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WWHO
Chillicothe / Columbus, Ohio
Branding	The CW on WWHO-TV
Slogan	Free To Be!
Channels	Analog: 53 (UHF) Digital: 46 (UHF)
Affiliations	The CW
Owner	LIN Television
Founded	September 7, 1987
Call letters meaning	WWOHiO
Former callsigns	WWAT (1987-1993)
Former affiliations	Independent (1987-1995), UPN (1997-2006), The WB (1995-2006, secondary since 1997)
Transmitter Power	5,000 kW Analog 1,000 kW Digital
Website	www.wwhotv.com

WWHO is the Columbus, Ohio television affiliate for The CW television network. The station is licensed to Chillicothe, though it operates out of a facility in Columbus with its transmitter located in Williamsport, halfway between Columbus and Chillicothe. WWHO is owned and operated by LIN Television.

WWHO broadcasts at 5,000,000 watts, the maximum allowed by the Federal Communications Commission WWHO-DT (WWHO's digital signal) operates on channel 46.

WWHO began operating on September 7, 1987 as independent station WWAT, named after its owner, Wendell A. Triplet. It was the first general-entertainment independent station in Columbus since WTTE signed on in 1984. It operated a Columbus translator on channel 17. In 1992 the station was added to many cable providers in the Columbus market due to cable must-carry legislation. The station was sold for $2 million in 1994 to Fant Broadcasting and changed its calls to WWHO. At the same time, the on-air name "Who-53" was adopted. At the same time, the station entered a Local marketing agreement with WCMH-TV owned by the Outlet Company.

The station remained an independent station until the launch of the The WB television network on January 11, 1995. WWHO (then "WB 53") remained a WB affiliate until the Paramount Stations Group (a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures, whose parent company is Viacom) agreed to acquire the station in 1997, along with sister station WLWC in Providence and sell Hartford's NBC affiliate WVIT to NBC in return. At that time the station became a secondary UPN affiliate. Not long after, WWHO became a primary UPN affiliate (as "UPN 53" initially, then identifying as "UPN Columbus," without a channel number) and began cutting back on its WB programming. Prior to that, UPN had been secondary on Fox affiliate WTTE. On February 10, 2005, it was announced that the Viacom Television Stations Group (the successor to the Paramount Stations Group as a result of Viacom merging with CBS in 1999) was selling WWHO and WNDY-TV (in the Indianapolis market) to the LIN Television Corporation for $85 million.

WCMH once produced a 10 p.m. newscast for WWHO. On February 10, 2005, LIN Television announced its intention to bring 10 p.m. news back to WWHO. This half-hour newscast, which is produced by WBNS-TV, debuted on September 1, 2005, with a rebranding of the station as "UPN 53."

When UPN and The WB merged to form The CW in 2006, WWHO was the obvious choice as the Columbus affiliate for the new network. It already carried WB and UPN programming. More importantly, the only other viable candidate was WSFJ-TV, a religious-oriented station that would have likely preempted much of The CW's racier programming. The only other station in town is WGCT-CA, which only broadcasts at 83 watts and barely covers Columbus itself. UPN had affiliated with a religious-oriented station in St. Louis, KNLC, in 1997, but yanked its programming in 1999 due to numerous preemptions. The WB had similar problems with WBNA, its original affiliate in Louisville, Kentucky from 1995 to 1999.

Although LIN had some hesitancy about the CW's business model, the two companies made it official on April 16, 2006. [1] This made WWHO the largest CW affiliate owned by LIN Television .

Before WWHO was announced as a CW affiliate, there was a chance that the station might become an affiliate of My Network TV. However, this option ended when LIN TV announced its affiliation deal with My Network TV, and WWHO was not on the list. It was rumored that WTTE might have picked up My Network TV as a secondary affiliation. However, this possible secondary affiliation did not happen as WSYX, the area's ABC affiliate (and sister station to WTTE), launched a new digital subchannel featuring programming from My Network TV in September.

On July 31 the station rebranded with a new logo and slogan, "The CW on WWHO TV."

• The People's Court
• Divorce Court
• Judge Hatchett
• Inside Edition

In addition to UPN and WB network programming, WWHO previously aired the nationally syndicated morning news program "The Daily Buzz". The station dropped the program in mid-summer 2005, following disputes with the program's syndicator.

• WWHO TV
• LIN Television Corporation
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WWHO
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WWHO-TV