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==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.myfoxmilwaukee.com/ Official WITI Website]
*[http://www.fox6now.com/ Official WITI Website]
*[http://www.myfoxmilwaukee.com/ New website launching January 27, 2009]
*[http://www.myfoxmilwaukee.com/ New website launching January 27, 2009]
*[http://www.milwaukee-horror-hosts.com/MilwTV.html History of Milwaukee television]
*[http://www.milwaukee-horror-hosts.com/MilwTV.html History of Milwaukee television]

Revision as of 23:56, 28 January 2009

For other uses, see WITI.

{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:

{{Template disambiguation}} should never be transcluded in the main namespace.

WITI (Channel 6) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that is an affiliate of FOX and has studio facilities based in north suburban Brown Deer. The station's ownership is Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, which bought the station from Fox's parent company News Corporation's station group in July 2008. The station's transmitter is located in Shorewood, Wisconsin, with a signal that covers most of southeastern Wisconsin and parts of northeastern Illinois, including the cities of Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan and Waukesha.

History

WITI's call letters stand for "Independent Television, Inc.," the corporation that originally owned the FCC license granted on June 11, 1955. The station began broadcasting on May 21, 1956.

From 1956 to 1959 WITI used the DuMont Vitascan color system. The station returned to monochrome cameras when it moved to the building on North 27th Street.[1]

On August 8, 1958, Storer Broadcasting bought WITI in hopes of affiliating the station with the CBS network, which at the time had a UHF O&O in Milwaukee (WXIX channel 19; now WVTV channel 18). WITI became a CBS affiliate on April 1, 1959. At that time, WITI moved from its original facility in Mequon to the former WCAN-TV/WXIX studios on N. 27th Street (later used from 1980 to 1994 by WCGV channel 24).

In 1961, WITI would undergo an affiliation switch. CBS, then carried by WITI, desired to affiliate with WISN-TV, since the station's radio stations were already affiliated with the network. As a result, WITI and WISN swapped affiliations, and WITI became an ABC affiliate on April 2, 1961.

The switch was reversed in 1977. WITI's owner at the time, Storer Broadcasting, had a bitter relationship with ABC, stemming from the network's departure from Storer's San Diego UHF station, KCST, a station the network was forced to affiliate with after KCST fought successfully to have ABC affiliation stripped from Tijuana, Mexico-based XETV. At the same time, Storer had a strong relationship with CBS in other markets where they owned stations. Hence, they dropped ABC from WITI to take the CBS affiliation back from WISN. Without hesitation, WISN aligned with ABC, then the top network in the country. The switch occurred on March 27, 1977. In 1978, the station would move to new studios at the northwest corner of N. Green Bay and Brown Deer Roads.

George N. Gillett Jr. bought the station from Storer Broadcasting in 1987. After a series of mergers and bankruptcies, New World Communications became owners of the station in 1993, despite rumors of CBS buying the station (along with WITI's sisters that carried CBS).

In the beginning of December 1994, WITI dropped CBS (which moved to WDJT (Channel 58)) and instead affiliated with Fox. The reasoning went beyond the switching of all New World stations to Fox, because the station had carried Green Bay Packers games since 1977 from CBS, which up to 1994 had the NFC contract for NFL games; by switching affiliations, except for a period of three months in 1994 (when WCGV was still the Fox affiliate), WITI was able to remain the 'home station' of the Packers since Fox held the NFC contract.

From February 1995 on, the station would be known as "Six is News" throughout the day in order to highlight the station's newly-expanded news schedule. Conversely during Fox prime time hours, the station was promoted as "Fox is Six" to try to build an audience for the growing network on the stronger Milwaukee station. (A similar move took place with WJW in Cleveland, which branded itself "ei8ht is News" and "Fox is ei8ht," playing off of an old station logo.)

In 1996, Fox's Television Stations Group bought WITI and the remaining New World stations outright, and after the approval of the sale in January 1997, the station was rebranded as "FOX SIX" for all programming and station promotions, with the channel number still fully spelled out. Channel 6 officially became "Fox 6" in April 1998 with the introduction of the "Milwaukee's Newscenter" set.

Regional sports network FSN Wisconsin has been based out of WITI's studios since 2004. Currently no programming except for the Sunday late night Packers program Fox 6 Blitz is shared between the two stations, and both have separate on-air staff.

In 2006, WITI celebrated its 50th anniversary with an hour-long prime time special ("50 Years and Counting") in April and vignettes aired throughout the year, beginning on New Year's Day.[1]

After the station installed a new graphics and control switcher on the morning of September 29, 2007 [2], the station finally switched to the current red/white/blue color scheme of Fox O&O's, along with news graphics. However only the coloring of the logo changed, and it did not take on the vertical stacking look of other Fox station logos; this is most likely because the current horizontal logo form was heavily integrated into the "Milwaukee's Newscenter" set. In late May 2008 Studio A was renovated. The iconic blue floor was painted black, upgrades were made to the studio's lighting, and the set was updated with a new desk, monitor, and new Duratrans. During this time "WakeUp" received their own set in Studio B. Both sets are reportedly now compatible with high definition television broadcasting[citation needed].

More emphasis on the station's website has been inserted into newscasts since the beginning of the 2007-08 season, including online chats during newscasts and sports programming, and a webcam in each studio turned on 24/7 to give viewers a behind the scenes look into the station's newscasts.

On June 13, 2007, Fox's parent company, News Corporation, revealed plans to sell WITI and other owned and operated stations.[3] On December 22, 2007, Fox announced that they had entered into an agreement to sell WITI and seven other Fox O&O stations[2] to Oak Hill Capital Partners' Local TV LLC. The sale was closed on July 14, 2008.[3]

On January 28, 2009, WITI will launch a new website at www.FOX6Now.com. The site is the result of a partnership between owner Local TV LLC and the Tribune Company.

Digital television

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009, [4] WITI will continue digital broadcasts on its current pre-transition channel number, 33. [5] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display WITI's virtual channel as 6.

Programming

WITI, being a former Fox O&O, airs a great deal of programming from Twentieth Television, including sitcoms (such as Malcolm in the Middle), court shows (like Divorce Court and Christina's Court) and reality programming (like COPS). WITI double-runs Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown in the afternoons and Seinfeld before Fox prime time and in late night. The station airs many of Twentieth's series under test runs before they go into national syndication for non-Fox stations, including Texas Justice, A Current Affair, Good Day Live, Geraldo at Large, and currently Fox's mid-morning The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet. The station also airs TMZ on TV weeknights after the late airing of Seinfeld, with a next-day repeat after the noon news, Extra after 'TMZ, and American Idol Rewind, Alias and Stargate SG-1 on weekends.

WITI had also aired episodes of M*A*S*H since the 1977 CBS/ABC affiliation switch, first within its CBS series run and then on into syndication WISN-TV channel 12 originally aired syndicated M*A*S*H reruns at 5 pm and 10:30 pm and then later at 11 PM along with other varied time periods when M*A*S*H originally sold in syndicated. WITI gained syndication rights to the show in the 1990s after a long and successful run on WISN. At the time when WITI was a ABC affiliate, in the early 1970s they pre-empted The Dick Cavett Show in favor of old movies, it was shown instead on WVTV-TV when it was a independent station at the time, also they pre-empted All My Children in favor of the noon news. The show was taken off the schedule in September 2007 to make way for the move of the noon news to 11am and a replay of TMZ on TV [4], but was restored to the 12 noon slot on February 4th due to flailing ratings for Judge Alex, which now only airs before WakeUp. M*A*S*H has also been seen on ION Television station WPXE (Channel 55) since September 2008.

As was the case with many of the stations acquired from New World, WITI has never aired Fox's children's block in either the Fox Kids or the current 4Kids TV iterations. The block stayed with WCGV for ten years after WITI took the Fox affiliation and in September 2004 moved to independent station WMLW-CA channel 41.

Newscasts

From the time WITI became a FOX O&O station in the mid-1990s, the station has put more emphasis on its local newscasts; it currently runs at least forty hours of news a week. The station's newscasts usually place a strong third in the ratings behind WTMJ and WISN (both of whom fight it out for first place), though the morning newscast (Fox 6 Wakeup News) is very competitive with the national network shows, and occasionally comes in first in the ratings because of the program's local focus. The station is also one of the few FOX affiliates to have a newscast in the traditional late news time slot (for the Central time zone, 10pm) in addition to the prime time (9pm) newscast, along with one of the few to continue their existing CBS-era 10pm newscast after the affiliate switch.

In December 2007, the noon newscast on weekdays moved to 11am, with the Saturday morning Wake Up broadcast being expanded to two hours beginning at 7am, and the Sunday broadcast also moving to 7am but remaining an hour long. In addition, Gus Gnorski's DIY program on Saturday mornings, Ask Gus was discontinued, with Gnorski's segments merged into the Saturday Wake Up broadcast and his former studio becoming the new home of "WakeUp" in May 2008.

WITI also takes advantage of the fact that the audio for Channel 6 can be heard on an FM radio on 87.7 FM, mentioning often during their morning newscasts, station promotions and breaking news events that you can 'Listen to Fox 6 in your car'. However, on February 17, 2009 on the day of going fully digital, WITI-TV will no longer be heard on 87.75 FM since the frequency-modulated audio signal originates from its analog transmitter, which will be shut down on February 17.

FOX 6 Personalities

Current On-Air Talent

Current Anchors

  • Mark Concannon - Weekdays on Wake-Up
  • Katrina Cravy - Sunday-Thursday at 9:00, 10:00
  • Brad Hicks - Monday-Thursday at 6:00, 9:00; Friday at 5:00, 6:00, 9:00, 10:00
  • Tami Hughes - Saturdays at 6:00, 9:00, 10:00
  • Nicole Koglin - Weekdays on Wake-Up, 11:00 a.m.
  • Jake Miller - Saturdays at 6:00, 9:00, 10:00
  • Kim Murphy - Weekdays on Wake-Up
  • Ted Perry - Sunday-Thursday at 5:00, 10:00, Sunday at 9:00
  • Beverly Taylor - Monday-Thursday at 5:00, 6:00; Friday at 5:00, 6:00, 9:00, 10:00
  • Justin Williams - Weekends on Wake-Up

Fox 6 Storm Center

  • Vince Condella - Chief Meteorologist, Weekday Evenings at 9 & 10 (NWS Seal of Approval, AMS Certification[6])
  • Bart Adrian - Weekday Evenings at 5 & 6, & Weekend Evenings (NWS Seal of Approval, AMS Certification[6])
  • Rob Haswell - Weekdays on Wake-Up & 11:00 (NWS Seal of Approval, AMS Certification[6])
  • Bob Moore - Fill-in & Weekends on Wake-Up

Sports

  • Jen Lada
  • Tom Pipines
  • Tim Van Vooren

Reporters

  • Bob Moore
  • Cathy Orosz
  • Renee Banot
  • Katrina Cravy - Contact 6 Reporter
  • Gus Gnorski - The Gus Tour weekdays on Wake-Up [Visits various places in the Greater Milwaukee Area or Upcoming Fairs], station announcer, and host of former Saturday morning DIY show Ask Gus
  • Chrystina Head
  • Mike Lowe
  • Ryan Cummings
  • Bryan Polcyn - Investigative Reporter
  • Jennifer Reyes
  • Jeremy Ross
  • Myra Sanchick
  • Wendy Strong - Business Reporter

Other staff

  • Doug Luzader - Washington DC Correspondent

Former On-Air Talent

Past anchors

Former meteorologists

  • Tom Skilling (Currently chief metorlogist for WGN-TV in Chicago)
  • Scott Steele (Known for having his dog Spunky with him when he did the weather in the morning on Wake-Up; Spunky died on September 22, 2007 [7]. Currently weekend/fill-in meteorologist for WTMJ-TV )
  • Eric Braate (Currently at WDIV in Detroit)
  • Ward Allen 1965-1975; delivered the weather with his assistant, Albert the Alley Cat, a puppet operated by Jack DuBlon

Broadcasting Facilities

See Main Article: WITI TV Tower

The WITI TV Tower is located in Shorewood, Wisconsin and stands 1078 feet tall. It was completed in August 1962 and was briefly the tallest free-standing tower in the world.

The station's studios are located in the city of Brown Deer at the intersection of Green Bay Road and Brown Deer Road. The building contains at least two studios. Studio A houses the station's primary news set, and studio B houses the set for the FOX 6 WakeUp News. In May 2008 a new WakeUp set was constructed in Studio B, and the old WakeUp "livingroom" set, a area used for guest performances, and the Ask Gus set was dismantled.

References

  1. ^ Golembiewski, Dick (2007) "A Brief History of Milwaukee Television (the Analog Years)"
  2. ^ News Corporation
  3. ^ Sale of Channel 6, seven other TV stations closes, from Business Journal of Milwaukee, July 14, 2008
  4. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  5. ^ CDBS Print
  6. ^ a b c AMS List of Certified Broadcast Meteorologists
  7. ^ Scott Steele: Remembering Spunky | Today's TMJ4 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin News, Weather, Sports, WTMJ | Local News

Template:Local TV

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