WGFL-DT2

WGFL-DT2, virtual channel 28.2 (UHF digital channel 29.2), is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station serving Gainesville, Florida, United States that is licensed to High Springs. It formerly held the call letters WMYG-LP as a separately licensed low-powered analog station on VHF channel 11 in Lake City. Owned by New Age Media, WGFL-DT2 operates as a second digital subchannel of CBS affiliate WGFL (channel 28), and is also sister to two Gainesville-licensed stations: low-powered, Class A Antenna TV affiliate WYME-CD (channel 45) and full-power NBC affiliate WNBW-DT (channel 9). The latter is actually owned by MPS Media but operated by New Age Media under a local marketing agreement (LMA). All three stations, in turn, are operated under a master service agreement by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. The stations share studios on Northwest 80th Boulevard (along I-75/SR 93) in Gainesville and transmitter facilities on Southwest 30th Avenue near Newberry.

WGFL-DT2 / "EGFL"
High Springs/Gainesville, Florida
United States
CityHigh Springs, Florida
ChannelsDigital: 29.2 (UHF)
Virtual: 28.2 (PSIP)
BrandingMy 11 Gainesville
Programming
AffiliationsMyNetworkTV
Ownership
OwnerNew Age Media, LLC
(New Age Media of Gainesville License, LLC)
OperatorSinclair Broadcast Group
(via master service agreement)
Sister stationsbroadcast: WGFL, WNBW-DT, WYME-CD
cable: Fox Sports Florida, Fox Sports Sun[1]
History
First air date2002 (2002)
Former call signs"WBFL" (fictional, 2002–2006)
Former affiliationsThe WB (primary, 2002–2006)
UPN (secondary, 2002–2006)
Call sign meaningGainesville, FLorida
Technical information
Facility ID7727
ClassDT
ERP300 kW
HAAT288 m (945 ft)
Transmitter coordinates29°37′47.7″N 82°34′24″W
Links
Websitemycbs4.com
WMYG-LP
(defunct)
Lake City/Gainesville, Florida
United States
CityLake City, Florida
ChannelsAnalog: 11 (VHF)
BrandingMy 11 Gainesville
Programming
AffiliationsDefunct
Ownership
OwnerNew Age Media, LLC
(New Age Media of Gainesville License, LLC)
OperatorSinclair Broadcast Group
(via master service agreement)
History
First air dateJuly 3, 1985 (1985-07-03)
Last air dateNovember 18, 2015 (2015-11-18)
(30 years, 138 days)
(license canceled)
Former call signsW15AG (1985–2001)
WJXE-LP (2001–2002)
WBFL-LP (2002–2003)
WLCF-LP (2003–2006)
Former channel number(s)15 (UHF, 1985–2002)
Former affiliationsAs WGFL repeater:
The WB (primary, 1997–2002)
UPN (secondary, 1997–2002)
CBS (2002–2006)
As stand-alone station:
MyNetworkTV (2006–2015)
Call sign meaningMYNetworkTV Gainesville
Technical information
ClassTX
ERP3 kW
HAAT140 m (459 ft)
Transmitter coordinates30°12′50″N 82°39′0″W

On cable, WGFL-DT2 is available on Cox channel 11 in Gainesville and Altitude Communications channel 11 in High Springs (hence the on-air branding My 11). Since 2017, the subchannel has used the unofficial call sign "EGFL", a play on WGFL's call letters.

WMYG-LP's transmitter was located in Lake City's Lacymark section. It did not operate a digital signal of its own, and there were no plans to convert the station's signal to digital. In addition, the analog signal's broadcast range was limited to the immediate Lake City area. However, WMYG-LP received full-market over-the-air digital coverage via WGFL-DT2. Ever since its inception, WGFL-DT2 had broadcast in 480i 4:3 standard definition; however, sometime during spring 2017, it had been upgraded to 1080i 16:9 high definition.[2] The high definition feed is also offered on Cox digital channel 1084.[3]

The Gainesville market is located between several other Florida DMAs. In these areas, local cable systems opt instead for the affiliate for their home market instead of WGFL-DT2. This includes Cox and Charter Spectrum in Ocala (part of the Orlando market) that both offer WRBW. In Lake City (part of the Jacksonville DMA), Comcast Xfinity provides WFOX-DT2 in lieu of WGFL-DT2; it never carried WMYG, which was technically a station local to Lake City.

History

WMYG-LP signed-on July 3, 1985 airing an analog signal on UHF channel 15 with the call sign W15AG. In 1997, after WGFL launched as a primary WB and secondary UPN affiliate, this station began serving as a repeater of that station. W15AG upgraded to low-power and changed its call sign to WJXE-LP in 2001. In 2002, it switched calls again to WBFL-LP and moved to VHF channel 11. Also that year, Jacksonville's longtime CBS affiliate WJXT became an Independent. During its tenure with the network, that station served as the default affiliate for much of North Central Florida.

WGFL quickly joined CBS to keep the network available in Gainesville. It also changed its on-air moniker from "WB 53" to "CBS 4" (named after the cable channel number on Cox systems). Corresponding with the network change, WGFL began broadcasting a digital signal on UHF channel 28. A second digital subchannel was established to continue a primary WB (through The WB 100+) and secondary UPN affiliation. This used the calls "WBFL" in a fictional manner (to match off-air analog channel 11) and was known on-air as "WB 10" after the cable channel location on Cox.

On January 24, 2006, UPN and The WB announced the two networks would cease broadcasting and merge. The new combined operation would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. On February 22, News Corporation announced it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This new service, which would be a sister network to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television.

MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming Independent. It was also created to compete against The CW. On September 5, WMYG became a separate station and joined MyNetworkTV. The call letters stayed the same since they refer to the network and it became known on-air as "My 11" (again referring to its cable channel).

Meanwhile on September 18, ABC affiliate WCJB-TV added a new second digital subchannel of its own to be part of The CW provided through The CW Plus. WYPN-CA (a Class A repeater of WMYG) changed call letters to WYME-CA and become a separate station affiliated with MeTV. The service is a network designed for digital subchannels offering classic television sitcoms, dramas, and classic commercials from the 1950s through 1980s. WNBW added a second digital subchannel to offer a digital signal of WYME and expand its reach.

On September 25, 2013, New Age Media announced that it would sell most of its stations, including WMYG-LP and WGFL, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group.[4][5] On October 31, 2014, New Age Media requested the dismissal of its application to sell WMYG-LP;[6] the next day, Sinclair purchased the non-license assets of the stations it planned to buy from New Age Media and began operating them through a master service agreement.[7][8]

The broadcast license for WMYG-LP was canceled on November 18, 2015; therefore, this station's signal is now exclusive to WGFL-DT2.[9][10]

Translators

WMYG-LP also rebroadcast its signal via the following translator station:

Station Channel Video Aspect Former callsigns Notes
WYPN-CA1 45 (UHF analog) N/A 4:3 W14CB (1994–1997)
WJXE-LP (1997–2001)		 Now WYME-CD and an affiliate of Antenna TV
  1. WYPN was the former UPN affiliate for the Gainesville market (joining the network on December 1, 2004).[11]

Programming

Syndicated programming on WGFL-DT2 includes Judge Mathis, Judge Judy, Two and a Half Men, 2 Broke Girls, Last Man Standing, Modern Family, and Pawn Stars among others.

Newscasts

WMYG formerly aired nightly newscasts from GTN News, an operation which is produced by the Independent News Network from its studios located in Little Rock, Arkansas (formerly in Davenport, Iowa), and supplemented by local reporters in the Gainesville area. Initially, newscasts at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. were offered;[12] the weeknight 7 p.m. newscast only lasted for a few months while the nightly 10 p.m. newscast continued for a few more years until being phased out due to budget cuts in 2014.[13] WGFL-DT2 now runs an hour block of Last Man Standing at 10 p.m.[10]

gollark: But noooo, the osmarks.tk servers are all down.
gollark: I have mathematical constants as a service up and was going to upload a few MB of tau.
gollark: Great, osmarks.tk is down.
gollark: It took ages to type.
gollark: Okay, made a 256MB file consisting entirely of zeros.

References
  1. Miller, Mark K. (August 23, 2019). "Sinclair Closes $10.6B Disney RSN Purchase". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheckMedia. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  2. RabbitEars TV Query for WGFL
  3. September 2017 channel lineup - Gainesville Area
  4. Haber, Gary (September 25, 2013). "Sinclair Broadcast Group to pay $90M for eight New Age Media TV stations". Baltimore Business Journal. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  5. "Sinclair To Buy 8 New Age Stations for $90M". TVNewsCheck. September 25, 2013. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  6. Kirkpatrick, Daniel A. (October 31, 2014). "Re: New Age Media of Gainesville License, LLC…" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  7. "Sinclair Reports Third Quarter 2014 Financial Results" (PDF) (Press release). Baltimore: Sinclair Broadcast Group. November 5, 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  8. "Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. Form 10-Q". sbgi.edgarpro.com. November 10, 2014. Archived from the original on January 7, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  9. FCC, Federal Communications Commission -. "Facility Details « Licensing and Management System Admin « FCC". enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  10. "Schedule". MyCBS4.com. Sinclair Broadcast Group. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  11. writer, MARINA BLOMBERG Sun staff. "Cox lineup drops WJCT; WUFT taking its place". Retrieved 2017-11-11.
  12. "Florida News Center » Blog Archive » More info on GTN…". flnewscenter.com. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
  13. Lots of changes within the Gainesville market that I didn't know about... The Changing Newscasts Blog, September 13th, 2014.
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