as planned as a result. These issues caused the new digital antenna to be damaged which had to be repaired elsewhere. Management of the station received cooperation of WAOW-TV to air WFXS' signal digitally until the antenna could be installed. It did so over the third digital subchannel of WAOW (and its satellite in Eagle River, WYOW) replacing the Retro Television Network (RTV).

The digital antenna was installed successfully on March 1 and put into service shortly thereafter without any problems. The WAOW-DT3/WYOW-DT3 simulcast continued for an additional day to make sure WFXS's transmitter was running well. The next day, both third digital subchannels of WAOW and WYOW began airing This TV. WFXS was back on-air with full-power on digital channel 31 featuring a 720p high definition broadcast.^[2] Overnight on March 3, 2009, a cooling line in the transmitter building burst causing heavy water damage to the building's floor and furnishings. The water also caused minor damage to WFXS' transmitter which had to be taken off-line. Once again, it received permission from WAOW/WYOW to broadcast over 9.3/34.3 while the damage was repaired.^[3]

On March 9, WFXS resumed normal digital operations and asked viewers to rescan digital televisions and converter boxes. The station was able to return the favor to WAOW a short time later when digital reception problems at WYOW prevented the signal from being received. WFXS temporarily added WAOW's signal to its own second subchannel in order to feed WAOW's signal to WYOW. WAOW added a microwave feed to the WYOW tower site to fix the problem permanently.

In April 2009, WFXS added a second digital subchannel to carry Untamed Sports TV; the station then added a third subchannel to return RTV (previously carried on WAOW-DT3/WYOW-DT3) to the Wausau airwaves in early-September 2009. The station changed its calls to WFXS-DT on December 15, 2009. In late-March 2011, Untamed Sports TV programming was replaced by MeTV (then a sister operation to This TV). WFXS-DT2 was also seen on Charter digital channel 965 while WFXS-DT3 could also be seen on Charter digital channel 964. Retro TV on 55.3 was replaced on October 1, 2014 with MeTV's sister network Movies!; WFXS was the last remaining affiliate of Retro TV in the state of Wisconsin, as all the other markets in the state dropped the network by the end of 2012.^[4]

Shutdown and replacement with WZAW-LD

On July 1, 2015, Gray Television (owner of CBS affiliate WSAW-TV) bought WFXS's non-license assets and established a new low-power station (WZAW-LD channel 33). All of WFXS' program streams including WFXS's existing PSIP channel numbering was then moved to the low-powered outlet. Subsequently, WFXS ceased broadcasting after nearly sixteen years on-the-air and its studios on North 3rd Street were shut down.^[5] In consenting to the interference that would be caused by WZAW operating under special temporary authority on channel 31 (the same RF channel as WFXS) rather than its licensed channel 33, Davis Television stated that it would return the WFXS license to the FCC for cancellation following the sale;^[6] the license was canceled on July 23, 2015.^[7]

Digital channels

Newscasts

In 2000, WFXS established a news share agreement with WAOW-TV (owned by Quincy Newspapers). This arrangement resulted in a weeknight prime time newscast to debut on this Fox outlet. The broadcast, known as Fox 55 News at 9, could be seen for thirty minutes. Although there was no weekend edition of the show, it was eventually joined by a weekday morning newscast (also produced by WAOW) on April 23, 2012. Known as Fox 55 This Morning, this program aired for an hour (from 7 until 8) on WFXS offering a local alternative to the national morning programs seen on the big three networks.

Both of the WFXS newscasts maintained a separate music package and graphics scheme from WAOW. The broadcasts originated from WAOW's primary set at its studios (on Grand Avenue/U.S. 51 in Wausau) but with unique duratrans indicating the Fox-branded shows. On June 19, 2011, WAOW became the market's second television outlet to upgrade local news to high definition level. Included in the change was a redesigned set and updated graphics scheme. ^[8] WFXS did not transition its newscasts to HD until 2012. On July 1, 2015 co-current with the Fox affiliation moving to WZAW, both of the WAOW-produced newscasts were cancelled after the news share arrangement was terminated.

References