WITI
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| WITI | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Milwaukee, Wisconsin | |
| Branding | WITI, FOX6 Milwaukee |
| Slogan | The Most Powerful Name in Local News (news); Just You Watch the Best (general) |
| Channels | 6 (VHF) analog, 33 (UHF) digital |
| Affiliations | Fox |
| Owner | Fox Television Stations Group |
| Founded | May 21, 1956 |
| 'Call letters meaning | Independent Television Inc. (original owner) |
| Former callsigns | none |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1956-1959); CBS (1959-1961 & 1977-1994); ABC (1961-1977) |
| Website | MyFoxMilwaukee.com |
WITI "FOX6 Milwaukee" is a Fox network owned-and-operated television station (O&O) located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin including the cities of Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan and Waukesha. Its transmitter is located in Shorewood, Wisconsin. The station is the only major network O&O in the Milwaukee market.
Contents |
[edit] History
WITI's call letters stand for "Independent Television, Inc.," the corporation that originally owned the FCC license granted on June 11, 1955. The station began broadcasting on May 21, 1956. On August 8, 1958, Storer Broadcasting bought WITI in hopes of affiliating the station with the CBS network, which at the time had a UHF O&O in Milwaukee (WXIX channel 19; now WVTV channel 18). WITI became a CBS affiliate on April 1, 1959. At that time, WITI moved from its original facility in Mequon to the former WCAN-TV/WXIX studios on N. 27th Street (later used from 1980 until 1994 by WCGV channel 24).
On April 2, 1961, WITI swapped networks with WISN and became the ABC affiliate for Milwaukee for the next sixteen years. The two swapped back on March 27, 1977, and later in 1978, the station would move to new studios at the northwest corner of N. Green Bay and Brown Deer Roads.
George N. Gillett Jr. bought the station from Storer Broadcasting in 1987. After a series of mergers and bankruptcies, New World Communications became owners of the station in 1993, despite rumors of CBS buying the station (along with WITI's sisters that carried CBS).
In the beginning of December 1994, WITI dropped CBS (which moved to WDJT (Channel 58)) and instead affiliated with Fox. The reasoning went beyond the switching of all New World stations to Fox, because the station had carried Green Bay Packers games since 1977 from CBS, which up to 1994 had the NFC contract for NFL games; by switching affiliations, except for a period of three months in 1994 (when WCGV was still the Fox affiliate), WITI was able to remain the 'home station' of the Packers since Fox held the NFC contract.
From February 1995 on, the station would be known as Six is News throughout the day in order to highlight the station's newly-expanded news schedule. Conversely during Fox prime time hours, the station was promoted as Fox is Six to try to build an audience for the growing network on the stronger Milwaukee station. (A similar move took place with WJW in Cleveland, which branded itself "ei8ht is News" and "Fox is ei8ht," playing off of an old 1969 station logo.)
In 1996, Fox's Television Stations Group bought WITI and the remaining New World stations outright, and after the approval of the sale in January 1997, the station was rebranded as FOX SIX for all programming and station promotions, with the channel number still fully spelled out. Channel 6 officially became Fox 6 in April 1998 with the introduction of their current news set.
Local sports cable channel FSN North has been based out of WITI's studios since 2004. Currently no programming except for the Sunday late night Packers program Fox 6 Blitz is shared between the two stations, and both have separate on-air staff.
In 2006, WITI celebrated its 50th anniversary with an hour-long special.
[edit] Programming
WITI, being a Fox O&O, airs a great deal of programming from Twentieth Television, including sitcoms (such as Malcolm in the Middle), court shows (like Divorce Court and Christina's Court), The Dr. Keith Ablow Show and reality programming (like COPS). WITI double-runs Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown in the afternoons, and Seinfeld before Fox prime time and in late night. The station airs many of Twentieth's series under test runs before they go into national syndication for non-Fox stations, including Texas Justice, A Current Affair, Good Day Live, Geraldo at Large, and currently Fox's mid-morning The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet. The station also airs American Idol Rewind on weekends.
WITI has also aired episodes of M*A*S*H since the 1977 CBS/ABC affiliation switch, first within its CBS series run and then on into syndication WISN-TV channel 12 originally aired syndicated M*A*S*H reruns at 5 pm and 10:30 pm and then later at 11 PM along with other varied time periods when M*A*S*H originally sold in syndicated. WITI gained syndication rights to the show in the 1990s after a long and successful run on WISN.
As was the case with many of the stations acquired from New World, WITI has never aired Fox's children's block in either the Fox Kids or the current 4Kids TV iterations. The block stayed with WCGV for ten years after WITI took the Fox affiliation and in September 2004 moved to independent station WMLW-CA channel 41.
The station celebrated 50 years on the air in 2006, with promotions showing the station's history throughout the year which started airing on New Year's Day, along with a 50th anniversary special during the May sweeps period. They also aired the December 21 NFL Network Packer/Viking game locally [1].
[edit] Newscasts
Since Channel 6 became a Fox O&O, the station has put more emphasis on its local newscasts, and currently runs at least forty hours of news a week. The station's newscasts usually place a strong third behind WTMJ and WISN (both of whom fight it out for first place), though the morning newscast (Fox 6 Wakeup News) is very competitive with the national network shows, and occasionally comes in first in the ratings because of the program's local focus. The station is also one of the few Fox O&O stations to have a newscast at 10pm in the Central and Mountain time zones, with KSAZ in Phoenix, KMSP in Minneapolis/St. Paul, WDAF in Kansas City, WBRC in Birmingham and KDFW in Dallas-Ft. Worth. WTVT in Tampa and WTTG in Washington, D.C. is experimenting with a newscast in the Eastern Time Zone equivalent timeslot of 11pm.
WITI also takes advantage of the fact that the audio for Channel 6 can be heard on an FM radio on 87.7 FM, mentioning often during their morning newscasts, station promotions and breaking news events that you can 'Listen to Fox 6 in your car'.
Weekdays
- FOX6 Wake-Up News - 5 AM-9 AM
- FOX6 News at Noon - Noon-12:30 PM
- FOX6 News at Five - 5 PM-5:30 PM
- FOX6 News at 5:30 - 5:30 PM-6 PM
- FOX6 News at Six - 6 PM-6:30 PM
- FOX6 News at Nine - 9 PM-10 PM (rebroadcast from 3:05 AM-4AM)
- FOX6 News at Ten - 10 PM-10:30 PM
Saturdays
- FOX6 Saturday Wake-Up News - 8 AM-9 AM
- FOX6 News Saturday Report - 6 PM-6:30 PM
- FOX6 News at Nine - 9 PM-10 PM (rebroadcast from 3:05 AM-4AM)
- FOX6 News at Ten - 10 PM-10:30 PM
Sundays
- FOX6 Sunday Wake-Up News - 8 AM-9 AM
- FOX6 News Sunday Report - 5 PM-5:30 PM
- FOX6 News at Nine - 9 PM-10 PM (rebroadcast from 3:05 AM-4AM)
- FOX6 News at Ten - 10 PM-10:30 PM
[edit] Anchors
- Mark Concannon (Weekdays on Wake-Up)
- Katrina Cravy (Monday-Thursday at 6:00, 9:00; Sunday at 5:00, 9:00, 10:00)
- Chris Goodman (Saturdays at 6:00, 9:00, 10:00)
- Chrystina Head (Saturdays at 6:00, 9:00, 10:00)
- Brad Hicks (Monday-Thursday at 6:00, 9:00; Friday at 5:00, 6:00, 9:00, 10:00)
- Tami Hughes (Weekends on Wake-Up)
- Kim Murphy (Weekdays on Wake-Up)
- Ted Perry (Monday-Thursday at 5:00, 10:00; Sunday at 5:00, 9:00, 10:00)
- Beverly Taylor (Monday-Thursday at 5:00, 10:00; Friday at 5:00, 6:00, 9:00, 10:00)
- Joanne Williams (Weekdays at Noon)
- Justin Williams (Weekends on Wake-Up)
[edit] Notable past anchors
- Mike Bartley (forced out in 2000, now at WQED Pittsburgh as host of OnQ)
- Joyce Garbaciak (stepped down in 2005, now a features reporter/anchor at WISN (Channel 12))
- Vince Gibbens (passed away in 1995)
- Carl Zimmermann (1959-1986, retired)
- Stu Armstrong (1956-1959)
[edit] Notable past meteorologists
- Tom Skilling (Now at WGN-TV Chicago)
[edit] Branding
 WITI's former logo in the 'TV6'/CBS days, used from 1978-1995. |
 The image campaign 'A Friend You Can Count On' was used from 1989-1995. |
 The first Fox era logo for WITI, used from February 1995-January 1997. For Fox programming, an alternate version with the colors transposed would be used, with the text changed to FOX is SIX. |
 Second Fox era logo, used from January 1997-April 1998 after FTSG took full control of the station. |
 Third Fox logo, used from April 1998-January 2003, which debuted after the introduction of the station's current news set. |
 Current station logo, used since January 2003. |
 Alternate boxless version of the current logo, used in promo ads and news teasers for the station, along with the station's logo bug. |
 The HDTV version of WITI's logo bug, shown during Fox primetime programming on WITI-DT, appearing in the bottom right corner. |
[edit] External links
- Official WITI Website
- History of Milwaukee television
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WITI
- WITI Celebrates 50 Years
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WTMJ 4 (NBC) - WITI 6 (FOX) - WMKE-CA 7 (A1) - WMVS 10 (PBS) - WISN 12 (ABC) - WVTV 18 (The CW) - WCGV 24 (MNTV) - WVCY 30 (FN) - WMVT 36 (PBS) - WBWT-LP 38 (AZA) - WMLW-CA 41 (Ind) - WJJA 49 (S@H/JTV) - WWRS 52 (TBN) - WPXE 55 (ION) - WDJT 58 (CBS) - WYTU-LP 63 (TEL) |
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| Out-of-market stations available on cable only | |||
| FM radio stations in the Milwaukee-Racine, Wisconsin market (Arbitron #36) | |
|---|---|
| By frequency: |
87.7¹ | 88.1 | 88.9 | 89.7 | 90.7 | 91.7 | 92.1 | 92.5 | 93.3 | 94.1 | 94.5 | 95.1 | 95.7 | 96.5 | 96.9 | 97.3 | 98.3 | 99.1 | 100.1 | 100.7 | 102.1 | 102.9 | 103.7 | 104.5 | 104.7 | 104.9 | 105.3 | 106.1 | 106.9 | 107.7 |
| By callsign: |
WBWI | WCCX | WDDW | WEZY | WFMR | WFZH | WHAD | WHQG | WIIL | WITI¹ | WJJO | WJMR | WJZI | WKKV | WKLH | WKTI | WLUM | WPJP | WMIL | WMSE | WMWK | WMYX | WQBW | WRIT | WTKM | WUWM | WVCY | WWDV | WXSS | WYMS ¹Audio for TV Channel 6 (WITI/Fox) |
