WICD
Encyclopedia
WICD is the ABC
-affiliated television station
for Champaign
and Urbana, Illinois
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 41 from a transmitter west of Fairmount
along the Vermilion
and Champaign
County line. The station can also be seen on Mediacom
channel 5 and Comcast
channel 8. There is a high definition signal offered on Mediacom digital channel and Comcast digital channel 908. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group
, WICD has studios on South Country Fair Drive in Champaign. Syndicated
programming on the station includes: Entertainment Tonight
, Judge Judy
, Dr. Phil
, and Live with Regis and Kelly
.
in Springfield
. It simulcasts that station's network and syndicated programming but airs separate commercials, identifications, and weekday local newscasts. Although WICD maintains its own studios, master control and some internal operations are based at WICS' facilities on East Cook Street in Springfield.
Outside weekday newscasts, commercials on WICD are controlled at the Springfield studios. WICS serves the western portion of the market
(Springfield and Decatur
) while WICD serves the eastern portion (Champaign/Urbana/Danville
). This station also serves as the default ABC affiliate for the Illinois portion of the Terre Haute, Indiana
DMA since that market does not have an affiliate of its own.
affiliate and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 33. It was owned by Plains Television Partners and was a low-powered full-time satellite of Springfield's WICS. The WCHU signal traveled about 15 miles from a transmitter at its studios atop the Inman Hotel
in Downtown Champaign. However, getting a decent signal from Springfield (85 miles west of Champaign) was usually hit-or-miss at best. Plains Television had to build a microwave tower in Northwestern Champaign to send the WICS signal to the WCHU studios. With a more reliable signal, the station began a more routine schedule on September 14. It began broadcasting in color the next year.
In July 1960, Plains Television Partners bought WDAN-TV in Danville. That station had debuted on December 19, 1953 as a low-powered ABC affiliate broadcasting on channel 24 with a signal radiating about 25 miles from its transmitter. WDAN was owned by Gannett Company
subsidiary Northwest Publishing, owner and publisher of the Danville Commercial-News
newspaper, along with WDAN radio (1490 AM). After the sale, Plains Television changed WDAN-TV's call letters to WICD (Federal Communications Commission
[FCC] regulations at the time required separately-owned stations to use different call signs, and the Commercial-News retained WDAN radio) and made it a full repeater of WCHU.
From 1960 until 1967, WCHU/WICD aired some locally originated programs from the WCHU studios in Champaign. However, WICD's transmitter was not capable of broadcasting local programming in color. In June 1966, Plains Television announced WCHU and WICD would merge into a single full-power station broadcasting on channel 15. It would operate under the WICD call letters, but use WCHU's license and studios at the Inman Hotel in Champaign. The new station would broadcast at a million watt
s from the tallest tower in Illinois, at 1,385 feet. The new station was to have gone on-air in January 1967, but an ice storm toppled the tower. It was eventually rebuilt and the new WICD went on-air in July. However, there are unconfirmed reports of a delay in the final paperwork for the new station and it may have originally gone on as WCHU. While the old WICD's call letters stood for WICS Danville, the current station's calls stand for WICS Champaign/Danville.
The station moved from the Inman Hotel to its current studio facility on Country Fair Drive in 1978.
In 1986, WICS was purchased by Guy Gannett Broadcasting (no relation to the much larger Gannett Company
) but WICD remained under the ownership of Plains Television. The two stations operated as a regional network simulcasting most network and syndicated programming. This arrangement nearly brought down WICD, and for much of the 1980s it looked like it would revert to being a full-time satellite of WICS. In 1994, Plains Television sold WICD to Guy Gannett, which pumped significant resources into the station particularly its news department. Guy Gannett then sold most of its television properties, including WICD/WICS, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1999. Soon after Sinclair took over, it turned around and announced it was selling WICS and WICD (which are counted as one station for regulatory purposes) as well as KGAN
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
to Sunrise Television.
However, the FCC did not allow Sunrise to buy WICD/WICS due to Sunrise's ownership structure. Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst (HMTF), an investment firm controlled by then-Texas Rangers
and Dallas Stars
owner Tom Hicks
, owned a large block of Sunrise stock. HMTF is majority stockholder of the LIN TV Corporation then-owner of WAND
in Decatur. The FCC ruled HMTF held enough stock in Sunrise that an acquisition of WICD/WICS would result in a duopoly
between two of the four highest-rated stations in the market which is forbidden by FCC rules. Sinclair subsequently withdrew the offer to sell the three stations in 2000. The station's 46-year affiliation with NBC ended on September 5, 2005 when, as part of a larger national deal, WICD and WICS swapped affiliations with WAND and became ABC affiliates.
With this switch, WICD replaced WAND as the default ABC affiliate for the Illinois side of the Terre Haute market, which has not had an ABC affiliate of its own since longtime affiliate WBAK-TV (now WAWV-TV) switched to Fox in 1995. The network swap actually improved reception for ABC programming on the Illinois side of the market. WICD's transmitter is not far from the Indiana line while WAND's transmitter in Argenta
is near the middle of the state. Due to contracts with satellite providers, WICS is the ABC station in the market uplinked on the Champaign/Urbana/Springfield local feeds. Nielsen Media Research
counts WICD and WICS as one station and identifies this station as "WICS+" in its ratings books. For the same reason, when Dish Network
dropped WRTV
from Indianapolis
as the local ABC affiliate for the Terre Haute feed, it uplinked WICS rather than WICD. However, this will likely end at the start of the 2011-12 television season, when WAWV-TV rejoins ABC.
.
WICS has a slightly larger news department that WICD because it has more personalities. Several on-air personnel at this station perform "one-man-band" journalism duties such as shooting, editing, and producing. On Saturday nights at 10:35, the two stations co-produce and simulcast a lifestyle/entertainment show called Illinois Central. Airing in a magazine-type format, the thirty minute program features more in depth feature stories from the entire area.
Lately, WICD/WICS have been very competitive in the local news race after years of being a distant second behind longtime dominant WCIA. Beginning with the November/December 2006 Nielsen ratings
, the two actually briefly led with viewership in East Central Illinois. This is because the station's ratings are combined by Nielsen Media Research
and considers WICD and WICS to be a single station for counting purposes. This station is identified as "WICS+" in ratings books and has continued battling WCIA for the top spot splitting the position over various time slots. Basically, WICD's existence benefits WICS even though this station is technically combined with the other. The stations did not participate in the wider implementation of Sinclair's now-defunct, controversial News Central
format for their newscasts but did air "The Point" (a one-minute conservative political commentary) that was also controversial and a requirement of all Sinclair-owned stations with newscasts until the series was discontinued in December 2006. The segment's host, Mark Hyman
, can now be seen in another on-air commentary.
On September 11, 2006, a news share agreement was established with the area's Fox affiliates, WRSP-TV/WCCU
(locally-owned by GOCOM Media of Illinois, LLC). As a result, a nightly prime time newscast began airing on those stations co-produced by WICD/WICS. Known as NewsChannel at 9 on Fox Illinois, it airs for a half-hour from WICS's Springfield studios but provides market-wide coverage. There is a separate weather forecast featuring both station's meteorologists. From the start, NewsChannel at 9 competed with a newscast seen on then-UPN
affiliate WCFN produced by CBS
affiliate WCIA. Unlike the WRSP/WCCU show, WCFN's broadcast originated from Champaign and was targeted specifically at a Springfield audience. On September 28, 2009, WCIA cancelled the show and launched an hour-long weeknight newscast at 7 on WCFN. On June 26, 2010, rival WAND became the first station in East Central Illinois to upgrade local newscasts to high definition level. Broadcasts on WICD/WICS and WRSP-TV/WCCU remain in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition and it is unknown if and/or when there will be an upgrade to 16:9
enhanced definition widescreen
or full high definition.
WICS' meteorologists provide CW affiliate WBUI
(sister station of WRSP-TV/WCCU) with on-air and online weather forecasts. The segments are appropriately titled "C-More Weather". In has been announced WICD will drop its weekend newscasts and simulcast those seen on WICS starting March 26, 2011. However, Champaign-based reporters will still provide coverage. This arrangement will also affect the WRSP/WCCU weekend show because a single weather segment will be offered instead of two. The change represents the second attempt at a joint market-wide product by WICD/WICS. At one point in time, there had been a simulcasted newscast weeknights at 5 originating from Springfield.
Anchors
Storm Team 15
Sports
Reporters
Notable former personnel
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
for Champaign
Champaign, Illinois
Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...
and Urbana, Illinois
Urbana, Illinois
Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,250. Urbana is the tenth-most populous city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area....
. It broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
digital signal on UHF channel 41 from a transmitter west of Fairmount
Fairmount, Illinois
Fairmount is a village in Vance Township, Vermilion County, Illinois, United States. It is part of the 'Danville, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area'. The population was 640 at the 2000 census.-History:...
along the Vermilion
Vermilion County, Illinois
Vermilion County is a county located in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Illinois, between the Indiana border and Champaign County. It was established in 1826 and was the 45th of Illinois' 102 counties...
and Champaign
Champaign County, Illinois
Champaign County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 201,081, which is an increase of 11.9% from 179,669 in 2000.. It is the 10th most populous county in Illinois...
County line. The station can also be seen on Mediacom
Mediacom
Mediacom is a cable television and communications provider in the United States. Founded in July 1995, it serves primarily smaller markets in the Midwest and Southern United States. Formerly a publicly traded firm, it went private in a $600.0 million transaction in March 2011 and is, as of 2011,...
channel 5 and Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
channel 8. There is a high definition signal offered on Mediacom digital channel and Comcast digital channel 908. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group
The Sinclair Broadcast Group is an American telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the United States. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it owns a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of...
, WICD has studios on South Country Fair Drive in Champaign. Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programming on the station includes: Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
, Judge Judy
Judge Judy
Judge Judy is an American court show featuring former family court judge Judith Sheindlin arbitrating over small claims cases in small claims court...
, Dr. Phil
Dr. Phil (TV series)
Dr. Phil is a reality/talk television show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002...
, and Live with Regis and Kelly
Live with Regis and Kelly
Live! with Kelly is a syndicated American television morning talk show, hosted by Kelly Ripa. The show has aired since 1983 in New York City and 1988 nationwide. Tony Pigg has been the show's announcer since its inception...
.
Overview
Although identifying as a separate station in its own right, WICD is considered a semi-satellite of sister station WICSWICS
WICS is the ABC-affiliated television station for Springfield and Decatur, Illinois. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 42 from a transmitter south of Dawson and I-72/US 36. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 2 and Suddenlink channel 10...
in Springfield
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
. It simulcasts that station's network and syndicated programming but airs separate commercials, identifications, and weekday local newscasts. Although WICD maintains its own studios, master control and some internal operations are based at WICS' facilities on East Cook Street in Springfield.
Outside weekday newscasts, commercials on WICD are controlled at the Springfield studios. WICS serves the western portion of the market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
(Springfield and Decatur
Decatur, Illinois
Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city, sometimes called "the Soybean Capital of the World", was founded in 1823 and is located along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. In 2000 the city population was 81,500,...
) while WICD serves the eastern portion (Champaign/Urbana/Danville
Danville, Illinois
Danville is a city in Vermilion County, Illinois, United States. It is the principal city of the'Danville, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area' which encompasses all of Danville and Vermilion County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 32,467. It is the county seat of...
). This station also serves as the default ABC affiliate for the Illinois portion of the Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute is a city and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and...
DMA since that market does not have an affiliate of its own.
History
The station signed-on April 23, 1959 as WCHU-TV. It was an NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 33. It was owned by Plains Television Partners and was a low-powered full-time satellite of Springfield's WICS. The WCHU signal traveled about 15 miles from a transmitter at its studios atop the Inman Hotel
Inman Hotel
The 1915 Inman Hotel is a former hotel building in Champaign, Illinois, USA. It is located at the southeast corner of University Avenue and Walnut Street, a major intersection in the downtown area of Champaign. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places...
in Downtown Champaign. However, getting a decent signal from Springfield (85 miles west of Champaign) was usually hit-or-miss at best. Plains Television had to build a microwave tower in Northwestern Champaign to send the WICS signal to the WCHU studios. With a more reliable signal, the station began a more routine schedule on September 14. It began broadcasting in color the next year.
In July 1960, Plains Television Partners bought WDAN-TV in Danville. That station had debuted on December 19, 1953 as a low-powered ABC affiliate broadcasting on channel 24 with a signal radiating about 25 miles from its transmitter. WDAN was owned by Gannett Company
Gannett Company
Gannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, near McLean. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today and the weekly USA Weekend...
subsidiary Northwest Publishing, owner and publisher of the Danville Commercial-News
Commercial-News
The Commercial-News is a daily newspaper in Danville, Illinois and surrounding communities that is not worth the paper it is printed on.- External links :* *...
newspaper, along with WDAN radio (1490 AM). After the sale, Plains Television changed WDAN-TV's call letters to WICD (Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
[FCC] regulations at the time required separately-owned stations to use different call signs, and the Commercial-News retained WDAN radio) and made it a full repeater of WCHU.
From 1960 until 1967, WCHU/WICD aired some locally originated programs from the WCHU studios in Champaign. However, WICD's transmitter was not capable of broadcasting local programming in color. In June 1966, Plains Television announced WCHU and WICD would merge into a single full-power station broadcasting on channel 15. It would operate under the WICD call letters, but use WCHU's license and studios at the Inman Hotel in Champaign. The new station would broadcast at a million watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
s from the tallest tower in Illinois, at 1,385 feet. The new station was to have gone on-air in January 1967, but an ice storm toppled the tower. It was eventually rebuilt and the new WICD went on-air in July. However, there are unconfirmed reports of a delay in the final paperwork for the new station and it may have originally gone on as WCHU. While the old WICD's call letters stood for WICS Danville, the current station's calls stand for WICS Champaign/Danville.
The station moved from the Inman Hotel to its current studio facility on Country Fair Drive in 1978.
In 1986, WICS was purchased by Guy Gannett Broadcasting (no relation to the much larger Gannett Company
Gannett Company
Gannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, near McLean. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today and the weekly USA Weekend...
) but WICD remained under the ownership of Plains Television. The two stations operated as a regional network simulcasting most network and syndicated programming. This arrangement nearly brought down WICD, and for much of the 1980s it looked like it would revert to being a full-time satellite of WICS. In 1994, Plains Television sold WICD to Guy Gannett, which pumped significant resources into the station particularly its news department. Guy Gannett then sold most of its television properties, including WICD/WICS, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1999. Soon after Sinclair took over, it turned around and announced it was selling WICS and WICD (which are counted as one station for regulatory purposes) as well as KGAN
KGAN
KGAN is the CBS-affiliated television station for Eastern Iowa licensed to Cedar Rapids. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 51 from a transmitter in Rowley near the junction of Buchanan, Benton and Linn Counties. The station can also be seen on Mediacom channel 2 and in...
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Cedar Rapids is the second largest city in Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and east of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city...
to Sunrise Television.
However, the FCC did not allow Sunrise to buy WICD/WICS due to Sunrise's ownership structure. Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst (HMTF), an investment firm controlled by then-Texas Rangers
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
and Dallas Stars
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The team was founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minnesota North Stars, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. The...
owner Tom Hicks
Tom Hicks
Thomas Ollis Hicks, Sr. , is an American 'leveraged buyout' businessman living in Dallas, Texas. Despite Forbes Magazine estimating Hicks' wealth at USD 1 billion in 2009, Hicks was unable to pay off joint loans of circa £200 million the following year...
, owned a large block of Sunrise stock. HMTF is majority stockholder of the LIN TV Corporation then-owner of WAND
WAND
WAND, virtual channel 17, is an NBC-affiliated television station serving the Decatur–Springfield–Champaign area. It is owned by Block Communications...
in Decatur. The FCC ruled HMTF held enough stock in Sunrise that an acquisition of WICD/WICS would result in a duopoly
Duopoly (broadcasting)
In United States broadcast television and radio, duopoly is a term used to describe a single company which owns two or more stations in the same city or community....
between two of the four highest-rated stations in the market which is forbidden by FCC rules. Sinclair subsequently withdrew the offer to sell the three stations in 2000. The station's 46-year affiliation with NBC ended on September 5, 2005 when, as part of a larger national deal, WICD and WICS swapped affiliations with WAND and became ABC affiliates.
With this switch, WICD replaced WAND as the default ABC affiliate for the Illinois side of the Terre Haute market, which has not had an ABC affiliate of its own since longtime affiliate WBAK-TV (now WAWV-TV) switched to Fox in 1995. The network swap actually improved reception for ABC programming on the Illinois side of the market. WICD's transmitter is not far from the Indiana line while WAND's transmitter in Argenta
Argenta, Illinois
Argenta is a village in Macon County, Illinois, United States, whose population was 921 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Decatur, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.- Geography :Argenta is located at ....
is near the middle of the state. Due to contracts with satellite providers, WICS is the ABC station in the market uplinked on the Champaign/Urbana/Springfield local feeds. Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
counts WICD and WICS as one station and identifies this station as "WICS+" in its ratings books. For the same reason, when Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
dropped WRTV
WRTV
WRTV, channel 6, is the ABC television affiliate in Indianapolis, Indiana; it is owned by McGraw-Hill. Its transmitter is located on the northwest side of Indianapolis at 8001 Township Line Road. Its studios are found at 1330 N...
from Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
as the local ABC affiliate for the Terre Haute feed, it uplinked WICS rather than WICD. However, this will likely end at the start of the 2011-12 television season, when WAWV-TV rejoins ABC.
News operation
Even though WICD and WICS operate separate news departments, there is a considerable sharing of resources between the two such as video footage and personnel. This can be the case particularly when covering Decatur which is located between each of the station's facilities. Since WICD focuses more the eastern side of the market, it is more likely to provide coverage from the Illinois portion of the Terre Haute market. Likewise, WICS provides this station with coverage from the Illinois State CapitolIllinois State Capitol
The Illinois State Capitol, located in Springfield, Illinois, is the building that houses the executive and legislative branches of the government of the U.S. state of Illinois. The current building is the sixth capitol of the state since its admission as a state of the United States in 1818. The...
.
WICS has a slightly larger news department that WICD because it has more personalities. Several on-air personnel at this station perform "one-man-band" journalism duties such as shooting, editing, and producing. On Saturday nights at 10:35, the two stations co-produce and simulcast a lifestyle/entertainment show called Illinois Central. Airing in a magazine-type format, the thirty minute program features more in depth feature stories from the entire area.
Lately, WICD/WICS have been very competitive in the local news race after years of being a distant second behind longtime dominant WCIA. Beginning with the November/December 2006 Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, the two actually briefly led with viewership in East Central Illinois. This is because the station's ratings are combined by Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
and considers WICD and WICS to be a single station for counting purposes. This station is identified as "WICS+" in ratings books and has continued battling WCIA for the top spot splitting the position over various time slots. Basically, WICD's existence benefits WICS even though this station is technically combined with the other. The stations did not participate in the wider implementation of Sinclair's now-defunct, controversial News Central
News Central
News Central was a primetime newscast on Sinclair television stations in the United States, mixing locally produced news with nationally produced news and an opinion segment from Sinclair's Hunt Valley, Maryland studios...
format for their newscasts but did air "The Point" (a one-minute conservative political commentary) that was also controversial and a requirement of all Sinclair-owned stations with newscasts until the series was discontinued in December 2006. The segment's host, Mark Hyman
Mark E. Hyman
Mark E. Hyman is the Vice President for Corporate Relations for Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest chain of local television stations in the United States. Hyman became a visible presence during local news broadcasts over Sinclair's stations, many of which aired The Point from late 2001...
, can now be seen in another on-air commentary.
On September 11, 2006, a news share agreement was established with the area's Fox affiliates, WRSP-TV/WCCU
WRSP-TV
WRSP-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Central Illinois licensed to Springfield. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 44 from a transmitter in Mechanicsburg. The station can also be seen on Mediacom and Comcast channel 7...
(locally-owned by GOCOM Media of Illinois, LLC). As a result, a nightly prime time newscast began airing on those stations co-produced by WICD/WICS. Known as NewsChannel at 9 on Fox Illinois, it airs for a half-hour from WICS's Springfield studios but provides market-wide coverage. There is a separate weather forecast featuring both station's meteorologists. From the start, NewsChannel at 9 competed with a newscast seen on then-UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
affiliate WCFN produced by CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliate WCIA. Unlike the WRSP/WCCU show, WCFN's broadcast originated from Champaign and was targeted specifically at a Springfield audience. On September 28, 2009, WCIA cancelled the show and launched an hour-long weeknight newscast at 7 on WCFN. On June 26, 2010, rival WAND became the first station in East Central Illinois to upgrade local newscasts to high definition level. Broadcasts on WICD/WICS and WRSP-TV/WCCU remain in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition and it is unknown if and/or when there will be an upgrade to 16:9
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
enhanced definition widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
or full high definition.
WICS' meteorologists provide CW affiliate WBUI
WBUI
WBUI is a television station licensed to Decatur, Illinois and serving the Central Illinois market, including the cities of Springfield, Champaign, and Urbana. The station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 22 from a transmitter in Oreana along I-72. WBUI is affiliated...
(sister station of WRSP-TV/WCCU) with on-air and online weather forecasts. The segments are appropriately titled "C-More Weather". In has been announced WICD will drop its weekend newscasts and simulcast those seen on WICS starting March 26, 2011. However, Champaign-based reporters will still provide coverage. This arrangement will also affect the WRSP/WCCU weekend show because a single weather segment will be offered instead of two. The change represents the second attempt at a joint market-wide product by WICD/WICS. At one point in time, there had been a simulcasted newscast weeknights at 5 originating from Springfield.
Newscast titles
- The Dunkel/Eaton Report (1960s-1967)
- Channel 15 News (1967-1970s)
- TV-15 News (1970s-1979)
- Channel 15 News (1979-1993)
- NewsWatch 15 (1980s)
- WICD 15 News (1980s)
- News 15 (1993-1994)
- NewsChannel 15 (1994-1997, 2003-2005)
- NBC NewsChannel 15 (1997-2003)
- ABC NewsChannel 15 (2005-present)
Station slogans
- "The Tower of Power" (1967, used when the tallest in Midwest went on-the-air)
- "Channel 15 There, Be There" (1983-1984, local version of NBC ad campaign)
- "Where Local News Comes First" (1993-1994)
- "The News Source for ChampaignChampaign County, IllinoisChampaign County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 201,081, which is an increase of 11.9% from 179,669 in 2000.. It is the 10th most populous county in Illinois...
and VermilionVermilion County, IllinoisVermilion County is a county located in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Illinois, between the Indiana border and Champaign County. It was established in 1826 and was the 45th of Illinois' 102 counties...
Counties" (1994-2004) - "Coverage You Can Count On" (2004-2007)
- "More Local Coverage" (2007-present)
News team
+ denotes personnel not seen on WICSAnchors
- Kate Springer - weekday mornings and 11 a.m.
- + Rick Schutt - weeknights at 5, 6, and 10
- + Erin Murphy - weeknights at 5, 6, and 10
- Marianne Manko - weeknights at 9 and reporter
- Liz Foster - weekends and reporter
- Kevilee Douglas - Illinois Central host
Storm Team 15
- + Doug Quick - Chief seen weeknights and Public Service Director
- + Katy Kramer - weekday mornings and 11 a.m.
- Kelly Curran - fill-in and news reporter
Sports
- + Steve Breitweiser - DirectorSports DirectorA sports director is an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. In local news, the sports director is typically the station's primary sportscaster, and often anchors the primetime newscasts on weekdays. They are in charge of sports programming and...
seen weeknights at 6 and 10 (also Fast Break 15 host) - Aaron Matas - Sports Reporter
- Jeremy Rauch - weekends & Sports Reporter
- Krista Lander - weeknights at 9
Reporters
- A.J. Bayatpour - Vermilion County Bureau Chief
- James Fillmore
- Liz Lohuis
- Mike Brooks - Agriculture
- Andrew Hansen - Capitol Bureau Chief
- Heather Hubbs - Education
- Katie Heinz - Springfield
- Jerry Lambert
- Jessica McGee
- Trey Paul
- Mark Hyman - "Behind the Headlines" segment producer
- Armstrong WilliamsArmstrong WilliamsArmstrong Williams is an African American political commentator, author of a conservative newspaper column, and host of a daily radio show and a nationally syndicated TV program, called The Right Side with Armstrong Williams. From 2004 to 2007, he co-hosted a daily radio program with Sam...
- political commentator
Notable former personnel
- Dave MalkoffDave MalkoffDave Malkoff is an American television journalist working for KTLA in Los Angeles. He has covered some of the most destructive hurricanes in US history and reported from several parts of Iraq at the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2010...
- now at KTLA-TV - Emily CarlsonEmily Carlson-Television:Carlson is a reporter at WHO-TV in Des Moines, Iowa. Before that she reported for TV30 in the Bay Area of California until it stopped doing news in June 2008. In 2006 and 2007 she reported for WICD in Champaign, Illinois. In 2005 and 2006 she was a reporter and news anchor at KEYC in...
- Kent NinomiyaKent NinomiyaKent Ninomiya is the first male Asian American broadcast journalist to be a primary news anchor of a television station in the United States. The Asian American Journalist Association, often referred to as the AAJA, notes that there are numerous Asian American women on the air at American...