It’s baaaaack.
Raycom My Network TV affiliate WUAB/43 Lorain has apparently decided to revive their former “43 The Block” branding – nearly six years after dropping the name the first time.
The new “My 43 The Block” logo is not shown on WUAB’s website yet – a new www.wuab.com URL redirects to the current my43.net site – but all promos and station IDs have been redone to feature the new-old logo (shown in a screen capture to the right below the original “Block” logo).
For those who don’t remember, WUAB first used the “Block” name in 2002, in an effort to reposition the station following the loss of Cleveland Indians “free TV” rights. The original “Block” also was notable for cut-in segments filmed around the region featuring local comedians Mike Polk, Cody Dove, and Jack Hourigan. Eventually, those segments were discontinued, and the “Block” name was phased out in favor of the UPN branding standard as “UPN 43” (but keeping the stylized “43” script).
It’s surprising in a sense not just because of the significant time gap in between usage of the “Block” name, but also because it directly violates the branding standards set for My Network TV, which affiliated with WUAB after the CW (a merger of UPN and the WB) bypassed WUAB to affiliate with Winston Broadcasting WBNX/55 Akron.
Given that My Network TV no longer qualifies as a network but is a minor programming service for reruns, one can’t help but wonder if Raycom is planning to either de-emphasize the affiliation completely or turn WUAB into an outright independent for the first time since 1994.
The other pressing questions are when WUAB will revive both the “Star Movie” and Superhost…
Let me know when they revive “Lorain News,” too.