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WEYI-TV

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WEYI-TV (branded NBC25) is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Flint/Tri-Cities market that is licensed to Saginaw. The station broadcasts a 193 kilowatt high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 from a transmitter at its studios on West Willard Road in Vienna Township along the Genesee and Saginaw County line.

Owned by Howard Stirk Holdings, and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, it is the sister station to Fox affiliate WSMH, and CW affiliate WBSF (owned by Cunningham Broadcasting). The station can also be seen on WBSF's second digital subchannel (virtual channel 46.2).

History

Channel 25 is one of the nation's oldest UHF stations. It debuted on April 5, 1953 as WKNX-TV on channel 57.[1] It was owned by Lake Huron Broadcasting along with WKNX radio (AM 1210, now WHHQ at AM 1250), and was a CBS affiliate. It also shared ABC with DuMont affiliate WTAC-TV and then-NBC affiliate WNEM-TV (which later became sister to the former WKNX radio). When WTAC-TV shut down in 1954, WKNX-TV and WNEM-TV shared ABC until WJRT-TV signed on in 1958.[citation needed] It moved to the stronger channel 25 on September 14, 1965.[1]

On February 16, 1972, WKNX-TV was sold to Rust Craft,[1] who changed the call letters to the current WEYI-TV. Soon afterward, the station moved to its current tower and studios on West Willard Road in Vienna Township. The new tower significantly improved its coverage in Flint while still being within 15 miles of Saginaw as required by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations. Prior to 1972, the southern side of the Flint/Saginaw/Bay City market, including Flint itself, got a better signal from Lansing's WJIM-TV (now WLNS-TV). On May 10, 1978, Ziff-Davis took over ownership.[1]

In 1982, WEYI was sold to Television Station Partners.[1] As a CBS affiliate, WEYI, dropped the CBS soap Guiding Light in the early 1980s instead showing cartoons during the 3:00-4:00pm hour. On January 16, 1995, WEYI and WNEM-TV traded network affiliations, resulting in WEYI becoming an NBC station.[1] This came as part of the larger U.S. television network affiliate switches of 1994 that saw CBS' longtime affiliate in adjacent Detroit, WJBK, switch to Fox. CBS was having trouble getting a replacement affiliate in Detroit; it ultimately landed on WGPR-TV (channel 62, now WWJ-TV), which at the time broadcast at very low power and was practically unviewable outside Detroit's inner ring. Since WNEM provides city-grade coverage to much of the northern portion of the Detroit market[citation needed], CBS persuaded WNEM's owner, Meredith Corporation, to switch to CBS. Mid-Michigan is the only known market where the CBS affiliation moved from a relatively weak UHF station to a higher-rated VHF station during this period.

On September 29, 1996, Television Station Partners sold WEYI to Smith Broadcasting.[1] On February 26, 1997, the WEYI license was transferred to Smith Broadcasting subsidiary Sunrise Television.[1] From October 4, 1999 to September 2001, the station added the WB Network as a secondary affiliation, airing its programming overnight.[1]

In January 2002, Sunrise and LIN TV agreed that LIN would take over the station under Local Marketing Agreement.[1] By March, Sunrise sells the station to LIN with FCC approval granted in April 2002.[1] LIN agreed to sell WEYI to Barrington Broadcasting in January 2004 and approved by the FCC in March 2004.[1]

In 2004, Barrington Broadcasting launched WB affiliate WBSF in the same market which was offered over-the-air on WEYI-DT2 and cable. The deal was made primarily because WKBD declined to carry Detroit Pistons basketball after the games switched to WMYD which is not available on most Mid-Michigan cable systems.

WEYI was blamed for forcing competing NBC affiliate WDIV from Detroit off of Comcast's Flint system (which serves most of Genesee County) as well as starting the syndication exclusivity controversy on Comcast Flint. For several years, WDIV was available on Comcast's Flint system. However in 2004, WEYI filed a complaint with the FCC claiming it was losing NBC viewers to WDIV, most likely due to that station's new digital, all-high definition picture; according to WEYI's website, it still uses Betacam equipment (an analog videotape technology introduced in 1982) and none of its local or syndicated programming is currently in HD.[2] This is because WEYI still lacks an HD-capable master control to receive such programming in even 16:9 standard definition widescreen, let alone HD; as such, WEYI only passes through NBC network programming in HD. The FCC ruled in favor of WEYI [3] and for a brief period, NBC programs on WDIV were blacked out on Comcast Flint. Eventually in August 2006, Comcast Flint removed WDIV from the system completely, replacing it with the new local MyNetworkTV affiliate via WNEM-TV's second digital subchannel.[4] Afterwards, several Flint affiliates filed similar complaints with their Detroit-affiliated counterpart stations (WJRT-TV against WXYZ-TV, WBSF against WKBD, and WSMH against WJBK). However, the Detroit affiliates remain on Comcast Flint with blackouts continuing.[4]

On February 28, 2013, Barrington announced that it would sell its entire group, including WEYI and WBSF, to Sinclair Broadcast Group. However, due to FCC duopoly regulations, since Sinclair already owns Fox affiliate WSMH, Sinclair will transfer the license assets of WEYI to Howard Stirk Holdings (owned by founder and CEO of communications firm The Graham Williams Group, political commentator Armstrong Williams, whose Sunday morning talk show The Right Side is carried by WEYI) and of WBSF to Cunningham Broadcasting (WSMH will take over the operations of both WEYI and WBSF through local marketing agreements when the deal is completed).[5] The sale was completed on November 25.[6]

On November 4, 2013, WEYI instituted a new graphics package and musical score for its newscasts based on a semi-transparent "glassy" blue and white highlight color scheme. The weather system appears to use the same graphics hardware but has a considerably new look based on the clear glass design and incorporates the new graphics package into its banners.

During the winter of 2013, WEYI became the first television station in the state of Michigan to earn the StormReady certification from the National Weather Service. The certification means the weather team are trained in severe weather emergency management and response, and the station is notified immediately in any section of the building of severe weather. As of 2014, no other station in Michigan has earned this certification.

Digital television

Digital channels

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[7]
25.1 720p 16:9 WEYI Main WEYI-TV programming / NBC
25.2 WEYI-CW Simulcast of WBSF
25.3 480i 4:3 BOUNCE Bounce TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

WEYI-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 25, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 30,[8][9] using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 25. Also, WBSF became available on a separate digital signal on channel 46.[10] However, it is still available on WEYI's digital subcarrier.

Notable former on-air staff

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "WEYI-TV Channel 25 Saginaw". Station Listings. Michiguide.com. Retrieved November 2013. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  2. ^ About: miNBCnews.com
  3. ^ FCC order CSR-6342-N
  4. ^ a b Comcast Michigan - Flint/Oakland County Channel Lineup Comcast official site
  5. ^ Malone, Michael (February 28, 2013). "Sinclair's Chesapeake TV Acquires Barrington Stations". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
  6. ^ http://www.sbgi.net/site_mgr/temp/Barrington%20Closes.pdf
  7. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WEYI
  8. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designation for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  9. ^ FCC.gov - Appendix B: All Full Power Television Stations by DMA, Indicating Those Terminating Analog Service on or before February 17, 2009
  10. ^ FCC info - WBSF
  11. ^ "Jim Brandstatter Biography". Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
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