W27EA-D broadcasts under a Class A television license. The former WAOH-CD had some cable carriage, most notably on Charter Spectrum's Akron system (channel 11). W27EA-D is not carried on cable in the bulk of the Cleveland area.
History
W29AI channel 29 was originally licensed on July 14, 1987, and did not sign on until 1990. It became WAOH-LP on August 21, 1995, and WAOH-CD on December 30, 2014. A translator of WAOH, W35AX channel 35, was licensed on November 30, 1989, and signed on in 1996.
As part of the digital transition, WAOH flash-cut their signal to digital in December 2014, remaining on channel 29. W35AX signed on their digital companion signal on channel 16 on March 16, 2015, with the calls W16DO-D. The new coverage area for W16DO-D overlapped most of viewing area formerly served by WAOH-CD. The station's branding made use of the new frequency allocation, changing from "29/35" to "16/29" on station IDs.
WAOH-CD went off the air on October 25, 2017 as part of the FCC's digital repack.[1][2] This shifted W16DO-D's role from translator to the sole transmitter for the station. On June 28, 2020, W16DO-D transitioned to their repacked frequency of RF channel 27, with the new callsign W27EA-D. Its virtual channel reverted to the previous 35 allocation, rather than 16, 27, or 29.
In March 2022, Media-Com petitioned the FCC to allow a sale of the station to Weigel Broadcasting. The sale included only W27EA-D, not WNIR.[3] On June 20, 2022, the sale was completed, and W27EA-D switched its primary affiliation to Story Television.
Prior to Weigel Broadcasting taking control of the station, W27EA-D was affiliated with Retro TV. Under Media-Com's ownership, the station aired a few locally produced programs (such as the Son of Ghoul). Before Retro TV, it was affiliated with the America One network, with the branding of "The CAT" (for Cleveland Akron Television). Prior to its America One affiliation, the station had carried Bloomberg Television, MuchMusic, and Network One.
