WBUI
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| WBUI | |
|---|---|
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| Decatur/Springfield/Champaign/Urbana, Illinois | |
| Branding | Central Illinois' CW |
| Channels | |
| Affiliations | The CW |
| Owner | GOCOM Media (GOCOM Media of Illinois, LLC) |
| First air date | May 1984[1] |
| Call letters’ meaning | WB University of Illinois |
| Sister station(s) | WRSP-TV / WCCU |
| Former callsigns | WFHL (1984-1998) WPXU (1998-1999) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 23 (1984-2009) |
| Former affiliations | independent/religious (1984-1998) Pax TV (1998-1999) The WB (1999-2006) UPN (secondary) |
| Transmitter Power | 750 kW |
| Height | 401 m |
| Facility ID | 16363 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 39°56′56.2″N 88°50′13″W / 39.948944°N 88.83694°W |
| Website | www.centralillinoiscw.com |
WBUI (digital channel 22) is Central Illinois' CW, an affiliate of The CW Television Network in Central Illinois (including its city of license, Decatur, Illinois). The station is owned by GOCOM Media, who purchased it from ACME Communications in 2007. The station transmitter is located in Oreana, Illinois, and distributes a signal that covers most of central Illinois, providing at least secondary coverage of most of the area around Champaign, Urbana, Springfield, Normal, and Peoria.
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[edit] Programming
WBUI programming consists mainly of programming from The CW and syndicated fare such as The Daily Buzz and reruns of Friends, That 70s Show, and The King of Queens. The station is also over-the-air home to select St. Louis Cardinals baseball broadcasts.
[edit] History
WBUI's on-air run began in the early 1980s as WFHL, which was owned and operated by the local Foursquare Church. In 1997, it was sold to Paxson Communications, becoming WPXU. ACME Communications would acquire the station from Paxson in 1999 and change it to WB affiliate WBUI. (The WPXU call letters are now used by ION Media Networks' station in Jacksonville, North Carolina.)
In 2006, WBUI and other ACME-owned WB affiliates would join the new CW television network, the result of an amalgamation between the UPN and WB networks. WBUI would adopt the "Central Illinois' CW" branding in September 2006, when The CW launched.
On June 20, 2007 GOCOM Media announced its intent to purchase WBUI from ACME Communications.[1] The sale was approved on September 14, 2007 by the Federal Communications Commission, which waived its duopoly rules for the sale. There was already an existing duopoly in the market, as Nexstar Broadcasting owns both WCIA and WCFN. The Champaign/Urbana/Springfield market doesn't have enough station owners to legally permit another duopoly under normal conditions. However, ACME claimed it was losing money on WBUI and couldn't find a buyer that didn't require a duopoly waiver. On October 25, GOCOM Media officially became the owner of WBUI. [2]
[edit] Logos and Towers
 Former WBUI logo |
Current WBUI logo |
 The 411.8 metres (1,351.0 ft) tall WBUI tower (left tower) near Argenta, Illinois. WBUI's tower is actually taller than the WAND tower at right, but is farther away from the point of observation. Listing 1215843 in the FCC Antenna Structure Registration database. |
 The upper portion of the WBUI-TV tower. |
[edit] External links
- WBUI Website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WBUI
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WBUI-TV
- Press Release on WBUI's sale to GOCOM Media
- Broadcasting & Cable article on the FCC's approval of the WBUI sale
[edit] References
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