WEYI-TV

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WEYI-TV
Image:WEYI-25.gif
Saginaw, Michigan / Flint, Michigan
Branding NBC 25
Slogan Working for You
Channels 25 (UHF) analog,
30 (UHF) digital
Affiliations NBC
Owner Barrington Broadcasting
Founded April 5, 1953
Call letters meaning Resembles EYE, referring to previous CBS affiliation
Former callsigns WKNX-TV (1953-1972)
Former affiliations CBS (1953-1995)
The WB (secondary) (2000-2004)
Transmitter Power 2040kw
Website www.weyi.com

WEYI-TV (Channel 25/Digital Channel 30) is the NBC affiliate for the Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Michigan television market. Although licensed to Saginaw, Michigan, WEYI's studios, offices, and transmitter facilities are actually located on 2225 West Willard Road in Clio, Michigan, on the Genesee (south) side of the Genesee / Saginaw county line. (On the Saginaw (north) side of the line, the road is known as Gary Road.) From its 1359-foot (414-meter) tower (the second largest structure in Michigan), WEYI operates with an effective radiated power of 2040 kilowatts.

The Flint / Tri-Cities market is the largest television market in the Barrington group, even after the Raycom acquisitions.

On cable, WEYI can be seen on Comcast Flint channel 6 and Charter Tri-Cities channel 4.

Contents

[edit] History

The station is one of the nation's earliest UHF television stations, signing on as CBS affiliate WKNX Channel 57 in April 1953. In 1965, the station changed channel numbers from 57 to 25, and in 1972 the station relocated to its current studios. The move was so that channel 25 would serve Flint, Saginaw and Bay City, just like WNEM and WJRT -- prior to 1972, Flint's official CBS affiliate was Lansing's WJIM-TV. At the same time, new owners Rust Craft Broadcasting changed the station's call letters to WEYI to reflect the station's CBS affiliation.

In 1979, Ziff-Davis acquired the Rust Craft stations through a merger. In 1983, WEYI along with then sister stations WROC-TV in Rochester, New York and WTOV-TV in Steubenville, Ohio were sold to Television Station Partners, which was later bought out by Smith Broadcasting in 1996. In 1997, the WEYI license was transferred to Smith Broadcasting subsidiary Sunrise Television, which later merged with the LIN TV Corporation in 2002. In May 2004, the station's current owners, Barrington Broadcasting, acquired the station. WEYI was Barrington's first station in Michigan; in March 2006, they would be joined by Northern Michigan's WPBN & WTOM, Marquette's WLUC-TV and, to a degree, Toledo's WNWO-TV as part of Barrington's family of stations in Michigan, following Barrington's purchase of those stations from Raycom Media.

In 1995, WEYI and WNEM-TV traded network affilliations, resulting in WEYI becoming an NBC station. In 2004, WEYI launched Mid-Michigan's WB (WBSF), a station affiliated with the WB television network available on cable and through WEYI's digital signal. The deal was made primarily because UPN Detroit declined to carry Detroit Pistons basketball, switching instead to the local WB channel there (WDWB), which is not available on most mid-Michigan cable systems. In the early-2000s, prior to 2004, WEYI offered select WB programs in late-night.

[edit] Previous Logos

[edit] See also

WBSF

[edit] External links



Broadcast television in the Mid-Michigan (Flint / Saginaw / Bay City / Midland) market  (Nielsen DMA #66)

WNEM 5 (CBS/MNTV on DT2) - WJRT 12 (ABC) - WCMU 14 / WCML 6 (PBS) - WDCP 19 / WDCQ 35 (PBS) - WEYI 25 (NBC) - WFUM 28 (PBS) - WHNE-LP 32 (A1) - WBSF 46 (The CW) - W46CR 46 (3ABN) - WAQP 49 (TBN / TCT) - WXON 54 (Ind) - WSMH 66 (FOX) (The Tube on DT2)

Stations in adjoining markets that serve part of the Mid-Michigan market:

WWTV 9 (CBS, Cadillac) - WBKB 11 (CBS, Alpena)

Broadcast television available on cable only:

CBMT 6 (Montreal, CBC) - CBET 9 (Windsor, CBC) - WKBD 50 (Detroit, The CW )

Defunct Television Stations:

WTAC 16 (ABC / DuMont)