WNOW-TV
| Company type | Independent television station |
|---|---|
| Industry | Broadcasting |
| Founded | April 28, 1979 in Red Lion, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Founder | John Harden Norris |
| Headquarters | Red Lion , United States |
Area served | Susquehanna Valley |
| Owner | Sonshine Family Television |
| Website | www |
WLYH (channel 49) is a religious independent television station licensed to Red Lion, Pennsylvania, catering to the Susquehanna Valley area. Owned by Sonshine Family Television, it serves as a sister outlet to the Bethlehem-based flagship station WBPH-TV (channel 60). WLYH operates its studios on Windsor Road in Red Lion. Through a channel-sharing arrangement with Harrisburg-licensed ABC affiliate WHTM-TV (channel 27), both broadcasters utilize WHTM-TV's transmission spectrum via an antenna located near the Cumberland–Perry county border.
History
The channel 49 frequency was once occupied by WNOW-TV from York, initially affiliated with the DuMont network and later the NTA Film Network. This station ceased operations on June 1, 1958, due to competition pressures from WGAL-TV (channel 8).
WLYH began broadcasting on April 28, 1979, under the call letters WGCB-TV. It was established by John Harden Norris, who had founded Red Lion Broadcasting in 1950 and owned WGCB radio stations. This marked South Central Pennsylvania's first new television station launch in over two decades. Norris uniquely managed AM, FM, shortwave radio (WINB), and television stations all under one ownership structure at that time.
In 1964, WGCB radio aired a contentious religious program that resulted in a landmark Supreme Court ruling upholding the FCC's Fairness Doctrine, which governs broadcasters' handling of controversial topics. Following Norris’s death in 2008, control of WGCB-TV passed to his estate later that year. DirecTV discontinued carrying WGCB as of January 1, 2009.
Primarily functioning as a religious independent outlet, WGCB-TV featured numerous televangelists and remained the region’s only source for non-network programming until WPMT transitioned to an independent format in 1983. In August 2009, the station incorporated classic television series into its daily schedule and introduced select MeTV programming on digital subchannel 49.2 in 2012.
On September 19, 2012, NRJ TV announced it would acquire WGCB-TV from Red Lion Television for $9 million; the transaction was finalized on December 3. Subsequently, on December 29, 2014, WGCB-TV replaced MeTV with Cozi TV on both its main and subchannels.
NRJ TV agreed on August 29, 2017, to sell WGCB-TV to Red Lion 49 Media LLC for $2.5 million; this sale received FCC approval on December 8.
In January 2019, Sonshine Family Television of Bethlehem entered into a local marketing agreement to manage channel 49; concurrently, the call sign was changed to WLYH (previously associated with WXBU). The remaining secular content was limited to FCC-required educational children's programming aired on Saturdays. On January 17, Sonshine announced intentions to purchase WLYH from Red Lion 49 Media for $2.7 million; the acquisition was completed on May 9, 2019.
Subchannels
Following the channel-sharing deal with WHTM, WLYH discontinued its three subchannels: 49.2 Cozi TV, 49.3 Charge!, and 49.4 Escape.
Analog-to-digital conversion
As WGCB-TV, the station terminated analog transmissions on UHF channel 49 on June 12, 2009, adhering to the federally mandated digital transition deadline. Its digital broadcast continued on UHF channel 30 while maintaining virtual channel identification as 49.
WGCB sold its spectrum rights for $84 million during the FCC incentive auction held between 2016 and 2017 and stopped broadcasting on its digital frequency within ninety days after receiving payment. Currently, the station shares broadcast capacity with ABC affiliate WHTM, owned by Nexstar Media Group—the former owner of WLYH-TV.
ATSC 3.0 Lighthouse
| Channel | Identifier | Content | |
|---|---|---|---|
| W16EJ-D | WLHY-LD | ||
| 16.2 | 31.2 | WHTM | ABC (WHTM) |
| 16.3 | 31.3 | WITF | PBS (WITF-TV) |
| 16.4 | 31.4 | WLYH | Lighthouse TV |
Currently, two of WLYH's translator stations transmit using ATSC 3.0, making them the sole broadcasters in the market employing this advanced technology.