WLAJ
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| WLAJ | |
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| Lansing, Michigan | |
| Branding | ABC 3 (cable channel) |
| Channels | Analog: 53 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | ABC The CW (DT2) |
| Owner | Freedom Communications (Freedom Broadcasting of Michigan Licensee, LLC) |
| First air date | October 13, 1990 |
| Call letters’ meaning | We're Lansing And Jackson |
| Transmitter Power | 1410 kW (analog) 900 kW (digital) |
| Height | 300 m (both) |
| Facility ID | 36533 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.wlaj.com www.lansingcw5.com |
WLAJ is the ABC television affiliate serving the Lansing/Jackson, Michigan market of the United States. It broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 53, and its digital signal on UHF channel 51. The station's 981-foot (299 m) transmitter is located in Tompkins Township, Michigan in the northern part of Jackson County.
WLAJ's digital signal also The CW on its DT2 sub-channel.
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[edit] History
WLAJ began broadcasting on October 13, 1990 Their studios (a former appliance store) are located at 5815 S. Pennsylvania Road in Lansing. The station was originally owned by Joel Ferguson, former owner of WFSL-TV (now Lansing Fox affiliate WSYM-TV). Before 1990, Lansing had been one of the biggest markets in the country without a full-time ABC affiliate. WJRT-TV in Flint served as the default ABC affiliate for the market from its 1958 sign-on until WLAJ debuted. Other parts of the market received ABC from WUHQ-TV in Battle Creek and WXYZ-TV in Detroit. As a condition to the station receiving ABC affiliation, the transmitter had to be located so that there is a minimum of overlap between the WJRT and WLAJ signals.
Ferguson eventually sold a 50% stake of the station to Granite Broadcasting Corporation. Granite had the option of buying out the rest of the station, which it exercised 6 months later after a brief court battle when the owners of the transmitter site tried to stop the sale from taking place.
The station was sold to its current owner, Freedom Broadcasting of Michigan, in 1999. In 2005, a company-wide consolidation of operations at their stations resulted in the move of WLAJ's master control operations to sister station WWMT in Kalamazoo, leaving behind a skeleton crew of six people out of what began with 80 staffers in Lansing.
[edit] News operations and local programming
WLAJ launched its first newscast, called "53 Newsbeat", a month after it began operations. However, after 15 months, station management decided to pull the plug on the broadcast, and replaced it with a simulcast of Action News from Detroit's WXYZ-TV. Due to low ratings, this was eventually replaced by syndicated programming.
In 1997, WLAJ re-launched its news operation, however, it still found itself with a fraction of the viewers of the established newscasts at WLNS and WILX.
The new 6 and 11 o'clock newscasts were branded "ABC 53 News Now" with anchor Joe Parker, sports with Shaun Broyls, and weather from National Weather Network (now known as WeatherVision). Kirk Montgomery eventually took over as weather forecaster.
After Freedom bought the station in 1999, a management change occurred, as Mike King was brought in as general manager from sales manager at WWMT. The newscasts remained branded as "ABC 53 News Now", and during this time won several awards, including Best Newscast, from the Associated Press.
Eventually, the newscasts were relaunched as "ABC 53 News Express," which consisted of 10 minutes of news, weather, and sports, followed by an interview segment. Parker left in 2002 to become the main anchor at Freedom's WRGB in Albany, New York, and was was replaced by Darcy Sullivan. Despite the new format, WLAJ was still unable to make significant increases in viewership.
On September 24, 2007, more changes happened at WLAJ, as Suzanne Wangler (using her on-air name "Suzanne Page") from Detroit's WDIV-TV replaced Darcy Sullivan as producer and anchor, and Cathy Younkin from WWMT replaced Jim Fordyce as the news director. Hondo Carpenter Sr. remained the sports director.
The station also dropped the News Express format for their 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts and adopted a more traditional format. WLAJ was also re-branded as ABC 3 (since most cable providers carry WLAJ on channel 3), and introduced a new set. WLAJ also began producing producing a 10 p.m. newscast that airs on WLAJ-DT2, the station's CW sub-channel. The changes included a new logo -- like WOTV's "WOTV 4" logo, WLAJ's "ABC 3" logo features the number "53", but emphasizes its cable slot, "3", more than its UHF channel, 53. On April 7 WLAJ changed its present "ABC3" logo for one that is similar to its Kalamazoo sister station WWMT.
Bill Younkin, a former news anchor for Cleveland's WEWS-TV and WOIO, took over as temporary anchor through April 4, 2008.
Jessica Wheeler would take over for Younkin as a permanent anchor, effective April 7. A new image makeover, including a new logo (similar to WWMT's, but with the hidden "5" like the previous logo), was also launched that day.
The broadcast features Bill Albin and Stacia Mullaney as the main reporters, as well as reporters from WWMT on stories which affect the Lansing and Jackson area.
For weather, WLAJ uses WWMT's chief meteorologist, Keith Thompson.
[edit] Suzanne Page embezzlement case
On February 15th, 2008, Suzanne Wangler (who anchored under the name "Suzanne Page") resigned as the Anchor/Producer/News Director for WLAJ. Wangler had cited the "stress" of the job serving in her position, leading to her resignation. Wangler previously had a week absence due to family problems.
Her resignation, however, may be due to an investigation where Wangler was accused of taking almost $150,000[1] from an Oakland County man named Les Pingilley. While Royal Oak Police completed their investigation, the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office is deciding if charges will be issued. The charges lead to an Investigators report at fellow ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV by Heather Catallo. [2]
On February 23rd, 2008, Wangler was found dead in her home by police in her home. According to WJBK, it was an "apparent suicide" and she "had hanged herself". Also according to WJBK, she went to a local police department to get her blood alcohol level checked for a previous DUI. Her blood alcohol content tested at 0.05% (0.08% is legally drunk in Michigan), though, due to prior offences, she wasn't allowed to have any alcohol in her system. A family member discovered her dead around 3pm that day and called police. [3] An autopsy to find the exact cause of death is planned. [4].
Bill Younkin, a former news anchor for Cleveland's WEWS-TV and WOIO, took over as temporary anchor through April 4, 2008. Jessica Wheeler would take over for Younkin as a permanent anchor, effective April 7. A new image makeover, including a new logo (similar to WWMT's, but with the hidden "5" like the previous logo), was also launched that day.
[edit] WLAJ.Com
At present WLAJ's website is more of a hub to WWMT's website and mainly features news updates, Webcasts, and video from WWMT NewsChannel 3, with no actual video content from WLAJ's Newscasts, nor does it feature bios of WLAJ's staff. On January 28th, 2008 it was announced by the interactive division of Freedom Communications that all Freedom Communications properties websites will undergo a massive redesign.[1][2]
[edit] External links
- wlaj.com
- LansingsCW5.com
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WLAJ
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WLAJ-TV
[edit] References
- ^ Lansing State Journal, 2/19/2008
- ^ WXYZ-TV: "INVESTIGATORS: Missing Money". Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
- ^ WXYZ-TV (2008-02-24). Former TV Anchor Found Dead. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
- ^ Detroit News: Wangler found dead in her home. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
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