WOIO (channel 19) is a television station licensed to Shaker Heights, Ohio, United States, serving the Cleveland area as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power Telemundo affiliate WTCL-LD (channel 6) and Lorain-licensed CW affiliate WUAB (channel 43), the latter station transmitting over WOIO's full-power spectrum via a channel sharing agreement.[1] WOIO, WUAB and WTCL-LD share studios on the ground floor of the Reserve Square building in Downtown Cleveland, with WOIO and WUAB sharing transmitter facilities at the West Creek Reservation in Parma.[4]
Established in 1985, WOIO's entry into the Cleveland market was the culmination of multiple failed attempts to sign on a station on channel 19 over the course of 34 years, four different construction permits and multiple contested bids. Owned initially by a consortium controlled by Hubert B. Payne, the first Black executive at a Cleveland television station, WOIO was sold to Malrite Communications, one of the partners in the consortium, in 1986 for a capital infusion. With studios at Shaker Square, WOIO operated with a minimum of local output but boasted a unique "nineteen" identity and irreverent on-air persona, along with a program inventory of long-established reruns that appealed to a younger audience. A charter affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company and the over-the-air home of Cleveland Cavaliers basketball and Cleveland Browns preseason games, WOIO thrived in competition against the market's established independent WUAB despite ongoing perceptions of being a "video jukebox".
The May 1994 groupwide affiliation pact between WJW-TV owner New World Communications and Fox, along with the complex realignment of network affiliations that followed, resulted in WOIO becoming the market's new CBS affiliate, replacing WJW-TV in the role despite WOIO not having a news department. A local marketing agreement (LMA) between Malrite and WUAB owner Cannell Communications saw Malrite assume control of WUAB and using that station's existing news operation as the basis for newscasts on WOIO. Despite lofty expectations by station management, WOIO's newscasts—rebranded several times and with frequent on- and off-air turnover—remained mired in last place in nearly every timeslot into the 2000s.
Purchased by Raycom Media in 1998, veteran executive Bill Applegate was named as WOIO-WUAB's general manager in 2001. Under Applegate, WOIO's news department was relaunched as 19 Action News, featuring a populist-leaning tabloid style with multiple controversial on-air talent hires and rating stunts. While 19 Action News proved successful in some timeslots, Applegate's immediate successors dropped the tabloid motif in 2015 in favor of the more traditional Cleveland 19 News. Following Gray Television's merger with Raycom, WOIO has revived some of the elements of Action News while repositioning the station's news department for non-linear over-the-top and mobile streaming. A third station in the Gray Cleveland cluster, WTCL-LD, was added in 2022, expanding WOIO's operations to a Spanish-language audience.
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"Modification of a Licensed Facility for DTV Application". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. Archived from the original on October 22, 2022. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
"License To Cover for DTV Application". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. Archived from the original on October 22, 2022. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
^Cite error: The named reference NewsJo19830610p38 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Facility Technical Data for WOIO". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
^O'Brien, Erin (April 27, 2022). "Metroparks Trail Challenge: Center Park loop and rubies in the sky at the West Creek Reservation". FreshWater Cleveland. Archived from the original on October 22, 2022. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
WOIO (channel 19) is a television station licensed to Shaker Heights, Ohio, United States, serving the Cleveland area as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned...
in Miami on the show Deco Drive. Prior to coming to Miami, he worked at WOIO in Cleveland and was a radio personality on WDOK. He is also known for his...
affiliate WOIO (channel 19), the latter station whose full-power spectrum WUAB transmits over via a channel sharing agreement. WUAB, WOIO and WTCL-LD...
on NBC affiliate WKYC channel 3 (1997-2011), and finally on CBS affiliate WOIO Channel 19 (2012-2018). Robinson was born in 1959 in Wilson City, Missouri...
2021. "Jill Biden, Hilda Solis visit Cincinnati State during bus tour". WOIO. February 2012. Archived from the original on March 26, 2018. Retrieved March...
States Department of Justice, National Gang Intelligence Center, 2011, p. 58 "WOIO". Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved October 28,...
2021. Withers, Tom (2 August 2002). "Browns Ban Plastic Bottles Of Beer". WOIO via The Associated Press. Retrieved 18 October 2016. Glenn Cordingley (February...
known locally for his weekly television show on Cleveland CBS affiliate WOIO and his television commercials carrying his trademarked phrase "I'll Make...
Michael Stanley to be honored with street in his name". Cleveland19.com. WOIO/WUAB. Retrieved September 10, 2019. "Cleveland City Council declares March...
shoes developed by local Kirtland residents". WOIO. 21 July 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2019. "A new shoe". WOIO. 21 July 2017. Archived from the original...
January 2, 2014. Retrieved September 15, 2012. "WOIO-TV will launch new Telemundo station in Cleveland". WOIO. Cleveland, Ohio. September 22, 2021. Archived...
2021. "Hundreds gather for funeral of Browns owner". Cleveland 19.com (WOIO/WUAB). October 25, 2002. "Cleveland Browns Football Company, LLC". BBB.org...
part of the NFL as an inspector on Sundays and a Sports Analyst for CBS WOIO Cleveland. During the NFL season, Langhorne is a weekly panelist on the local...
Clyde Cancer Cluster", WOIO February 9, 2011, "Exclusive: Terrified Ohio parents want to know what's killing their children", WOIO February 10, 2011, "Part...
Business Insider. No concerns after Hells Angels move in to Akron neighborhood WOIO (May 19, 2015) Hell's Angels back in Akron John Harper, The Plain Dealer...
"Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster still closed, undergoing maintenance". WOIO. Archived from the original on August 29, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2019...
to 6PM and Matter of fact after the Sunday newscast at 10:30PM. Cleveland WOIO 19.2 10 CBS Gray Television August 1, 2011 MeTV programming is pre-empted...
affiliation agreements. The MeTV channel in the Cleveland, Ohio market, WOIO-DT2, also carries MyNetworkTV, though as a non-prime contractual burn-off...
of KFYR-TV. Semi-satellite of KFYR-TV. Satellite of KMOT. Translator of WOIO and WUAB. Semi-satellite of KPDX. Satellite of KHME. Satellite of KDLT-TV...
Halloween discussion of Cleveland's most gruesome, unsolved crime". CBS 19 (WOIO-TV). Shaker Heights, Ohio, United States of America: Gray Television Inc...
Browns television pre-game and post-game shows on Sundays on CBS affiliate WOIO-TV. Their father, Bob, also played football. Mike and Bob appeared with their...
"Indians announce decision to change team name to Cleveland Guardians". WOIO-TV: 19 News. July 23, 2021. Archived from the original on July 25, 2021....
2021. Withers, Tom (2 August 2002). "Browns Ban Plastic Bottles Of Beer". WOIO via The Associated Press. Retrieved 18 October 2016. Breen, Mark (12 November...
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