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City | Melbourne, Florida |
Channels | |
Branding | Ion |
Programming | |
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Ownership | |
Owner | |
History | |
First air date | May 19, 1986 |
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Former channel number(s) |
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Call sign meaning | Orlando's Pax TV |
Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 67602 |
ERP | 419 kW |
HAAT | 536.6 m (1,760 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 28°16′45.3″N 81°1′24″W / 28.279250°N 81.02333°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | iontelevision |
WOPX-TV (channel 56) is a television station licensed to Melbourne, Florida, United States, broadcasting the Ion Television network to the Orlando area. Owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains offices on Grand National Drive in Orlando, and its transmitter is located on Nova Road east of St. Cloud.
After its original permittee could not secure funding for construction, channel 56 began broadcasting on May 19, 1986, as WAYK. It was an independent station focusing on the Melbourne and Vero Beach area with an emphasis on sports programs, including baseball. An attempt to boost its viewership by merging with channel 26 in Daytona Beach failed to get the station on cable television systems in the Orlando area. Never financially successful, it filed for bankruptcy reorganization in 1990. During the process, the Daytona Beach station went off the air and was split off in bankruptcy court. Robert Rich, who had already been managing the station, bought it and changed its call sign to WIRB. As WAYK and again as WIRB, the station attempted producing a local newscast for Brevard and Indian River counties.
Christian Network, associated with Paxson Communications Corporation, bought WIRB in 1995 and replaced its programming with infomercials. Like other Paxson stations, it was one of the launch stations for the Pax network—forerunner to today's Ion—in 1998.