WICS

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WICS
Springfield/Decatur, Illinois
Branding	ABC NewsChannel 20
Slogan	Coverage You Can Count On
Channels	Analog: 20 (UHF) Digital: 42 (UHF)
Affiliations	ABC
Owner	Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (WICS Licensee, LLC)
First air date	1953[1]
Call letters’ meaning	Illinois' Capitol is Springfield
Former affiliations	Primary: NBC (1953-2005) Secondary: DuMont (1953-1955) [1] CBS (1953-1958) ABC (1953-1958)
Transmitter Power	1510 kW (analog) 950 kW (digital)
Height	436 m (analog) 402.2 m (digital)
Facility ID	25686
Transmitter Coordinates	39°48′16.2″N, 89°27′39.7″W
Website	www.wics.com

WICS is the ABC affiliate located in Springfield, Illinois. Branding itself as "ABC NewsChannel 20", it is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group and broadcasts on channel 20. Its transmitter is located near Mechanicsburg, Illinois. It is a sister station to WICD in Champaign, which is considered a semi-satellite of WICS even though the two stations produce separate newscasts. WICS serves the western portion of the market (Springfield and Decatur) while WICD serves the eastern portion.

[edit] History

WICS began operations on September 30, 1953; owned by Plains Television Partners of Springfield. It carried programming from all four networks of the era: NBC, CBS, ABC, and DuMont [2]. However, it was a primary NBC affiliate. Although the FCC had collapsed most of central Illinois into one giant television market, WICS took on a secondary CBS affiliation because its primary affiliate, Champaign's WCIA, only provided a marginal signal to Springfield. It also aired whatever ABC programs that WTVP in Decatur (now WAND) had to turn down in order to air CBS shows not cleared by WCIA. By 1958, WICS was an exclusive NBC affiliate.

The station originally broadcast from the Leland Hotel on Capitol Street in downtown Springfield. In 1964, WICS moved to its current studios on Cook Street in east Springfield.

The Federal Communications Commission considered making central Illinois an all-UHF market, but dropped these plans under heavy lobbying from WCIA. However, WICS' signal was not nearly strong enough to reach the eastern portion of the market. At the time, UHF signals were not strong enough to cover large amounts of territory. Accordingly, in 1959, Plains Television signed on WCHU in Champaign as a low-powered satellite of WICS. In 1960, it bought WDAN-TV, a low-powered station on channel 24 in Danville, changed the calls to WICD, and made it another full satellite of WICS. Starting in the 1960s, WCHU broke off from the WICS signal to provide some local programming, which was simulcast on WICD. In 1967, Plains Television merged WCHU and WICD into a new full-power station on channel 15 under the WICD calls, but operating under the WCHU license.

Plains Television sold WICS to Guy Gannett Broadcasting (no relation to the larger Gannett) in 1986, but held onto WICD until 1994. The two stations operated as a "regional network" sharing most network and syndicated programming. This arrangement nearly brought down WICD, and for a time it appeared that it would become a full satellite of WICS. Guy Gannett finally bought WICD in 1994.

Sinclair bought most of Guy Gannett's stations, including WICS and WICD in 1999. Almost immediately after the acquisition by Sinclair was finalized, Sinclair announced the sale of the two stations, plus KGAN in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; to Sunrise Television. However, the FCC did not allow Sunrise to buy WICS/WICD due to Sunrise's ownership structure. Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst (HMTF), an investment firm controlled by Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks, owned a large block of Sunrise stock. HMTF is majority stockholder of LIN TV, then-owner of WAND in Decatur. The FCC ruled that HMTF held enough stock in Sunrise that an acquisition of WICS/WICD would have resulted in a duopoly between two of the four highest-rated stations in the market--something which is forbidden by FCC rules. As a result, Sinclair remains the owner of WICS, WICD and KGAN.

In 2005, WICS and WICD swapped affiliations with WAND and became ABC affiliates.

WICS and WICD have been very competitive in the news race lately after years of being a distant second behind long-dominant WCIA. In fact, since the November and December 2006 Nielsen Ratings, the two stations have have led the central Illinois news ratings. This is as a result of combining the two stations' ratings; Nielsen Media Research considers WICS and WICD to be a single station, and identifies WICD as "WICS+" in ratings books.

WICS/WICD also produces a nightly 9 pm newscast for the local FOX affiliate, WRSP-TV/WCCU.

[edit] Logos

WICS Logo 1990's to September 4, 2005 (while an NBC affiliate)

WICS Logo September 5, 2005 to present

[edit] Personalities

[edit] Current

• Mike Berman - sports reporter
• Bryan Boes - sports director
• Joe Crain - weathercaster
• Keville Douglas Meteorologist
• Jessica English - morning anchor
• Ashley Glass - weekend anchor
• Gus Gordon - chief meteorologist
• Jerry Lambert - anchor at 5, 6, and 10 p.m.
• Carl Madonna - morning anchor
• Danny Russell - weekend weathercaster
• Catie Sheehan - reporter
• Julie Staley - anchor
• Libby White - reporter
• Elizabeth Wooley - anchor at 6 and 10 p.m.
• Ben Handelman - reporter
• Lauren Lindvig - reporter
• Katie Heinz - reporter
• Andrew Tanielan - reporter

[edit] Former

• Nick Alexander
• Jill Burwitz
• Nick Charles
• Jack Connors
• Wayne Cox
• Darryl Crouch
• Jim Egan
• Patrick Fazio
• Susan Finzen
• Wally Gair
• G.B. Gordon
• Melissa Hahn
• Scott Hanson
• Don Hickman
• Fred Hickman
• Bernie Johnson
• Doug Kimball
• Dave Lange
• Chris McCloud
• Jennifer Lindsey McLaughlin
• Sean McLaughlin
• Dave Malkoff
• Nathan Mihelich
• Rebecca Paul
• Ron Rector
• Anita Roman
• Nick Schneigert
• Flip Spiceland
• Tom Stevens
• Mark Thoma
• Andrew Tobisch
• Les Vann
• Bob Warren
• Kim Wilson
• Wendy Ryan

[edit] External links

• WICS Homepage
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WICS
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WICS-TV

[edit] References