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WSYX (channel 6) is a television station in
Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
, United States, affiliated with
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 ...
, MyNetworkTV and
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. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to TBD station
WTTE WTTE (channel 28) is a television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States, airing programming from the digital multicast network TBD. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Sinclair Broad ...
(channel 28, owned by
Cunningham Broadcasting Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation is an owner of broadcast television stations in the United States. The company currently owns fifteen stations – eight affiliated with Fox, three affiliated with The CW, two affiliated with ABC, and two affili ...
) and Chillicothe-licensed CW affiliate WWHO (channel 53, owned by Manhan Media) under separate
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 ...
s (LMAs). However, Sinclair effectively owns WTTE as the majority of Cunningham's stock is owned by the family of deceased group founder Julian Smith. The stations share studios on Dublin Road in Grandview Heights (with a Columbus mailing address), while WSYX's transmitter is located in the Franklinton section of Columbus.


History

The station began operations on September 29, 1949, as WTVN, Columbus' second television station. At its launch, the station was owned by Picture Waves Inc., a company controlled by
Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...
-based attorney and investor
Edward Lamb Edward Lamb (April 23, 1901 – March 23, 1987) was an American businessman, broadcasting executive and labor lawyer. He is best known for having defended striking workers during the Auto-Lite Strike in 1934 and for successfully resisting the fe ...
; Lamb also owned
WICU-TV WICU-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by SJL Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Lilly Broadcasting, owner of CBS/The CW Plus, CW+ aff ...
in Erie, Pennsylvania, which went on the air six months earlier. WTVN was an affiliate of the
DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...
at its inception, and was one of only three primary affiliates of that network; it also carried a secondary affiliation with ABC. Channel 6 became a full-time ABC affiliate in 1955, after DuMont closed down its operations. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. The station was first housed within the Lincoln-LeVeque Tower in Downtown Columbus until 1952, when it moved into a new facility on Harmon Avenue in Franklinton. Channel 6's present home, on Dublin Road near the Columbus–Grandview Heights border, has been in operation since 1977. In March 1953, Picture Waves sold WTVN to Radio Cincinnati, Inc., the broadcasting interests of the
Taft family The Taft family of the United States has historic origins in Massachusetts; its members have served Ohio, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Utah, and the United States in various positions such as U.S. Representative (two), Governor of Ohio, G ...
of Cincinnati. The following year, Radio Cincinnati purchased WHKC radio (610 AM) in Columbus from the publishers of the '' Cleveland Plain Dealer'', renaming that station
WTVN (AM) WTVN (610 AM) – branded as "News Radio 610 WTVN" – is a commercial talk radio station licensed to Columbus, Ohio. Owned by iHeartMedia, the station serves the Columbus metro area. The WTVN studios area located in Downtown Columbus, and it ...
and subsequently adding a ''-TV'' suffix to channel 6's call sign. Radio Cincinnati would later become the Taft Broadcasting Company, and Taft would launch a second radio station in Columbus, WTVN-FM (96.3 FM, now WLVQ), in April 1960. In the early 1970s, Taft's common ownership of WTVN-TV and WKRC-TV (channel 12) in Cincinnati was given protection under a " grandfather clause" by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from its newly enacted " one-to-a-market" rule. The ordinance prohibited television stations with overlapping signals from sharing common ownership while protecting existing instances. WKRC-TV's signal provided at least secondary coverage to much of the southern portion of the Columbus market. One of WTVN-TV's competitors, Crosley/ Avco-owned WLWC (channel 4, now WCMH-TV), was given grandfathered protection through a similar situation with sister stations in
Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...
and Cincinnati. In 1987, Cincinnati financier (and future
Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
owner) Carl Lindner acquired a majority of Taft's shares in a hostile takeover, renaming the company Great American Broadcasting, a subsidiary of his Great American Insurance Company. The manner in which the takeover was structured led the FCC to deem it to be an ownership change. As a result, WTVN-TV lost its grandfathered protection and could not be retained by Great American. A group of former Taft Broadcasting shareholders, led by Texas millionaire
Robert Bass Robert Muse Bass (born 19 March 1948) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He was the chairman of Aerion Corporation, an American aerospace firm in Reno, Nevada. In 2018 he had a net worth of $5 billion. Bass has served on ...
(who also participated in the hostile takeover), purchased WTVN-TV for their new company, called Anchor Media. The sale closed on August 31, 1987, and the new owners renamed the station WSYX that same day. The change was required as FCC rules at the time prohibited TV and radio stations with separate ownership in the same market from retaining the same base callsign. WTVN and WLVQ remained owned by Great American for several years. Anchor Media, who also purchased ABC affiliates WLOS in
Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...
(in April 1987) and KOVR in
Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...
(in January 1989, now a CBS O&O), was purchased by
River City Broadcasting River City Broadcasting L.P. was a major television and radio station operator in mid-sized markets in the United States, based in St. Louis, Missouri. Overview The firm was formed in 1989 as a partnership between Barry Baker and Larry Marcus, b ...
in 1993. River City was merged into the Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1996. Sinclair owned Columbus' Fox affiliate, WTTE, but could not keep both stations since the FCC did not allow common ownership of two stations in a single market. Sinclair kept the longer-established WSYX and sold WTTE to Glencairn, Ltd., owned by former Sinclair executive Edwin Edwards. However, the Smith family (Sinclair's founding owners) controlled nearly all of Glencairn's stock. In effect, Sinclair now had a
duopoly A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicit ...
in Columbus in violation of FCC rules. Sinclair and Glenciarn further circumvented the rules by merging WTTE's operations with those of WSYX under a local marketing agreement, with WSYX as the senior partner. In 2001, after the FCC allowed duopolies, Sinclair tried to acquire Glencairn outright. However, the FCC would not allow Sinclair to repurchase WTTE for two major reasons. First, the FCC does not allow duopolies between two of the four highest-rated stations in a single market. Also, the Columbus market, despite its relatively large size, has only seven full-power stations—too few to legally permit a duopoly. Glencairn was renamed Cunningham Broadcasting but is still effectively owned by Sinclair because nearly all of its stock is owned by trusts controlled by the Smith family. This situation is one of many that has led to allegations that Cunningham is simply a shell corporation used by Sinclair to circumvent FCC ownership rules. Sinclair would later acquire WKRC-TV in 2012, reuniting the station with WSYX. In 2004, WSYX (along with other ABC affiliates owned by Sinclair, including sister stations WKEF in
Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...
hich had recently switched back to ABC from NBC Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
as well as WCHS-TV which includes parts of Southern Ohio in its viewing area) preempted the special showing of '' Saving Private Ryan'' in late 2004 due to concerns that the FCC would impose a fine on them if they had aired the World War II-set movie due to the
Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy The Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show, which was broadcast live on February 1, 2004, from Houston, Texas, on the CBS television network, is notable for a moment in which Janet Jackson's breast—adorned with a nipple shield—was expo ...
earlier that year. As ABC affiliates owned by the
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 ...
also preempted the film (including WEWS-TV in Cleveland and WCPO-TV in Cincinnati), only viewers in the far eastern (WYTV) and northwestern (then-ABC O&O WTVG in Toledo) parts of Ohio were able to view the film. It was later determined that the movie's broadcast was not a violation of FCC regulations. At one point, WTVN-TV/WSYX was one of five ABC affiliates owned by Taft, owing to a longtime friendship between Taft's chairman Hulbert Taft Jr., and then-ABC president Leonard Goldenson. WSYX is the only one of these stations still affiliated with ABC, the only former Taft station whose ABC affiliation survives that friendship. Following the sale of WCMH-TV by NBC to Media General in 2006 (as well as its subsequent merger with
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 ...
in 2017) as well as WBNS-TV's 2019 sale to
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 ...
, WSYX currently has the longest active ownership history with one owner among Columbus's "Big Three" affiliates.


Addition of Fox affiliation

On January 1, 2021, Sinclair quietly sent a letter to cable and satellite providers saying that it had consolidated the Fox affiliations of stations in markets where it had been on a sister Cunningham or Deerfield-owned station onto Sinclair owned stations, putting those affiliations directly in Sinclair's control. While most markets transitioned on that day, the transition of WTTE-DT1's programming schedule onto WSYX's spectrum would be held off until January 7, as that would be the day WWHO would convert to being the market's ATSC 3.0 lighthouse station, and it would easier for the transition of all the channels being moved or launched to occur then. On that day, Sinclair began simulcasting "Fox 28" programming on WSYX-DT3, while moving Antenna TV to the newly created 6.4. WTTE's main signal would eventually carry Sinclair-owned TBD full-time. The simulcast continued until February 3 at 10 a.m., when the "Fox 28" schedule was now only available over-the-air through WSYX-DT3 (WTTE would also become the host of WWHO's main CW schedule in ATSC 1.0 format). With the move of the "Fox 28" schedule to WSYX-DT3, it became the largest-market subchannel-only Fox affiliate, surpassing
Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...
's KRQE-DT2 for that distinction, along with the largest station by market size holding two affiliations with the Big Four networks (also ahead of KRQE). WSYX-DT3 continues to identify as "Fox 28" outside of the change of the call letters for their station identification, though in technicality as WSYX uses physical channel 28, it still properly identifies its channel position. The switch was contractually proper for cable and satellite providers, who continue to carry Fox programming on all of "Fox 28"'s existing low-number channel positions, while WTTE-DT1's carriage now depends on provider; some carry it as a low-number channel, while others no longer carry any of WTTE's channels. In April 2021, Antenna TV and
Stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
swapped channels, with Stadium moving to 6.4 and Antenna TV moving to WTTE-DT2.


WSYX-DT2

In August 2006, WSYX launched a new second digital subchannel to carry programming from MyNetworkTV. This channel added programming from This TV in the daytime and overnight hours on November 1, 2008; as of 2011, it takes up a bulk of the schedule outside of MyNetworkTV programming. For a long time, WSYX-DT2 had been the largest-market subchannel-only MyNetworkTV affiliate, but that all changed on November 17, 2014, when KMOV-DT3 "MyTV St. Louis" signed on. However, WSYX-DT2 remained the largest-market MyNetworkTV affiliate to be paired with another multicast digital network, until January 29, 2019, when the Cleveland market's MyNetworkTV affiliation was transferred from WUAB (which relaunched as a CW-affiliated station) to a late-night offering with MeTV on WOIO-DT2.


Programming


News operation

WSYX presently broadcasts 38 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with six hours each weekday and four hours each on Saturdays and Sundays) on its main signal, as well as 25½ hours on WSYX-DT3 for a total of 63½ hours of locally produced newscasts; in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output among the Columbus market's television stations, though WCMH-TV has the largest output airing on one channel. Historically, WSYX has been third among Columbus's television news operations, with WBNS the longtime market leader and WCMH having NBC's strength in the 80s into the 2000s (and NBC ownership in-between) to keep up with WBNS. WSYX has begun to challenge WBNS as Sinclair's ownership has become steady, with WCMH ending up a low-priority station under several new ownerships, and WBNS's local ownership ending in 2019 when the Wolfe family sold off the WBNS stations to Tegna, itself troubled by cost-cutting and shareholder turbulence and forced corporate-wide news imaging that discounted WBNS's local legacy. While WCMH-TV generally carries a straight newscast (as is common among Nexstar stations) and WBNS-TV has been more lifestyle-oriented under Tegna ownership, WSYX has traditionally had more of a watchdog journalism style, long carrying the slogan "On YOUR Side". During the 1977–83 era, WTVN-TV often passed WCMH for second place behind WBNS, and during 1987–1992, WSYX and WBNS traded second place ratings, both behind then-number one WCMH. Over the years, the station has featured high-profile Columbus anchors including Tom Ryan (who moved from WBNS to WTVN in 1979), Pat Lalama, I.J. Hudson, Michelle Gailiun, Lou Forrest (known as Louis de la Foret on
CNN Headline News HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the network primarily carries true crime programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982 by Turner Broadcasting as CNN2 (later renamed Headline News ...
), Deborah Countiss, Bob Hetherington, Charlene Brown, and
Liz Claman Elizabeth Kate Claman (born December 12, 1963) is the anchor of the Fox Business show ''The Claman Countdown''. Claman was previously the co-anchor of the CNBC morning television program '' Morning Call''. Before that, Claman was the co-host o ...
(now an anchor on Fox Business Network) and Carol Costello (former CNN news anchor) were also one time anchor/reporters on WSYX. Prior to Sinclair's acquisition of WSYX, channel 6 used the
Action News ''Action News'' is a local television newscast format originating in the United States. First conceived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it is characterized by a tight format with strict time limits on set packages, a focus on surrounding suburbs, ...
branding for its newscasts. Following its acquisition, WSYX began to produce newscasts for new sister station WTTE and used the unified branding of ''News Center''. This would be dropped in 2006, with the two stations now using their individual station branding for newscasts, though outside the branding it was established that they were sister stations and used the same on-air talent and reporters. WSYX and WTTE did not participate in the wider implementation of Sinclair's now-defunct, controversial ''
News Central ''News Central'' is an American series of primetime newscast television programs on television stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. The programs mixed locally produced news with nationally produced news and an opinion segment from S ...
'' format for its newscasts but did air ''The Point'', a one-minute conservative political commentary, that was also controversial and a requirement of all Sinclair-owned stations with newscasts until the series was discontinued in December 2006. WSYX does provides weather forecasts to sister St. Louis ABC affiliate KDNL-TV for their ''Good Morning America'' cut-ins; KDNL sub-contracts their news/public affairs programming to an outside provider. WSYX launched their newscasts in
high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
on May 10, 2008, making them the last Columbus station to make the upgrade. The WTTE newscasts were included in the switch. In addition, this was the second Sinclair-owned station to launch local newscasts in HD. WSYX was one of Sinclair's first stations it acquired with an established news department, with the company having only dabbled with local news at WPTT in Pittsburgh (now WPNT) and
flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyalt ...
WBFF in
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...
prior to buying River City Broadcasting, though it had just launched a 10 PM newscast for its other Pittsburgh broadcast property WPGH-TV around the time it took over WSYX. (Those newscasts are now produced by Cox Media Group-owned NBC affiliate WPXI in that market.) As a result, aside from the branding changes, WSYX's newscasts were largely left alone; this is in stark contrast to later acquisitions including WKRC-TV that lined up the newscasts with Sinclair's conservative Republican ideologies and to this day rarely carry Sinclair's ''must-run'' programming.


Live programming

Like most local stations during the "Golden Era" of television, WTVN-TV produced a wide range of live local news and entertainment programs. Earl Green, better known as Channel 6's news anchor and director in the 1970s, began his career at the station as a movie host; Gene Fullen and Sally Flowers also hosted shows during their careers. WTVN-TV also hosted various live bowling shows including '' Bowling for Dollars'' and ''Spare Time'' hosted by Gene Fullen and Sandy Hare from its in-studio bowling lanes at the Harmon Avenue studios. The bowling lanes were not relocated when WTVN-TV moved to its current studio facility at 1261 Dublin Road in 1977. For a short time in 1988, WSYX-TV aired the first-ever locally-produced 10 a.m. live morning talk-entertainment show in Columbus, appropriately called ''Good Morning Columbus''. The half-hour show was hosted by Calvin Sneed, the station's "Six On Your Side" consumer reporter, and Dawn Meadows, formerly of WEWS-TV, Cleveland.


Sports

Through both its affiliations with ABC and Fox and their Big Ten Conference rights, WSYX airs the majority of Ohio State Buckeyes football games, which are a huge ratings draw in Ohio in general and specifically Columbus, home of Ohio State University. The station notably aired the Buckeyes' national championship victory in
2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
. WSYX airs pre-game and post-game shows throughout football season on both 6.1 and 6.3. Despite that, WBNS-TV is considered the official "home" station due to its longstanding relationship with Ohio State, and WBNS-TV instead of WSYX airs coach's shows for the Buckeyes. Since Sinclair's 2019 purchase of the former
Fox Sports Networks Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...
and subsequent conversion into Bally Sports, WSYX has actively promoted now-sister network Bally Sports Ohio as the home of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Columbus Crew SC, mentioning to viewers during its newscasts when their respective games air on Bally Sports Ohio.


Tri-State Network

In 1953, three television stations owned by Taft Broadcasting Company and
Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...
formed the short-lived "Tri-State Network" to compete with entertainment programming produced by Crosley Broadcasting Corporation on Crosley television stations in the Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio broadcast markets. On January 11, 1954, a new '' The Wendy Barrie Show'' premiered from the studios of WHIO-TV in Dayton, simulcast on Taft Broadcasting's WKRC-TV in Cincinnati and WTVN (now WSYX) in Columbus. Wendy Barrie's contract was terminated in October, 1954.


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:


Analog-to-digital conversion

WSYX shut down its analog signal, over
VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
channel 6, on June 12, 2009, at 11:59 p.m., as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 13,CDBS Print
/ref> using PSIP to display WSYX's virtual channel as 6 on digital television receivers. On December 11, 2009, the FCC issued a ''Report & Order'' granting WSYX's petition to move from VHF channel 13 to UHF channel 48 to improve signal strength and to be consistent with other Columbus stations on the UHF dial. On August 30, 2010, WSYX began broadcasting on
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
channel 48. Like all stations broadcasting on channel 6 prior to the digital switchover, WSYX's audio signal could be heard on 87.75 MHz on the FM band in Columbus and the surrounding areas. As part of the
SAFER Act In cryptography, SAFER (Secure And Fast Encryption Routine) is the name of a family of block ciphers designed primarily by James Massey (one of the designers of IDEA) on behalf of Cylink Corporation. The early SAFER K and SAFER SK designs share ...
, WSYX kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the
National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a trade association and lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States. The NAB represents more than ...
. WSYX moved its digital signal from channel 48 to channel 28 on October 19, 2019, as part of the FCC's spectrum reallocation process.


Out of market coverage

At times, WTVN-TV/WSYX has served as the default ABC affiliate in several markets. This has included the Zanesville, Ohio market as a whole (which only has NBC/Fox affiliate
WHIZ-TV WHIZ-TV (channel 18) is a television station in Zanesville, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC, Fox and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Marquee Broadcasting alongside the company's only radio properties— WHIZ (1240 AM), WHIZ-FM (92.7), and ...
), the
Lima, Ohio Lima ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwest Ohio along Interstate 75 in Ohio, Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton, southwest of Toledo, Ohio, T ...
market as a whole (served by NBC affiliate WLIO), the Ohio portion of the Marietta, Ohio
Parkersburg, West Virginia Parkersburg is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia, Wood County, West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Little Kanawha River, Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's fourth-largest city and ...
market (served by NBC affiliate WTAP-TV), and the western parts of the WheelingSteubenville market (served by WTRF-TV and WTOV-TV). Over-the-air ABC coverage in Marietta–Parkersburg remains absent even as WTAP-TV owners
Gray Television Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...
have signed on low-powered stations that air the other networks (Fox affiliate
WOVA-LD WOVA-LD (channel 22) is a low-power television station in Parkersburg, West Virginia, United States, affiliated with Fox and The CW Plus. It is owned by Gray Television alongside NBC affiliate WTAP-TV (channel 15) and low-power CBS affiliate WIY ...
and CBS affiliate
WIYE-LD WIYE-LD (channel 26) is a low-power television station in Parkersburg, West Virginia, United States, affiliated with CBS and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Gray Television alongside NBC affiliate WTAP-TV (channel 15) and low-power Fox affiliate WOVA ...
), so WSYX and sister station WCHS-TV in
Charleston, West Virginia Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...
both serve as default affiliates, with WSYX serving the Ohio side of the market. In Wheeling–Steubenville, WSYX covered areas that couldn't receive WTAE-TV from Pittsburgh, which served as the '' de facto'' affiliate in most of that market, since it had to short-space its analog signal to protect WCMH-TV; some viewers in the market are also able to receive WYTV in
Youngstown Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, which ...
. This gave viewers in the Wheeling–Steubenville market an option to watch ABC programming in pattern, since the only stations in the market (WTRF-TV and WSTV-TV/WTOV-TV) aired ABC programming only in the off-hours, and largely dropped them altogether by the 1980s. (WTOV-TV is now a sister station to WSYX.) That market finally received its own full-time ABC affiliate in 2008, when WTRF-TV launched one on its third digital subchannel, although WSYX remains available on cable in the western parts of the market. Until 1980, channel 6 was the closest VHF-signaled ABC affiliate to Lima, as the UHF-signaled WKEF in Dayton and WDHO-TV in Toledo (now
WNWO-TV WNWO-TV (channel 24) is a television station in Toledo, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station maintains a transmitter on Cousino Road in Jerusalem Township. Its studios are located on South Byrn ...
) were both too weak to reach Lima. (Both are now sister stations to WSYX.) However, that year WDTN swapped affiliations with WKEF due to WKEF's weak signal even in Dayton as well as multiple preemptions by that station. (Both stations would reverse the swap in 2004.) WDTN's affiliation with ABC lessened the need for channel 6 to air in Lima, as the channel 2 signal traveled greater distances in the analog era. Channel 6's importance lessened even more when WTVG swapped affiliations with WNWO-TV in 1995 as part of the 1994–96 United States broadcast television realignment, which didn't impact Columbus at all. Today, Lima has its own ABC affiliate on low-powered WOHL-CD, owned and operated by WLIO parent Block Communications. Unlike the other three markets, WHIZ-TV has not signed on low-powered stations or made use of its subchannels to launch ABC or CBS affiliates (only adding Fox and MyNetworkTV programming to its DT2 subchannel on November 14, 2022, with
Cozi TV Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1960s to the 2000s. The network origina ...
on DT3). As a result, WSYX continues to serve as the ABC affiliate of record for the Zanesville market, as it did for Fox from 2021 until WHIZ-TV launched its Fox subchannel.


See also

*
Channel 6 virtual TV stations in the United States The following television stations operate on virtual channel 6 in the United States: * K03ET-D in Terrace Lakes, Idaho * K03IN-D in Leavenworth, Washington * K04RT-D in Judith Gap, Montana * K06NT-D in Dolores, Colorado * K06PU-D in Yakima, Wa ...
*
Channel 28 branded TV stations in the United States The following television stations in the United States brand as channel 28 (though neither using virtual channel 28 nor broadcasting on physical RF channel 28): * WSYX-DT3 in Columbus, Ohio (this station coincidentally broadcasts on physical RF cha ...
*
Channel 28 digital TV stations in the United States The following television stations broadcast on digital channel 28 in the United States: * K17HT-D in Hanksville, Utah * K28AD-D in Montrose, Colorado * K28CQ-D in Hood River, Oregon, on virtual channel 2, which rebroadcasts KATU * K28CS-D in Pa ...


References

* WTVN-TV History Page
''at the Early Television Foundation''


External links


WSYX "ABC 6"

WSYX-DT2 This TV

WSYX-DT3 "Fox 28"
{{SBGI SYX ABC network affiliates MyNetworkTV affiliates This TV affiliates Fox network affiliates Stadium (sports network) affiliates Sinclair Broadcast Group Television channels and stations established in 1949 Taft Broadcasting 1949 establishments in Ohio