WGNO (channel 26) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CW owned-and-operated station WNOL-TV (channel 38). Both stations share studios at The Galleria in Metairie, while WGNO's transmitter is located in Chalmette, Louisiana. History As an independent station The station first signed on the air at 5:00 p.m. on October 16, 1967, as WWOM-TV. The call sign stood for "The Wonderful World of Movies," an adaptation of the "Wonderful World of Music" meaning used by co-owned radio station WWOM (600 AM, now WVOG; and 98.5 FM, now WYLD-FM). The station inaugurated programming with a greeting by then-Mayor Victor H. Schiro, which was followed by its first program, the 1927 Al Jolson film The Jazz Singer. Originally owned by David Wagenvoord, it was the first independent station in the state of Louisiana and the first commercial television station to sign on in New Orleans since WWL-TV (channel 4) debuted as the market's CBS affiliate on September 7, 1957. The station—which broadcast for eight hours a day from late afternoon to midnight during its first years of operation—maintained a general entertainment programming format consisting mostly of older movies, some theatrical cartoon shorts and a few off-network syndicated programs. During its first decade on the air, the station also cherry-picked several programs from NBC, ABC and CBS that WDSU (channel 6), WVUE-TV (then on channel 12, now on channel 8) and WWL-TV chose not to broadcast. In 1969, the station experimented with a 24-hour daily schedule, claiming to be the first television station in the United States to broadcast on such a schedule; however, this format was short-lived. The station was sold to Communications Corp. of the South, run by Seymour Smith, in 1971; after the purchase was finalized, the station changed its call letters to WGNO-TV on March 9, 1972. Around this time, the station began running more off-network syndicated sitcoms and westerns, along with a moderate amount of cartoons. The station expanded its programming schedule to about 12 hours each day by 1972, then began signing on at 10:00 a.m. in 1974; WGNO expanded its daily programming hours to about 19 hours a day by 1975. Throughout the 1970s, WGNO continued to program a general entertainment format with vintage sitcoms, older movies and religious programs. WGNO began to be carried on many cable providers in southern Louisiana