TV station in Vicksburg, Mississippi
WLOO (channel 35) is a television station licensed to Vicksburg, Mississippi, United States, serving the Jackson area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. Owned by Tougaloo College, it has a joint sales agreement (JSA) with Fox affiliate WDBD (channel 40, owned by American Spirit Media). Both stations, in turn, are controlled under a shared services agreement (SSA) by Gray Media, owner of NBC affiliate WLBT, channel 3 (with Gray providing limited engineering support to WLOO). The stations share studios on South Jefferson Street in downtown Jackson, while WLOO's transmitter is located on Thigpen Road southeast of Raymond, Mississippi.
History.
The station signed on September 29, 2003, as WUFX, airing an analog signal on UHF channel 35. The station was Jackson's second Fox affiliate; until its launch, there was no over-the-air affiliate in the area because WDBD had dropped the network in favor of The WB almost two years earlier in October 2001. During the previous 23 months, Fox programming was made available on cable in Jackson via Foxnet, although cable providers in the Natchez area carried WNTZ-TV from Alexandria, Louisiana instead. Throughout its Fox affiliation, WUFX carried the branding "Fox 35" and used the slogan "Fox For You".
Channel 35 would have officially begun broadcasting at 11 a.m. on September 7 in time for the start of the 2003 NFL season. However, two members of the tower construction crew had shots fired at them at the station's analog transmitter site in Edwards on August 31. As a result, all work was halted for 22 days while the Hinds County Sheriff's Department conducted an investigation. Deputies eventually decided it was safe for the construction crew to resume work on WUFX's transmitter and even provided on-site security until its completion.
In early 2006, it was announced The WB and UPN would merge to form The CW. At the same time, News Corporation (owner of Fox) made public that another new network called MyNetworkTV would be launching as well. UPN affiliate WRBJ was announced as the new station for The CW while WUFX would join MyNetworkTV. In advance of the switch to MyNetworkTV, WUFX and WDBD swapped affiliations. On July 3, 2006, the station temporarily picked up The WB but began identifying itself on-air as "My 35" in anticipation of joining the new network. After joining MyNetworkTV, it continued carrying WB programming in a secondary nature until that network shut down on September 17. Meanwhile, WDBD rejoined Fox and adopted the branding "Fox 40". WUFX and WDBD were sold by Jackson Television to Roundtable Broadcasting in early 2010. However, the latter's licensee listing with the FCC still says Jackson Television.
Vicksburg Broadcasting filed to sell WUFX and WBMS-CA to American Spirit Media in July 2012. As American Spirit also acquired WDBD and WXMS-LP from Roundtable Broadcasting, the WUFX license was then sold for $1 to Tougaloo College, though American Spirit provides sales services to the station under a joint sales agreement. Gray Television, owner of WLBT, provides certain services to the American Spirit stations under a shared services agreement. Tougaloo intends to use WUFX to teach its students about the operation of television stations. On November 13, the transaction was consummated. On April 15, 2013, the call letters were changed to WLOO.
News operation.
In April 2010, WDBD began producing a weeknight half-hour newscast on WUFX, called "Fox 40 News at 10 on My 35", which competed against long-standing news broadcasts seen on the market's big three affiliates. After American Spirit Media completed its acquisition of WDBD and entered into the shared services agreement with WLBT, the Fox station's news department was shut down. Production of WDBD's newscasts was assumed by WLBT on November 12, 2012, with all of the news programming retained except for the 10 p.m. show on WUFX since it would compete with WLBT.
Technical information.
Subchannels.
The station's signal is multiplexed:
Analog-to-digital conversion.
WLOO (as WUFX) shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 35, on May 4, 2009. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 41, using virtual channel 35.
WUFX was granted an original construction permit after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finalized the digital television allotment plan on April 21, 1997. As a result, the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station.
References.
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