Orlando's leading independent
On June 15, 1979, the FCC approved the transfer of the channel 35 license to Omega Communications, Inc. The station changed its call sign from WSWB-TV to WOFL on August 30, and the new owners set to work converting a former bank on Orange Blossom Trail into channel 35's new studios. Lauding WSWB-TV's general manager in 1976, Ray Balsom, for keeping the station afloat and even profitable in the months before it closed, Rogers tapped him to be WOFL's first general manager. WOFL launched on October 15, 1979, again utilizing a typical independent station format.[42][43] The Meredith Corporation of Des Moines, Iowa, had invested in Omega Communications before WOFL went on air and held a 40-percent stake as well as a buyout option that it could trigger before 1984. It acquired the remainder of Omega in a 1983 transaction valuing the station at $27.6 million—a substantial return on the $1.2 million Omega had paid to buy the facility out of receivership.[44][45] In the years after its relaunch, WOFL was the primary independent station in its market, with a market share of 8 to 9 percent. In 1982, Central Florida gained its second independent, WMOD (channel 43). Licensed to Melbourne, it lacked the corporate and programming resources and technical facility of WOFL and only had a market share of 3 percent by late 1984.[46][47] Though stations across Central Florida attempted to compete, only WOFL had a good signal and cable coverage in Orlando, while two other channels allotted to Orlando (27 and 65) were in the hearing phase.[48] In October 1986, WOFL became the Orlando-market affiliate of the new Fox network;[49] it considered leaving in 1988, when several Fox affiliates dropped the network over its weak Saturday night lineup.[50]
With its prosperity, the station expanded its facilities and attempted to expand its coverage. In 1986, Meredith completed new studios for the station along Interstate 4 in the Orlando suburb of Lake Mary, consisting of a $5 million building and $1.5 million in new equipment.[51] The larger studio facility was used not only by WOFL but other production endeavors and even other divisions of Meredith. Parts of the 1988 film Ernest Saves Christmas were filmed at channel 35,[52] and the Meredith-owned magazine Golf for Women occupied space that had been designated for a future newsroom.[53]
As early as 1983, a locally owned low-power TV station in Crystal River, W49AI, was on air, rebroadcasting WOFL to a small area in Citrus County.[54] Meredith filed in 1986 to build channel 64, licensed to Inverness, as a rebroadcaster of WOFL under the proposed call sign WIFL. The application was contested by Ocala–based independent station WBSP-TV (channel 51, later WOGX) and the FCC's own Mass Media Bureau, which noted that multiple other applicants for the channel had sought full-service stations, not repeaters.[55][56] In 1989, WOGX appealed the FCC's award of a construction permit to the full commission.[57]
WOGX was acquired by Meredith from Wabash Valley Broadcasting in 1995.[58] When the sale took effect on January 1, 1996, WOFL's general manager assumed responsibility for WOGX, and the company set up data links between the two stations.[59] Master control for WOGX moved to Lake Mary; of 30 jobs in Ocala, eight to nine were eliminated, and another 11 were transferred to Lake Mary. The combination added 94,000 Gainesville-area homes to WOFL's viewing area.[60]
On January 24, 1997, Meredith announced its acquisition of First Media Television, which owned three stations—including Orlando's CBS affiliate, WCPX-TV (channel 6).[61] At the time, duopolies were not allowed; Meredith had to select a station to keep. Employees at both stations suggested that WOFL would be chosen for sale,[62] but Meredith kept WOFL and instead traded WCPX to Post-Newsweek Stations.[63]
