WOFL

WOFL

Orlando–Daytona Beach–Melbourne, Florida United States
City	Orlando, Florida
Channels	Digital: 33 (UHF) Virtual: 35
Branding	Fox 35 Orlando; Fox 35 News
Programming
Affiliations	35.1: Fox 35.2: Buzzr 35.3: Fox Weather
Ownership
Owner	Fox Television Stations, LLC
Sister stations	WOGX, WRBW
History
First air date	March 31, 1974 (50 years ago) (1974-03-31)[a]
Former call signs	WSWB (1974–1976)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 35 (UHF, 1974–2009) Digital: 22 (UHF, until 2020)
Former affiliations	Independent (1974–1976, 1979–1986) Dark (1976–1979)
Call sign meaning	Orlando, Florida
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	41225
ERP	1,000 kW
HAAT	447 m (1,467 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	28°36′14″N 81°5′10″W / 28.60389°N 81.08611°W / 28.60389; -81.08611
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	fox35orlando.com

WOFL (channel 35) is a television station in Orlando, Florida, United States, serving as the market's Fox network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV station WRBW (channel 65). The two stations share studios on Skyline Drive in Lake Mary; WOFL's transmitter is located in Bithlo, Florida. WOFL's local news programming is also broadcast on co-owned WOGX, serving Ocala and Gainesville.

Channel 35 in Orlando went on the air as WSWB-TV on March 31, 1974. Built by Sun World Broadcasters, WSWB-TV was Orlando's first independent station. After facing 19 months of construction delays, it suffered from financial difficulties within months of launching. This culminated in the station's equipment being seized by federal marshals on September 30, 1976. Three years of legal wrangling over a buyer followed. Omega Communications, a company led by former Taft Broadcasting executive Bud Rogers, beat out Ted Turner and the Christian Broadcasting Network and put channel 35 back on the air October 15, 1979, as WOFL. Under Omega and Meredith Corporation, which became its full owner in 1983, the station prospered as the highest-rated and, for some years, the only full-market independent station in rapidly growing Central Florida.

WOFL began airing local newscasts in March 1998, first at 10 p.m. before expanding to mornings. After Meredith traded WOFL to Fox Television Stations in 2002, the news department grew aggressively over the course of the 2000s, with additional hours of morning, early evening, and late evening newscasts.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).