WFRV-TV signed on channel 5 on May 20, 1955, after an appeal lodged by WMBV-TV to block the merger of Valley Telecasting and Neenah-Menasha was declined for the final time; the station aired film programming for its first ten days before beginning affiliations with ABC and the DuMont Television Network—then on its way out—on June 1. While the transmitter facility was new, WFRV-TV used WNAM-TV's Neenah studios. By 1956, Neenah-Menasha owned all of WFRV-TV; that same year, the company announced plans to build a studio base in Green Bay. Master control switched to Green Bay in December when a new tower and transmitter building were activated, and production from the station's present Mason Street studios began in mid-January 1957.