WMOW (channel 4) 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

Crandon, Wisconsin Crandon is a city in Forest County, Wisconsin, United States; it is in the northeastern part of the state, about north of Green Bay. The population was 1,713 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Forest County and is the only inco ...

, United States, affiliated with

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

. It is a full-time

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

of Wausau-licensed WAOW (channel 9) which 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 ...

. WMOW's transmitter is located just east of downtown Crandon; its parent station maintains studios on Grand Avenue/

US 51 U.S. Route 51 or U.S. Highway 51 (US 51) is a major south–north United States highway that extends from the western suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana, to within of the Wisconsin–Michigan state line. As most of the United States Numbered Hi ...

in Wausau. Besides the transmitter, WMOW does not maintain any physical presence locally in Crandon.

History

Founded December 4, 1998, the station first signed-on February 9, 2001, as WBIJ. It was a FamilyNet affiliate owned by Dennis Selenka. The station aired an analog signal on VHF channel 4. Since WBIJ was granted its

construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

after the finalization of 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) digital television allotment plan on April 21, 1997, it did not receive a companion digital channel. After Dennis Selenka's death on September 30, 2008,

Quincy Newspapers Quincy Media, Inc., formerly known as Quincy Newspapers, Inc., was a family-owned media company that originated in the newspapers of Quincy, Illinois. The company's history can be traced back to 1835, when the ''Bounty Land Register'' was one of ...

purchased WBIJ from his widow for $1.5 million on February 13, 2009. The company announced its intention to run WBIJ as a second satellite station of WAOW to serve the northeast portion of the Wausau market in a similar capacity that WYOW does for the extreme northern part of the

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...

. In the meantime, WBIJ signed off on June 12 at the end of the digital transition for full-service stations as it did not yet have digital facilities ready. Quincy brought the station back on-the-air as WMOW on June 4, 2010, as an affiliate of

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 ...

. This station operates its digital signal on VHF channel 12 which was the former analog home of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

affiliate

WJFW-TV WJFW-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Rhinelander, Wisconsin, United States, serving the Wausau area as an affiliate of NBC. The station is owned by Rockfleet Broadcasting and maintains studios on County Road G (along WIS 17 ...

. On June 19, 2011, WAOW (and in turn WMOW-DT2) became the market's second television outlet to upgrade local news to high definition level. Included in the change was a redesigned set and updated graphics scheme. On January 7, 2021, Quincy Media announced that it had put itself up for sale. On February 1,

Gray Television Gray Media, Inc., doing business as Gray Television, is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 statio ...

announced it would purchase Quincy's radio and TV properties for $925 million. As Gray already owns WSAW-TV in the Wausau/Rhinelander market, and both that station and WAOW rank among the market's top four stations, it agreed to sell WAOW in order to satisfy FCC requirements. On April 29, Gray announced that WMOW and WAOW would be divested to 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 ...

, in a $380 million deal that includes, among other Quincy-owned stations,

WKOW WKOW (channel 27) is a television station in Madison, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by Allen Media Group. The station's studios are located on Tokay Boulevard on Madison's west side, and i ...

/ Madison,

WXOW WXOW (channel 19) is a television station in La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by Allen Media Group. The station's studios and transmitter are located on Houston County, Minnesota, C ...

La Crosse La Crosse ( ) is a city in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population was 52,680 as of the 20 ...

, and

WQOW WQOW (channel 18) is a television station in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States, serving the Chippewa Valley as an affiliate of American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Owned by Allen Media Group, the station has studios on Friedeck Road in Eau Clai ...

Eau Claire Eau Claire (French for "clear water", ''pl.'' ''eaux claires'') is the name of a number of locations and features in North America. The name is pronounced as if it were spelled "O'Clare". Place names (Canada) Communities *Eau Claire, Calgary, a n ...

. The deal closed in August 2021, and did not see Gray have any direct ownership or control of those stations."Gray Sells Divestiture Stations From Quincy Media Transaction to Allen Media for $380 Million,"
press release from GlobeNewswire, April 29, 2021 Gray, however, kept WYOW, which later turned into a full-power satellite of WSAW. 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 WAOW/WMOW).

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

WAOW official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wmow 1998 establishments in Wisconsin Allen Media Group American Broadcasting Company affiliates Catchy Comedy affiliates Court TV affiliates MeTV Toons affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1998 MOW True Crime Network affiliates