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WFRV-TV
WFRV-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with CBS. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on East Mason Street in Green Bay and a transmitter north of Morrison, Wisconsin.
WFRV-TV traces its history to WNAM-TV, which began broadcasting in January 1954 from studios in Neenah. Owned by the Neenah-Menasha Broadcasting Company, it was the only ultra high frequency (UHF) outlet in northeastern Wisconsin at a time when UHF stations faced severe technical and economic handicaps against very high frequency (VHF) stations. At the end of 1954, WNAM-TV suspended operations and merged with the Valley Telecasting Company, a consortium of area investors that had obtained the construction permit for channel 5 in Green Bay. The new station, WFRV-TV, debuted on May 20, 1955, from the former WNAM-TV studios in Neenah and became owned entirely by Neenah-Menasha. In January 1957, the station opened its present studios in Green Bay. Originally an affiliate of the ABC network, the station switched to NBC in 1959.
From 1960 to 1980, WFRV-TV was owned by the Morton and Norton families of Louisville, Kentucky, under the aegis of what eventually became known as Orion Broadcasting. In 1969, the company opened WJMN-TV (channel 3) in Escanaba, Michigan, which served as a semi-satellite of WFRV for the central Upper Peninsula of Michigan. When Orion Broadcasting and Cosmos Broadcasting merged, WFRV and WJMN were divested to Midwest Radio and Television, which owned WCCO-TV in Minneapolis. Midwest switched the station's affiliation back to ABC in 1983 and invested in the news department. Midwest was acquired by CBS in 1991. This resulted in another affiliation switch in Green Bay on March 15, 1992, with ABC moving to WBAY-TV (channel 2). CBS continued to own WFRV-TV until 2007, when it traded the Green Bay and Escanaba stations to Liberty Media in exchange for shares of its stock.
Nexstar acquired WFRV and WJMN in 2011. WFRV added several new newscasts and a lifestyle show in the years following the purchase. WJMN was also given more local news programming; that station lost its CBS affiliation in January 2022 and was sold by Nexstar in 2024.
WNAM-TV began telecasting from Neenah on ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 42 on January 26, 1954, after beginning test transmissions in December 1953. Owned by the Neenah-Menasha Broadcasting Company alongside radio station WNAM (1280 AM), WNAM-TV carried programming from ABC beginning in July 1954.
Meanwhile, in April 1952, 17 local businessmen formed the Valley Telecasting Company to apply for channel 6, which had been allocated to Green Bay. Three months later, the Green Bay Newspaper Company, owner of the Green Bay Press-Gazette newspaper and radio station WJPG, switched its application to specify channel 6 instead of channel 2. That switch left the application of WBAY-TV uncontested on channel 2, allowing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to grant it, and sent channel 6 to a comparative hearing situation. In December 1953, acting on a petition from the Hearst Corporation, the FCC moved the channel 6 allocation to Whitefish Bay, near Milwaukee. Hearst had applied for a Milwaukee TV station but was shut out by the redesignation of channel 10 there for educational use. Moving channel 6 to Whitefish Bay required it to be replaced with channel 5 at Green Bay and channel 5 at Marquette, Michigan, to be changed to channel 6.
On March 10, 1954, the Green Bay Newspaper Company withdrew its application for channel 5, and the FCC granted a construction permit to Valley Telecasting Company the next day. By this time, there was an additional VHF station under construction in the region, WMBV-TV on channel 11. Meanwhile, UHF stations were struggling. WOSH-TV of Oshkosh closed down the same month; its owners claimed that national and regional advertisers were content with VHF stations to reach the area and cited the forthcoming advent of channels 5 and 11, which together with WBAY-TV would provide all three major networks. Sensing that the arrival of Valley Telecasting—which had selected the call letters WFRV-TV for its station to represent the "Wonderful Fox River Valley"—would economically harm its UHF station, Neenah-Menasha agreed to merge with Valley Telecasting in November and announced it would suspend operations of WNAM-TV on the evening of January 2, 1955. The combined station would retain some operations at Neenah for program production in the Fox Cities, but it would use the tower and transmitter building of the former WJPG-FM on Scray's Hill near De Pere.
WFRV-TV signed on channel 5 on May 20, 1955, after an appeal lodged by WMBV-TV to block the merger of Valley Telecasting and Neenah-Menasha was declined for the final time; the station aired film programming for its first ten days before beginning affiliations with ABC and DuMont Television Network on June 1. While the transmitter facility was new, WFRV-TV used WNAM-TV's Neenah studios. DuMont ceased network operations four months later. By 1956, Neenah-Menasha owned all of WFRV-TV; that same year, the company announced plans to build a studio base in Green Bay. Master control switched to Green Bay in December when a new tower and transmitter building were activated, and production from the station's present Mason Street studios began in mid-January 1957.
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WFRV-TV
WFRV-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with CBS. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on East Mason Street in Green Bay and a transmitter north of Morrison, Wisconsin.
WFRV-TV traces its history to WNAM-TV, which began broadcasting in January 1954 from studios in Neenah. Owned by the Neenah-Menasha Broadcasting Company, it was the only ultra high frequency (UHF) outlet in northeastern Wisconsin at a time when UHF stations faced severe technical and economic handicaps against very high frequency (VHF) stations. At the end of 1954, WNAM-TV suspended operations and merged with the Valley Telecasting Company, a consortium of area investors that had obtained the construction permit for channel 5 in Green Bay. The new station, WFRV-TV, debuted on May 20, 1955, from the former WNAM-TV studios in Neenah and became owned entirely by Neenah-Menasha. In January 1957, the station opened its present studios in Green Bay. Originally an affiliate of the ABC network, the station switched to NBC in 1959.
From 1960 to 1980, WFRV-TV was owned by the Morton and Norton families of Louisville, Kentucky, under the aegis of what eventually became known as Orion Broadcasting. In 1969, the company opened WJMN-TV (channel 3) in Escanaba, Michigan, which served as a semi-satellite of WFRV for the central Upper Peninsula of Michigan. When Orion Broadcasting and Cosmos Broadcasting merged, WFRV and WJMN were divested to Midwest Radio and Television, which owned WCCO-TV in Minneapolis. Midwest switched the station's affiliation back to ABC in 1983 and invested in the news department. Midwest was acquired by CBS in 1991. This resulted in another affiliation switch in Green Bay on March 15, 1992, with ABC moving to WBAY-TV (channel 2). CBS continued to own WFRV-TV until 2007, when it traded the Green Bay and Escanaba stations to Liberty Media in exchange for shares of its stock.
Nexstar acquired WFRV and WJMN in 2011. WFRV added several new newscasts and a lifestyle show in the years following the purchase. WJMN was also given more local news programming; that station lost its CBS affiliation in January 2022 and was sold by Nexstar in 2024.
WNAM-TV began telecasting from Neenah on ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 42 on January 26, 1954, after beginning test transmissions in December 1953. Owned by the Neenah-Menasha Broadcasting Company alongside radio station WNAM (1280 AM), WNAM-TV carried programming from ABC beginning in July 1954.
Meanwhile, in April 1952, 17 local businessmen formed the Valley Telecasting Company to apply for channel 6, which had been allocated to Green Bay. Three months later, the Green Bay Newspaper Company, owner of the Green Bay Press-Gazette newspaper and radio station WJPG, switched its application to specify channel 6 instead of channel 2. That switch left the application of WBAY-TV uncontested on channel 2, allowing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to grant it, and sent channel 6 to a comparative hearing situation. In December 1953, acting on a petition from the Hearst Corporation, the FCC moved the channel 6 allocation to Whitefish Bay, near Milwaukee. Hearst had applied for a Milwaukee TV station but was shut out by the redesignation of channel 10 there for educational use. Moving channel 6 to Whitefish Bay required it to be replaced with channel 5 at Green Bay and channel 5 at Marquette, Michigan, to be changed to channel 6.
On March 10, 1954, the Green Bay Newspaper Company withdrew its application for channel 5, and the FCC granted a construction permit to Valley Telecasting Company the next day. By this time, there was an additional VHF station under construction in the region, WMBV-TV on channel 11. Meanwhile, UHF stations were struggling. WOSH-TV of Oshkosh closed down the same month; its owners claimed that national and regional advertisers were content with VHF stations to reach the area and cited the forthcoming advent of channels 5 and 11, which together with WBAY-TV would provide all three major networks. Sensing that the arrival of Valley Telecasting—which had selected the call letters WFRV-TV for its station to represent the "Wonderful Fox River Valley"—would economically harm its UHF station, Neenah-Menasha agreed to merge with Valley Telecasting in November and announced it would suspend operations of WNAM-TV on the evening of January 2, 1955. The combined station would retain some operations at Neenah for program production in the Fox Cities, but it would use the tower and transmitter building of the former WJPG-FM on Scray's Hill near De Pere.
WFRV-TV signed on channel 5 on May 20, 1955, after an appeal lodged by WMBV-TV to block the merger of Valley Telecasting and Neenah-Menasha was declined for the final time; the station aired film programming for its first ten days before beginning affiliations with ABC and DuMont Television Network on June 1. While the transmitter facility was new, WFRV-TV used WNAM-TV's Neenah studios. DuMont ceased network operations four months later. By 1956, Neenah-Menasha owned all of WFRV-TV; that same year, the company announced plans to build a studio base in Green Bay. Master control switched to Green Bay in December when a new tower and transmitter building were activated, and production from the station's present Mason Street studios began in mid-January 1957.