WFNA (TV)

WFNA, virtual channel 55 (UHF digital channel 25), is a CW-affiliated television station serving Mobile, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida, United States that is licensed to Gulf Shores, Alabama. The station is owned by Media General, as part of a duopoly with CBS affiliate WKRG-TV (channel 5). WFNA's transmitter is located near Robertsdale.

History

Prior to the station's sign-on, WFNA's call letters were originally planned to be WGMP (standing for "Gulf Shores, Mobile, Pensacola"). The station first signed on the air as WBPG on September 2, 2001; it replaced WFGX (channel 35) as the area's WB affiliate after the station reverted to independent status four days earlier on August 31. The station was originally owned by Pegasus Broadcasting. At the time, WFGX's signal primarily reached the Pensacola side of the market, but WBPG's signal could reach both the Florida and Alabama sides of the market.

In 2003, Emmis Communications purchased the station, which created a duopoly with Fox affiliate WALA-TV (channel 10); WBPG's operations were subsequently merged with WALA at the latter station's facility on Satchel Paige Drive. LIN TV Corporation (now LIN Media) acquired WALA-TV on November 30, 2005; instead of acquiring WBPG directly along with it, the company instead began to operate the station under a local marketing agreement. Just over seven months later, on July 7, 2006, LIN purchased WBPG outright.

WFNA

WFNA may refer to:

WBCN (AM)

WBCN (1660 AM, "America's Pulse 1660") is a radio station licensed to serve Charlotte, North Carolina. The station is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group. The studios are located on South Boulevard in Charlotte's South End and a transmitter is located in West Charlotte.

WBCN is licensed to broadcast in HD on 1660 AM.

History

The station signed on in December 2003 as WFNA to help improve the signal range of Charlotte's original all-sports station, WFNZ, airing some of that station's programming. WFNZ must power down to 1,000 watts at night, rendering it all but unlistenable in some parts of the market.

The station was assigned the call letters WBMX on July 29, 2009. It was assigned the WBCN call letters by the Federal Communications Commission on August 12, 2009. The assignment of the WBMX and WBCN call letters came as CBS Radio prepared for a radio station shuffle in Boston. WBCN, Boston's longtime rock station, was set to move to a digital-only platform, while WBMX was slated to move from 98.5 FM to WBCN's old position at 104.1 FM. This swap was being made to create a sports talk station at 98.5 FM. On August 5, 2009, Mix 98.5 in Boston switched its call letters from WBMX-FM to WBZ-FM, the call letters of the new sports station. The WBMX calls were parked at WFNA, while WBCN aired for its final days. Shortly after midnight on August 12, 2009, WBCN signed off, and the WBCN and WBMX call letters were switched to complete the process.