WWAZ-TV is a television station in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, broadcasting locally on channel 68 as an affiliate of FamilyNet. Founded October 2, 1989, the station is owned by Pappas Telecasting, and shares transmitter facilities with WWRS (Channel 52) which are located north of Iron Ridge in Dodge County.
Most of the station's audience views the station over-the-air, as WWAZ and Pappas had previously not pursued any must-carry provisions with local cable systems and the national satellite services because of affiliation uncertainties; for instance, the station is not carried on Fond du Lac's local Charter Communications system. However, this changed in mid-2007, when Pappas filed a must-carry provision with Time Warner Cable's Northeastern Wisconsin system, and the channel was subsequently added in Green Bay and the Fox Cities as of June 26, 2007 [1], replacing Milwaukee CW affiliate WVTV. However, the station is no longer on the Time Warner system. A slide on the channel occupied by the station said "WWAZ-TV informed Time Warner Cable that it has ceased broadcast operations until further notice." Also in August 2007, FamilyNet was added to all Southeastern and South Central Wisconsin Charter systems on a digital family tier [2]. The Charter signal is the FamilyNet national feed, but since WWAZ carries the network and no local programming, there is virtually no difference between the two.
The station changed their call letters in late 2004 from WMMF in anticipation for a change in affiliation to the Spanish language Azteca America network, which never happened; Pappas ended up dropping almost all affiliations with the network at the start of July 2007, replacing Azteca America with their own new Spanish-language network, TuVision. It is unknown at present if Pappas still has plans to offer any Spanish-language programming on this channel, or the future of the station as Pappas Telecasting filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 10; however the WWAZ license, operations and facilities were not covered under the filing.
On January 15, 2008, WWAZ-TV filed a request with the FCC to cease broadcasting in analog before the end of the DTV transition and to become a digital-only station, broadcasting on channel 44. [3] The request was approved in late July 2008 [4].
WWAZ is the second television station to be licensed to Fond du Lac. KFIZ-TV, an independent station on Channel 34 and a sister station to KFIZ-AM and WFON FM, operated between 1968 and 1972.
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Broadcast television in the Milwaukee market (Nielsen DMA #35) |
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WTMJ 4 (NBC, WX+ on DT2) - WITI 6 (FOX) - WMKE-CA 7 (A1) - WMVS 10 (PBS/MPTV - WISN 12 (ABC) - WVTV 18 (The CW) - WCGV 24 (MNTV) - W29DJ 29 (UNK) - WVCY 30 (FN) - WMVT 36 (PBS/MPTV, World on DT2, V-me on DT3, Create on DT4, classical radio on DT5, jazz radio on DT6, NOAA WX info on DT7, WisDOT traffic cams/radio on DT8) - WBWT-LP 38 (AZA) - WMLW-CA 41 (IND) - WBME 49 (MeTV) - WWRS 52 (TBN, Church on DT2, JCTV on DT3, Enlace on DT4, SoaC on DT5) - WPXE 55 (ION, qubo on DT2, ION Life on DT3, Worship on DT4) - WDJT 58 (CBS, WMLW on DT2, WBME on DT3) - WYTU-LP 63 (TMD)
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Wisconsin broadcast television markets: Eau Claire • Green Bay • Madison • Marquette, MI • Milwaukee • Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN • Superior/Duluth, MN • Wausau
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