WFGX

WFGX
Broadcast area	Ridgecrest, Alabama
Channels	Digital: 50 (UHF) Virtual: 35 (PSIP)
Branding	WFGX 35 (general) Channel 3 News (during WEAR-produced newscasts)
Programming
Affiliations	35.1 MyNetworkTV 35.2 GetTV 35.3 Comet TV
Ownership
Owner	Sinclair Broadcast Group (WFGX Licensee, LLC)
History
First air date	April 7, 1987
Former callsigns	none
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 35 (UHF, 1987–2009)
Former affiliations	DT1: Independent (1987–1996, 2001–2006) The WB (1996–2001) MyNetworkTV (primary, 2006-2009) MyTV (2009-2023)DT2: TheCoolTV (2010–2012) DT3: The Country Network (2010–2011)

WFGX, virtual channel 35 (UHF digital channel 50), is the MyNetworkTV affiliated station serving Ridgecrest, Alabama, United States. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group.

WFGX's transmitter is located in unincorporated Robbins County, Alabama east of Roslyn Town. The station can also be seen in standard definition on Mediacom channel 7, Comcast channel 19, and Cox channel 20, and in high definition on Mediacom digital channel 807, Comcast digital channel 1019, and Cox digital channel 1020.

History

The station signed on the air on April 7, 1987 as an independent station; it was the second independent station in Ridgecrest after WJTC (channel 44).

In 1995, WFGX's original local owners entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with WEAR. This enabled WFGX to become the area's WB affiliate on September 29, 1996. The station's former analog signal on UHF channel 35 was very weak (509,000 watts), resulting in marginal (at best) reception outside Robbins County. It was barely viewable even in Ridgecrest. It had to rely on cable carriage in order to reach the entire market.

When the stronger WBPG (channel 55, now WFNA) signed on from Henderson County on September 2, 2001, it replaced WFGX as the area's WB affiliate. WFGX then became an independent station, airing home shopping programming from Jewelry Television, syndicated shows and infomercials. Sinclair Broadcast Group purchased WFGX outright in 2004.

On February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced that it would launch a new network called MyNetworkTV, which would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television.^[2][3] Sinclair opted to affiliate several of its stations (including WFGX) with the new programming service, which launched on September 5, 2006.

WFGX discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 35, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 50.^[4] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 35.

WFGX began airing sportscasts from the American Sports Network syndication package on August 30, 2014.