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| City | Providence, Rhode Island |
| Channels | |
| Branding |
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| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner | Mission Broadcasting |
| Operator | Nexstar Media Group |
| WPRI-TV | |
| History | |
First air date | December 1981[a] |
Former call signs |
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Former channel number(s) |
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Call sign meaning | Originally used by Boston station WNAC-TV |
| Technical information[5] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 73311 |
| ERP | 30 kW |
| HAAT | 305 m (1,001 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°52′36″N 71°16′55″W / 41.87667°N 71.28194°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | |
WNAC-TV (channel 64), branded on-air as Fox Providence, is a television station in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, affiliated with Fox and The CW. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Nexstar Media Group, owner of dual CBS/MyNetworkTV affiliate WPRI-TV (channel 12), for the provision of certain services. The two stations share studios on Catamore Boulevard in East Providence, Rhode Island; WNAC-TV's transmitter is located on Homestead Avenue in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.
The license history of WNAC-TV stretches back to WNET (channel 16), the second TV station in Providence, which operated from 1954 to 1955 amid an unsuccessful multi-year fight to prevent channel 12 from going on the air. The station successfully appealed a 1969 action to delete its construction permit, but in that time it lost its call letters and its channel and was reassigned to channel 64. The permit was acquired by Subscription Television of America in 1978 and returned to air as WSTG in 1981. The new owners intended to broadcast part-time subscription television service but never did so; the station operated on a very limited basis while a buyer was sought.
Providence Television acquired WSTG in 1984 and relaunched it that September as the Providence market's first independent station. It struggled to attract viewers used to watching the independents from the adjacent Boston market and filed for bankruptcy reorganization in 1986. Sudbrink Broadcasting purchased it out of bankruptcy and affiliated it with the Fox network when it launched; the new owners raised channel 64's local profile by airing University of Rhode Island Rams men's basketball and benefited from the growth of Fox. Ratings and revenue improved under Sudbrink and the next three owners: Price Communications, Northstar Television Group, and Argyle Television.
In 1996, Argyle entered into a local marketing agreement with Clear Channel Communications, then-owner of WPRI-TV. A 10 p.m. newscast for the station debuted the following January; the news offering expanded with the creation of morning and early evening newscasts in the late 2000s. After several changes in ownership of WPRI-TV, the license for WNAC-TV was transferred to a family member of an executive of Providence-based LIN Broadcasting, which owned channel 12 in the 2000s and early 2010s, and to Mission Broadcasting in 2021. The CW moved to a subchannel of WNAC-TV in 2017.
- ^ "WNAC-TV". Television and Cable Factbook. Vol. 74. 2006. p. A-1954.
- ^ "WSTG". Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook. 1984. p. C-48.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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Prov811129was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Facility Technical Data for WNAC-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
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