WISN-TV
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| WISN-TV | |
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| Milwaukee, Wisconsin | |
| Branding | WISN 12 (general) 12 News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | Leading the Way with Important Local Coverage WISN 12: Start Here |
| Channels | Analog: 12 (VHF) |
| Affiliations | ABC |
| Owner | Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. (WISN Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.) |
| First air date | October 27, 1954 |
| Call letters’ meaning | The WISconsin News (former Milwaukee Hearst newspaper that merged with The Milwaukee Sentinel) |
| Former callsigns | WTVW (1954-1955) |
| Former affiliations | Primary: ABC (1954-1961) CBS (1961-1977) Secondary: DuMont (1954-1955) |
| Transmitter Power | 316 kW (analog) 863 kW (digital) |
| Height | 303 m (analog) 263.1 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 65680 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.wisn.com |
WISN-TV is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin, including Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan and Waukesha. WISN is an affiliate of the ABC television network. Its transmitter is located within Lincoln Park in the northeastern part of Milwaukee, with WDJT (Channel 58)'s tower nearby. WISN is one of three flagship stations of Hearst-Argyle Television and the second-oldest television station to remain with the company in all of its various iterations.
Former sister radio stations WISN (1130) and WQBW-FM (formerly WLTQ-FM, 97.3) are now owned by Clear Channel, and are unrelated to WISN-TV in any way except for Channel 12 providing weather forecasts for Clear Channel's Milwaukee radio operations.
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[edit] History
WISN first signed on the air on October 27, 1954 with the call letters WTVW and branded itself as Wisconsin's TeleVision Window. By 1955 it had changed to WISN, after being bought by the Hearst Corporation, who transferred the call letters from their radio station, WISN (AM). From the beginning, the station was an ABC affiliate. Until 1956, it also carried programming from the now-defunct DuMont network.
Hearst kept WISN-TV and WISN (AM) in 1962 after they sold the Milwaukee Sentinel to Journal Communications that year (owners of the Milwaukee Journal), due to Journal already owning WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) and WTMJ (AM) (620).
In 1961, WISN would undergo an affiliation switch. CBS, then carried by WITI, desired to affiliate with WISN, since the station's radio stations were already affiliated with the network. As a result, WISN and WITI swapped affiliations on April 2, 1961.
The switch was reversed in 1977. WITI's owner at the time, Storer Broadcasting, had a bitter relationship with ABC, stemming from the network's departure from Storer's San Diego UHF station, KCST, a station the network was forced to affiliate with after KCST fought successfully to have ABC affiliation stripped from Tijuana, Mexico-based XETV. At the same time, Storer had a strong relationship with CBS in other markets where they owned stations. Hence, they dropped ABC from WITI to take the CBS affiliation from WISN. Without hesitation, WISN aligned with ABC again, by then the top network in the country. The switch occurred on March 27, 1977. To this day, WISN is one of ABC's most successful affiliates, and bills itself thus in promotions.
[edit] Digital television
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 12.1 / 34.1 | main WISN-TV/ABC programming |
[edit] Post-analog shutdown
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009, [1] WISN-TV will remain on its current pre-transition channel number, 34. [2] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display WISN-TV's virtual channel as 12.
[edit] Programming
Channel 12 clears all of the ABC schedule, except for ABC Kids airings of Power Rangers: Jungle Fury due to lack of E/I content; the station unusually aired Kim Possible and Power Rangers SPD early Monday mornings before World News Now in the 2005-2006 season for the same reason.
The station airs most of the highest-rated programs in syndication, with Live with Regis and Kelly after Good Morning America, Martha before the ABC soap opera lineup, and Dr. Phil and Oprah paired up in mid-afternoons together. Entertainment Tonight airs before primetime, and Access Hollywood airs after the 10 p.m. newscast. Channel 12 also airs Green Bay Packers Monday Night Football games originating on ESPN [1], with the ESPNHD feed of the games airing on WISN-DT. The same arrangement was in place for the 2007 NFL Network game against the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Stadium the Thursday after Thanksgiving.
WISN also makes the claim based on Nielsen Media Research numbers that it is among the top-rated ABC affiliates in the nation (an honor that was shared with fellow ABC station WPTA-TV in Fort Wayne, IN), which is based on market size and household ratings percentages. [2] In fact, the three highest-rated ABC affiliates in the nation are all Hearst-Argyle stations (WISN, plus KOCO in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and KMBC in Kansas City, Missouri).
One of America's Leading ABC Stations had been the station's slogan until September 24, 2007, when in conjunction with ABC's new image campaign, Channel 12 launched the new Start here slogan, which signified both Channel 12's broadcast channel and the station's website, which was relaunched in August 2007 to move away from Hearst Argyle's LocalChannel strategy to focus on WISN's local content and emphasize the station's call letters in the web address. The top-rated station claim remains in visual use on the station, but is no longer voiced out.
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- WTVW's transmitter building was built under a tent, as rains threatened to delay construction. After the building was finished, a second tent was erected, and used for live automobile commercials, until it collapsed one day in early 1955.
- The station was also the first commercial station in the market to produce an HDTV broadcast, airing the Summerfest "Big Bang" fireworks show in the format on June 29, 2006. Milwaukee Public Television station WMVS (Channel 10) had produced HDTV programming before, and helped WISN with some aspects of the broadcast. This was repeated in 2007. [3]
- WISN was the flagship station for the Wisconsin Lottery from the agency's inception in 1989, playing host to the state lottery drawings and the weekly Wisconsin Lottery Money Game game show. The lottery discontinued the Money Game at the end of 2003 due to budget cuts, and televised drawings at the same time, moving the drawings to the state lottery offices in Madison. WISN continues to announce the lottery numbers on-screen after being drawn in a bottom-screen ticker during the 6pm news (and Sunday's 6:30pm programming) and Access Hollywood, and also broadcasts most Powerball drawings with a jackpot over $125,000,000 (WMLW (Channel 41) airs all Powerball drawings).
- In 1976, WISN launched the "Hello Milwaukee" promos, praising the City of Milwaukee through a montage of videos and a song specially commissioned and written by WISN.
- WISN is one of a few select stations which uses permanent digital logo bugs of their station logo in all of their programming (excepting paid programming), including ABC network programs, both in standard definition and high definition.
- Sports director Dan Needles participated in a TV sportscaster edition of the ESPN's game show Stump the Schwab. Advancing to the Schwab Showdown, the show's final round, he stumped Howie Schwab and won the game after a tie-breaker question.
- WISN is one of several ABC stations using elements of the network's 2007 "Start Here" campaign in local promotions.
[edit] News
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The station also has a strong commitment to local news, and has found momentum after a month-long tribute to former main anchor Jerry Taff's retirement in May 2005, hiring popular local anchors and reporters released from other stations, a stronger ABC schedule, and a period of change at rival WTMJ due to weaker NBC ratings and newsroom changes.
The station's biggest acquisition from WTMJ was the dean of Milwaukee television journalism, Mike Gousha in late 2007, a year after he retired as the anchor of WTMJ's main newscasts in order to focus on a new position as a distinguished fellow in law and public policy at Marquette University. Gousha currently analyzes political events for the station with other political experts, and hosts UpFront with Mike Gousha, a Sunday morning program which is a mix of the interview segments familiar to viewers of his former WTMJ program Sunday Night, and local political analysis. The show has been syndicated to other stations statewide by Hearst.
WISN has added more newscasts to their schedule over the last two years, and is unusual in programming hour-long newscasts Saturday at 6 p.m., and Sunday at 10 p.m.. The station also begins all their morning newscasts at 5 a.m., seven days a week, a point made in all of their promotions for what is called 12 News This Morning.
Currently, WISN is the only television station in the market to carry a weekly podcast on their website, 12 News Reporter's Notebook, which features the station's reporting staff and anchors talking about the major local and national stories of the week. WISN also hosts their video stories on YouTube as part of a content agreement between Hearst-Argyle and YouTube.
The station's news division made a slow climb throughout the 2006-07 television season to overtake their longtime rivals at Channel 4, owing most of it to a strong ABC schedule, along with major personnel shuffles and newscast tone changes at WTMJ. In the November sweeps period for 2006, Channel 12 newscasts were rated first in the morning and early evening, while placing second to Channel 4 by 18,000 viewing homes in the 10 p.m. timeslot [4]. In February 2007, Channel 12 won every newscast timeslot, and even unseated longtime 10 p.m leader Channel 4 with an 0.2-point win. [5]. Finally, in May 2007, the station took a clear lead at 10pm, earning a 7,500 household lead over Channel 4 and a clean sweep of all news timeslots [6].
[edit] Logos
 This has been the main TV logo for WISN since 1976, and is used in this straight form on their newscasts and as the station's logo bug on the station's HD feed during ABC programming. |
 WISN's 'contemporary 12' logo, used as the station ID at the start of their newscasts, entertainment programming, and as the network-generated logo bug on ABC network programs coming out of commercial. |
 The title screen for WISN 12 News |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- WISN-TV Official Homepage
- WISN-TV logos through the years
- History of Milwaukee television
- Hearst-Argyle Television
- WISN's Channel on YouTube
- "Reporter's Notebook Podcast" in the iTunes Store Podcast Directory
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WISN
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WISN-TV
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