WLNS-TV
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| WLNS-TV | |
|---|---|
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| Lansing, Michigan | |
| Branding | WLNS 6 |
| Slogan | Your News Leader |
| Channels | |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | Young Broadcasting, Inc. (Young Broadcasting of Lansing, Inc.) |
| First air date | May 1, 1950 |
| Call letters’ meaning | LaNSing |
| Former callsigns | WJIM-TV (1950-1984) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 6 (1950-2009) Digital: 59 (2001-2009) |
| Former affiliations | All secondary: NBC (1950-1959) ABC (1950-1958) DuMont (1950-1955)[1] |
| Transmitter Power | 1000 kW (digital) |
| Height | 288 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 74420 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 42°41′19″N 84°22′35″W / 42.68861°N 84.37639°W |
| Website | www.wlns.com |
WLNS-TV is the CBS television affiliate serving the Lansing/Jackson, Michigan television market in the United States. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 36 from a 306-meter (1,004-foot) transmitter located midway between East Lansing and the town of Williamston, giving it a signal footprint in many parts of southern and central Michigan.
The station's studio facility is also home to the operations of the market's MyNetworkTV affiliate, WHTV.
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[edit] History
WLNS signed on the air on May 1, 1950 as WJIM-TV, owned by Harold F. Gross along with WJIM-AM 1240. It is Michigan's second-oldest station outside of Detroit (behind Grand Rapids' WOOD-TV). Gross had started WJIM-AM, the first commercial radio station in Lansing, in 1934, and both stations were named after his son Jim. It originally broadcast from the top of a bank in downtown Lansing before moving to its current location on Saginaw Street (known as "the country house") in 1953.
WJIM-TV carried programming from all four major networks, though it was and always has been a primary CBS affiliate. ABC disappeared from the schedule in 1958 when WJRT-TV signed on from Flint; it served as Lansing's default ABC affiliate until WLAJ signed on in 1990. WXYZ-TV in Detroit served as the default affiliate for Jackson. WKZO-TV, now WWMT (then a partial ABC affiliate), as well as WSJV in Elkhart, Indiana served as default affiliates for Battle Creek until WUHQ-TV (now WOTV) went on the air.
DuMont programming disappeared when that network ceased operations in 1956. NBC would also later disappear from the schedule in 1959 when WILX-TV signed on as an NBC affiliate, leaving WJIM with just CBS. In 1960, Gross added WJIM-FM to his holdings.
The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the station's license in 1973, on allegations that Gross prevented a number of prominent political figures from appearing on his station, among other accusations. [2] An FCC judge ordered WJIM's license revoked in 1981--only the second time a station has had its license revoked for violating the FCC's fairness guidelines. The first instance was WLBT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi; which lost its license in 1969 due to its blatant bias against the Civil Rights Movement. Unlike WLBT, however, WJIM kept its license after the initial revocation was reversed by a three-member review board at the FCC in 1982. The ACLU agreed to a cash settlement in 1984.
The stress of the licensing dispute led Gross to sell the station to Unicom Inc, a unit of Forstmann Little, d.b.a. Backe Communications, at which point the station adopted its current call letters of WLNS. Unicom's ownership of the station was short-lived as in 1986 they sold WLNS and WKBT in La Crosse, Wisconsin to its current owner, Young Broadcasting (however, WKBT has since been sold to Morgan Murphy Stations).
[edit] Flint and Detroit
WJIM doubled as Flint's CBS affiliate for many years, as its signal--the second-strongest in Michigan at the time it signed on--decently covers the city and surrounding Genesee County. For many years, it identified as "Lansing/Flint/Jackson/Battle Creek" on-air. WLNS is still easily receivable via antenna to Genesee County residents.
In 1972, Saginaw's then-CBS affiliate WEYI-TV moved its studios and transmitter to Clio, just north of Flint. Until the early 1980s, Flint was served by two CBS stations, though during the 1980s, WJIM/WLNS chose to concentrate more on Lansing. Comcast dropped WLNS in Flint as a result. WLNS can still be seen in Genesee and Saginaw Counties with a good receiver.
WLNS' signal also made it to Detroit, albeit it was very weak except in fast-growing Livingston County (where WLNS is city-grade to Grade B); despite WLNS's transmitter being only ten miles west of the Ingham / Livingston Line, Livingston County is part of the Detroit DMA. (It is rumored Detroiters, in order to watch home Detroit Lions games that were blacked out, used to position their antennas towards Lansing in order to pick up their signal.) In that area, WLNS is best viewable in Detroit's west suburbs and areas of northwest Detroit.
W67AJ, the former WLNS repeater, was based in Ann Arbor, part of the Detroit DMA, and owned by Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. W67AJ's license was cancelled in January 2007 by the Federal Communications Commission. [3]
[edit] Digital Television
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion on June 12, 2009, WLNS-TV moved its digital broadcasts to channel 36, from channel 59. [1] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display WLNS-TV's virtual channel as 6.
WLNS was not allowed to use 36 initially because nearby Flint station WJRT-TV was previously using 36 for its digital transmissions. However on June 12, WJRT-TV moved its digital broadcasts to channel 12, allowing WLNS to use 36 without causing interference.
[edit] WLNS6 News Team
Anchors
- Evan Pinsonnault - weekday mornings and noon
- Lauren Thompson - weekday mornings and noon
- Sheri Jones - weeknights at 5, 6, and 11
- Dave Akerly - weeknights at 6 and 11
- Ann Emmerich - weekends at 6 and 11
Meteorologists
- Jake Dunne - weekday mornings and noon
- David Young (chief meteorologist) - weeknights at 5, 6, and 11
- Jim Geyer - weekends at 6 and 11
Weather radar called "Live StormTracker 6 Doppler Radar"
Sports
- Fred Heumann - weeknights at 6 and 11 and The Fifth Quarter
- Lisa Byington - weekends, Sunday Sports Overtime, and The Fifth Quarter
Friday nights at 11:15pm during high school football and basketball season is called The Fifth Quarter.
Reporters
- Jane Aldrich
- Mona Shand
- Ann Emmerich
- Stephanie Kolp
- Katherine Jones
- Darren Cunningham
- Allison Bourne-Vanneck (sports)
[edit] Past Personalities
- Angela Cunningham - former reporter; now with WZZM
- Tetiana Anderson - former reporter; now with the Weather Channel
- David Andrews - former anchor; now with WILX
- Rob Dale - former meteorologist; now with Eaton County Emergency Management
- Brad Edwards - former weekend anchor/reporter; now with WJBK
- Mara MacDonald - former reporter, now with WDIV
- Jo Anne Paul - former anchor; now with WJIM
- Andy Provenzano - former meteorologist; now with WILX
- Amy Rao - former weekend anchor/reporter; now with WTVF Nashville
- Terry Stanton - former anchor; now Deputy Spokesperson for Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm
- Tim Staudt - former sports anchor; now with WILX
- Anya Tucker - former morning anchor; now with WTEN Albany
- Emily Wagner - former morning anchor; now with WOOD-TV (known as Emily Linnert)
- Jeff Campbell - former weekend anchor/reporter; now with WCNC
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- WLNS.com
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WLNS
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WLNS-TV
- Photos of the tower
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