WYZZ-TV
WYZZ-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for North-Central Illinois that is licensed to Bloomington. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 28 (or virtual channel 43.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter near Congerville, a village of Montgomery Township, Illinois. Owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, WYZZ is operated through a local marketing agreement (LMA) by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group (owner of CBS affiliate WMBD-TV). The two outlets share studios together on North University Street in Peoria. Although it is sister to ABC/CW affiliate WHOI (owned by Cunningham's partner company, the Sinclair Broadcast Group), that outlet is operated separately by Quincy Newspapers at the facility of NBC affiliate WEEK-TV.
Digital channels
History
The station signed on the air on October 18, 1982 as WBLN (standing for what We BeLieve iN) and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 43. It was founded by members of Peoria's Grace Presbyterian Church. Except for the call sign, it was unrelated to the old WBLN that broadcast on UHF channel 15 in the 1950s. The station first broadcast from studios located on East Empire Street/Illinois Route 9 in Bloomington. The station was a religious and general entertainment Independent and first new outlet to sign-on since future sister WMBD hit the airwaves 24 years earlier. Grace Communications sold the station to Midwest Television Associates in 1983. It initially signed on at 9 a.m. running religious shows until noon and low budget and barter shows from noon to midnight. This would be a mix of cartoons, public domain movies, some drama shows, westerns, news from CNN, and exercise shows.