WSMH

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WSMH
Flint / Saginaw / Bay City, Michigan
City of license	Flint
Branding	Fox 66
Channels	Analog: 66 (UHF) Digital: 16 (UHF)
Affiliations	Fox
Owner	Sinclair Broadcast Group (WSMH Licensee, LLC)
First air date	March of 1985
Call letters’ meaning	We Show More Hits
Former affiliations	Independent (1985-1986) The Tube (on DT2, until 2007)
Transmitter Power	1,170 kW (analog) 19.3 kW (digital)
Height	287 m (analog) 348.1 m (digital)
Facility ID	21737
Transmitter Coordinates	43°13′15.2″N, 84°3′12.1″W
Website	wsmh.com

WSMH, channel 66, is the Fox-affiliated television station for Mid-Michigan, licensed to Flint. Its transmitter is located near Chesaning. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station has studios on West Pierson Road in Mount Morris Township. On cable, WSMH can be seen on channel 8 on Comcast systems in Flint and via Charter systems in the Tri-Cities. WSMH-HD can be seen on Comcast digital cable channel 234. Syndicated programming on the station includes: The Simpsons, Two and a Half Men, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Seinfeld.

[edit] History

WSMH went on the air in March of 1985 as an independent television station. In 1987, it became a charter Fox affiliate. The station took its call letters from the fact that it airs syndicated reruns of more hit series than most stations that eventually joined WSMH's current network. The call letters stand for the slogan "We Show More Hits" and not for anyone in the Smith family whose Sinclair Broadcast Group bought the station in 1996. To this day, reruns of Fox affiliate programs, as well as those normally not shown on most other Fox affiliates (including those aired on many UPN affiliates as well as Tribune Broadcasting's CW affiliates), are part of WSMH's schedule. In addition, WSMH also carries a few first-run syndicated programs seen on Fox affiliates and several first-run syndicated shows not carried by those same stations.

In September of 2006, shortly after WSMH's digital signal was activated, the station added The Tube (a 24-hour music video channel) on its second digital subchannel. However, this channel was removed sometime between February and March of 2007. At first, WSMH only broadcasted their own programming on DT1 (DT2 was not used). However, they added a standard definition digital signal on DT2 in recent times. WSMH & WXMI in Grand Rapids are the longest serving Fox affiliates in the state because WKBD in Detroit joined UPN. Oddly, WKBD was available in Mid-Michigan cable systems while still a Fox affiliate and would serve as the region's UPN affiliate for that network's existence. WJBK is currently Detroit's Fox affiliate. Sinclair and Fox cut a six year affiliation contract extension for Sinclair's 19 Fox affiliates. As a result, Fox will remain on WSMH through at least March of 2012.

[edit] Sinclair dispute with Comcast

The retransmission agreement between the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Comcast was set to expire on February 5, 2007. An extension was granted two times so the two sides could negotiate. During the talks, Comcast stated that they would not pay cash for retransmission rights but were willing to give free commercial time to WSMH in exchange for retransmission rights. On March 9, Sinclair & Comcast signed a new deal to extend retransmission rights for four years to expire on March 1, 2011.

[edit] News operation

WSMH's news logo under News Central.

In 2002, WSMH began airing a weeknight 10 o'clock newscast known as Fox 66 News at 10 (powered by News Central). It was the first Sinclair-owned station to use the News Central service and marked the first time the station had ventured into the news market. As a result of the newscast airing at 10 o'clock, ratings were hard to determine amongst competitors in the region. In January of 2006, the Sinclair Broadcast Group announced plans to end its News Central broadcast due to low ratings and expense. Other Sinclair owned stations in Buffalo, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, and Tampa were also notified of the decision and had their newscasts either outsourced to other stations or dropped all together.

On April 10, 2006, Sinclair announced that CBS affiliate WNEM-TV would begin producing a nihtly 10 o'clock newscast on WSMH known as TV 5 News at 10 on Fox 66. The WNEM-produced newscasts began airing on April 24. The production would feature WNEM's current news team. After the final News Central broadcast on April 21, some WSMH news employees were laid off. It had been expected that some former WNEM personalities on WSMH's News Central team would join the newscast in the future according to a press release. This was the case for former WSMH reporter David Custer who joined the WNEM news team on May 3. Custer has since left the broadcasting field and taken an executive position at an internationally renowned gourmet food distributor. Another WSMH News Central member, Jim Kiertzner, joined Detroit's NBC affiliate, WDIV-TV.

Even after WSMH shut down its news operation, Mark E. Hyman's The Point editorials continued to air on the station following the end of the WNEM-produced newscasts. Hyman ended his commentaries on November 30. The final News Central broadcast featured, in its last few minutes, clips from past shows. At the end, the studio was darkened, and Kiertzner & his boss left for the last time. The time slot for the weekend newscasts before the first WNEM-production aired was filled with infomercials. On Monday nights during the 10 o'clock broadcast, the Fugitive Files segment airs.

[edit] News team

The station's weeknight anchors.

TV 5 News at 10 on Fox 66 (10 to 11 P.M.)

Weeknights

• Anchors:
  • Sam Merrill
  • Erica Donerson
• Weather:
  • Darrin Bradley
• Sports:
  • Darryl Sellers

Weekends

• Anchor:
  • Amy Andrews
• Weather:
  • Eric Jylha
• Sports:
  • Jason Fielder

WSMH features additional news personnel from WNEM. See that article for a complete listing.

[edit] External links

• WSMH "Fox 66"
• WNEM-TV/DT "TV 5"
• Fox
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WSMH
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WSMH-TV