The station first signed on the air on January 10, 1986 as WCEO-TV, originally broadcasting on UHF channel 68 [REF].
Channel 68 returned to the air under the current WMFD-TV call letters on June 1, 1992; this time, targeting viewers in north-central Ohio (the WMFD call letters were previously used on what is now WECT-TV in Wilmington, North Carolina from that station's sign-on in 1954 until 1958).