WMTV (channel 15) is a television station in Madison, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW. The station is owned by Gray Television and maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Forward Drive on Madison's southwest side. WMTV was the second television station to air in Madison, beginning in July 1953 just days after WKOW, and has been its NBC affiliate since signing on the air. Founded by a company controlled by the Bartell Group, it was sold to the Wisconsin Valley Television Company (later Forward Communications Corporation) in 1963. The station was successful and competitive in news ratings under Forward, even if it faced economic disadvantages due to being an ultra high frequency (UHF) station. After a succession of owners in the late 1980s and 1990s, Gray acquired WMTV in 2002. History Early years on channel 33 After the Federal Communications Commission lifted its four-year freeze on new television station grants and opened the ultra high frequency (UHF) band for television use, applications were received to start new stations in Madison. The first came from the Bartell Group, owned by Madison radio announcer Gerry Bartell and owner of Milwaukee station WOKY, for channel 33, one of two UHF channels allocated for commercial use in the city. Another application for channel 33 was made by Earl W. Fessler, owner of Madison FM radio outlet WMFM. In late December, Fessler and Bartell combined their applications, becoming the unopposed bid for channel 33 as the Bartell Television Corporation and being granted a construction permit on January 23, 1953. WMTV signed on the air with a test pattern on July 8, 1953, and began normal operation 11 days later with a dedication program. This made it the second station on air in Madison, as WKOW-TV (channel 27) began broadcasting on July 8. It was an affiliate of NBC, ABC, and DuMont. The WMTV facility along the Beltline contained a main studio complete with revolving stage, claimed to be the only one east of California, as well as a permanently installed kitchen for cooking shows. ABC programs moved to WKOW-TV in September 1956 when WISC-TV began as a CBS affiliate on channel 3. In March 1956, it was announced that the Badger Broadcasting Company, owner of radio station WIBA and a joint venture of The Capital Times and Wisconsin State Journal newspapers, could soon own WMTV, with Gerry Bartell staying as the station's