WOTV (channel 41) is a
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
licensed to
Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, Michigan, Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo River, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek River, Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle C ...
, United States, serving
West Michigan
West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Pe ...
as an affiliate of
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
. It is owned by
Nexstar Media Group
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...
alongside
Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...
–licensed
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
affiliate
WOOD-TV
WOOD-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for West Michigan. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Battle Creek–licensed ABC affiliate WOTV (channel 41 ...
(channel 8) and
Class A MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
affiliate
WXSP-CD
WXSP-CD (channel 15) is a low-power, Class A television station licensed to Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, serving West Michigan as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Grand Rapids–licensed NBC ...
(channel 15). The stations share studios on College Avenue Southeast in Grand Rapids, while WOTV's transmitter is located on South Norris Road in
Orangeville Township.
WOTV brands itself as ABC 4 West Michigan based on its channel 4 position on most area
cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
systems, though it is on channel 41 on
Dish Network
DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...
, along with
DirecTV
DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...
and its IPTV service
U-verse TV
U-verse TV is a DirecTV brand of IPTV service. Launched on June 26, 2006, U-verse included broadband Internet (now AT&T Internet or AT&T Fiber), VoIP, IP telephone (now AT&T Phone), and IPTV (U-verse TV) services in 48 states. .
The Grand Rapids–
Kalamazoo
Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...
–Battle Creek market is one of five American television markets that are served by two separate affiliates of the same network. Locally, ABC programming is also seen on
WZZM
WZZM (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, serving West Michigan as an affiliate of ABC. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station has studios on 3 Mile Road NW in Walker (with a Grand Rapids mailing ...
(channel 13, owned by
Tegna Inc.
Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into tw ...
), which is based out of Grand Rapids. Although WZZM clears all network programming and operates a full news department, its digital signal cannot reach Battle Creek, Kalamazoo and other areas within the southern portions of the market. This is because its transmitter is located northwest of Grand Rapids in
Grant
Grant or Grants may refer to:
Places
*Grant County (disambiguation)
Australia
* Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia
United Kingdom
* Castle Grant
United States
* Grant, Alabama
* Grant, Inyo County, ...
, farther north than the area's other network stations. While WOTV once focused primarily on the southern portion of the market in an area between the respective signals of WZZM and
South Bend, Indiana
South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...
's
WBND-LD
WBND-LD (channel 57) is a Low-power broadcasting#Television, low-power television station in South Bend, Indiana, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Weigel Broadcasting (as the company's only ABC af ...
, in recent years it has billed itself as a full-market ABC affiliate, including Grand Rapids in its coverage area despite WZZM serving as the ABC station of record for that city. Four of the five markets that have such dual-affiliate arrangements involve ABC affiliates, which exist in Grand Rapids–Kalamazoo–Battle Creek,
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
–
Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644.
Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Hamp ...
(
WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on TV Place (off Gould Street near the I-95/ MA 128/Highland Avenue ...
and
WMUR-TV
WMUR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Manchester, New Hampshire, United States, broadcasting ABC programming to most of New Hampshire. Owned by Hearst Television, the station maintains studios on South Commercial Street in do ...
, the only such arrangement involving stations owned by the
same company),
Tampa
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
–
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
–
Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...
(
WFTS-TV
WFTS-TV (channel 28), branded as ABC Action News, is a television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States, serving the Tampa Bay area as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company alongside Bradenton-licensed Ion Te ...
and
WWSB
WWSB (channel 40) is a television station licensed to Sarasota, Florida, United States, serving the Suncoast portion of the Tampa Bay market as an affiliate of ABC. Owned by Gray Television, WWSB maintains studios on 10th Street in the Rosema ...
), and
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
–
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
–
Kearney, Nebraska (
KLKN
KLKN (channel 8) is a television station in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Standard Media, the station maintains studios on 10th Street south of downtown Lincoln and broadcasts from a transmitter located near Ut ...
and
KHGI-TV
KHGI-TV (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Kearney, Nebraska, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for most of central and western Nebraska and the northern third of Kansas. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside ...
). The fifth market,
Spokane, Washington
Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...
–
Lewiston, Idaho
Lewiston is a city and the county seat of Nez Perce County, Idaho, United States, in the state's north central region. It is the second-largest city in the northern Idaho region, behind Coeur d'Alene, and ninth-largest in the state. Lewiston is ...
, has two
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
affiliates,
KREM and
KLEW-TV
KLEW-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Lewiston, Idaho, United States, affiliated with CBS. The station serves the Lewis–Clark Valley and Palouse regions of north-central Idaho and southeastern Washington, as well as Wallowa C ...
.
History
The station signed on the air on July 24, 1971 as WUHQ-TV (standing for "UHF Headquarters"). It was owned by Channel 41, Inc. a group of 19 investors from Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. WUHQ signed on because the southern portion of the market did not receive an adequate signal from WZZM. WZZM was originally licensed on
VHF channel 9, that station swapped channels with
WWTV
WWTV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Cadillac, Michigan, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the northern Lower and eastern Upper peninsulas of Michigan. It is owned by locally based Heritage Broadcasting Group, w ...
in
Cadillac
The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...
and moved to channel 13 just before signing on in 1962. As a result, its transmitter is farther north than the other West Michigan stations, a measure originally meant to protect
WTVG
WTVG (channel 13) is a television station in Toledo, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC and The CW. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on Dorr Street ( SR 246) in Toledo, and its transmitter is located on Stadium Road ...
in
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...
, and
WREX
Urdnot Wrex is a fictional character in BioWare's ''Mass Effect'' franchise, who serves as a party member (or "squadmate") in the first game of the ''Mass Effect'' trilogy. He is a krogan, an alien race near-sterilised by other galactic races f ...
in
Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...
. Before WUHQ signed on, viewers in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek watched ABC programming via either
WSJV
WSJV (channel 28) is a television station licensed to Elkhart, Indiana, United States, serving the South Bend area as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Heroes & Icons. It is owned by Gray Television alongside NBC affiliate WNDU-TV ( ...
(now a
Heroes & Icons
Heroes & Icons (H&I) is an American Digital terrestrial television, digital broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Usually carried on the digital subchannels of its affiliated television station in most markets, the network ai ...
affiliate) in
Elkhart, Indiana
Elkhart ( ) is a city in Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. The city is located east of South Bend, Indiana, east of Chicago, Illinois, and north of Indianapolis, Indiana. Elkhart has the larger population of the two principal cities of th ...
,
WXYZ-TV
WXYZ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Independent station (North America), independent st ...
in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
, or during the summer months when tropospheric propagation across Lake Michigan was more susceptible to occur over West Michigan,
WLS-TV
WLS-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on North State S ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
and the ABC affiliate in
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
(
WITI
Witiness Chimoio João Quembo (born 26 August 1996), known as Witi, is a Mozambican professional footballer who plays for Portuguese club C.D. Nacional as a winger.
Club career
Born in Beira, Witi began his career with Sporting Club da Be ...
and later
WISN-TV
WISN-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Hearst Television, it is the second-oldest television station to remain with the company in all of its various iterations behind f ...
).
In its early days, the station could not get ABC to provide a direct network feed. This forced channel 41 to switch to and from WZZM's signal during the times when ABC network programming was being shown. This practice, however, was less than satisfactory as WZZM often preempted network shows in favor of locally originated or other programming (such as
Billy Graham
William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...
crusades). In cases where WUHQ had advance notice of such changes, the station was able to procure filmed copies of the preempted network programming for broadcast. However, WZZM sometimes preempted a program with no advance notice such as for breaking local news or severe weather coverage. When this happened, WUHQ simulcast WSJV, usually with less than satisfactory results. At times, atmospheric conditions were not suitable enough to simulcast WSJV, forcing WUHQ to substitute a film or other non-network programming.
WZZM's owners, Northstar Television, planned to buy WUHQ in 1991 and turn it into a satellite. This would have created a strong combined signal with about 40% overlap. Northstar received
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) approval to do this, but the deal fell through when the company was unable to come up with the funds necessary to close the transaction. Instead, WUHQ's owner entered into a
local marketing agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...
(LMA) with LIN Broadcasting, owner of WOTV in Grand Rapids. The deal closed on November 11, 1991. Shortly after, on June 12, 1992, channel 8 regained its heritage WOOD-TV calls and moved the WOTV calls to channel 41. The
previous WUHQ call letters are currently used on a
low-power Daystar affiliate in Grand Rapids.
In 1996, WOTV boosted its transmitter power to five million
watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
s, making it the most powerful television station in West Michigan. It now had at least Grade B coverage throughout the entire market. AT&T bought WOOD-TV and the LMA with WOTV in 1994, when LIN spun off its television division as LIN TV. However, LIN continued to operate both stations. LIN TV reacquired WOOD-TV from AT&T in 1999 and bought WOTV outright in 2002. By December 2006, all operations of the station were consolidated into WOOD-TV's facilities in Grand Rapids. Reporter Gerry Barnaby, who joined WOTV in 1993, left the station at end of the year. WOTV's studios on West Dickman Road (
M-96) in Battle Creek were donated to a city entity, Battle Creek Unlimited, and were later demolished in February 2014. The equipment went to the
Calhoun County Calhoun County is the name of several counties in the United States of America named after U.S. Vice President John C. Calhoun:
* Calhoun County, Alabama
* Calhoun County, Arkansas
* Calhoun County, Florida
* Calhoun County, Georgia
* Calhoun Cou ...
Vocational Educational Center.
Both WOTV and WZZM have had a unique history of having one ABC affiliate preempt network programming during
Labor Day
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...
weekend for the ''
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...
MDA Telethon'' while another aired the preempted ABC programming. In recent years, WOTV has aired the ''MDA Telethon'' while WZZM has aired ABC programming preempted by the telethon. It was the other way around in previous years, however. Bill Steffen was also the only current news personality to appear on the telethon on both stations having been employed by WZZM and WOOD-TV. Starting in 2013, however, both WZZM and WOTV aired the ''MDA Show of Strength'' at the same time as the program switched from a
syndication
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
format to a network telecast on ABC.
On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that could have resulted in the sale of the company.
Soon after rebranding as "WOTV 4" in 2007, the station adopted a modified version of the numeric "41" it had used since the 1990s, highlighting the "4" in positive space and displaying the "1" immediately adjacent in
negative space
Negative space, in art, is the empty space around and between the subject(s) of an image. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape, and s ...
(similar to the hidden numeral "11" in the former
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
logo). In March 2012, WOTV launched a new logo, website, and daytime lineup under the brand "WOTV 4 Women". With the launch, the station began to shift its focus towards the female demographic—its website was redesigned to feature more lifestyle-oriented content, and its daytime lineup began featuring more female and lifestyle-oriented programming (such as ''
Dr. Oz'', ''
Swift Justice with Jackie Glass'', ''
The Nate Berkus Show
''The Nate Berkus Show'', also known as ''The Nate Show'', is an American talk show that premiered on September 13, 2010, hosted by interior designer Nate Berkus. The series aired on Broadcast syndication, syndication during its original run from ...
'', ''
Better'', and ''
The Wendy Williams Show
''The Wendy Williams Show'' (often shortened to ''Wendy'') is an American syndicated talk show created and hosted by Wendy Williams, and produced by Wendy Williams Productions, along with Perler Productions. The show is distributed by Debmar- ...
''); the format change was one of the first such instances in which a broadcast television station attempted to target a more specific demographic (in this case, based on gender). By the 2015–16 season, the branding had changed slightly to "My ABC, WOTV 4", though due more by the trends of syndication, as fewer talk shows exist in the market. On early weekend mornings, the station simulcasts WOOD-DT3, which is a feed of WOOD-TV's
weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly puls ...
(known as the "Storm Team 8 Live
Doppler Network") with audio from
NOAA Weather Radio
NOAA Weather Radio NWR; also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is an automated 24-hour network of VHF FM weather radio stations in the United States (U.S.) that broadcast weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Servi ...
station KIG63. The radar feed is carried full-time on WOTV's fourth subchannel.
On March 21, 2014, it was announced that
Media General
Media General was an American media company based in Richmond, Virginia. The company's origins can be traced back to 1887 when Richmond attorney Joseph Bryan acquired ''The Richmond Daily Times'', which later became ''The Richmond Times-Dispatch ...
would acquire LIN. The deal closed on December 19, making WOTV, along with WOOD and WXSP, siblings to
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
affiliate
WLNS-TV
WLNS-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Lansing, Michigan, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to dual ABC/ CW+ affiliate WLAJ (channel 53) under a shared services agree ...
and ABC affiliate
WLAJ-TV
WLAJ (channel 53) is a television station in Lansing, Michigan, United States, affiliated with ABC and The CW Plus. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Nexstar Media Group, owner of CBS ...
in Lansing.
On January 27, 2016, Media General announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by
Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...
. The combined company is known as "Nexstar Media Group" and owns 171 stations (including WOOD and WOTV), serving an estimated 39% of households.
The sale was completed on January 17, 2017.
[Nexstar Broadcasting Group Completes Acquisition of Media General Creating Nexstar Media Group, The Nation’s Second Largest Television Broadcaster]
Nexstar Media Group
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...
, 17 January 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
On December 3, 2018, Nexstar announced it would acquire the assets of Tribune Media (owners of
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
affiliate
WXMI
WXMI (channel 17) is a television station licensed to Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, serving West Michigan as an affiliate of the Fox network. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains studios on Plaza Drive (near M-37) ...
) for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. Nexstar is precluded from acquiring WXMI directly or indirectly, as FCC regulations prohibit common ownership of more than two stations in the same media market, or two or more of the four highest-rated stations in the market. As such, Nexstar was required to sell either WXMI, WOOD and/or WOTV to separate, unrelated companies to address the ownership conflict. The WXSP network of stations would be retained in any situation, as its Class A low-power license is free of regulatory requirements.
On March 20, 2019, it was announced Nexstar would retain the WOOD-TV/WOTV duopoly and WXSP station network as-is, selling WXMI to
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
-based
E. W. Scripps Company
The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
, as part of the company's sale of nineteen Nexstar- and Tribune-operated stations to Scripps and
Tegna Inc.
Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into tw ...
in separate deals worth $1.32 billion.
Programming
Syndicated programs airing on WOTV include ''Pictionary'', ''
Sherri Sherri may refer to:
*Sherri (name)
* ''Sherri'' (2009 TV series), an American sitcom starring Sherri Shepherd
* ''Sherri'' (talk show), a syndicated daytime show hosted by Sherri Shepherd that premiered in 2022
See also
* Shari (disambiguation)
* ...
'', ''
Access Hollywood
''Access Hollywood'', formerly known as ''Access'' from 2017 to 2019, is an American weekday television entertainment news program that premiered on September 9, 1996. It covers events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was created ...
'', ''
The Goldbergs'', ''
Young Sheldon
''Young Sheldon'' is an American List of coming-of-age stories, coming-of-age sitcom television series created by Chuck Lorre and Steven Molaro for CBS. The series, set in the late 1980s and early 1990s, is a Spin-off (media), spin-off prequel ...
'' and ''
Family Feud
''Family Feud'' is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson. It features two families who compete to name the most popular answers to survey questions in order to win cash and prizes.
The show has had three separate runs, th ...
''. WOTV is one of a few ABC affiliates to air
paid programming
Paid or PAID may refer to:
* ''Paid'' (1930 film), an American film starring Joan Crawford
* ''Paid'' (2006 film), a Dutch film
*''Personality and Individual Differences'', a journal
See also
* Paide
Paide is a town in Estonia and the ...
on weekdays.
News operation
As of 2021, WOTV presently broadcasts 22 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with four hours each weekday, 1½ hours on Saturdays, and 30 minutes on Sundays).
Channel 41 opened a news department soon after signing on. However, the station had no luck whatsoever competing against WOOD-TV and
WWMT
WWMT (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States, serving West Michigan as an affiliate of CBS and The CW. The station is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and maintains studios on West Maple Street in Kal ...
(channel 3), since its viewer base was limited to the southern portion of the market. Even with Kalamazoo (the market's second largest city), there simply were not enough viewers in that area of the market for a separate news department to be viable. The station also had to contend with South Bend's WSJV, which decently covered most of this portion of the market over the air.
WUHQ shut down its separate news department in 1990. When WOOD-TV took over the station's operations a year later, it began simulcasting some of its newscasts on WOTV, as well as airing specially produced newscasts covering Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. Since then, WOTV has essentially functioned as WOOD-TV's Kalamazoo/Battle Creek bureau.
On February 9, 1991, news anchor Diane Newton King was murdered in her home near
Marshall
Marshall may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria
Canada
* Marshall, Saskatchewan
* The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia
Liberia
* Marshall, Liberia
Marshall Islands
* Marshall Islands, an i ...
. Her husband, Bradford King, was convicted of first-degree murder and is currently serving a life sentence. The case received national attention in 2004 when it was aired on
Court TV
Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cove ...
's ''
Forensic Files
''Forensic Files'', originally known as ''Medical Detectives'', is an American documentary television program that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness. The show was origi ...
''. The case was also profiled on
A&E's ''
City Confidential
''City Confidential'' is an American documentary television show, originally transmitted on the A&E Network, which singled out a community during each episode and investigated a crime that had occurred there. Rather than being a straightforward ...
'' in an episode titled "Bad News in Battle Creek". In 1992, WOTV brought back a full news department for a second time branded as ''41 News''. However, like its predecessor, it barely registered as a blip in the ratings. Even the resources of WOOD-TV, West Michigan's leading news station for the better part of the last three decades, were not enough to help the cause.
LIN finally decided to shut down WOTV's news operation for good in August 2003. Since then, the station has simulcast some of WOOD-TV's newscasts, but this time without any separate opens or segments. Currently, only the 6 a.m. hour of WOOD-TV's weekday morning newscast, the nightly 6 p.m. newscast (the first half-hour only on Sundays) and the nightly 11 p.m. newscast can be seen on WOTV. There are also brief prime time
weather updates that air on weeknights featuring WOOD-TV chief
meteorologist
A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...
Bill Steffen. In instances of
severe weather
Severe weather is any dangerous meteorological phenomenon with the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or loss of human life. Types of severe weather phenomena vary, depending on the latitude, altitude, topography, and atmos ...
, WOTV simulcasts coverage from WOOD-TV.
After the news department was shut down, the on-air slogan "My ABC is WOTV 4" was adopted to promote ABC programming paired with WOOD-TV's market-leading newscasts. The "Phrase That Pays" is a regularly scheduled contest built around the slogan. On October 5, 2009, WOOD-TV became the second station in Southwestern Michigan to begin offering local newscasts in
16:9 widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
enhanced definition. Although not truly high definition, the broadcast quality matches the ratio of HD television screens. The simulcasts on WOTV were included in the upgrade. Then on October 22, 2011, WOOD-TV became the third television station in southwestern Michigan to broadcast local newscasts in high definition. The simulcasts on WOTV were included in the upgrade as well.
Notable former on-air staff
*
Steve Kmetko – anchor (1979–1982; later an
E! host)
*
Janet Shamlian
Janet Shamlian (born May 14, 1962) is a correspondent for CBS News reporting for CBS This Morning and the CBS Evening News. Previously, she was a correspondent for ''NBC News'' and reported for ''The Today Show'', ''NBC Nightly News'' and MS ...
(now at
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
)
*
John Stehr
John Stehr (born August 20, 1958, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), is a former American television journalist. He is currently running for Mayor of Zionsville, Indiana, where municipal elections will be held in 2023.
He retired as full-time lead ancho ...
– anchor/reporter (later at
WTHR
WTHR (channel 13) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside low-power, Class A MeTV affiliate WALV-CD (channel 46). Both stations share studios on North Meridian ...
in Indianapolis; now retired)
*
Matt Winer
Matt Winer is an American television personality who is currently working for Turner Sports.
Career
Turner Sports signed Winer in 2010 to contribute to coverage of sports across its networks. He became the primary studio host for '' Major Le ...
(formerly at
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
; now at
Turner Sports
Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (WBD Sports) is the division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) that is responsible for sports broadcasting, sports broadcasts on its parent company's various channels in the United States, including TBS (American TV ch ...
)
*
Ginger Zee
Ginger Renee Colonomos (née Zuidgeest; born January 13, 1981), known by her pseudonym Ginger Zee, is an American television personality. She is the chief meteorologist for ABC News, after having been the network's weekend meteorologist.
Early ...
(now chief meteorologist for ''
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
'')
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's digital signal is
multiplexed
In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
:
WOTV previously carried a simulcast of sister station WXSP-CD on
digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
41.2; in late-October 2010 with LIN TV beginning to launch digital translators of WOOD-TV in the southwestern portion of the market and near-universal availability of WXSP on cable and satellite, WOTV discontinued its simulcast of WXSP on its second subchannel. It was replaced with 24-hour
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
network
TheCoolTV
TheCoolTV was a digital broadcast television network and online music video " jukebox" streaming service owned by Cool Music Network, LLC of Lawrence, Kansas.
History
As a digital broadcast television network
Launched in March 2009, the netw ...
. WXSP-CD was also carried by WOOD-DT2 until July 1, 2013.
On July 15, 2013, carriage of TheCoolTV ended as LIN ended its agreement to carry the network, and the subchannel was replaced with the same Doppler radar loop seen on WOOD-DT3. Once Grit debuted on WOTV, the radar loop was moved to its fourth subchannel.
Analog-to-digital conversion
WOTV shut down its analog signal, over
UHF channel 41, on June 12, 2009, as part of the
federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.
The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 20, using
PSIP
The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the AT ...
to display WOTV's
virtual channel
In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
as 41 on digital television receivers.
See also
*
Channel 4 branded TV stations in the United States
*
Channel 20 digital TV stations in the United States The following television stations broadcast on Digital television, digital channel 20 in the United States:
* K20BP-D in Phillips County, Montana
* K20BR-D in Gage, etc., Oklahoma
* K20CN-D in Fortuna/Rio Dell, California
* K20CV-D in Raton, New Me ...
*
Channel 41 virtual TV stations in the United States
References
External links
*
WOOD-TV
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wotv
ABC network affiliates
Dabl affiliates
Charge! (TV network) affiliates
Television channels and stations established in 1971
1971 establishments in Michigan
OTV
Nexstar Media Group