Бангор қаласының Fox телеарнасы: WFVX LD тарихы

Fox affiliate television station in Bangor, Maine

WFVX LD (channel 22) is a television station in Bangor, Maine, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Rockfleet Broadcasting alongside ABC affiliate WVII TV (channel 7). The two stations share studios on Target Industrial Circle in West Bangor and a transmitter on Black Cap Mountain along the Penobscot and Hancock county line. In addition to Fox programming, WFVX LD is a secondary affiliate of MyNetworkTV, and airs Jewelry Television overnight. Despite WFVX LD legally holding a low power license, it transmits using WVII TV's full power spectrum. This ensures complete reception across the Bangor television market.

A construction permit for a low power station on channel 22 in Bangor was granted on January 12, 1995, and was assigned the call letters W22BU. Following the death of original owner Dale Buschow in 1998, the station was acquired by MS Communications on January 3, 2001; its license to cover was issued on March 1. MS Communications had plans to establish wireless cable networks, but never broadcast anything other than test patterns on its stations. MS sold W22BU to Rockfleet Broadcasting, owner of WVII TV, in 2003. Rockfleet put the station on the air as a Fox affiliate on April 13, 2003; then from Foxnet after WPXT switched to The WB in the fall of 2001. Fox Sports programming was also available in Bangor at various points via WABI TV (channel 5), WBGR LP (channel 33), and WCKD LP (channel 30). WCKD was WVII's first venture into low power broadcasting in Bangor; it signed a local marketing agreement with James McLeod, owner of channel 30 (then known as W30BF, the former Bangor transmitter for Maine Public Television Plus) and WBGR, in 2000, this did not stop the station from continuing its existing relationship with Fox Sports. There is no local branding and/or logo indicating the secondary MyNetworkTV affiliation status aside from network promotions. As a low power station, WFVX was exempt from the digital transition on June 12, 2009; however, on February 17, WVII added a new second digital subchannel to carry WFVX's programming. WFVX has a construction permit to perform a "flash cut" from analog to digital on the channel 22. On January 23, 2013, the station's call letters was changed to WFVX LD ("LD" stands for low powered digital). On February 28, 2022, WFVX and WVII temporarily changed their logos to blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag, in support of Ukraine after the 2022 Russian invasion.

There is little in the way of local programming on WFVX. A weekday morning talk show, So Goes the Nation, was met with little success. This program was hosted by Charlie Horne and Alan Silberberg from the WFVX studios in Bangor. Originally launched on WCKD LP in 2002, it moved to WFVX upon its launch, and subsequently added simulcasts on WPFO and WLOB radio in Portland. The broadcast was a three hour call in talk show until September 2004 when it was reduced to a single hour before being canceled altogether in November of that year. WFVX carried Shop at Home overnights until its closure in March 2008; Jewelry Television was added at that time. Since August 2008, WFVX and WVII have also carried programming from the New England Patriots Television Network; the stations split airings of pre season games, and WFVX airs Patriots All Access, produced out of Boston's WBZ TV, Sunday mornings at 11 during the NFL season. Starting in November 2009, WFVX began airing IWE: Championship Wrestling every Saturday night; it has since been dropped. In June 2013, WFVX and WVII reached a deal to carry Husson University sports. This was followed a month later with a deal to carry University of Maine sports; as a result, WFVX and WVII replace WABI TV as the television flagship of the Black Bear Sports Network. As part of the deal, Black Bear sports telecasts will also be seen on Fox College Sports, and production will be handled by Pack Network (WABI had produced its telecasts in house).