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WUAB, identified on-air as UPN43, is the local UPN affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio. It was an independant station from it's inception in 1968 to 1995. In 1995 it became a dual UPN/WB affiliate. As the two network's lineups expanded to Monday through Friday, WUAB stayed with UPN (WB went to WBNX in 1997). Between 1999 and 2002, the channel was known as Hometeam 43 to promote the fact that they carried both the Indians and Cavaliers,then it changed its moniker to 43 "THE BLOCK". Its transmitter is located in Parma, Ohio.

History

WUAB had the humblest of beginnings. United Artists Broadcasting was its original owner, bringing the station to life on September 15, 1968. Its main studio was in a trailer in downtown Cleveland. The Federal Communications Commission licensed WUAB to Lorain, Ohio, 25 miles to the west of Cleveland. WUAB quickly overcame a shaky start to become one of the country's top independent stations. The station's talents, such as Linn Sheldon, had been polished TV personalities with experience on Cleveland's network affiliates.

Originally, WUAB's slogan was Channel 43 plays favorites. Most of these favorites were cartoons, syndicated off-network sitcoms, movies, and religious shows. WUAB broadcast these shows out of a new facility on Day Drive in suburban Parma, which opened in the early 1970s.

WUAB was one of two independent stations in the market back in the early 1970s. Its competitor WKBF 61 (owned by Kaiser) had a similar format. Both stations went head to head and struggled to be profitable. Both signed on everyday at around 10am and went off the air by 1am.

By 1974, United Artists was planning to exit the broadcasting industry, and sold WUAB to Kaiser (which had been wanting better programming for its Cleveland station). Kaiser took over WUAB in the spring of 1975, and merged WUAB's programming assets with WKBF's. The combined station chose to remain on channel 43 as WUAB, and the channel 61 license was returned to the FCC. WKBF went off the air in 1975, and WUAB was now the only independent station in town. WUAB now signed on at 6am and signed off very late at night.

In 1977, Field Communications bought the rest of Kaiser's share in its television outlets. WUAB Cleveland and KBSC Los Angeles were not included in the sale. KBSC was sold to National Subscription TV while WUAB was sold to the Gaylord Broadcasting Company in 1977. Quickly, Gaylord understood how to maintain the station's excellence. The station pulled off a major coup in 1980 by winning the broadcast rights to the Cleveland Indians MLB baseball team. (WUAB continued to air Indians' games for 22 years, with the last game originating from the SkyDome, now Rogers Centre, in Toronto on October 7, 2001.) The station also became broadcast home of the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers. During this time, it appeared on several cable systems in Ohio, as well as West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Western Ontario.

WUAB remained the leading independent into the 1980s. Channel 61 returned to the air as WCLQ in 1981 but was way behind WUAB at that point. In 1985, 19 WOIO signed on with an entertainment format as well. Both WOIO and WUAB went head to head, with 55 WBNX joining the competition late in 1985. However, WOIO became a Fox affiliate in 1986, and overtook WUAB in the ratings.

Still another deft stroke for WUAB was its 10:00 P.M. newscast, launched January 4, 1988. Proven professionals such as Romona Robinson (weeknights) and Bob Hetherington, (Jack Marschall didn't come along until a year and 1/2 after) Frank Carivello was the 1st weatherman and Gib Shanley came out of retirement from WEWS to be the 1st sports director at the station. (weekends) were part of the original news team.

In 1989, Gaylord sold WUAB to Cannell Broadcasting. Though the station performed adequately in the ratings under Cannell ownership, the company was unable to restore the station to its former glory.

In 1991, Malrite (WOIO's owner) signed a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Cannel, and as a result, WOIO and WUAB became sister stations. WUAB was still technically owned by Cannel, but the station was now managed in tandem with WOIO. Both stations moved to a location at downtown Cleveland's Reserve Square. The move came as a relief to the WUAB news department: its old location in Parma had been across the street from the back of Parmatown Mall, and the station's news vehicles were stuck in the midst of mall traffic all too often. WUAB's move left the Day Drive facility vacant until an office supply store moved in.

WOIO became the market's CBS station after an affiliation switch in 1994, and moved most of its sitcoms and non-Fox cartoons to WUAB. At that time, WUAB began producing two daily newscasts to be aired on WOIO in addition to their own 10PM newscast under the moniker "CLEVELAND TELEVISION NEWS".

WUAB ceased to be an independent station in 1995, when it became the market's affiliate for both the UPN and WB networks. The dual-affiliation did not cause the station any problems at first, as both networks only programmed for a few nights of the week. However, in 1998, WUAB became solely affiliated with UPN, leaving the WB affiliation to WBNX. WUAB dropped children's programming in the fall of 2003, by which time Raycom bought the station outright (it should be noted that of all the UPN affiliates owned by Raycom, that WUAB is the only full-powered one--see main Raycom page for details).

The station, along with WOIO, is currently owned by Raycom (Malrite's successor since the late 1990s). WOIO now manages WUAB's news division producing a 10PM newscast Monday-Sunday under the "19 ACTION NEWS AT 10" moniker. However earlier this was 43 Action News.

Cleveland Cavaliers

WUAB is the longtime "free TV" home of the Cleveland Cavaliers, airing some 25-30 games per year.

Thanks in large part to LeBron James, Cavaliers games have been big ratings grabbers for the station over the past few years.

External links

• WUAB
• Template:TVQ

• UPN network affiliates