WRGT-TV (channel 45) is a
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
in
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...
, United States, affiliated with the digital multicast network
Dabl
Dabl () is an American lifestyle-oriented digital multicast television network owned by the CBS Media Ventures subsidiary of Paramount Global.
The company's formerly-owned other subchannel network, Decades, through CBS News and Stations was l ...
. It is owned by
Cunningham Broadcasting
Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation is an owner of broadcast television stations in the United States. The company currently owns fifteen stations – eight affiliated with Fox, three affiliated with The CW, two affiliated with ABC, and two affili ...
, which maintains a
local marketing agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...
(LMA) with
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...
, owner of
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
/
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
/
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
affiliate
WKEF
WKEF (channel 22) is a television station in Dayton, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC, Fox, and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to Dabl affiliate WRGT-TV (channel 45) under a local ma ...
(channel 22), for the provision of certain services. However, Sinclair effectively owns WRGT-TV as the majority of Cunningham's stock is owned by the family of deceased group founder Julian Smith. Both stations share studios on Corporate Place in
Miamisburg
Miamisburg ( ) is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio. The population was 20,181 at the time of the 2010 census. A suburb of Dayton. It is part of the Dayton metropolitan area. Miamisburg is known for its large industry (mainly for its nuclear ...
, while WRGT-TV's transmitter is located off South Gettysburg Avenue in southwest Dayton.
WRGT-TV was a charter Fox affiliate from the network's sign-on in 1986 until 2021.
History
WRGT-TV signed on as an
independent station
An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
on September 23, 1984, owned by Meridian Communications, based in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
. WRGT-TV was Meridian's second station; it had launched
WVAH-TV
WVAH-TV (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Charleston, West Virginia, United States, serving the Charleston–Huntington, West Virginia, Huntington media market, market as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Decades (TV n ...
in
Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...
, two years earlier. Meridian founded WRGT-TV following a high-stakes "in-contest" competition among four potential owners in the late 1970s. The station ran a general-entertainment format consisting of
cartoons
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
, classic
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
s, recent off-network sitcoms, old
movies
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
,
drama shows, and
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...
. On its sign on date, WRGT-TV broadcast ''
2001: A Space Odyssey'', with a stereo simulcast of the audio over
WTUE
WTUE (104.7 FM) is a classic rock formatted radio station with studios in Dayton. The station is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. Its transmitter is located in Moraine and can be heard clearly throughout Southwest Ohio, including nearly all of ...
-FM 104.7. It originally used the slogan "Off To a Flying Start", featuring an animated Wright "B" Flyer used in its first promos (the "WRGT" calls are a reference to the
Wright brothers).
Prior to its sign on, the only source of non-network programming in Dayton was WTJC (channel 26, now
WBDT) a mostly
religious
Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...
station. However,
WXIX-TV
WXIX-TV (channel 19) is a television station licensed to Newport, Kentucky, United States, serving the Cincinnati metro as the market's Fox affiliate. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power Cozi TV affiliate WBQC-LD (channel 25). ...
and WIII-TV (now
WSTR-TV
WSTR-TV (channel 64), branded on-air as Star 64 (stylized as STAR64), is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Deerfield Media, which maintains joint sales and shared services agre ...
), both in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, and
WTTE
WTTE (channel 28) is a television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States, airing programming from the digital multicast network TBD. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Sinclair Broad ...
in
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
all reached portions of the Dayton
market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
*Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
*Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
Geography
*Märket, an ...
, and
WTTV
WTTV (channel 4), licensed to Bloomington, Indiana, United States, and WTTK (channel 29), licensed to Kokomo, Indiana, are television stations affiliated with CBS and serving the Indianapolis area. They are owned by Nexstar Media Group alongsid ...
in
Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
was available on cable. Meridian persuaded WTJC's owner, Miami Valley Christian Television, to sell most of that station's non-religious programming to WRGT-TV. For all intents and purposes, it was now the only general-entertainment station in Dayton and the first independent since the demise of WKTR-TV in 1970 (now public station
WPTD) and
WSWO-TV
WSWO-TV (channel 26) was a television station in Springfield, Ohio, United States, which operated from 1968 to 1970 and for less than six months in 1972. An independent station for its entire existence, WSWO-TV suffered from financial difficult ...
in
Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
in 1972 (which used the same channel 26 allocation as WTJC/WBDT).
Despite the competition from larger-market stations and with WXIX, WSTR and WTTV being available on cable, WRGT-TV prospered. It would not have any real competition in Dayton until 1999 when WBDT became a primary
WB affiliate (it was a brief O&O of the
Pax TV
Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented entert ...
network before then). After Fox launched on October 6, 1986, WRGT-TV became a charter affiliate of the fledgling network. On October 30, 1987, Meridian sold the station to
Act III Broadcasting
Act III Broadcasting was a company that owned several television stations that started as independents, and later became Fox affiliates. The stations were located in medium-sized DMA's (markets) and were primarily UHF stations. Act III Broadcastin ...
. Act III merged with Abry in 1994. A few months later, Abry was filed to sell all of the stations to Sullivan Broadcasting, a company controlled by J. David Sullivan. In 1998, after Sullivan was bought out by Sinclair, Sinclair filed to sell all license assets of the station, alongside WVAH-TV to
Glencairn, Ltd.
By 1999, more reality and talk shows would be in the station's mix. In 1998, Sullivan's managing partner Sinclair bought WKEF (then an
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
affiliate). In 2001, Sinclair purchased most of Sullivan's other stations, but could not buy WRGT-TV for two reasons. The Dayton market has only seven full-power stations, not enough to legally permit a
duopoly
A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicit ...
. Also, the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) does not allow common ownership of two of the four highest-rated stations in a single market. With this in mind, WRGT-TV was sold to Glencairn, Ltd. However, nearly all of Glencairn's stock was controlled by trusts in the name of the Smith family who were founding owners of Sinclair. This effectively gave Sinclair a duopoly in Dayton. Glencairn later changed its name to Cunningham Broadcasting. There is undeniable evidence that Glencairn/Cunningham are merely
shell corporation
A shell corporation is a company or corporation that exists only on paper and has no office and no employees, but may have a bank account or may hold passive investments or be the registered owner of assets, such as intellectual property, or s ...
s used to circumvent FCC ownership rules.
Until the early 2021 move of the Fox 45 programming to a subchannel of sister station WKEF, WRGT-TV was also considered an alternate ABC affiliate, airing that network's programs when WKEF was unable to do so such as during a breaking news emergency or local special. Until that move, WRGT-TV, along with CBS affiliate
WHIO-TV
WHIO-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Dayton, Ohio, United States, affiliated with CBS. It has been owned by Cox Media Group since its inception, making it one of two stations that have been built and signed on by Cox (alongside company f ...
(channel 7), were the only two stations in the area who had not changed their network affiliations even through the swaps of 2004.
In August 2006, it was confirmed that Fox's new sister network,
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
, would air on a new second digital subchannel of WRGT-TV. On September 16, 2006,
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...
added MyTV Dayton to its digital cable lineup. In November 2008, the subchannel additionally became a launch-day affiliate of
This TV
This TV (also known as This TV Network and alternately stylized as thisTV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by Allen Media
Broadcast Networks, LLC, part of the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios. Originally fo ...
, while retaining MyNetworkTV in prime time.
Around November 11, 2010, Sinclair announced that when carriage agreements expired at the end of the year, it planned to pull all of its owned and/or operated TV stations in the United States, including WRGT-TV and WKEF, from Time Warner Cable, in a dispute over "retransmission fees". Negotiations began between the two parties. Around December 6, Time Warner announced that it would continue to provide Fox network programming on its systems (presumably via
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
services), under a deal reached with Fox earlier in 2010; syndicated and local programs on Sinclair's Fox affiliates would not be seen. On
December 31
It is known by a collection of names including: Saint Sylvester's Day, New Year's Eve or Old Years Day/Night, as the following day is New Year's Day. It is the last day of the year; the following day is January 1, the first day of the following ...
, Time Warner reached an agreement with an out-of-market station, presumably Cincinnati's WXIX-TV, to provide Fox network programming at least through the end of February. Later that same day, Sinclair and Time Warner extended talks for another two weeks, with continued cable carriage of Sinclair's stations, through January 14, 2011.
On January 15, 2011, after a 24-hour extension of the previous deadline, Time Warner and Sinclair reached a tentative settlement.
After further negotiations, a final agreement was reached on February 2, 2011, keeping WRGT-TV and WKEF on Time Warner.
On February 21, 2012,
Miamisburg
Miamisburg ( ) is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio. The population was 20,181 at the time of the 2010 census. A suburb of Dayton. It is part of the Dayton metropolitan area. Miamisburg is known for its large industry (mainly for its nuclear ...
City Council approved a $150,000 loan to Sinclair, which planned to move the WRGT-TV/WKEF studios from Soldiers Home-West Carrollton Road in Dayton, and to move their business and sales offices from Broadcast Plaza (the former WRGT-TV studios), consolidating all within the former studios of
CW affiliate WBDT on Corporate Place, off Byers Road, in Miamisburg. Sinclair expected to spend $5 million on renovations to its new facility, making it fully digital and high definition. The stations had anticipated moving into their new studios in November 2012; the move was finalized on January 27, 2013, with high definition newscasts, updated graphics and new logos on both stations.
On May 15, 2012,
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...
and
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
agreed to a five-year extension to the network's affiliation agreement with Sinclair's 19 Fox stations, including WRGT-TV, allowing them to continue carrying Fox programming through 2017.
On the network's
October 31
Events Pre-1600
* 475 – Romulus Augustulus is proclaimed Western Roman Emperor.
* 683 – During the Siege of Mecca, the Kaaba catches fire and is burned down.
* 802 – Empress Irene is deposed and banished to Lesbos. Conspi ...
, 2015 launch, WRGT-TV added the Sinclair-owned
Comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...
on its third digital subchannel, 45.3.
On February 28, 2017, WRGT-TV added the Sinclair-owned
Charge! on its fourth digital subchannel, 45.4. Charge! programming is only available over-the-air and has never been provided by local cable operators.
On October 8, 2019, the station replaced This TV programming on subchannel 45.2 with programming from
Dabl
Dabl () is an American lifestyle-oriented digital multicast television network owned by the CBS Media Ventures subsidiary of Paramount Global.
The company's formerly-owned other subchannel network, Decades, through CBS News and Stations was l ...
, while retaining MyNetworkTV in prime time.
On December 29, 2020, the station announced that on January 1, 2021, its main subchannel would be moving to 22.2 on sister station WKEF. This was the result of Sinclair renewing several Fox affiliations, including that for Dayton, but instead of stations owned by their sidecar companies, the affiliations would shift to directly-owned Sinclair stations. A similar move of the Fox affiliation from
Port Arthur, Texas
Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Texas. A small, uninhabited portion extends into Orange County; it is east of Houston. The largest oil refinery in the United Sta ...
-licensed
KBTV-TV
KBTV-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Port Arthur, Texas, United States, serving the Beaumont area as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Dabl. It is owned by Deerfield Media, which maintains joint sales and share ...
, which it operates, to a subchannel of Sinclair-owned
KFDM
KFDM (channel 6) is a television station in Beaumont, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS, The CW Plus, and Fox. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to Port Arthur–licensed Dabl affiliate KBTV-TV (cha ...
, licensed to
Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat, seat of government of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, metropo ...
occurred, as station management there explained that the Fox schedule would air on both channels in a transition period ending on February 1. In addition,
TBD
To be announced (TBA), to be confirmed (TBC), to be determined or decided or declared (TBD), and other variations, are placeholder terms used very broadly in event planning to indicate that although something is scheduled or expected to happen, a ...
and
Stadium
A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
would be moving from WKEF to new WRGT-TV subchannels 45.5 and 45.6. The station advised over-the-air viewers to rescan on January 1. The 22.1/45.1 simulcast ended on February 4, with Fox becoming exclusive to 22.2.
That day, WRGT-DT1's programming was replaced with the MyNetworkTV/Dabl schedule formerly on 45.2, with TBD moving to 45.5 to 45.2 and the 45.6 Stadium subchannel going dark, as it moved to 45.5. On April 19, 2021, MyNetworkTV and Stadium programming then moved from 45.1 to 22.3, with Comet shifting to that position, and Antenna TV shifting from 22.3 to 45.3; since then, WRGT's main channel has exclusively carried Dabl.
Newscasts
As a Fox affiliate, WRGT-TV broadcast 17¼ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 3¼ hours each weekday and 30 minutes each on Saturdays and Sundays).
In 1998, WRGT-TV started its nightly 10 o'clock newscast, now known as ''Fox 45 News at 10'', using sister station WKEF's existing news team. In the February 2006 sweeps period, the station's 10 o'clock news was the fastest growing local broadcast in the Dayton market, on certain nights, sometimes winning the time slot. Until 2007, there was direct 10 o'clock news competition from WHIO-TV's Time Warner Cable-only
Miami Valley Channel
The Miami Valley Channel (or MVC), known at various times as UPN 44 and UPN 17, was a local cable television channel based in Dayton, Ohio. MVC launched in September 1994 and ceased operations at the end of 2006. Owned and operated by Cox Media ...
. There was no
over-the-air competition until August 18, 2007, when NBC affiliate
WDTN
WDTN (channel 2) is a television station in Dayton, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to Springfield, Ohio–licensed WBDT (channel 26), a ''de facto'' owned-and-oper ...
began to produce a nightly 10 o'clock newscast on CW affiliate WBDT; this beat WRGT-TV's show in Dayton's metered market household ratings on the 26th day of its broadcast.
On June 12, 2006, WKEF began airing a weekday morning program from 5 to 7, called ''ABC 22 Good Morning''. On the same day, WRGT-TV began airing ''Fox 45 in the Morning'' from 7 to 9 a.m. weekdays. In August 2008, WKEF began producing a 6:30 p.m. newscast for WRGT-TV, airing on weeknights against the national news broadcasts on the
"Big Three" stations.
On July 9, 2019, the station rebranded its news operation as ''Dayton 24/7 Now'', sharing that brand with WKEF. It introduced
streaming
Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
apps and a
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
presence with the same name and redirected its former website
www.fox45now.com In addition, it tweaked its graphics to a different variation used by Sinclair stations.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's ATSC 1.0 channels are carried on the
multiplexed
In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
digital signals of other Dayton television stations:
Analog-to-digital conversion
WRGT-TV shut down its analog signal, over
UHF channel 45, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States
transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 30. Through the use of
PSIP
The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the AT ...
, digital television receivers display the station's
virtual channel
In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
as its former UHF analog channel 45.
WRGT-TV moved its digital signal from channel 30 to channel 36 at 10 a.m. on October 18, 2019, as part of the FCC's
spectrum reallocation
The 2016 United States wireless spectrum auction, officially known as Auction 1001, allocated approximately 100 MHz of the United States Ultra High Frequency (UHF) spectrum formerly allocated to UHF television in the 600 MHz band. The spe ...
process.
The station's
transmitter power was reduced from 498
kW to 44.16 kW, pending a
construction permit
Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
with the FCC to increase power to 1,000 kW. New antennas for both WRGT-TV and WKEF were installed via helicopter prior to December 23, 2019, and were connected to interim auxiliary transmitters on January 24, 2020; the station predicted that the transmitter work would be completed soon after.
ATSC 3.0 lighthouse
See also
*
Channel 36 digital TV stations in the United States
*
Channel 45 virtual TV stations in the United States
*
List of television stations in Ohio
References
External links
{{Dayton TV
RGT-TV
Dabl affiliates
Comet (TV network) affiliates
Charge! (TV network) affiliates
Antenna TV affiliates
Sinclair Broadcast Group
TBD (TV network) affiliates
Television channels and stations established in 1984
1984 establishments in Ohio
ATSC 3.0 television stations