WXSP-CD

WXSP-CD

Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo/ Battle Creek, Michigan
City of license	Grand Rapids
Branding	WXSP The X (general) 24 Hour News 8
Slogan	Watching Out For You
Channels	Digital: 15 (UHF) & WOOD-DT 7.2 (VHF) Virtual: 15 (PSIP)
Subchannels	15.1 MyNetworkTV 15.2 Doppler weather radar
Affiliations	NBC & ABC (both alternates)
Owner	LIN TV Corporation (WOOD License Company, LLC)
Founded	July 23, 1986
Call letters' meaning	WXSP: Xtreme and SPorts (for local sports coverage) other stations: WO + city of license initialized
Sister station(s)	WOOD-TV, WOTV, WANE-TV
Former callsigns	W29AD (1986–1988) W15AM (1988–1995) WOWD-LP (1995–2000) WXSP-LP (2000) WXSP-CA (2000–2010)
Former channel number(s)	29 (UHF analog, 1986–1988) 15 (UHF analog, 1988–2010) Translator: 27 WOLP-CA/ 41 WOLP-LD
Former affiliations	World Harvest Television (1986-1995) local weather (1995–2000) UPN (2000–2006)
Transmitter power	15 kW 30 kW (WOOD-DT2)
Height	124 m 288 m (WOOD-DT2)
Class	Class A
Facility ID	36851 36838 (WOOD-DT2)
Transmitter coordinates	43°1′1″N 85°44′25″W 42°41′14″N 85°30′34″W (WOOD-DT2)
Website	wxsp.com

WXSP-CD is the Class A MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for Southwestern Michigan licensed to Grand Rapids. It broadcasts a low-powered, standard definition digital signal on UHF channel 15 from a transmitter in Walker along I-96. The station can also be seen on Charter channel 15 and Comcast channel 18. Owned by the LIN TV Corporation, WXSP is sister to NBC affiliate WOOD-TV and ABC affiliate WOTV. All three outlets share studios on College Avenue Southeast in the Heritage Hill section of Grand Rapids. Syndicated programming on this station includes TMZ on TV, Family Feud, The People's Court, and Judge Joe Brown among others.

Overview

Overnights, its airs a live feed of WOOD-TV's Doppler weather radar (known as "Storm Track Live") along with audio from NOAA Weather Radio. This can be seen full-time on WXSP's second digital subchannel. The station may sometimes air NBC or ABC programming whenever WOOD-TV and WOTV preempt for breaking news, local specials, or the annual North American International Auto Show charity preview. However, some of the preempted ABC programs are available on WZZM-TV. Part of WXSP's call letters comes from the word sports and for good reason.

The station is known for its coverage of local sports in both the Grand Rapids and Detroit areas. It also carries the University of Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans basketball and football teams. These broadcasts give the station more viewership than any other programming on the channel. The station is simulcasted on WOOD-TV's second digital subchannel. This airs on VHF channel 7.2 (or virtual channel 8.2 via PSIP) from a transmitter in Middleville near the Barry and Allegan County line.

Repeaters

Call letters	Channel	City of license	Transmitter location	Note
WOBC-CA	14	Battle Creek	behind Family Altar Chapel on 6½ Mile Road	has flash-cut construction permit for a low-powered, Class A digital signal
WOMS-CD	29	Muskegon	Egelston Township's Wolf Lake section	airs Doppler weather radar on second digital subchannel
WOHO-CA	33	Holland	in Zeeland along I-196	has flash-cut construction permit for a low-powered, Class A digital signal
WOKZ-CA	50	Kalamazoo	at WNWN-AM 1560 studios on M-43/West Main Street in Westwood section of city	has flash-cut construction permit for a low-powered, Class A digital signal

History

The station signed on with an analog signal on UHF channel 29 on July 23, 1986 with the call letters W29AD. It moved to UHF channel 15 and acquired the W15AM calls on January 12, 1988. In the station's early days, it was a translator for World Harvest Television from WHME-TV in South Bend, Indiana, which is owned by LeSEA. The station eventually switched to LIN TV's Local Weather Station (LWS) format with the call sign WOWD-LP (variation on WOOD-TV). WOWD and its low-power network of repeaters aired 24-hour weather information direct from WOOD-TV's weather center. This was in an early pre-digital format comparable to the now defunct NBC Weather Plus.

The weather programming aired from the mid-1990s until WXSP's programming took over a few years later. It featured graphic displays of various conditions and forecasts as well as periodic forecasts from WOOD-TV's meteorologists. Short commercial breaks would feature local television spots as well as LWS's station identification. A format change took place when UPN was added in 2000, prompting the move of LWS to the early mornings and new calls, WXSP-LP. The call-sign WXSP-CA was acquired after it became a Class A station which meets stricter requirements than most low-powered television stations.

On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced the networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its soon-to-be corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. On February 22, News Corporation announced that it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This new service, which would be sister to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming independent. It was also created to compete against The CW.

CBS affiliate WWMT announced on April 4 that it would launch the area's CW affiliate on a new second digital subchannel. WXSP became available as a MyNetworkTV affiliate partly because the (then) WB affiliate WZPX was also an Ion Television owned-and-operated station and ran WB programming on a 22-hour delay (prime-time shows ran at 6 o'clock the night after the original broadcast and the Kids' WB Saturday block aired at 5 on Sunday mornings). As a result, Southwestern Michigan is one of the largest markets in which The CW was only available via digital subchannel/cable and on an entirely new station. It was reported that WXSP was in talks to join The CW, but due to the station's heavy reliance upon prime-time professional sports and the network's concerns over preemptive programming, the two sides could not come to an agreement.

For the final two weeks of UPN's existence, Fox affiliate WXMI aired WWE Smackdown until WWMT-DT2's launch. WXSP joined MyNetworkTV on September 5 while WWMT-DT2 signed on with The CW on September 18. On July 21, 2010, WXSP flash-cut from analog to a digital signal. The call letters were changed to WXSP-CD on August 30. In late-October 2010, LIN TV discontinued the simulcast of WXSP on WOTV-DT2, replacing it with a new digital subchannel network, TheCoolTV.

Newscasts

News open.

Over the years, the nightly prime time slot at 10 has been very competitive among the market's television stations. Fox affiliate WXMI was the first outlet to launch a local news show in the time period on January 11, 1999. It would not be until October 21, 2007 when WOOD-TV sought to offer an alternative to WXMI's popular broadcast, which by this point, had expanded to a full sixty minutes every night. WXSP added the area's second production at 10 which can be seen every night for thirty minutes as opposed to a full hour.

The broadcast carries the same 24 Hour News 8 branding and graphics package resembling shows seen on WOOD-TV. Seeking to offer yet another choice for early late-evening newscasts, WWMT debuted its own nightly prime time broadcast at 10 on its CW-affiliated second digital subchannel starting September 18, 2008. On October 5, 2009, WOOD-TV upgraded its news operation to 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen. Although not truly high definition, broadcasts match the ratio of HD television screens.

WXSP's 24 Hour News 8 at 10 was not included in the switch because this station only airs standard definition digital signals. A further transition to full high definition local news on WOOD-TV occurred October 22, 2011. However, like the last change, WXSP's broadcasts remained in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition. During weather forecast segments, this station uses WOOD-TV's Doppler radar (known on-air as "Storm Track Live") that is based on top of the Oakwood Manor Apartments next to the television studios.

News team

Anchors

• Marlee Ginter - weeknight news
• Brian Sterling - weeknight news
• Larry Figurski - weekend news also sports reporter and photographer
• Bill Steffen - Chief Meteorologist seen weeknights
• Kyle Underwood (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekend meteorologist
• Jack Doles - Sports Director seen weeknights
• Jason Terzis - weekend sports and sports reporter

Reporters

• Eva Aguirre Cooper - Community Affairs and Communications Director
• Anne Schieber - "Your Money" segment producer
• Henry Erb - Senior Investigative
• Rick Albin - political
• Marc Thompson
• Crystal Hilliard
• Tony Tagliavia
• Joe LaFurgey
• Emily Linnert
• Leon Hendrix
• Dani Carlson
• Ken Kolker

External links

• WXSP-CD
• WOOD-TV
• WOTV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WXSP-CD
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WOBC-CA
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WOMS-CD
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WOHO-CA
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WOKZ-CA