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WICD (TV)

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WICD which brands itself as "ABC NewsChannel 15", is an ABC affiliate located in Champaign, Illinois. It's owned-and-operated by the Sinclair Broadcast Group and broadcasts on channel 15. WICD's transmitter facility is located in Vermilion County, north east of Homer. It's a sister station to WICS in Springfield.

Although WICD identifies as a station in its own right, it is considered a semi-satellite of WICS. WICD clears all of WICS' syndicated programming, but produces its own newscasts and airs separate commercials. It serves the eastern half of the Champaign/Urbana/Springfield/Decatur market while WICS serves the western portion. Nielsen Media Research counts WICS and WICD as one station, and identifies WICD as "WICS+" in its ratings books.


History

WICD went on the air for the first time on April 23, 1959 as WCHU-TV an NBC affiliate on channel 33. It was owned by Plains Television Partners and was a low-powered satellite of Springfield's WICS. The WCHU signal traveled about 15 miles from its transmitter atop the Inman Hotel in downtown Champaign. Studios were also located at the Inman Hotel. However, getting a decent signal from Springfield (85 miles west of Champaign) was usually hit-or-miss. Plains Television had to build a microwave tower in northwest Champaign to send the WICS signal to the WCHU studios. With a more reliable signal, the station began a more routine schedule on September 14. Channel 33 began broadcasting in color the next year.

In July 1960, Plains Television Partners bought WDAN-TV in Danville. WDAN had originally debuted on December 19, 1953. Originally, the station was an ABC affiliate broadcasting on channel 24 with a signal which radiated about 25 miles from its transmitter in Danville. WDAN-TV was owned by Northwest Publishing, owner and publisher of the Danville Commercial-News newspaper. Plains Television changed WDAN's call letters to WICD, and made it a full repeater of WCHU. From 1960 to 1967, both WCHU and WICD broadcast some locally originated programs from the WCHU studio in Champaign. However, WICD's transmitter was not capable of broadcasting local programming in color.

In June 1966, Plains Television announced that WCHU and WICD would merge into a single full-power broadcasting on channel 15. It would operate under the WICD call letters, but would use WCHU's license and studios at the Inman Hotel in Champaign. The new station would broadcast at a million watts, from the tallest tower in Illinois (at 1,385 feet). The new station was to have gone on the air in January 1967, but an ice storm toppled the tower. It was rebuilt and the new WICD went on the air in July. However, there are unconfirmed reports of a delay in the final paperwork for the new station, and it may have originally gone on the air as WCHU. The station moved from the Inman Hotel to its current studio facility on Country Fair Drive in 1978.

In 1986, WICS was purchased by Guy Gannett Broadcasting (no relation to the much larger Gannett Company), but WICD remained under the ownership of Plains Television. The two stations operated as a "regional network," simulcasting most network and syndicated programming. This arrangement nearly brought down WICD. Guy Gannett finally bought WICD in 1994, and pumped significant resources into the station, particularly its news department.

Gannett then sold most of its television properties, including WICD and WICS, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1999. Almost immediately after the acquisition by Sinclair was finalized, Sinclair announced the sale of the two stations, plus KGAN in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; to Sunrise Television. However, the FCC didn't allow Sunrise to buy WICS/WICD due to Sunrise's ownership structure. Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst (HMTF), an investment firm controlled by Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks, owned a large block of Sunrise stock. HMTF is majority stockholder of LIN TV, then-owner of WAND in Decatur. The FCC ruled that HMTF held enough stock in Sunrise that an acquisition of WICS/WICD would have resulted in a duopoly between two of the four highest-rated stations in the market--something which is forbidden by FCC rules. Sinclair subsequently withdrew the offer to sell the three stations in 2000.

On September 5, 2005, as part of a larger national deal, WICD and WICS swapped affiliations with WAND and became ABC affiliates.

Personalities

Current

Former

External links

References

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