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WSBT-TV (channel 22) 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 ...
in
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 ...
, United States, affiliated with
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 ...
and
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 ...
. Owned by
Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...
, the station maintains studios on East Douglas Avenue in
Mishawaka Mishawaka is a city on the St. Joseph River, in Penn Township, St. Joseph County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 51,063 as of the 2020 census. Its nickname is "the Princess City". Mishawaka is a principal city of the South Be ...
, and its transmitter is located on Ironwood Road in South Bend, near the St. Joseph County Fairgrounds.


History


Early years

The station first signed on the air on December 21, 1952, and was owned by the ''
South Bend Tribune The ''South Bend Tribune'' is a daily newspaper and news website which is based in South Bend, Indiana. It is distributed in South Bend, Mishawaka, north central Indiana, and southwestern Michigan. It has been named as a "Blue Ribbon Newspaper" ...
''.
1954 Telecasting Yearbook–Marketbook
'. Broadcasting – Telecasting. 1954. p. 119. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
History Cards for WSBT-TV
fcc.gov. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
Its studios were originally in the ''South Bend Tribune'' building at Lafayette and Colfax, in downtown South Bend. They were moved to Lafayette and Jefferson street in 1956. WSBT-TV was originally affiliated with all four major networks of the time: it was a primary CBS affiliate with secondary affiliations with
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
,
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 ...
and DuMont; it lost the latter three networks when
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 ( ...
(channel 28, 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) signed on in March 1954. It was the first UHF station in the United States to produce a live telecast, a five-minute local news bulletin. Although WSBT is the oldest continuously operating UHF station in the country, it switched channels once during the analog era. Originally broadcasting on UHF channel 34, the station moved to channel 22 in 1958. WSBT was the first station on UHF to telecast a
high school basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
tournament, which came from John Adams High School. In 1953, WSBT-TV had several sports-related firsts. In the fall of that year, WSBT became the first television station in the country to present a closed-circuit telecast of a
college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...
practice. This allowed Notre Dame coach
Frank Leahy Francis William Leahy (August 27, 1908 – June 21, 1973) was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and professional sports executive. He served as the head football coach at Boston College from 1939 to 1940 and at ...
to direct the practice, as he was hospitalized at the time. WSBT-TV was also the first station in Indiana to broadcast in
color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...
, starting in 1954 in new studios designed by architect
William Pereira William Leonard Pereira (April 25, 1909 – November 13, 1985) was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois, who was noted for his futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. Remarkably pr ...
. When the
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) tightened its cross-ownership regulations in the 1970s to bar common ownership of television stations and newspapers in the same market, the combination of the ''Tribune'' and the WSBT radio and television stations were among the few such combinations that were
grandfathered A grandfather clause, also known as grandfather policy, grandfathering, or grandfathered in, is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from t ...
under those rules. WSBT has the distinction of being the longest-tenured CBS affiliate in the state of Indiana. In April 1995, Fox signed an affiliation agreement with then-ABC affiliate WSJV, with the switch taking effect on October 18 of that year. For about a year prior to the switch, some Fox programming such as the network's NFL game broadcasts and ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' had been airing on WSBT; the remainder of the network's programming was provided to most of the market on cable via
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
WFLD WFLD (channel 32) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Gary, Indiana–licensed MyNetworkTV ...
,
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 ...
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) ...
, or
Fort Wayne Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
affiliate WFFT (depending on the location), while
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 ...
affiliate
WKBD WKBD-TV (channel 50) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS owned-and-operated station WWJ-TV (channel 62). Both stations share studios on ...
was carried on cable systems in some areas of the Michigan side of the market until
WJBK WJBK (channel 2) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan 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 o ...
switched to the network in December 1994.


2008–present

The station unveiled its new all-digital facility in Mishawaka on November 16, 2008, beginning with the station's 10 p.m. newscast (which airs on its second digital subchannel). The new facility was built from the ground up for digital broadcasting, and channel 22 became the first Michiana station to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition. The radio stations began broadcasting from the new facility a few weeks earlier. The former WSBT studio building is now home to the area's
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
member station WNIT (channel 34). On August 4, 2008, WSBT announced plans to purchase
Weigel Broadcasting Weigel Broadcasting Co. is an American television broadcasting company based in Chicago, Illinois, alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV (Channel 26), at 26 North Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood. It currently owns 25 television sta ...
's three stations in the market, ABC affiliate
WBND-LP WBND-LD (channel 57) is a low-power television station in South Bend, Indiana, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Weigel Broadcasting (as the company's only ABC affiliate), and is sister to CW affiliate WCWW-LD (channel 25) and ...
(channel 57), CW affiliate WCWW-LP (channel 25) and
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 WMYS-LP (channel 69). Since the three stations are all low-power outlets, they are not counted under FCC ownership rules which permit common ownership of a full-power television station and one or more low-power stations. Alongside WSBT-DT's existing three channels, the purchase would have given Schurz Communications a total of six channels in the market across four stations, including two " Big Four" network affiliates. However, in the absence of action by the FCC, the deal was called off in August 2009. Schurz announced on September 14, 2015, that it would exit broadcasting and sell its television and radio stations to
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 ...
for $442.5 million. Gray already owned
WNDU-TV WNDU-TV (channel 16) is a television station in South Bend, Indiana, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Elkhart-licensed Heroes & Icons affiliate WSJV (channel 28). Both stations share studios on the c ...
(channel 16) in South Bend. Despite WSBT-TV's higher ratings, Gray kept WNDU and sold WSBT-TV to expedite approval of the deal; on October 1, 2015, Gray announced that the station would be swapped to
Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...
for
WLUC-TV WLUC-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Marquette, Michigan, United States, serving the Central and Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan as an affiliate of NBC and Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox. Owned by Gray Television, the statio ...
in
Marquette, Michigan Marquette ( ) is a city in Marquette County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 20,629 at the 2020 United States Census, which makes it the largest city in the Upper Peninsula. Marquette serves as the seat of government of Marquett ...
. The sale separated channel 22 from both the ''South Bend Tribune'', which Schurz would keep, and the WSBT Radio Group, which was sold to
Mid-West Family Broadcasting Mid-West Family Broadcasting is an independently owned broadcasting company based in Madison, Wisconsin. The company owns and manages radio stations in Madison, Wisconsin, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, La Crosse, Wisconsin, Benton Harbor/ St. Joseph, Mic ...
. The FCC approved the sale on February 12, 2016, and the sale would be completed on February 16. Sinclair's purchase of WSBT also marked a re-entry into Indiana as the company had owned
WTTV WTTV (channel 4), licensed to Bloomington, Indiana, United States, and WTTK (channel 29), licensed to Kokomo, Indiana, are television stations affiliated with CBS and serving the Indianapolis area. They are owned by Nexstar Media Group alongsi ...
/WTTK in Indianapolis from 1996 before that station was sold to
Tribune Broadcasting Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC was an American media company which operated as a subsidiary of Tribune Media, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. The group owned and operated television and radio stations throughout the United Sta ...
in 2002. As a result of the sale, fellow CBS affiliate
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 ...
to the north in
Kalamazoo, Michigan 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 ...
, which serves the Grand Rapids market, became a sister station to WSBT. On July 25, 2016, Sinclair announced that WSBT-DT2 would affiliate with Fox beginning on August 1, 2016.
Quincy Media Quincy Media, Inc., formerly known as Quincy Newspapers, Inc., was a family-owned media company that originated in the newspapers of Quincy, Illinois. The company's history can be traced back to 1835, when the ''Bounty Land Register'' was one of ...
had reached an agreement to transfer the affiliation from WSJV in exchange for the ABC and CW affiliations in
Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...
from Sinclair-owned WHOI. A few of WSJV's employees were transferred to WSBT. For a sixty-day period, WSBT-DT2 was simulcast on WSJV-DT1 to allow viewers to transition to the new signal, along with pay television providers. SBT2's broadcasts of
South Bend Cubs The South Bend Cubs are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They are located in South Bend, Indiana, and play their home games at Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium. The team was o ...
baseball games also ended for the season; Sinclair intended to begin a new broadcasting relationship with the team for the 2017 season.


Programming


Syndicated programming

Syndicated programming featured on WSBT-DT1 includes ''
Rachael Ray Rachael Domenica Ray (born August 25, 1968) is an American cook, television personality, businesswoman, and author. She hosts the syndicated daily talk and lifestyle program ''Rachael Ray'', and the Food Network series '' 30 Minute Meals''. ...
'', ''
The Jennifer Hudson Show ''The Jennifer Hudson Show'' is an American syndicated daytime talk show. Hosted by singer and actress Jennifer Hudson, the series premiered on September 12, 2022. Production In November 2021, ''Deadline'' reported that Warner Bros. Televisio ...
,
Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or ''Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Art * ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-Jo ...
, and
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...
''.


News operation

WSBT-TV presently broadcasts 49½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 8½ hours each weekday, four hours on Saturdays and three hours on Sundays); in addition to the newscasts seen on WSBT's primary channel, the station broadcasts 16 hours of newscasts a week for its Fox subchannel (with three hours each weekday and a half-hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). The station maintains a news and weather content agreement with their former sister radio stations (now owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting) WSBT,
WNSN WNSN (101.5 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in South Bend, Indiana. It is owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting and airs an adult contemporary radio format known as Sunny 101.5. WNSN is usually the market's top rated radio station according ...
,
WQLQ WQLQ (99.9 FM) is a radio station licensed to Benton Harbor, Michigan targeting the South Bend, Indiana market. WQLQ is owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting. Its signal is regularly heard as far as Chicago, Illinois, and as far east as Battle ...
and
WZOC WZOC (94.3 FM, "Z94.3") is a radio station licensed to Plymouth, Indiana, serving Michiana and the South Bend area. WZOC has a classic rock format and is owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting. History WTCA-FM The station began broadcasting on ...
, with six Michigan Mid-West Family stations (
WSJM-FM WSJM-FM is a radio station broadcasting a News/ Talk format. Licensed to Benton Harbor, Michigan, the station formerly simulcasted with WSJM except for Fox Sports Radio programming on AM and for most weekend programs. The simulcast ended in la ...
, WSJM,
WIRX WIRX (107.1 FM, "Rock 107 WIRX") is a mainstream rock radio station owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting located in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The station's city of license is St. Joseph, Michigan broadcasting in HD from a tower at the edge of Ben ...
,
WCXT WCXT (98.3 FM, "The Coast") is a radio station broadcasting an adult contemporary format, serving the southwestern Michigan area. WCXT is licensed to Hartford, Michigan and focuses on the cities of St. Joseph, Benton Harbor and South Haven. The ...
,
WYTZ WYTZ (97.5 FM, "97.5 Y-Country") is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Bridgman, Michigan Bridgman is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,291 at the time of the 2010 cen ...
and
WCSY-FM WCSY-FM (103.7 MHz) is a radio station broadcasting a classic hits format. Licensed to South Haven, Michigan, the station serves the Benton Harbor-Saint Joseph area. WCSY-FM has filed a construction permit to move its community of license from ...
) also adding content sharing services in early 2019. Sinclair also continues to partner with former sister publication the ''South Bend Tribune'', with news stories seen in the ''Tribune'' and the station providing the paper's observations for their weather page. On September 5, 2006, the station began producing a half-hour weeknight 10 p.m. newscast on its second digital subchannel (currently branded as ''WSBT 22 News at 10 on Fox Michiana''), after WSBT-DT2 lost its UPN affiliation. On November 16, 2008, WSBT became the first television station in the South Bend market to being broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. On September 8, 2014, WSBT added the area's first-ever 4:00 p.m. newscast with the half-hour newscast called ''WSBT 22 News, First at 4:00.'' On August 15, 2016, it expanded to an hour, replacing a second airing of ''Jeopardy!'' in the 4:30 timeslot. On September 20, 2015, WSBT added a newscast on Sunday mornings from 6:30 to 8:00 a.m. In August 2016, with WSBT-DT2 getting the Fox affiliation from WSJV, it added two additional hours of WSBT's morning newscast from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. and expanded its 10:00 p.m. newscast on weeknights to an hour. As of 2017, WSBT produces newscasts for Sinclair sister stations
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 ...
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
WOLF-TV WOLF-TV (channel 56) is a television station licensed to Hazleton, Pennsylvania, United States, serving Northeastern Pennsylvania as an affiliate of the Fox network. It is the flagship property of locally based New Age Media, LLC, and is co-ow ...
in
Hazleton, Pennsylvania Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 29,963 at the 2020 census. Hazleton is the second largest city in Luzerne County. It was incorporated as a borough on January 5, 1857, and as a city on Decembe ...
. Both feature a centralized studio and footage from local reporters.


Notable former on-air staff

*
Sage Steele Sage Marie Steele (born November 28, 1972) is an American television anchor who is the co-host of the 12pm (ET) SportsCenter on ESPN. She also hosts SportsCenter on the Road from various sporting events such as the Super Bowl and The Masters. St ...
: reporter (1995–1997; now 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 ...
) *
Kate Sullivan Kate Sullivan (born June 19, 1976) is an American television show host, producer, and television news anchor. Sullivan was a co-anchor of the evening news for WBBM-TV in Chicago with Rob Johnson from September 2010 to September 2015. Sullivan wo ...
: reporter (recently left
WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington Stre ...
in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
) *
Jackie Walorski Jacqueline Renae Walorski (, August 17, 1963 – August 3, 2022) was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Indiana's 2nd congressional district from 2013 until her death in 2022. She was a member of the Republican Pa ...
: reporter (1985-1989; later represented Indiana's 2nd Congressional District from 2013 until her death on August 3, 2022)


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 ...
: In 2003, WSBT launched a
UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...
-affiliated
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 ...
(branded as "UPN Michiana") on digital channel 22.2. WSBT-DT2 became an
independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
in September 2006, when UPN shut down and its programming was merged with that of
The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...
to form The CW. At that point, UPN Michiana was rebranded as SBT2. On August 1, 2016, SBT2 became Fox Michiana. The weather radar channel was discontinued at that time.


Analog-to-digital conversion

WSBT-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 22, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 30 to channel 22 for post-transition operations.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wsbt-Tv CBS network affiliates Fox network affiliates Charge! (TV network) affiliates Sinclair Broadcast Group Television channels and stations established in 1952 1952 establishments in Indiana SBT-TV William Pereira buildings