WGNO

WGNO, virtual and UHF channel 26, is an ABC-affiliated television station located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The station is owned by the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of the Tribune Media Company, as part of a duopoly with CW affiliate WNOL-TV (channel 38). The two stations share studio facilities located at The Galleria on Galleria Drive (just south of I-10) in Metarie; WGNO maintains transmitter facilities located on Paris Road/Highway 47 in Chalmette. On cable, the station is available on Cox Communications and AT&T U-verse channel 11, and in high definition on Cox Communications and AT&T U-verse channel 1011.

History

As an independent station

The station first signed on the air on Monday, October 16, 1967, as WWOM-TV (standing for "The Wonderful World Of Movies"); the station signed on at 5PM with a greeting by then-Mayor Victor H. Schiro, and its first program was the 1927 Al Jolson film The Jazz Singer. It was the first independent station in the state of Louisiana and the first commercial television station to sign on in New Orleans since WWL-TV (channel 4) debuted as the market's CBS affiliate on September 7, 1957. Originally owned by David Wagenvoord, the station was only on the air for eight hours a day from late afternoon to midnight; its programming consisted mostly of older movies, some theatrical cartoon shorts and a few off-network syndicated programs. During its first decade on the air, the station also cherry-picked several programs from NBC, ABC and CBS that WDSU (channel 6), WVUE-TV (then on channel 12, now on channel 8) and WWL-TV chose not to broadcast. In 1969, the station experimented with a 24-hour daily schedule, claiming to be the first television station in the United States to broadcast on such a schedule; however, this format was short-lived.