WMEU-CD, virtual channel 48 (UHF digital channel 18), is a Class A independent television station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, United States. The station is owned by locally based Weigel Broadcasting, and is sister to fellow Weigel flagship properties, CW station WCIU-TV (channel 26) and MeTV outlet WWME-CD (channel 23). All three stations share studios on Halsted Street (between Washington Boulevard and Madison Street) in the Greektown neighborhood; WMEU-CD's transmitter is located atop the Willis Tower on South Wacker Drive in the Chicago Loop.
Even though WMEU operates a digital signal of its own, the low-powered broadcasting radius does not reach the outer ring of Chicago proper or surrounding suburbs. Therefore, the station can also be seen through a 16:9 widescreen standard definition simulcast on WCIU-TV's second digital subchannel in order to reach the entire market. This signal can be seen on UHF channel 27.2 (or virtual channel 26.2 via PSIP), broadcasting from the Willis Tower transmitter.
The station is available on RCN channel 35, AT&T U-verse channel 24, WOW! digital channel 170, Comcast Xfinity digital channels 230 and 360, and Dish Network channel 48.
History[]
Early history[]
The station first signed on the air on October 28, 1987 as W54AP, originally broadcasting on UHF channel 54. In the late 1990s, it became an affiliate of the Eternal Word Television Network. The station moved to UHF channel 48 in 2004, and changed its callsign to W48DD.
On January 1, 2005, the station's callsign was changed again to WFBT-CA and adopted an ethnic programming format called "FBT" (Foreign-language Broadcast Television) and changed its callsign to WFBT-CA; the FBT format originated on WWME-CA (channel 23), which previously held the WFBT call letters (as WFBT-CA) from 2001 until 2004, shortly after that station expanded the block of classic television shows it began airing one year earlier in January 2003 (including many series that previously aired on WCIU-TV) into a 24-hour format called "MeTV".
Conversion to classic television format as "MeToo"[]
On March 1, 2008, channel 48 adopted a new programming format as "MeToo", serving as an extension of WWME's MeTV classic television format; accordingly, the station changed its callsign to WMEU-CA. The ethnic programming that was dropped by WMEU returned to WCIU through the launch of a new locally programmed service called "FBT" on digital subchannel 26.6 (FBT was dropped on December 1, 2010 and was replaced by a simulcast of WCIU-TV until the subchannel was removed on December 15). Prime time feature films were added to the station's schedule on June 30, 2008, when WMEU-CA debuted Me-Too's Movie Classics, which showcased classic films from the 1950s to the 1970s without editing – outside of necessary removal of inapporiate content – at 7:00 p.m. each weeknight. In an effort to streamline the schedules of both MeTV stations, on September 14, 2009, WMEU's MeToo schedule was restructured to feature only dramatic programs and films while the MeTV schedule on WWME was reformatted to mainly feature comedic series. newcupidonline.com
The station's call letters were changed to WCUU-CA on September 22, 2010; however, just a month-and-a-half later on November 5, they were reverted to the prior WMEU-CA calls. On December 15, 2010, WMEU added comedy programming to its schedule, coinciding with MeTV's expansion into a nationally-distributed television network (WWME became the flagship station of the national MeTV service, as well as an owned-and-operated station of the network). As a result, both WWME and WMEU once again maintained identical formats, albeit with different programming from the national MeTV network (which focuses mainly on series from the 1950s to the 1970s) as WMEU/MeToo continued to incorporate series from the 1980s to the 2000s onto its schedule, in addition to programs from prior decades. The WMEU/MeToo simulcast on WCIU's signal moved to that station's 26.4 subchannel with the format change. In addition, This TV moved to WCIU subchannel 26.5.
On January 5, 2011, PSIP channel 48.1 was temporarily discontinued while 23.1 reverted to being the virtual channel number for WWME-CA (23.2 was discontinued at that time, but later returned as an affiliate of Bounce TV). On April 24, 2012, WMEU-CA filed an application to transfer its Class A status from its analog allotment to its digital frequency. On April 30, the call letters for the digital signal were changed to WMEU-CD, while the analog channel's calls became WMEU-LP.
Switch to "The U Too"[]
In September 2013, WMEU dropped the MeToo format (which moved to WWME analog channel 23, while continuing to air on WCIU digital subchannel 26.4 until it was replaced by Heroes & Icons on December 29, 2014). Digital channel 48.1 began running a high-definition feed of "The U Too", a general entertainment service which originated as a subchannel-only service on WCIU digital subchannel 26.2 on January 5, 2011 (replacing the WWME simulcast, which moved to WCIU digital subchannel 26.3 on December 15, 2010). and continues to be transmitted in 16:9 standard definition widescreen on that channel).
| TV stations in Illinois | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago market independent stations: | Chicago market Spanish stations: | Chicago market religious stations: | Other stations: |
| WGN, Chicago | WOCK-CD, Chicago | WEDE-CD, Arlington Heights | W15BU-D, Johnson City |
| WESV-LD, Chicago | WWTO, Naperville | WTJR, Quincy | |
| WMEU-CD, Chicago | WSNS, Chicago | WDCI-LD, Chicago | WHOI, Peoria |
| WXFT, Aurora | WLPD-CD, Chicago | WCHU-LD, Rochelle | |
| WPVN-CD, Aurora | WTCT, Chicago | WWME-CD, Chicago | |
| WGBO-DT, Aurora | WPXS, Mount Vernon, IL/St. Louis, MO | WRJK-LP, Chicago | |
| WYCC, Chicago | |||
| W40CN-D, Sugar Grove | |||
| WLCF-LD, Decatur | |||
| WBXC-CD, Champaign | |||
| WCHU-LD, Rochelle | |||
| W25DW-D, Chicago | |||
| WMWC, Galesburg | |||
| TV stations in Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana |
|---|
| WBBM 2 (CBS) WMAQ 5 (NBC) WLS 7 (ABC) WGN 9 (Ind) WTTW 11 (PBS) WOCK-CD 13 (Ind) WYCC 20 (MHz) WRJK-LP 22 (Diya TV) WWME-CD 23 (MeTV) WPVN-CD 24 (AZA) W25DW-D 25 (HSN) WCIU 26 (CW) WLPD-CD 30 (Inspire) WFLD 32 (Fox) WEDE-CD 34 (Ind) WWTO 35 (TBN) WCPX 38 (Ion) WESV-LD 40 (ESTRELLA) WSNS 44 (TLM) WMEU-CD 48 (Ind) WPWR 50 (MNTV) WYIN 56 (PBS) WDCI-LD 57 (Daystar) WXFT-DT 60 (UMas) WCHU-LD 61 (JTV) WJYS 62 (Ind) WGBO-DT 66 (UNI) |