City Lake City, Florida | ||
Branding My 11 (general)
CBS 4 News (newscasts) Channels Analog: 11 (VHF)
Digital: WGFL-DT 28.4 (UHF)
Virtual: 28.2 (PSIP) Affiliations MyNetworkTV (2006–present) Owner New Age Media, LLC
(New Age Media of Gainesville License, LLC) Operator Sinclair Broadcast Group | ||
WMYG-LP is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for North Central Florida licensed to Lake City, Florida. It broadcasts a low-powered analog signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter in the city's Lacymark section. The station can also be seen on CommuniComm Services and Cox channel 11 (hence the on-air branding My 11). Owned by New Age Media and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, WMYG is sister to CBS affiliate WGFL, Class A MeTV affiliate WYME-CD, and NBC affiliate WNBW-DT. The latter is actually owned by MPS Media, LLC but operated by New Age Media through a local marketing agreement (LMA).
Contents
All four stations share studios on Northwest 80th Boulevard along I-75/SR 93 in Gainesville. Syndicated programming on WMYG includes New Adventures of Old Christine, Friends, Frasier, and Everybody Hates Chris among others.
The Gainesville market is located between several other Florida DMAs. In these areas, local cable systems opt instead for the affiliate for the home market instead of WMYG. This includes Cox and Bright House Networks in Ocala (part of the Orlando market) that both offer WRBW. In Lake City (part of the Jacksonville DMA), Comcast provides WFOX-DT2, instead of WMYG, which is technically a station local to Lake City.
Due to its low-powered status, WMYG-LP is not required to air a digital signal of its own and instead continues to operate its low-powered analog signal (and is thus continuing to opt out of the optional maneuver of upgrading to a low-powered digital signal); however, in addition to its low-powered analog signal, WMYG-LP also receives full-market over-the-air digital coverage (although, only in standard definition), via the second digital subchannel of WGFL's (digital subchannel 28.2 for those with digital converters). This airs on UHF channel 28.4 from the same transmitter in Newberry.
History
It 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. In 2002, 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: "C"BS (the parent company of UPN) and the "W"arner 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. On October 31, 2014, New Age Media requested the dismissal of its application to sell WMYG-LP; 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.
Newscasts
WMYG broadcasts GTN News, which is produced by the Independent News Network from its studios in Davenport, Iowa, and supplemented by local reporters in the Gainesville area. On weeknights, WMYG broadcasts GTN's newscast at 10:00 p.m. It was also on at 10:30 p.m., but the half-hour was later canceled and replaced with Friends. That newscast is now dropped entirely.