WIYC (channel 48) is a

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...

licensed to

Troy, Alabama Troy is a city in and the county seat of Pike County, Alabama, United States. It was formally incorporated on February 4, 1843. Between 1763 and 1783, the area where Troy sits was part of the colony of British West Florida.The Economy of Bri ...

, United States, serving the Montgomery area as an affiliate of

Cozi TV Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1950s to the 2000s. The network originat ...

. It is owned by

Allen Media Group Allen Media Group, alternately known by its former name of Entertainment Studios, Inc. is an American media and entertainment company based in Los Angeles. Owned and founded in 1993 by businessman Byron Allen, the company was initially involved ...

alongside

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

affiliate

WCOV-TV WCOV-TV (channel 20) is a television station in Montgomery, Alabama, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Allen Media Group alongside Cozi TV affiliate WIYC (channel 48) and low-power local weather station WALE-LD ( ...

(channel 20) and low-power local weather station WALE-LD (channel 17). The three stations share studios on WCOV Avenue in the Normandale section of Montgomery; WIYC's transmitter is located on County Road 37 in rural

Bullock County Bullock County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,357. Union Springs was chosen as the county seat in 1867, and presently is the county's only incorporated city. The county was named for Con ...

History

The station came on the air on November 24, 2000, as WRJM-TV, an affiliate of the United Paramount Network (

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries (later sold to News Corporation)'s subsidiary, United Television, ...

). Following the announcement of the merger between UPN and

The WB The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB, stylized as "THE WB", and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on ter ...

to form

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

, WRJM signed an affiliation agreement with

News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...

's new upstart programming service,

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...

. The station made the switch between affiliations on MyNetworkTV's first day of broadcast, September 5, 2006. In addition to MyNetworkTV programming, WRJM-TV showed traditional syndicated fare, local programming, and sports, including

Troy University Troy University is a public university in Troy, Alabama, United States. It was founded in 1887 as Troy State Normal School within the Alabama State University System, and is now the flagship university of the Troy University System. It was one ...

and high school sports. In February 2008, the station went into receivership after defaulting on a $2.9 million loan to Citizens Bank. WRJM received an extension of time to construct its previously approved digital facilities, through November 19, 2008. Bankruptcy receiver Walter P. Lunsford filed with the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) that the station is being offered for sale. He noted that any new owner would be responsible for construction of WRJM's digital facilities, since no construction has taken place due to the station's financial condition. On January 16, 2009, Southern Venture Capital Group began operating WRJM via a

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...

; on April 20, SVCG entered an agreement to purchase the station outright for $3 million. In August 2009 SVCG assigned the LMA and purchase agreement to Artists and Fans Network, Inc. In April 2009, the station ceased to carry MyNetworkTV programming; at the time, the station cited satellite problems and a need to reconfigure the station's equipment for its digital transition (though the station has also since dropped all syndicated programming, in favor of

The Country Network The Country Network is an American cable, streaming and broadcast television network that specializes in broadcasting country music videos and exclusive original music-based content; its playlist of videos extends from the 1990s through the pre ...

(TCN), a subchannel featuring country music videos and performances). That May, WRJM suffered a

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

strike, forcing the station to end analog transmission; the station then ordered equipment to convert to digital. It would not be until 2014 when MyNetworkTV found another affiliate, low-powered WDSF-LD, which serves the immediate Montgomery area. Since WRJM's disaffiliation, most area cable systems carried

WABM WABM (channel 68) is a television station in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Homewood, Alabama, Homewood-licensed The CW, CW affiliate WTTO (channel 21) and low- ...

from the adjacent

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

market. The station changed its call letters to WIYC in November 2009. In 2011, WIYC dropped TCN in favor of

WeatherNation WeatherNation TV (branded on-air as simply WeatherNation) is an American broadcast, digital streaming, cable, and satellite television network owned by WeatherNation, Inc, a subsidiary of Performance One Media and ultimately owned by Robert J ...

, a weather information network similar to

The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel ...

. It then changed affiliates again in 2013, this time affiliating with Cozi TV. On November 15, 2017, Neal Ardman filed to sell WIYC to Woods Communications Corporation for $1 million. The sale would create a

duopoly A duopoly (from Greek , ; and , ) is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market, and most (if not all) of the competition within that market occurs directly between them. Duopoly is the most commonly ...

with Fox affiliate WCOV-TV (channel 20); as Montgomery does not have enough television stations to permit a legal duopoly, Woods sought a failing station waiver for the purchase. The sale was completed on April 3, 2018. In 2020, MyNetworkTV reaffiliated with WIYC, sharing 48.2 with

Decades A decade (from , , ) is a period of 10 years. Decades may describe any 10-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years. Usage Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement t ...

Sale to Allen Media Group

On December 15, 2021, it was announced that Allen Media Group, a subsidiary of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

–based

Entertainment Studios Allen Media Group, alternately known by its former name of Entertainment Studios, Inc. is an American media and entertainment company based in Los Angeles. Owned and founded in 1993 by businessman Byron Allen, the company was initially involved ...

, would purchase WIYC, WCOV-TV and WALE-LD for $28.5 million; the sale was completed on April 14, 2023. On June 1, 2025, amid financial woes and rising debt, Allen Media Group announced that it would explore "strategic options" for the company, such as a sale of its television stations (including WIYE, WCOV and WALE-LD).

Subchannels

The station's signal is

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource— ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiyc 2000 establishments in Alabama Catchy Comedy affiliates Charge! (TV network) affiliates Comet (TV network) affiliates Court TV affiliates Cozi TV affiliates Allen Media Group Heroes & Icons affiliates MyNetworkTV affiliates Roar (TV network) affiliates Television channels and stations established in 2000 IYC