Founded September 18, 2006 | ||
Branding Fox Lima (general)
Your News Now (newscasts) Slogan Your Hometown Lima Stations Channels Digital: WLIO-DT 8.2 (VHF)
Virtual: 8.2 (PSIP) Affiliations Fox (primary)
MyNetworkTV (secondary) Owner Block Communications
(Lima Communications Corporation) | ||
WLIO-DT2 is the primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV affiliate for Northwestern Ohio. It is a second digital subchannel of NBC affiliate WLIO that is owned by Block Communications. Over-the-air, the station broadcasts a 720p high definition digital signal on VHF channel 8.2 from a transmitter at studios on Rice Avenue in Downtown Lima. The outlet can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 9 and in high definition on digital channel 1009. Shows from MyNetworkTV air in a delayed arrangement on weeknights from 11 until 1 the next morning.
Contents
History
WLIO-DT2's origins began on January 24, 2006 when The WB and UPN announced the two networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. WLIO, since 1998, had operated the area's cable-only WB affiliate "WBOH" in partnership with The WB 100+. UPN was seen in Lima on low-powered WLQP-LP. With the pending network shakeup, WLIO gained the area's CW affiliation for "WBOH" which joined the new network through The CW Plus and was added to the second digital subchannel of WLIO in order to offer non-cable subscribers access to The CW.
On September 17, 2008, WLIO-DT2 dropped The CW, resulting in The CW becoming cable-exclusive in Lima. The cable channel slot was eventually taken over by WBDT from Dayton as the network's de facto affiliate. WLIO then used the subchannel as a standard definition simulcast of its main NBC programming; however, during this time, the station attempted to take the Fox affiliation from its longtime affiliate, WOHL-CA (channel 25), resulting in a dispute between the two stations. Fox was interested in the increased reach of being on a full-power station in Lima, even though WOHL was at that time one of the network's highest-rated affiliates. The dispute was settled in November 2008, when WOHL's owner, Metro Video Productions, sold its stations to Block Communications. On July 13, 2009, WLIO-DT2 began to carry the Fox and MyNetworkTV programming of WOHL; later that year, WOHL converted to digital with ABC and CBS subchannels that essentially replaced sister stations WLQP-LP and WLMO-LP, leaving the WLIO subchannel as Lima's Fox affiliate.
Programming
Syndicated programming on WLIO-DT2 includes King of the Hill, 30 Rock, Friends, and Scrubs among others.
Newscasts
On weeknights, WLIO produces two thirty-minute-long newscasts (at 5 and 10) on this second digital subchannel. The broadcasts feature news anchor Chris Cerenelli, Chief Meteorologist Kyle Adams, and Sports Director Jayson Geiser (10 o'clock only). Since there is a local program that airs at 5 on this station, WLIO does not offer a show at that time unlike most other NBC affiliates. There are no weekend offerings of newscasts, unlike most other FOX stations.