WYLE (channel 26) was 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 ...

Florence, Alabama Florence is a city in, and the county seat of, Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the state's northwestern corner. It is situated along the Tennessee River and is home to the University of North Alabama, the oldest college in the st ...

, United States, owned by ETC Communications, Inc. The station's transmitter was located on Underwood Mountain Road in

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

southern

Colbert County Colbert County () is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census the county's population was 57,227. The county seat is Tuscumbia. The largest city is Muscle Shoals. The county is named i ...

. WYLE was founded January 11, 1982, and went silent on February 8, 2007, due to financial difficulties. ETC's license to operate the station was canceled by 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) on March 12, 2009, due to failure to transmit for a period of 12 consecutive months.

History

The FCC granted 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 ...

to Alabama Management Company on January 11, 1982, to build a full-service television station to serve Florence, Alabama on UHF channel 26. Originally given the call sign WTUK, it changed to WTRT in December 1985. On April 19, 1986, the station began broadcasting and was licensed November 24, 1986. Alabama Management Company sold the station to Bridgerland Television on December 1, 1988. By 1993, the station was in financial trouble. ETC Communications bought the station out of

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

on June 11, 1993, and changed its call sign to WYLE two weeks later, but being a small operation, ETC Communications was never able to steer the station away from financial danger. For a brief time in the mid-1990s, it became an affiliate of

The WB Television Network The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bro ...

. WYLE was granted a permit to build

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative advanc ...

facilities on UHF channel 20 on December 11, 2001, but was forced to seek several extensions of its permit due to financial hardship and inability to secure financing. The digital facilities were never built. In 2005, the combination of losing its primary prime time programming and the death of Lester White, president and CEO of ETC Communications, left the station in severe financial distress, and it was forced to go silent February 8, 2007. Unable to find an out-of-market buyer, ETC Communications sought to sell the station to the owners of

WHDF WHDF (channel 15) is a television station licensed to Florence, Alabama, United States, serving the Huntsville area with programming from The CW. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group alongside CBS affiliate WH ...

(channel 15), seeking a waiver of the rule which prohibited duopolies in a market with fewer than eight owners. The FCC denied the waiver. Despite broadcasting a 24-hour test signal beginning February 3, 2008, to avoid being silent for 12 consecutive months, the FCC ruled that the test signal was insufficient, and canceled the station's license and all outstanding applications and permits on March 12, 2009.http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/189860-FCC_Yanks_Station_License.php?rssid=20065 The loss of WYLE's license and the fact the station never aired a digital signal on channel 20 are among the reasons

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

affiliate

WHNT-TV WHNT-TV (channel 19) is a television station in Huntsville, Alabama, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Florence-licensed CW owned-and-operated station WHDF (channel 15). Both stations share studios ...

was allowed to move its digital broadcasts back to channel 19 after the analog shutdown.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyle (Tv) Florence, Alabama YLE (TV) Television channels and stations established in 1986 1986 establishments in Alabama Television channels and stations disestablished in 2009 2009 disestablishments in Alabama Defunct television stations in the United States YLE (TV)