WZPX-TV
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| Battle Creek, Michigan | |
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| City of license | Battle Creek |
| Branding | ION Television |
| Channels | Digital: 44 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | Ion Television |
| Owner | Ion Media Networks, Inc. (Ion Media Battle Creek License, Inc.) |
| First air date | October 11, 1996 |
| Former callsigns | WJUE (1996-1997) WILV (1997-1998) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 43 (1996-2009) |
| Former affiliations | Primary: inTV (1996-1998) Pax TV (1998-2005) i (2005-2007) Secondary: UPN (through 1999) The WB (1999-2006) |
| Transmitter power | 212 kW |
| Height | 305 m |
| Facility ID | 71871 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 42°40′45″N 85°3′57″W / 42.67917°N 85.06583°W |
| Website | www.ionline.tv |
WZPX-TV is a television station affiliated with the Ion Television network (formerly PAX and i). It broadcasts on UHF digital channel 44 in the Grand Rapids and Lansing / Jackson, Michigan markets. The station is licensed to Battle Creek, Michigan and is owned by ION Media Networks (formerly Paxson Communications).
The station airs on Comcast channel 6 while the areas actual (virtual) channel 6, WLNS-TV, is on cable channel 9.
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[edit] History
WZPX went on the air on October 11, 1996 under the call letters of WJUE, carrying infomercials. The transmitter is in Vermontville Township in western Eaton County. Within a short period of time the station changed call letters to WILV. When the PAX network was launched in August 1998, the station took the call letters WZPX. For a time WZPX also carried programming from UPN, but on August 31, 1999 UPN programming moved to WXSP-CA in Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo. On October 6 of that year, WZPX added The WB to its programming, replacing its affiliation with UPN. UPN programming would later find a home in Lansing on WHTV 18, on August 20, 2000. During this time, Detroit's WKBD 50 was available on cable television.
[edit] Programming
As the UPN, WB and ION networks all offered prime time programming on weekdays, WZPX had a scheduling conflict during its UPN & WB days.It carried the ION programs on the same days and times as other stations, and the UPN/WB programs 22 hours later than other UPN/WB affiliates. For example, UPN/WB primetime programs aired on Tuesdays at 8pm in other markets are aired on Wednesdays at 6pm on WZPX; promotional spots for these programs announced their local time slots. The station carried a brief announcement when switching from one network's programming to the other's. Disney's One Too/UPN Kids ran weekday mornings while Kids WB were run weekday afternoons. The Pax programming bumped from the afternoon slot simply moved earlier in the day where infomercials would have aired. In part because the station had the added draw of UPN/WB programming, WZPX was at one point one of Pax TV's highest rated affiliates.
Due to the closure of The WB on September 17, 2006 and the station's failure to acquire either The CW or MyNetworkTV, WZPX is now solely an Ion affiliate. Those two networks each opted a digital sub-channel from another full powered station.
Digital channel 44, a multiplexed signal (43.1 main signal/43.2 Qubo/43.3 ION Life/43.4 Worship Network), signed on November 1, 2008. (The Worship Network was removed from all Ion-owned stations, including WZPX, on February 1, 2010.)
[edit] Lansing and Jackson
Lansing and Jackson are within coverage of two ION stations: WZPX and Ann Arbor's WPXD-TV, which also serves Detroit. WPXD's transmitter in northwestern Washtenaw County is actually closer to Lansing and Jackson than to Detroit. However, WZPX's transmitter is in Vermontville Township in western Eaton County, which is within the Lansing broadcast market, and federal "must-carry" rules require Comcast cable systems in Lansing and Jackson to carry WZPX instead of WPXD. ([1], [2])
[edit] The CW/My Network TV
The CW Television Network began broadcasting in Fall 2006; the network was the result of the merger of the WB and UPN networks. It was announced on April 4, 2006 that CBS affiliate WWMT (Channel 3) would carry the CW on digital subchannel 3.2, making WZPX an Ion-only station [3]. WXSP-CA will carry programming from Fox's new television service, My Network TV [4].
[edit] Ownership
WZPX's original licensee was Horizon Broadcasting Corp, which Paxson Communications acquired before the station's sign on.
When Paxson bought WPXD, WZPX was spun off to DP Media because of duopoly rules in effect at that time. Paxson repurchased the station after duopolies were legalized.
[edit] External links
- ION Television website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WZPX
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WZPX-TV
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