WILX-TV

WILX-TV
Onondaga/Lansing/Jackson, Michigan
United States
Branding WILX 10 (general)
News 10 (newscasts)
Slogan The Breaking News and Weather Authority
Channels Digital: 10 (VHF)
Virtual: 10 (PSIP)
Subchannels 10.1 NBC
10.2 WeatherNation TV
10.3 Antenna TV
Affiliations NBC
Owner Gray Television
(Gray Television Licensee, LLC)
First air date March 15, 1959
Call letters' meaning Ingham County/Lansing
X (Roman numeral 10)
also sounds like "Wilkes"
Sister station(s) WJRT-TV
Former channel number(s) Analog:
10 (VHF, 1959–2009)
Digital: 57 (UHF)
Transmitter power 30 kW
Height 298.5 m
Facility ID 6863
Transmitter coordinates 42°26′33″N 84°34′21″W / 42.44250°N 84.57250°W
Website wilx.com

WILX-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Central Michigan. Licensed to the nearby town of Onondaga, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 10. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 4 in Lansing, and Comcast channel 10 in East Lansing and Jackson. It can also be seen in high definition on digital channel 232. Owned by Gray Television, it has studios on American Road (near I-96) in Lansing, while its transmitter is located in Onondaga.

History

The station signed-on March 15, 1959 and was owned by Jackson Telecasters along with WJCO radio (AM 1510, now WJKN). The company was half-owned by Lansing Broadcasting along with WILS-AM 1320.

WILX shared the analog VHF channel 10 frequency with WMSB, an educational station owned by Michigan State University. That outlet was originally WKAR-TV, broadcasting on UHF channel 60. However, it had difficulty getting viewers because television sets were not required to have UHF tuning until 1964. Viewers had to buy an expensive converter to watch WKAR and the picture was not clear even with one. Looking for a way to increase its viewership, MSU agreed to share channel 10 with WILX. As such, WMSB was located on MSU's campus in East Lansing while WILX was licensed to Onondaga with studios in Jackson, the market's second largest city. However, both stations shared the same tower and transmitter in Onondaga.

WILX was on-the-air for 70 percent of the broadcast day, including all of prime time. In the event breaking news occurred, or a sporting event, or special on NBC was scheduled during WMSB's time, that station would often give its time to WILX. This arrangement continued until WKAR changed broadcasting frequencies to UHF channel 23 in 1972. WILX was later sold to Figgie Communications. The station went through several more ownership changes (Adams Television, Brissette Broadcasting, Forward Communications, and Benedek Broadcasting) before it was acquired by current owner Gray Television.

Unlike most (then) two-station markets, WILX did not take a secondary affiliation with ABC. This was because WJRT-TV in Flint decently covered most of Lansing. Meanwhile, Jackson and Hillsdale would not get a clear signal from ABC until WUHQ-TV (now WOTV) signed-on from Battle Creek in 1971. The area would not have an ABC affiliate of its own until WLAJ launched in 1990.

For many years, WILX's main studios were on Springport Road in Jackson while it operated a newsroom in Downtown Lansing. In the early 1960s, it maintained one-camera studios in Battle Creek and Lansing, which originated two-minute local news segments from those cities during the late evening news broadcasts. In the early-1990s under the ownership of Brissette Broadcasting, the station's operations were consolidated into its current studio complex in Lansing on American Road. With WILX and WJRT becoming sister stations in 2014, master control is expected to move to the WJRT studios on Lapeer Road in Flint, Michigan by the end of the year.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[1]
10.1 1080i 16:9 WILX-HD Main WILX-TV programming / NBC
10.2 480i WILX-WX 10.2 The Weather Authority
10.3 4:3 WILX-AT Antenna TV

On WILX-DT2 and Comcast digital channel 294 is WeatherNation. In December 2013, Antenna TV was added on 10.3 and Comcast digital channel 295.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WILX-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 10, on February 17, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television (which Congress had moved the previous month to June 12).[2] The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 57, which was among the high band UHF channels (52–69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to its analog-era VHF channel 10.[3]

Programming

Syndicated programming on WILX includes: Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Steve Harvey, The Dr. Oz Show, and Live! with Kelly and Michael among others. With WSYM-TV becoming a Scripps-owned station in 2015, it is anticipated that prior to the 2015–16 TV season that both Dr. Oz and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire will move to WSYM. But because WILX produces WSYM's newscasts (see below), it is anticipated that WILX will receive Right This Minute(presently contracted to WLAJ) and will be the first non-Scripps station to clear The List. Both programs are Scripps productions.

News operation

Nightly news open at 6.

For most of its history, WILX was a distant runner-up to long-dominant WLNS-TV in the local Nielsen ratings. Sometime in the early-2000s, however, channel 10 overtook WLNS for the first time ever and has maintained a narrow if consistent lead since.

Due to budget concerns, WILX's news staff has been cut over the last few years. As a result, the station features only one news anchor during its weekday morning broadcasts. Its weekday morning show News 10 Today was launched in 1990 as a local news segment during Today eventually expanding to the current two-and-a-half-hour-long broadcast. Since its weekday noon show was canceled in the late-1990s, the station has not offered a newscast during the midday hours unlike most other NBC affiliates.

In 2004, WILX entered into a news share agreement with Fox affiliate WSYM-TV (owned by Journal Communications). This came about after that channel shut down its news department due to financial reasons. Under the arrangement, WILX produces newscasts for WSYM from a secondary set weeknights at 5:30 (for a half-hour) and every night at 10 (for an hour). On weekday mornings at 9 and weekend mornings at 6, the previous late-night's prime time show is replayed on WSYM branded as Fox 47 Morning News Rewind.

Due to the 5:30 broadcast airing on WSYM, there is no local news at that time on WILX. Although the two share most personnel, WILX and WSYM maintain separate weeknight anchors and meteorologists. On occasion such as severe weather, WSYM may carry the primary feed from WILX where its meteorologists appear on the other. This channel operates its own weather radar known as "Pinpoint Doppler Radar" at its studios.

On January 28, 2011, WILX became the first station in Central Michigan to upgrade local newscasts to high definition.[4] WSYM transitioned to high definition broadcasts on June 13, 2011.

On July 7, 2014, WILX launched the first 4 p.m. newscast in the Lansing/Jackson market, titled First@4.

WILX currently offers live streaming of its newscasts on its website, WILX.com.

With WSYM's parent company selling its television stations to The E.W. Scripps Company in 2014, WILX is expected to provide reports from Lansing for Scripps-owned WXYZ-TV in Southfield, Michigan.

Notable former on-air staff

References

  1. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WILX
  2. ↑ List of Digital Full-Power Stations
  3. ↑ http://www.wilx.com/news/headlines/39392092.html
  4. ↑ http://michiganmediacenter.com/2011/01/wilx-launches-hd-newscasts/

External links