As an independent station
In 2002, the station began transitioning to become more of a true independent station, with the WebFN venture folding in the wake of the dot-com crash, freeing up the 7 a.m.–5 p.m. timeslot for other programming. Weigel acquired more syndicated programs for the station and found itself in a unique position as Milwaukee's only true independent television station.
Sinclair Broadcast Group–owned WVTV (channel 18) and WCGV-TV (channel 24) decided to focus more on their WB and UPN programming (which were later replaced by The CW and MyNetworkTV in September 2006) instead of running occasional sports coverage (which often preempted the network schedules, much to the annoyance of the local fanbases of each of the two network's shows); WCGV retained broadcast rights for the Milwaukee Bucks until the end of the 2006–07 season, and took themselves out of the race for local college and high school sports rights; there was also a lack of interest on the part of FSN North, which wanted to focus on teams with statewide interest, not just within the Milwaukee metro area. Therefore, Weigel decided to use channel 41 in order to take the rights for these sporting events and use the lure of the teams to gain carriage on local cable providers, knowing that it would be the only way to make channel 41 a viable player in Milwaukee broadcasting.
Time Warner Cable was strongly opposed to adding channel 41 to its Southeastern Wisconsin systems, arguing that the station was not a full-power signal and the sports were only a lure to add another unneeded station to their lineups. This came after must-carry rules pushed them to air religious station WWRS-TV (channel 52), and move Madison's PBS member station, WHA-TV, to digital cable to free up a basic channel. Weigel then encouraged viewers to call and write TWC and Charter Communications to add the station to their lineups in the wake of being the Milwaukee station that would air the WIAA high school basketball championships, using promotions on WDJT and in local newspapers to send the message.
After much campaigning, Charter decided to add WMLW to its basic cable service (channel 8 in most cities, channel 21 in Sheboygan), with Time Warner Cable carrying the station only over digital cable at first, allowing the WIAA coverage to be seen on cable at some level. A compromise would later be reached between Weigel and TWC as a part of retransmission consent negotiations for WDJT, and the station would become a part of the basic package throughout TWC's service area, moving from digital channel 741 to basic channel 7 in the fall of 2003. After securing cable carriage, the station began to identify only by the WMLW call letters and rarely mentioned its over-the-air channel number except in a few promotions, and visually in FCC-required identifications.
WMLW would drop America One programming in 2002, and began programming the entire day shortly thereafter. In mid-September 2003, WMLW became a Class A television station and added the "-CA" suffix to their call letters. In September 2004, Fox's 4Kids TV block moved to the station from WCGV, after that station decided to stop carrying Fox children's programming, the block aired on WMLW in lieu of WITI, which had no interest in airing the Fox-supplied children's programming. After the block was discontinued in December 2008, WMLW and WITI refused to carry the replacement Weekend Marketplace paid programming block, which is unseen in the market.
Local musical artist Pat McCurdy is the songwriter and singer of the station's former jingle and theme song as an independent station, "wmlw means Milwaukee". The station had a minor logo change in December 2010, keeping the same general theme but utilizing a different font.
