Originally signed on the air as WLFL-TV (standing for "We're Light For Living") at 2pm on December 18, 1981, the Triangle's first full-market independent station outlet on UHF channel 22. It was first owned by Family Television, who would later sell the station to the Norfolk, Virginia-based TVX Broadcast Group in 1985. It became one of the original charter Fox affiliates on October 9, 1986.
1986–1993[]
1986–1990[]
1990–1993[]
Alternate ID
Paramount Pictures purchased a stake in TVX in two phases from 1989 to 1991, which would later become the Paramount Stations Group. The "-TV" suffix was dropped in 1993 and they later sold WLFL to the Sinclair Broadcast Group a year later, but it remained a Fox affiliate.
1993–1995[]
1995–1998[]
The "22" logo was also used by WVNY from 2001-2007.
1998–2003[]
On August 1, 1998, the station became the area's affiliate for The WB as part of a group deal between the network and Sinclair. Previous WB affiliate WRAZ (UHF channel 50) switched to Fox.
2003–2006[]
2006–present[]
In 2006, UPN and The WB merged to form The CW, which channel 22 became an affiliate of.
1Owned by Tennessee Broadcasting and operated by Sinclair under an outsourcing agreement. 2Nominally owned by Cunningham Broadcasting and operated by Sinclair under an LMA. However, trusts belonging to members of Sinclair's founding Smith family control almost all of Cunningham's stock. 3Operated by Nexstar Media Group under an LMA. 4Owned by Second Generation of Iowa, Ltd. and operated by Sinclair under a LMA. 5Owned by Manhan Media and managed by Sinclair. 6Owned by Howard Stirk Holdings, operated by Sinclair under an LMA. 7Owned by Mercury Broadcasting Company and operated by Sinclair. 8Owned by Deerfield Media and operated by Sinclair under an LMA. 9Owned by Roberts Media, but operated by Sinclair. 10Owned by Mitts Telecasting and operated by Sinclair. 11Owned by GOCOM Media and operated by Sinclair. 12Owned by Waitt Broadcasting, but operated by Sinclair under an SSA. 13Owned by Granite Broadcasting Corporation and operated by Sinclair through a JSA and SSA. 14Owned by New Age Media and operated by Sinclair under an MSA. 15Owned by MPS Media, but operated by New Age Media under an LMA. 16Owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture of Sinclair and Entertainment Studios. 17Co-owned with Yankee Global Enterprises, The Blackstone Group, Amazon, RedBird Capital and Mubadala Investment Company. 18Co-owned with Chicago Cubs. 19Owned by Sinclair and operated by Jukin Media. 20Owned by Palm Television, L.P. and operated by Cunningham Broadcasting under an LMA.
Notes Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and territory, and based on the station's city of license or Designated Market Area. +Station carries CW programming on a digital subchannel, via The CW Plus. +1Local CW Plus affiliate operates as cable-only channel.