Branding WZAW FoxWZAW News Motto The News You Can Trust Affiliation FOX | Slogan The News You Can Trust First air date July 1, 2015 Founded 2015 Class Low-power broadcasting | |
 | ||
Sister stations WSAW-TV, WMTV, WEAU, WBAY-TV, WLUC-TV | ||
WZAW-LD is the low-powered, Fox-affiliated television station for Central Wisconsin's Northern Highland that is licensed to Wausau. It broadcasts a 720p high definition digital signal on UHF channel 33 (or virtual channel 33.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter, northeast of Nutterville, in unincorporated Marathon County. Owned by Gray Television, the station is sister to CBS affiliate WSAW-TV and the two outlets share studios on Grand Avenue/U.S. 51 in Wausau.
Contents
Overview
Since WZAW transmits at low-power, its signal does not reach Rhinelander or other areas to the north and east (such as Eagle River and Crandon), which would have caused complications, especially for Fox's broadcasts of NFL games, including games of the Green Bay Packers. Therefore, the station is simulcast on WSAW's third digital subchannel in HD to increase its over-the-air broadcasting radius, along with WSAW's Sayner translator, W42DH-D3, which also maps to PSIP channel 7.3.
History
On July 1, 2015, Gray bought the non-license assets of the market's previous Fox affiliate WFXS-DT (owned by Davis Television, LLC). Due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ownership restrictions, Gray established this new low-powered station to become the new Fox affiliate. All of WFXS' program streams including its existing PSIP channel numbering was then moved to WZAW. Subsequently, WFXS ceased broadcasting after nearly sixteen years on-the-air and its studios on North 3rd Street in Wausau were shut down.
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. In August 2015, WSAW launched a prime time newscast on this Fox outlet known as WZAW News at 9. The half-hour broadcast offers direct competition to WAOW's thirty-minute, weeknight-only news airing at the same time on its CW digital subchannel.
In September 2016, WZAW moved from virtual channel 55 and RF channel 31 to RF and virtual channel 33.