Revival as WACY-TV
WXGZ's license to operate was put back into use in June 1994. License holder Ace TV[7] put WXGZ back on the air with the help of WGBA and its then-owner Aries Telecommunications, who arranged to put WXGZ on solid financial footing through the entrance of a local marketing agreement with Ace TV, allowing WGBA to operate and program WXGZ through its studios and sell advertising time for the station.
At the outset, programming on WXGZ (whose logo was an ace of spades as a nod to its owner) consisted of second-run airings of off-network reruns (including such series as Gunsmoke, St. Elsewhere and Newhart), along with select airings of Milwaukee Brewers baseball and Milwaukee Bucks basketball games (which WGBA previously aired but no longer had room to run due to its own commitments with Fox). By the fall of 1994, first-run syndicated programming would be included on WXGZ's schedule, including Family Feud and programming from the Prime Time Entertainment Network syndication service. On January 16, 1995, WXGZ became a charter affiliate of the United Paramount Network (UPN). The station also maintained a secondary affiliation with The WB for the network's first four years before WIWB (channel 14, now WCWF) became the Green Bay market's WB affiliate in June 1999.
By August 1995, the station – which would change its call sign that month to WACY-TV – benefited from WGBA's affiliation switch to NBC (due to WLUK-TV, channel 11, joining Fox). With WGBA now committed to NBC and its programming lineup, programs that WGBA no longer had room to broadcast were moved over to WACY, including some syndicated programming (most notably reruns of The Simpsons) and daytime children's programming. With this move, WACY adopted the "WACkY 32" branding for its kids' lineup (running roughly 6–11 a.m. and 1–5 p.m.), which over the years would include Garfield and Friends, Scooby-Doo, Dennis the Menace, Pokémon, Sailor Moon and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog; programs from the UPN Kids, BKN and The Disney Afternoon blocks (as well as from Kids' WB as the Green Bay television market did not have a full-time WB affiliate); and educational and informational-compliant programs like The New Zoo Revue. The live character "Cuddles the Clown" provided host continuity for "WACkY 32" programming. The station's children's lineup would dwindle over the years, thanks in part to increased cable competition from cable channels such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon and the decreased financial justification of airing a more-than-necessary amount of children's programming, although it would continue to air UPN's
One of WACY's most durable programs was called Who, What, When, Where, a show hosted by Oshkosh public-access television personalities Jim C. Hoffman and Dan Davies. Who, What, When, Where featured various interviews, advertisements (notably Ron and Lloyd's supermarket and WNAM radio), and entertainment sketches performed by Davies. The show would be rechristened N.E.W. Now (for "North East Wisconsin") in early 1997, its last year on the air. Later local shows on WACY included the legal affairs show It's the Law, produced by Hoffman and hosted by Oshkosh attorney George W. Curtis, and the Sunday morning polka music show Polka, Polka, Polka, which originated from a Manitowoc supper club/dance hall (Polka, Polka, Polka now airs on WCWF).
In 2004, Milwaukee-based Journal Communications (owner of that city's WTMJ-TV), purchased WGBA from Aries Telecommunications for $43.25 million. As part of the deal, Journal would take over the local marketing agreement with WACY, as well as acquire the option to purchase channel 32 from Ace TV if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ever relaxed or waived its media ownership rules to allow the purchase.[8]
