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WUAB
WUAB (channel 43) is a television station licensed to Lorain, Ohio, United States, serving the Cleveland area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Gray Media alongside CBS affiliate WOIO (channel 19), Telemundo affiliate WTCL-LD (channel 6) and independent station WOHZ-CD (channel 22). All four stations have studios on the ground floor of the Reserve Square building in Downtown Cleveland. WUAB transmits over WOIO's full-power spectrum via a channel sharing agreement and both stations share transmitter facilities in suburban Parma.
Founded in 1968 by the United Artists film studio, from which its call sign is derived from, WUAB was originally one of two ultra high frequency (UHF) independent stations to sign on in the Cleveland market, doing so eight months after Kaiser Broadcasting's WKBF-TV signed on. Prevailing over WKBF-TV in a seven-year-long battle for advertisers and audience, WUAB became one of the highest-rated UHF independent stations in the country by 1971, aided by a strong lineup of off-network reruns, feature films, sporting events, and popular local talent. Purchased by Gaylord Broadcasting in 1977, WUAB bolstered its sports presence as the over-the-air home for Cleveland Indians and Cavaliers telecasts in 1980 and established a news department in 1988, with a cable television footprint spanning multiple states.
The station was acquired by Stephen J. Cannell in 1990 but taken over by WOIO owner Malrite Communications in 1994 via a local marketing agreement, taking effect at the same time WOIO became the market's CBS affiliate and helping provide that station with a news service. A charter affiliate for both UPN and The WB from 1995 to 1997, WUAB became an exclusive UPN affiliate until the network's 2006 closure, subsequently linking up with MyNetworkTV in 2006 and The CW in 2018. Acquired outright by Malrite's successor Raycom Media in 2000, WUAB and WOIO have been in Gray Television's portfolio from 2019 onward, adding startup Telemundo affiliate WTCL-LD as a third station in 2022. The CW was dropped in 2025 in favor of additional local news and sports programming.
United Artists Broadcasting, owned by the film studio of the same name, was the first of three applicants to file paperwork for a new television station on channel 65 in Cleveland, having done so on March 22, 1963. The allocation was one of two designated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for commercial broadcasting on the ultra high frequency (UHF) in Cleveland proper; prior construction permits granted to radio stations WERE and WHK in 1953 were never built and revoked in 1960. United Artists had filed to construct television stations in Cleveland, Houston and Boston, but the film studio having been a defendant in a civil antitrust lawsuit related to United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. led the FCC to state it would reflect on "requisite qualifications" over the studio's fitness to own a television station, despite the lawsuit occurring ten years beforehand. The other two applicants for the channel were a group headed by WDBN owner Ted Niarhos and Superior Broadcasting Co., majority-controlled by area businessman Frank V. Mavec.
A comparative hearing between the applicants began in late December 1963. Early in the proceedings, United Artists requested that the FCC determine if projected operating deficits by the other two applicants lasted beyond the first year; in response, the commission requested each applicant demonstrate an ability to survive against established VHF competition over the first three years and revised their financial qualification policy. United Artists abruptly withdrew from the hearing process for the channel 65 license by amending their application to request channel 31 in Lorain, Ohio, unused after a permit for WEOL-TV held by WEOL radio failed to be built after years of delays. The Niarhos-led group concurrently withdrew their bid. A May 1965 realignment of UHF allocations saw United Artists's permit request for channel 31 moved to 43 and Superior's permit request for channel 65 moved to 61. Both companies were awarded construction permits in the spring of 1966. Superior sold their permit to a joint venture between itself and Kaiser Broadcasting, which launched WKBF-TV on January 19, 1968.
WUAB was signed on by United Artists on September 15, 1968, following WKBF-TV as the second commercial UHF station in Cleveland proper and the fifth full-power UHF station in the market. WUAB used the WKBF-TV transmitter tower in Parma; the installation of the WUAB antenna on the tower several days prior forced WKBF-TV to be off the air for an extended period of time. As their studio facility near Parmatown Mall was still under construction, WUAB operated out of a semi-trailer next to an adjacent Parma bowling alley, with some studios inside the alley's nursery. Marty Sullivan, one of the station's first announcers, later recalled how a restroom adjacent to the main announcer booth had a warning sign, "Do not use Bippy when announcer is in booth". WVIZ's Brook Park studios were also used by WUAB. WUAB's lack of any physical assets in Lorain proper and film studio ownership was met with criticism by the Lorain Journal editorial board, which asked, "Why call it a Lorain station? Why give Lorain's TV franchise to outsiders who want to operate outside of Lorain? Why not give Lorain people an opportunity to operate a TV station in Lorain, to serve Lorain?"
The less-than-optimal working arrangement while permanent studios were being constructed severely limited WUAB's local output; by comparison, WKBF-TV boasted an array of local programming and launched a news service. The combined Cleveland–Akron–Canton television market was ranked in 1968 as the eighth-largest in the United States, with the industry taking notice over the two competing UHF stations with well-financed ownership and substantial investment. Befitting its ownership by a film studio, WUAB placed an emphasis on feature films with a prime time showcase dubbed the UA Star Movie. Even with the existing limitations facing the station, WUAB successfully claimed a significant portion of WKBF-TV's audience by the spring of 1969. The Plain Dealer critic William Hinckley retrospectively noted WUAB almost immediately entered the marketplace with better overall programming than WKBF-TV, promptly dividing the available audience.
WUAB's studios were completed in June 1969, with the next few months proving to be a turning point. Linn Sheldon, who joined WKBF-TV to host an afternoon movie in August 1968, left that station to join WUAB on December 1, 1969, reviving the acclaimed children's show "Barnaby" which he originated at KYW-TV. Several weeks earlier, a Saturday afternoon science fiction film showcase Mad Theatre launched, hosted by Sullivan under the Superhost persona. Sullivan created the character accidentally during rehearsals for a performance by The Four Lads when the audience reacted positively to his facial contortions; he then adopted a nasal vocalization to distinguish from his announcer voice. Another staff announcer, Jack Reynolds, began emceeing professional wrestling tapings at the station in 1969. Alice Weston, recognized as the first female television host in Cleveland, became the station's public affairs director and a talk show host. An emphasis was also placed on sports, as WUAB carried Ohio State Buckeyes football and men's basketball, Notre Dame Fighting Irish football and Cleveland Barons broadcasts. A daily early-afternoon movie showcase, the Prize Movie, launched with Reynolds as host, with WGAR personality John Lanigan taking over in 1975.
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WUAB
WUAB (channel 43) is a television station licensed to Lorain, Ohio, United States, serving the Cleveland area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Gray Media alongside CBS affiliate WOIO (channel 19), Telemundo affiliate WTCL-LD (channel 6) and independent station WOHZ-CD (channel 22). All four stations have studios on the ground floor of the Reserve Square building in Downtown Cleveland. WUAB transmits over WOIO's full-power spectrum via a channel sharing agreement and both stations share transmitter facilities in suburban Parma.
Founded in 1968 by the United Artists film studio, from which its call sign is derived from, WUAB was originally one of two ultra high frequency (UHF) independent stations to sign on in the Cleveland market, doing so eight months after Kaiser Broadcasting's WKBF-TV signed on. Prevailing over WKBF-TV in a seven-year-long battle for advertisers and audience, WUAB became one of the highest-rated UHF independent stations in the country by 1971, aided by a strong lineup of off-network reruns, feature films, sporting events, and popular local talent. Purchased by Gaylord Broadcasting in 1977, WUAB bolstered its sports presence as the over-the-air home for Cleveland Indians and Cavaliers telecasts in 1980 and established a news department in 1988, with a cable television footprint spanning multiple states.
The station was acquired by Stephen J. Cannell in 1990 but taken over by WOIO owner Malrite Communications in 1994 via a local marketing agreement, taking effect at the same time WOIO became the market's CBS affiliate and helping provide that station with a news service. A charter affiliate for both UPN and The WB from 1995 to 1997, WUAB became an exclusive UPN affiliate until the network's 2006 closure, subsequently linking up with MyNetworkTV in 2006 and The CW in 2018. Acquired outright by Malrite's successor Raycom Media in 2000, WUAB and WOIO have been in Gray Television's portfolio from 2019 onward, adding startup Telemundo affiliate WTCL-LD as a third station in 2022. The CW was dropped in 2025 in favor of additional local news and sports programming.
United Artists Broadcasting, owned by the film studio of the same name, was the first of three applicants to file paperwork for a new television station on channel 65 in Cleveland, having done so on March 22, 1963. The allocation was one of two designated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for commercial broadcasting on the ultra high frequency (UHF) in Cleveland proper; prior construction permits granted to radio stations WERE and WHK in 1953 were never built and revoked in 1960. United Artists had filed to construct television stations in Cleveland, Houston and Boston, but the film studio having been a defendant in a civil antitrust lawsuit related to United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. led the FCC to state it would reflect on "requisite qualifications" over the studio's fitness to own a television station, despite the lawsuit occurring ten years beforehand. The other two applicants for the channel were a group headed by WDBN owner Ted Niarhos and Superior Broadcasting Co., majority-controlled by area businessman Frank V. Mavec.
A comparative hearing between the applicants began in late December 1963. Early in the proceedings, United Artists requested that the FCC determine if projected operating deficits by the other two applicants lasted beyond the first year; in response, the commission requested each applicant demonstrate an ability to survive against established VHF competition over the first three years and revised their financial qualification policy. United Artists abruptly withdrew from the hearing process for the channel 65 license by amending their application to request channel 31 in Lorain, Ohio, unused after a permit for WEOL-TV held by WEOL radio failed to be built after years of delays. The Niarhos-led group concurrently withdrew their bid. A May 1965 realignment of UHF allocations saw United Artists's permit request for channel 31 moved to 43 and Superior's permit request for channel 65 moved to 61. Both companies were awarded construction permits in the spring of 1966. Superior sold their permit to a joint venture between itself and Kaiser Broadcasting, which launched WKBF-TV on January 19, 1968.
WUAB was signed on by United Artists on September 15, 1968, following WKBF-TV as the second commercial UHF station in Cleveland proper and the fifth full-power UHF station in the market. WUAB used the WKBF-TV transmitter tower in Parma; the installation of the WUAB antenna on the tower several days prior forced WKBF-TV to be off the air for an extended period of time. As their studio facility near Parmatown Mall was still under construction, WUAB operated out of a semi-trailer next to an adjacent Parma bowling alley, with some studios inside the alley's nursery. Marty Sullivan, one of the station's first announcers, later recalled how a restroom adjacent to the main announcer booth had a warning sign, "Do not use Bippy when announcer is in booth". WVIZ's Brook Park studios were also used by WUAB. WUAB's lack of any physical assets in Lorain proper and film studio ownership was met with criticism by the Lorain Journal editorial board, which asked, "Why call it a Lorain station? Why give Lorain's TV franchise to outsiders who want to operate outside of Lorain? Why not give Lorain people an opportunity to operate a TV station in Lorain, to serve Lorain?"
The less-than-optimal working arrangement while permanent studios were being constructed severely limited WUAB's local output; by comparison, WKBF-TV boasted an array of local programming and launched a news service. The combined Cleveland–Akron–Canton television market was ranked in 1968 as the eighth-largest in the United States, with the industry taking notice over the two competing UHF stations with well-financed ownership and substantial investment. Befitting its ownership by a film studio, WUAB placed an emphasis on feature films with a prime time showcase dubbed the UA Star Movie. Even with the existing limitations facing the station, WUAB successfully claimed a significant portion of WKBF-TV's audience by the spring of 1969. The Plain Dealer critic William Hinckley retrospectively noted WUAB almost immediately entered the marketplace with better overall programming than WKBF-TV, promptly dividing the available audience.
WUAB's studios were completed in June 1969, with the next few months proving to be a turning point. Linn Sheldon, who joined WKBF-TV to host an afternoon movie in August 1968, left that station to join WUAB on December 1, 1969, reviving the acclaimed children's show "Barnaby" which he originated at KYW-TV. Several weeks earlier, a Saturday afternoon science fiction film showcase Mad Theatre launched, hosted by Sullivan under the Superhost persona. Sullivan created the character accidentally during rehearsals for a performance by The Four Lads when the audience reacted positively to his facial contortions; he then adopted a nasal vocalization to distinguish from his announcer voice. Another staff announcer, Jack Reynolds, began emceeing professional wrestling tapings at the station in 1969. Alice Weston, recognized as the first female television host in Cleveland, became the station's public affairs director and a talk show host. An emphasis was also placed on sports, as WUAB carried Ohio State Buckeyes football and men's basketball, Notre Dame Fighting Irish football and Cleveland Barons broadcasts. A daily early-afternoon movie showcase, the Prize Movie, launched with Reynolds as host, with WGAR personality John Lanigan taking over in 1975.
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