WEVV-TV

WEVV-TV, virtual channel 44 (UHF digital channel 45), is a primary CBS-, and subchannel-only Fox- and MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station located in Evansville, Indiana, United States. The station is owned by Bayou City Broadcasting. WEVV maintains studio facilities located on Carpenter and Bond Streets in Downtown Evansville; WEVV maintains transmitter facilities located at John James Audubon State Park in Henderson, Kentucky.

History

Early history

Channel 44 first signed on the air on November 17, 1983, as an independent station. The station was originally owned by Ralph Wilson (owner of San Francisco independent station KICU-TV, and founder of the Buffalo Bills). It was the first full-market independent station in the Tri-State, and the first full-market commercial television station to sign on in the Evansville market since WTVW (channel 7, now a CW affiliate) debuted 27 years earlier in August 1956.

Competing independent station WLCN (channel 19, later WAZE-TV and now defunct) – which signed one month after WEVV began operations – primarily served the southern part of the market at the time. The station originally operated from studio facilities located on Main Street and Riverside Drive in downtown Evansville.