WLNS-TV
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| WLNS-TV | |
|---|---|
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| Lansing, Michigan | |
| Branding | WLNS 6 |
| Slogan | Your News Leader |
| RF Channel | Analog: 6 (VHF) Digital: 59 (UHF) |
| Subchannels | 6.1 CBS |
| Owner | Young Broadcasting, Inc. (Young Broadcasting of Lansing, Inc.) |
| First air date | May 1, 1950 |
| Call letters’ meaning | LaNSing |
| Former callsigns | WJIM-TV (1950-1984) |
| Former affiliations | All secondary: NBC (1950-1959) ABC (1950-1958) DuMont (1950-1955)[1] |
| Transmitter Power | 100 kW (analog) 1000 kW (digital) |
| Height | 305 m (analog) 288 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 74420 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.wlns.com |
WLNS-TV is the CBS television affiliate serving the Lansing/Jackson, Michigan television market in the United States. It broadcasts its analog signal on VHF channel 6, and its digital signal on UHF channel 59 from a 306-meter (1,004-foot) transmitter located midway between East Lansing and the town of Williamston, giving it a signal footprint in many parts of southern and central Michigan.
The station also relays its broadcasts on W67AJ (channel 67), a low-power repeater in Ann Arbor, owned by Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti.
The station's studio facility is also home to the operations of the market's MyNetworkTV affiliate, WHTV.
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[edit] History
WLNS signed on the air on May 1, 1950 as WJIM-TV, owned by Harold F. Gross along with WJIM-AM 1240. It is Michigan's second-oldest station outside of Detroit (behind Grand Rapids' WOOD-TV). Gross had started WJIM-AM, the first commercial radio station in Lansing, in 1934, and both stations were named after his son Jim. It originally broadcast from the top of a bank in downtown Lansing before moving to its current location on Saginaw Street (known as "the country house") in 1953.
WJIM-TV carried programming from all four major networks, though it was and always has been a primary CBS affiliate. ABC disappeared from the schedule in 1958 when WJRT-TV signed on from Flint; it served as Lansing's default ABC affiliate until WLAJ signed on in 1990. NBC disappeared from the schedule in 1959 when WILX-TV signed on. DuMont programming disappeared when that network ceased operations in 1956, leaving WJIM with just CBS. In 1960, Gross added WJIM-FM to his holdings.
The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the station's license in 1973, on allegations that Gross prevented a number of prominent political figures from appearing on his station, among other accusations. [2] An FCC judge ordered WJIM's license revoked in 1981--only the second time a station has had its license revoked for violating the FCC's fairness guidelines. The first instance was WLBT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi; which lost its license in 1969 due to its blatant bias against the Civil Rights Movement. Unlike WLBT, however, WJIM kept its license after the initial revocation was reversed by a three-member review board at the FCC in 1982. The ACLU agreed to a cash settlement in 1984.
The stress of the licensing dispute led Gross to sell the station to Unicom Inc, a unit of Forstmann Little, d.b.a. Backe Communications, at which point the station adopted its current call letters of WLNS. Unicom's ownership of the station was short-lived as in 1986 they sold WLNS and WKBT in La Crosse, Wisconsin to its current owner, Young Broadcasting (however, WKBT has since been sold to Morgan Murphy Stations).
[edit] Flint and Detroit
WJIM doubled as Flint's CBS affiliate for many years, as its signal--the second-strongest in Michigan at the time it signed on--decently covers the city and surrounding Genesee County. For many years, it identified as "Lansing/Flint/Jackson/Battle Creek" on-air.
In 1972, Saginaw's then-CBS affiliate WEYI-TV moved its studios and transmitter to Clio, just north of Flint. Until the early 1980s, Flint was served by two CBS stations, though during the 1980s, WJIM/WLNS chose to concentrate more on Lansing. Comcast dropped WLNS in Flint as a result. WLNS can still be seen in Saginaw County with a good receiver.
WLNS' signal also makes it to Detroit, albeit it is very weak. (It is rumored Detroiters, in order to watch home Lions games that were blacked out, used to position their antennas towards Lansing in order to pick up their signal.) In that area, WLNS is best viewable in Detroit's west suburbs and areas of northwest Detroit. W67AJ, the WLNS repeater in Ann Arbor, is part of the Detroit DMA.
[edit] WLNS6 News Staff
[edit] Anchors
- WLNS6 News this Morning:
Greg Adaline
Lauren Thompson
- WLNS6 News at Noon:
Greg Adaline
Lauren Thompson
- WLNS6 News at Five:
Sheri Jones
- WLNS6 News at Six:
Sheri Jones
Dave Akerly
- WLNS6 News at 11:
Sheri Jones
Dave Akerly
- WLNS6 News at 6 and 11 Weekends:
Ann Emmerich
[edit] Meteorologists
- WLNS6 News this Morning and 6 News at Noon:
Jake Dunne
- WLNS6 News at 5, 6, and 11:
David Young (chief meteorologist)
- WLNS6 News 6 & 11 Weekends:
Rob Dale
Weather radar called "Live StormTacker 6 Doppler Radar"
[edit] Sports
- WLNS6 News at 6 and 11:
Fred Heumann
- WLNS6 News weekends:
Lisa Byington
- Sunday Sports Overtime:
Lisa Byington
- The 5th Quarter:
Fred Heumann
Lisa Byington
Friday nights at 11:15pm during high school football and basketball season
[edit] Past Personalities
- Tetiana Anderson - former reporter; now with the Weather Channel
- David Andrews - former anchor; now with WILX
- Brad Edwards - former weekend anchor/reporter; now with WJBK
- Jim Geyer - former meteorologist; now with WEYI
- Jo Anne Paul - former anchor; now with WJIM
- Andy Provenzano - former meteorologist; now with WILX
- Amy Rao - former weekend anchor/reporter; now with WTVF Nashville
- Terry Stanton - former anchor; now Deputy Spokesperson for Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm
- Tim Staudt - former sports anchor; now with WILX
- Anya Tucker - former morning anchor; now with WTEN Albany
- Emily Wagner - former morning anchor; now with WOOD-TV (known as Emily Linnert)
- Jeff Campbell - former weekend anchor/reporter; now with WCNC
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- WLNS.com
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WLNS
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WLNS-TV
- Photos of the tower
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