WRGT-TV
WRGT-TV is a broadcast television station in
Dayton, Ohio affiliated with the
Fox network. It broadcasts on channel 45. WRGT is owned by the
Sinclair Broadcast Group.
WRGT signed on as an independent station on
September 17,
1984. The station was owned by
Act III Broadcasting. The station ran a general entertainment format consisting of cartoons, classic sitcoms, recent off network sitcoms, old movies, drama shows and sports. Act III wanted assurance they would be the only independent in town. So shortly before signing on they bought the small programming inventory of secular shows ran on Channel 26 previously and these shows would move to Channel 45 when it signed on. Channel 26 then would become strictly religious.
WRGT was very profitable. While the only independent in town offering general entertainment, Dayton also received WXIX and WIII (now
WSTR) out of Cincinnati. In
1987 WRGT gained a
Fox affiliation and became known as Fox 45. Act III meanwhile built a station in
Charleston, West Virginia in
1985,
Charleston, South Carolina in
1986 plus they bought stations in
Greensboro, North Carolina &
Buffalo, New York in
1987,
Richmond, Virginia in
1988 and
Nashville, Tennessee in
1989. In those markets they prevented independent station from competing by buying their assets and selling off the competition excluding programming to a non commercial interest. In Dayton the only other available license was then all religious so WRGT was secure as the only independent in town.
Act III merged with Abry in
1992. Abry would sell most of their stations to Sinclair in 1996 but sold WRGT Fox 45 to Sullivan (which Sinclair would still manage). By
1999 more reality and talk shows would be in Fox 45's mix.
In
1998 Sullivan's managing partner, Sinclair, bought WKEF the then
NBC (now
ABC) affiliate in a merger. In 2001 Sinclair would also buy WRGT.
Also in 1998, WRGT started their 10pm newscast, using WKEF's newsteam. In the 2006 February Sweeps period, Fox 45's 10pm newscast was the fastest growing newscast out of any in the Dayton market, sometimes winning the 10pm timeslot on certain nights.
In 2006, Fox 45 started the Dayton market's first all local morning news program from 7-9am.
Image:Wrgt4586.jpg|WRGT logo from 1986. The fonts in this logo were very similar to the ones used by stations owned by Meredith Corporation; however, Meredith never owned WRGT.*
WeekdaysFox 45 In the Morning 7:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m
Fox 45 Dayton's News Source at 10 10:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m.
*
WeekendsFox 45 Dayton's News Source at 10 10:00 p.m.-10:30 p.m.
*
DaytonsNewsSource.com
