WLAX

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Television station in La Crosse, Wisconsin

title: "WLAX" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1986-establishments-in-wisconsin", "fox-broadcasting-company-affiliates", "grit-(tv-network)-affiliates", "laff-(tv-network)-affiliates", "metv-affiliates", "nexstar-media-group", "television-channels-and-stations-established-in-1986", "television-stations-in-wisconsin"] description: "Television station in La Crosse, Wisconsin" topic_path: "arts/film" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLAX" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Television station in La Crosse, Wisconsin ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox television station dual"]

Field	Value
name1	WLAX
city1	La Crosse, Wisconsin
logo	WLAX-WEUX Logo.png
logo_alt	In a dark blue, the all-capital Fox logo sits next to two numerals in white on a red curved rectangular background, "25" and "48" with a slight separation. Beneath that logo, a smaller curved rectangle with a dark blue background contains the text "LA CROSSE • EAU CLAIRE" in all capital letters.
branding	Fox 25/48
digital1	33 (UHF)
virtual1	25
affiliations
airdate1
country	United States
callsign_meaning1	La Crosse, with "Crosse" represented as an X
former_callsigns1	WWQI (CP, 1982–1985)
former_channel_numbers1
owner	Nexstar Media Group
licensee	Nexstar Media Inc.
erp1	1,000 kW
haat1	295 m
facility_id1	2710
coordinates1
licensing_authority	FCC
website
name2	WEUX
city2	Chippewa Falls–Eau Claire, Wisconsin
digital2	21 (UHF)
virtual2	48
airdate2
callsign_meaning2	Eau Claire Fox
former_channel_numbers2
erp2	600 kW
haat2	225.5 m
facility_id2	2709
coordinates2
::

WLAX serves the southern portion of the market, while WEUX operates as a full-time satellite for Eau Claire and the market's northern portion. WLAX maintains studio facilities at Interchange Place in La Crosse and a transmitter in La Crescent, Minnesota. WEUX has offices on WIS 93 in Eau Claire and a transmitter southeast of Colfax.

WLAX in La Crosse went on the air in November 1986, after two sales of the permit, as the original independent station in the market. It joined Fox shortly afterward. Family Group Broadcasting, which put the station on the air, attempted to build the Eau Claire station as a satellite of WLAX but fell into bankruptcy before it could do so. Aries Telecommunications of Green Bay bought WLAX and the WEUX construction permit in 1991 and was able to build out and sign on WEUX in 1993. Grant Broadcasting acquired the pair in 1996, and Nexstar acquired Grant's stations in 2014. The stations air a 9 p.m. local newscast produced by local NBC affiliate WEAU.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/WLAXTVStudio.jpg" caption="The WLAX studios in La Crosse" alt="A tan, shed-like building with a red Fox 25 W L A X - T V sign and a small tower with antennas adjacent to it, as seen from a nearby highway"] ::

Construction of WLAX

Channel 25 had been assigned to La Crosse since 1966 and almost saw use in the late 1960s when two groups proposed to start a second station in the city after WKBT. Midcontinent Broadcasting Company was approved in December 1967 to build a satellite of its Madison station, WKOW-TV, in La Crosse. WKOW and La Crosse radio station WKTY had both applied for channel 19, causing WKOW to shift its application to channel 25 before WKTY withdrew after the WKOW-TV grant, citing its inability to obtain network affiliation given that the WKOW station would provide La Crosse with its first full-time ABC service. WKOW then sought to move its station, WXOW-TV, back to channel 19.

No party filed for channel 25 until 1980, when a group of local investors under the name Quarterview Inc. applied for channel 25. While some of the same investors built local radio station WISQ (100.1 FM), the permit was granted in 1982. Quarterview did not build the station. It sold the permit in 1984 to TV-26 Inc., owner of WLRE-TV in Green Bay. That station then filed for bankruptcy reorganization and was purchased, along with the channel 25 construction permit, by Family Group Broadcasting in 1985.

Family Group handled the construction process. The call sign on the permit was changed from WWQI to WLAX; land was purchased at the La Crosse market antenna farm in La Crescent, Minnesota (though it ultimately used an existing tower); and programming was purchased for the first independent station in the market. After delays, WLAX signed on on November 10, 1986.

Construction of WEUX

The addition of a channel 48 station at Chippewa Falls had been planned since the mid-1980s. Pat Bushland of Bushland Radio Specialties, owner of radio station WCFW, was first to apply for the station in 1984. Family Group Broadcasting then also filed for the channel in September 1986; helped by its favorable comparative hearing status as not already owning a station in Chippewa Falls, it prevailed in a settlement with Bushland in 1987 and announced plans to build it as a satellite of WLAX. Family Group struggled to find an antenna site. In 1988, the company switched to a proposed location near Colfax only to face rejection from the Federal Aviation Administration. Meanwhile, the company's finances were unraveling. In 1989, the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Two attempts, one before and one after the bankruptcy, to sell the station group to Krypton Broadcasting fell through. In February 1990, Aries Telecommunications agreed to buy part of the company: WLAX, the WEUX construction permit, and WGBA-TV (the former WLRE-TV). However, the sale took most of the year to be completed after one of Family Group's creditors, television programming supplier MCA Television, objected to the repayment plan only to be overruled by a bankruptcy judge.

After the deal was consummated in October 1991, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved a key modification of the WEUX construction permit, allowing construction to finally proceed at a site near Lafayette. The station finally began broadcasting on February 9, 1993, as a straight simulcast of WLAX. Bushland later told the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram that he had hoped channel 48 would be a more local station, not merely a pass-through for WLAX. Previously, viewers in Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, and other locations in the market's northern portion had to rely on cable to watch Fox programming. A new tower was built for WEUX at Colfax in 1995, housing a new transmitter facility broadcasting at the increased effective radiated power of 1.5 million watts. Grant Broadcasting acquired WLAX/WEUX from Aries in 1996.

Modern history

Both stations discontinued analog broadcasts on February 17, 2009. While the national digital TV transition was delayed to June, all of the major commercial stations in La Crosse and Eau Claire converted on the original airdate.

After WEAU's tower at Fairchild collapsed in an ice storm in March 2011, WLAX allowed WEAU to use one of its subchannels for over-the-air operations in the market's southern portion until WEAU's tower was rebuilt the following January. The northern portion relied on a subchannel of WQOW in Eau Claire during this time. The subchannels brought NBC programming to the few viewers in the market without access to cable or satellite until WEAU brought its own tower back online.

On November 6, 2013, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it would purchase the Grant stations, including WLAX/WEUX, for $87.5 million. The sale was completed on December 1, 2014.

Newscasts

In 1995, WLAX/WEUX began carrying two-minute newsbreaks before 6 and 10 p.m. and a monthly community affairs program, Impact.

Beginning August 28, 2006, WLAX/WEUX began airing a 30-minute nightly 9 p.m. newscast, produced by WEAU at its studios.

Technical information

From their transmitters in La Crescent and southeast of Colfax, respectively, WLAX and WEUX broadcast two shared channels (Fox and Antenna TV) as well as two unique diginets each from Scripps Networks. In 2016, when Nexstar reached a group deal for carriage of the then-Katz Broadcasting diginets, separate offerings were launched from each transmitter.

WLAX subchannels

::data[format=table title="Subchannels of WLAX{{cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WLAX|title=RabbitEars query for WLAX|website=[[RabbitEars]]|access-date=April 20, 2018|archive-date=January 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117190537/http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WLAX|url-status=live}}"]

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name
720p	16:9	WLAX-HD	Fox
480i	WLAXANT	Antenna TV
Laff	Laff
Grit	Grit
::

WEUX subchannels

::data[format=table title="Subchannels of WEUX{{cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WEUX|title=RabbitEars query for WEUX|website=[[RabbitEars]]|access-date=April 20, 2018|archive-date=January 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117131921/http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WEUX|url-status=live}}"]

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name
720p	16:9	WEUX-HD	Fox
480i	WEUXANT	Antenna TV
Escape	Ion Mystery
Bounce	Bounce TV
::

References

(December 15, 1967). "Madison Firm Gets OK For TV Station Here". The La Crosse Tribune.
(March 25, 1968). "Court Appeal Likely In WKTY's TV Bid". The La Crosse Tribune.
(May 8, 1980). "Television station sought by group". The La Crosse Tribune.
Rainey, Doug. (March 14, 1981). "About Business: FM facility on way; TV station next goal". The La Crosse Tribune.
Rainey, Doug. (July 3, 1982). "Pabst may be working to block takeover". The La Crosse Tribune.
Flor, Elizabeth. (April 9, 1986). "Fall sign-on slated for TV station". The La Crosse Tribune.
Henry, Ryan. (May 27, 2008). "TV station gets green light for new tower". The La Crosse Tribune.
(November 11, 1986). "New La Crosse TV station is on the air". The La Crosse Tribune.
Stetzer, Rod. (November 15, 1984). "Bushland applies for Chippewa Falls television station". Chippewa Herald-Telegram.
Matthews, John. (February 18, 1987). "Florida company wants to put TV station in Chippewa Falls". Chippewa Herald-Telegram.
(March 24, 1987). "Settlement reached for TV station license". Leader-Telegram.
Stetzer, Rod. (November 30, 1990). "FCC considers Chippewa TV station". Leader-Telegram.
Stetzer, Rod. (July 5, 1991). "Antenna for independent TV station approved: But picture still isn't clear concerning when, or if, WEUX-TV will sign on". Leader-Telegram.
Gerds, Warren. (October 19, 1991). "Channel 26 is bought; Finco is replaced at 5". Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Stetzer, Rod. (March 13, 1992). "FCC grants permit to WEUX owners". Leader-Telegram.
Stetzer, Rod. (February 9, 1993). "New TV station finally on the air". Leader-Telegram.
(August 18, 1995). "WEUX building new tower". Leader-Telegram.
Stetzer, Rod. (October 10, 1995). "Fox affiliates may be sold to Florida-based company". Leader-Telegram.
(February 17, 2009). "Today you may be tuned out: Most area stations converting to digital". The Winona Daily News.
(March 25, 2011). "WEAU 13 was on the air on 18.3 & 25.2, Charter Cable 6 and in HD on 606". [[WEAU.
Malone, Michael. (November 6, 2013). "Nexstar to Acquire Seven Grant Stations For $87.5 Million". [[Broadcasting & Cable]].
"Consummation Notice (WLAX)". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
"Consummation Notice (WEUX)". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
(September 19, 1995). "Fox affiliate plans local newscasts". Leader-Telegram.
Stetzer, Rod. (February 15, 1995). "Locally produced show makes debut tonight on Fox TV". Leader-Telegram.
(August 25, 2006). "Fox 25/48 announce newscast anchors". The La Crosse Tribune.
Lafayette, Jon. (June 16, 2016). "Bounce TV, Grit, Escape, Laff Multicast Deal Covers 81 Stations, 54 Markets". Broadcasting and Cable.
(August 26, 2016). "FOX 25/48 Announces Four New Channels".
"RabbitEars query for WLAX".
"RabbitEars query for WEUX".

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