WZZM-TV

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 address), and its transmitter is located in Grant, Michigan.

WZZM's transmitter is about north of other stations in the Grand Rapids market, and its over-the-air signal is unavailable in the market's two other major cities (Kalamazoo and Battle Creek) as a result. Since April 2009, however, WZZM has been available on most cable providers in Southwest Michigan, even though Battle Creek-based WOTV (channel 41, owned by Nexstar Media Group) serves as the ABC affiliate for that part of the Grand Rapids market. Until then, viewers outside of the reach of WZZM's signal (which remains true in Coldwater and Sturgis as of January 2021) relied on out-of-market stations from South Bend, Indiana or Lansing to view syndicated programs carried by WZZM.

History

A local group known as West Michigan Telecasters received a construction permit to operate a television station on VHF channel 9 in 1961. However, later that year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) revised the channel positions in the area, resulting in the VHF channel 13 allocation moving from Cadillac to Grand Rapids. WWTV in Cadillac, then on channel 13, was required to move to channel 9 as a result of the action.

WZZM-TV officially signed on the air at 6:30 p.m. on November 1, 1962. The station went off the air just 20 minutes later, after a tube on its transmitter failed; it returned to the air 10 minutes later. The celebratory opening show anchored by news director Jack Hogan. WZZM certainly had humble beginnings; its first broadcasts were from a banquet room-turned studio at the Pantlind Hotel (now the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel). Live broadcasts included ''This Morning with Bud Lindeman'', ''Shirley's Show'' and an evening news program, though the station's most notable show is ''The Bozo Show'', which was broadcast on the station for more than 30 years. Bill Merchant was the original Bozo, with Dick Richards as "The Ringmaster"; Richards took over the role of Bozo shortly thereafter.

As a result of the swap with WWTV, WZZM was now short-spaced to WSPD-TV (now WTVG) in Toledo, Ohio, and WREX in Rockford, Illinois. It had to build its transmitter about 40 miles farther north than the other stations in West Michigan and redirect its signal in order to protect WSPD-TV from interference. As a result, WZZM's signal barely reached Kalamazoo and just missed Battle Creek. Southwestern Michigan viewers had to rely on WSJV in Elkhart, Indiana, WXYZ-TV in Detroit, or WLS-TV in Chicago for ABC programming until WUHQ-TV (channel 41, now WOTV) signed on from Battle Creek in 1971. Sometime in late 1964, WZZM-TV signed on a satellite station in Kalamazoo, operating on VHF channel 12.

In August 1971, WZZM opened a multimillion-dollar state-of-the-art studio in Walker, with Congressman Gerald Ford presiding over the ceremony. In the following years, WZZM became a formidable force in the Grand Rapids market, gathering high ratings and a reputation as having one of the top newscasts in the West Michigan area.

In 1978, West Michigan Telecasters sold WZZM to Miami-based Wometco Enterprises. WZZM (95.7 FM) was sold at that time, becoming WZZR. Wometco's stations were sold to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) in 1985; KKR subsequently sold the station to Price Communications in 1986. A local investor, Richard Appleton, formed Northstar Television in 1989 and purchased WZZM. Appleton tried to acquire WUHQ in 1991 and turn it into a satellite of WZZM, which would have created a strong combined signal with about 40% overlap. However, the proposed deal fell through at the last minute. Ironically, WUHQ had served as a ''de facto'' satellite of WZZM for most of its history; its engineers had to switch to and from WZZM's signal on most occasions before the station was able to acquire a network feed from ABC.

In 1992, the Northstar Television group (WZZM, along with WNAC-TV in Providence, Rhode Island, and WAPT in Jackson, Mississippi) was sold to Argyle Television Holdings II. The Gannett Company in Buffalo, New York in January 1997 in a trade deal with Argyle involving WLWT in Cincinnati and KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City. This deal was done to resolve cross-ownership issues that stemmed from Gannett's ownership at the time of cable provider Multimedia Cablevision (which it had acquired with its purchase of Multimedia, Inc. in 1995) in the Oklahoma City market (as well as cross-ownership issues with the newspapers ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' and '' The Niagara Gazette'') as the FCC at the time barred a television station and a cable provider or newspaper from being owned by the same company in a single market.

In the 1990s, WZZM made an array of changes with the new millennium looming. The station purchased new news vehicles, a new tape format (Beta SP) was introduced to digitize all media, a new radar receiver and new weather cameras were added across the state; it also built a new set, coinciding with the introduction of a new logo. In early spring of 2006, WZZM finalized a major station overhaul, complete with a new logo, graphics, and promotional campaign.

In late September 2006, WZZM announced on-air through a series of commercials that the morning newscast (with Derek Francis, Lauren Stanton and Hally Vogel) moved into first place in viewership, according to Nielsen.

On September 14, 2006, WZZM broadcast its first local program in high definition, the special ''Great Lakes Adventure''. Lee Van Ameyde and Juliet Dragos hosted the special about Sleeping Bear Dunes, Mackinac Island, Mackinac Bridge, as well as Michigan's wine country, and charter boats. In 2007, WZZM launched three websites co-developed with Gannett's Michigan newspapers: MichiganMoms.com (now MomsLikeMe.com), MichiganSmartShopper.com, and MyMitten.com.

Around the first week of October 2012, Gannett entered a dispute against Dish Network regarding compensation fees and Dish's AutoHop commercial-skip feature on its Hopper digital video recorders. Gannett ordered that Dish discontinue AutoHop on the account that it is affecting advertising revenues for WZZM, thus causing major problems in the West Michigan area. Gannett threatened to suspend its contact with the satellite provider should the skirmish continue beyond October 7 and Dish and Gannett fail to reach an agreement. The two parties eventually reached an agreement after extending the deadline for a few hours.

On June 29, 2015, the Gannett Company split in two, with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media. WZZM was retained by the latter company, named Tegna.

Programming

Syndicated programs airing on WZZM include ''Access Daily'', '' Daily Blast Live'', ''Hot Bench'', ''Judge Judy'' and ''Entertainment Tonight''. WZZM is one of the first stations in Michigan to produce and broadcast local commercials and station promotions in high definition. It is also the first station to air segments such as its popular high school sports franchise ''13 On Your Sidelines'' in high definition.

''My West Michigan''

''Take Five & Company'' (originally named ''Take Five Grand Rapids'') is a live talk and entertainment show that airs weekdays at 9:00 a.m. (it originally aired at 5:00 p.m. from its debut in early 2004 until September 2005, when it moved to 4:30 p.m.). The program is hosted by Catherine Behrendt. On August 25, 2008, the program's title was revised to ''Take Five and Company'', expanded from a half-hour to one hour and moved to 9:00 a.m. (displacing ''Live with Regis and Kelly'', which had held that timeslot on WZZM for more than 20 years; ''Live'' was then moved to WWMT).

The program utilizes some of the same soft news features that were included on the ''5:30 Edition'' newscast in the 1990s, such as movie reviews and cooking segments. Segments featured on the series include "Rescue My Home", which is similar to '' Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' and occurs several times a year, in which a local homeowner is chosen to have a room in their house undergo a makeover. In early 2005, there was an "Extreme Mini-Makeover" feature, similar to ''Extreme Makeover''. In addition to a week's worth of segments about the project, WZZM airs prime time "Rescue My Home" specials. In addition to segments about gardening, cooking, parenting and healthy lifestyle tips, movies, restaurants, money management and auto maintenance, the show features celebrity interviews and performances by local and national music artists visiting Grand Rapids. In 2008, ''Take Five'' began a new monthly segment, called the "Take Five Book Club", which provides picks of certain books and includes a discussion about the book on the first Monday of the month; the segment lends itself to a partnership with the Book Nook & Java Shop in Montague.

On September 14, 2015, ''Take Five & Company'' was replaced with ''My West Michigan'', an improved format that focuses on a combination of news, entertainment and lifestyle programming. ''My West Michigan'' was hosted by longtime WZZM anchors Lauren Stanton and Jennifer Pascua, though the hosts have changed over the years.

It was announced on July 24, 2020, that ''My West Michigan'' would take a hiatus due to COVID-19-related restrictions that made the live interaction the show is known for impossible. The station plans to bring the show back as soon as it is safe to do so.

News operation

WZZM presently broadcasts 34½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 5½ hours each weekday, three hours on Saturdays and four hours on Sundays). The station maintains partnerships with two formerly co-owned newspapers in the market, the ''Grand Haven Tribune'' and ''The Daily News'' in Greenville, to provide weather forecasts. Chief meteorologist George Lessens writes a weekly column for Advance Newspapers, which includes the forecast for the upcoming week, as of February 2006; it originally had a review of the previous week's weather conditions.

For most of its history starting in 1969, the station's newscasts were branded as ''Eyewitness News'' until the late 1990s, when it was retitled to ''WZZM 13 News''. In 1971, WZZM became the first station in the West Michigan to use a weather radar, which was upgraded in 1974 to a computerized color version. In 1993, WZZM debuted a half-hour news program called ''5:30 Edition''; the program included soft news features, in addition to news headlines. Many of its feature segments were phased out and the program became a standard newscast by 1997. WZZM started expanded coverage of high school football in 1995 with the debut of the weekly seasonal highlight program ''Friday Night Football''; a few years later, the program was renamed to ''13 On Your Sidelines''.

On June 7, 2009, the station suspended its weekend morning newscasts (which debuted in 2006), due to economic conditions; on March 5, 2011, WZZM resumed the Saturday and Sunday morning newscasts after a two-year absence, airing for two hours from 6 to 8 a.m. on both days. They now also offer a one-hour, 9 a.m. Newscast on Sunday mornings after GMA.

In late 2009, WZZM became the third television station in West Michigan to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in widescreen standard definition (WWMT was the last major station in West Michigan with 4:3 standard-definition newscasts until April 16, 2011, when it became the second station in the market to upgrade to full high definition newscasts). In June 2010, WZZM rehired Brent Ashcroft, who had left the station twelve years prior to become sports director at Fox affiliate WXMI (channel 17). On December 3, 2011, WZZM became the fourth and final television station in West Michigan to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition.

WZZM-TV focuses its newscasts on the northern half of the market (Grand Rapids and Muskegon) with a secondary emphasis on Kalamazoo and Battle Creek.

On September 8, 2014, WZZM began airing news at 5 p.m. WZZM now has local news from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

In March 2018, the station rebranded from "WZZM 13" to "13 On Your Side." At the same time, the station switched from the older Gannett styled graphics to the new Tegna 2018 graphics package. With the exception of ''My West Michigan'', this branding was carried over to all newscasts.

Weather

=On Target Forecast

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WZZM's team of meteorologists compares the accuracy of the previous day's forecast in comparison to the actual weather of the current day for its "On Target Forecast". If the day's weather is accurate to the previous day's forecasted prediction, a graphic is displayed showing a bullseye on a calendar for that date, as the forecast was "on target". This calendar shows results going back through the last 31 days. If the temperature was within three degrees, the "Three Degree Guarantee", it gets a check mark on this calendar. If the forecasted temperature was more than three degrees off it is called a miss and gets an "X" on the calendar.

=Weatherball

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The original weatherball was constructed in 1967 and perched on top of the Michigan National Bank building in downtown Grand Rapids. The colors it displayed were representative of the forthcoming weather. A poem was written about the weatherball's colors:
::''Weatherball red, warmer weather ahead.''
::''Weatherball blue, cooler weather in view.''
::''Weatherball green, no change foreseen.''
::''Colors blinking bright, rain or snow in sight.''

However, due to questions about its stability, it was removed in 1987, after twenty years of existence. WZZM located the weatherball, which had resided in a Kalamazoo junkyard since its removal, and purchased it in 1999. In 2002, plans were announced to refurbish the stainless steel ball and to add new neon lights. The weatherball was perched on a monopole at WZZM's studios and was lit on May 7, 2003. It is visible from both Interstate 96 and US 131, the two major freeways in the area.

Shortly after the reintroduction of the WZZM 13 Weatherball, a contest was held where viewers submitted video recordings of songs to coincide with its meanings. The winner chosen had their song appear on a new commercial that aired to inform viewers on the significance of the colors. The winners were Dale Ray Schumaker and Allison Rae Schumaker of Holland with their jingle, "Know Before You Go". "DJ Dale" Schumaker and Allison Rae Schumaker are prominent hit songwriters.

On June 5, 2008, the Weatherball was struck by lightning for the first time in its history. The lightning scrambled the electronic components of the Weatherball, causing it to glow in a rainbow of colors, and it had to be turned off temporarily for repairs as a result. The station also has a costumed character mascot of the Weatherball named "Blinkie". A similar weatherball is also located on the Citizen's Bank building in Flint. Tegna sister station and fellow ABC affiliate KXTV in Sacramento, California, also owns a weather beacon.

In February 2015 the Weatherball was given its own Twitter account (), which has a sarcastic overall personality about area weather, light news, and sporting events.

=Weather Chaser

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The Weather Chaser was introduced in 2001; it was a mobile version of the in-studio weather office capable of live broadcasts from anywhere in the broadcast area. During severe weather, the meteorologist using the Chaser was able to track and report storm conditions on location. After not being seen for a number of months, it was spotted being used in August 2006 as a live shot vehicle at the Unity Christian Music Festival in Muskegon, Michigan.

The Weather Chaser (seen in the above photo) has since been transformed back into a live truck; a new Weather Chaser was introduced in 2011 and is an SUV, and was used on May 12, 2011 in Grand Haven, Michigan at Mary A. White Elementary School during a visit by chief meteorologist George Lessens to help the students launch a weather balloon.

=Weather Deck

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The "Weather Deck" is a deck set up outside of the station's Walker studios for use during weather forecasts on WZZM's newscasts (and is similar to such outdoor weather setups seen on other TEGNA-owned stations). Most weather reports are done outside, except during weather conditions that make it unsafe for the meteorologist to go outside, such as during severe weather. The weather deck was introduced in 1999; from 1995 to 1999, the evening meteorologist reported from the station's parking lot. In the spring of 2009, WZZM stopped using the Weather Deck during its newscasts as lighting for the deck became too expensive for the station to maintain. Instead, these weather reports are done from inside the main news studio. The noon newscast occasionally features a "Weather Deck Guest" live interview segment. Regular weather segments resumed from the Weather Deck at some point during 2010.

Awards

Over the years, WZZM has received numerous awards for journalistic excellence. Some of these include:
* Emmy Award – "Sickle Cell Anemia: Paradox of Neglect, Station Award" in 1971.
* Michigan Associated Press – "Sickle Cell Anemia: Paradox of Neglect, Best Documentary" in 1971.
* United Press International's "Michigan News Station of the Year" from 1980 to 1985.
* Michigan Association of Broadcasters' "Best Newscast" and "Best Coverage of Spot News" awards in 1998
* Michigan Association of Broadcasters' "Station of the Year" award in 2002.
* Michigan Television News Photographers Association "Station of the Year" award in 2002.
* NWS Weather-Ready National Ambassador of Excellence, designated in 2020.

Notable former staff

*Jay Schadler – worked at WZZM during the 1970s (now with ABC News)
*Bill Seidman – president of WZZM (former FDIC chairman; died in 2009)

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

In 2005, WZZM launched its second digital subchannel as a weather channel called the "13 On Target Weather Network"; the channel is carried on Comcast and Charter Communications cable systems in West Michigan on channel 247 and is streamed online on the station's website. In January 2015, WZZM launched its third digital subchannel carrying Justice Network, which is carried on Comcast channel 297 and Charter channel 181 in West Michigan.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WZZM shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 39 to VHF channel 13.

References

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External links

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Take Five & Company

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wzzm
ABC network affiliates
True Crime Network affiliates
Quest (American TV network) affiliates
Twist (TV network) affiliates
This TV affiliates
Start TV affiliates
Tegna Inc.
Television channels and stations established in 1962
1962 establishments in Michigan
ZZM
Local AccuWeather Channel affiliates
Wometco Enterprises
Former Gannett subsidiaries