WFNA (TV) - History

History

WFNA began broadcasting as WBPG on Channel 55 on September 2, 2001, replacing WFGX as the area's WB Television Network affiliate after the station reverted to independent status on August 31 of the same year. WFGX's signal reaches mostly the Pensacola side of the market, but WBPG could reach both areas. The original call letters were WGMP (meaning Gulf Shores, Mobile, Pensacola) before the station went on the air. Pegasus Broadcasting originally owned the station until Emmis Communications, owners of WALA purchased the station in 2003. Both stations have since been located under one facility. Its transmitter is located at the WALA-TV tower near Spanish Fort, Alabama.

When LIN acquired WALA-TV on November 30, 2005, the company began operating WBPG (which had already been WALA's sister station under Emmis) under a local marketing agreement (LMA). A little over seven months later, on July 7, 2006, LIN purchased WBPG outright.

On September 18, 2006, WBPG joined the CW Television Network, formed by the merger of the WB and the United Paramount Network.

With WALA having been relaunched using the myFox format, WBPG is now relaunched on a separate website on late August 2007.

The station changed its call letters to WFNA in October 2009, as part of a larger rebranding campaign that took effect on December 18. The branding de-emphasized the network branding in favor of the station's call letters — a practice similar to that of Tribune Broadcasting's CW affiliates.

However, in September 2012, WFNA changed their branding to "CW55" in a style very similar to the CW network and their affiliates.