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| Bloomington/Normal/ Peoria, Illinois |
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| City of license | Bloomington |
| Branding | Fox 43 (general) Fox 43 News |
| Slogan | Your Place to Be (general) An Hour Earlier and Never Too Late (news) |
| Channels | Digital: 28 (UHF) Virtual: 43 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 43.1 Fox 43.2 TheCoolTV 43.3 The Country Network |
| Network | Fox |
| Owner | Sinclair Broadcast Group (operated through LMA by Nexstar Broadcasting Group) (WYZZ Licensee, Inc.) |
| First air date | October 18, 1982 |
| Sister station(s) | WMBD-TV, WICS/WICD |
| Former callsigns | WBLN (1982-1985) |
| Former channel number(s) | 43 (UHF analog, 1982-2009) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1982-1986) |
| Transmitter power | 1,000 kW |
| Height | 293 m |
| Class | DT |
| Facility ID | 5875 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°38′40.5″N 89°10′45.9″W / 40.644583°N 89.179417°W |
WYZZ-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Central Illinois licensed to Bloomington. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 28 (or virtual channel 43.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in Montgomery Township. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 910. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, WYZZ is operated by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group through a local marketing agreement (LMA) as a sister outlet to CBS affiliate WMBD-TV. The two stations share studios on North University Street in Peoria. Syndicated programming on this station includes Two and a Half Men, Entourage, Everybody Loves Raymond and The Simpsons among others.
Contents |
Digital programming [link]
On WYZZ-DT2 and Comcast digital channel 807 is TheCoolTV. On WYZZ-DT3 and Comcast digital channel 820 in The Country Network.
| Virtual channel |
Physical channel |
Name | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43.1 | 28.1 | WYZZ-HD | 720p | 16:9 | main WYZZ programming/Fox (HD) |
| 43.2 | 28.2 | WYZZ-DT2 | 480i | 4:3 | TheCoolTV (SD) |
| 43.3 | 28.3 | WYZZ-DT3 | The Country Network (SD) |
History [link]
The station signed-on October 18, 1982 and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 43. Ir was founded as WBLN (standing for We BeLieve iN) by members of Peoria's Grace Presbyterian Church. Except for the call sign, it was unrelated to the old WBLN that broadcasted on UHF channel 15 in the 1950s. The station was a religious Independent and first new outlet to sign-on since future sister WMBD hit the airwaves 24 years earlier. WBLN was sold to the Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1985 which changed its calls to the current WYZZ-TV.
On October 6, 1986, the station became the market's charter affiliate of Fox. In 2002, Sinclair and the Nexstar Broadcasting Group (owner of WMBD) entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) calling for WYZZ to be a subordinate entity in an arrangement allowing WMBD to control programming for this station. WYZZ moved from its studios on East Lincoln Street in Bloomington to WMBD's facilities in Peoria. In August 2005, a similar agreement would be established between Nexstar's WROC-TV and Sinclair's WUHF in Rochester, New York.
WYZZ broadcasts digitally on UHF channel 28 and (like most Sinclair-owned stations) has been digital-only since February 17, 2009. [1] According to a post on The Peoria Chronicle website, WYZZ and WMBD were planning on terminating the local marketing agreement between the two effective April 1, 2010. Since the two station still operate together today, it appears this move was not followed through with. [2]
On May 15, 2012, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Fox agreed to a five-year extension to the network's affiliation agreement with Sinclair's 19 Fox stations, including WYZZ-TV, allowing them to continue carrying the network's programming until 2017.[3]
Newscasts [link]
Through a news share agreement, sister station WMBD produces a nightly prime time newscast on WYZZ. Known on-air as Fox 43 News at 9, this thirty minute broadcast competes with a weeknight-only half-hour show seen on MyNetworkTV affiliate WAOE (that is produced by NBC affiliate WEEK-TV). At some point in time after WEEK-TV and WHOI combined operations, the two stations became Peoria's first news department to upgrade local news to 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen. Although not truly high definition, the shows match the aspect ratio of HD television screens.
All broadcasts currently seen on WYZZ and WMBD remain in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition and it is unclear if and/or when Nexstar/Sinclair plans on upgrading these two stations to enhanced definition or even full HD level. In addition to the main facility in Peoria, WYZZ and WMBD operate a Twin Cities Bureau on East Lincoln Street in Bloomington that were this station's original studios while functioning as a separate entity. Therefore, this makes the two stations the only outlet in the area with a significant Bloomington-based news and advertising sales operation.
Station slogans [link]
- "TV 43, We Bring Home the Fun!" (1980s)
- "Your Place to Be" (general, 2008-present)
- "An Hour Earlier and Never Too Late" (news, 2008-present)
News team [link]
Anchors
- Cynthia Schweigert - weeknights at 9 p.m.
- Jacob Long - weekends at 9 p.m.; also Twin Cities bureau chief
Weather team
- Marcus Bailey - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 9 p.m.
- Brandon Arnold - meteorologist; weekends at 9 p.m., also news reporter and "I Challenge Brandon" segment producer
Sports team
- Kurt Pegler - sports director; weeknights at 9 p.m.
- Kyle Dierking - sports anchor; weekends at 9 p.m., also sports reporter
Reporters
- Kim Behrens
- Maria Chandler
- Eugene Daniel
- Lisa Miller
- Thom Parker - chief photographer
References [link]
- ^ FCC list of full-service US TV stations, February 16, 2009
- ^ https://peoriachronicle.com/2010/01/20/wmbd-and-wyzz-to-split/
- ^ Sinclair Reups With Fox, Gets WUTB Option, TVNewsCheck, May 15, 2012.
External links [link]
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