WISN-TV
kW | |
| HAAT | 304.7 m (1,000 ft) |
|---|---|
| Transmitter coordinates | 43°6′42″N 87°55′42″W / 43.11167°N 87.92833°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WISN-TV (channel 12) is a
History
First tenure with ABC
The station first signed on the air on October 27, 1954, as WTVW (for its on-air slogan "Wisconsin's Television Window"). In early 1955, the station was purchased by the Hearst Corporation, publishers of The Milwaukee Sentinel and owners of WISN radio (1130 AM); the new owners changed channel 12's call letters to WISN-TV, after its radio sister (whose calls were derived from now-defunct newspaper The Wisconsin News.[2] The station originally operated as a primary ABC affiliate with a secondary DuMont affiliation.[3] WISN-TV lost the DuMont affiliation when that network ceased operations in 1956, leaving it exclusively with ABC.
In January 1958, WISN-TV became the flagship station of the
Switch to CBS
In 1961, CBS affiliated with WISN-TV, as its sister radio station had been a longtime affiliate of the
During channel 12's time with CBS, it was the home station for the
Second tenure with ABC
On September 26, 1976, CBS announced it was moving its Milwaukee affiliation back to WITI-TV.
Around the same time, the station was the first which utilized newscast composer Frank Gari's "Hello News" package, which included an imaging song individualized to each market's city; in this case "Hello Milwaukee", which remains well-remembered and remains used in various ways by WISN-TV to the present day, and was cited as one of the factors in driving viewers to the station in the late 1970s and allowing it to be competitive.[8]
For most of its years with ABC, the station did not include the network's logo next to theirs, branding solely with the channel number and/or call letters vocally and visually (outside of network-created radio promos which referred to the station as "12 ABC") until 2012, when the network began to contractually require the ABC logo be included with any affiliate's logo redesign. In November 2014, the station unveiled their current logo with the call letters beneath the long-used "12" logo form and the ABC logo on the right side of the "12" number mark, the first with the ABC logo blended in for all uses, including for news and entertainment programming, and ending a long run where the station's call letters were rendered in
Channel 12 was the first commercial station in the market to produce a
Hearst sold WISN radio and what by then became WLTQ to
In February 2014, the station added an
On April 30, 2021, the station added a third subchannel carrying Shop LC over-the-air as part of a broader year-long channel carriage agreement between that network's owners and Hearst (ShopLC already purchases several channel slots on pay television providers, thus Hearst does not need to seek cable carriage for that subchannel). A fourth subchannel carrying programming from theGrio launched at the end of September of the same year, though it is mapped to 12.5 rather than 12.4.[13] 12.4 was activated for Weigel's Story Television at the end of March 2022, and 12.3 went dark upon the end of Shop LC's carriage deal with Hearst.
Summer 2012 Time Warner Cable carriage dispute
As Hearst and
Programming
Sports programming
WISN airs any Milwaukee Bucks games that are selected to be broadcast on the NBA on ABC; this included the team's victory in the 2021 NBA Finals, the team's and the city's first championship in 50 years. The station also carries Monday Night Football games featuring the Green Bay Packers by virtue of Hearst's 20% ownership of ESPN.
News operation
WISN-TV presently broadcasts 39 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with six hours each weekday and 4+1⁄2 hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); WISN is one of the few Hearst-owned stations that carries an hour-long midday newscast. The station utilizes two
Longtime anchor Jerry Taff retired on May 26, 2005, as WISN's newscasts began to climb in the ratings. Its success stems from hiring popular local anchors and reporters released from other stations, a stronger ABC schedule, and a period of change at rival WTMJ-TV due to NBC's weaker ratings and changes in its newsroom staff. The station's biggest hire came when longtime WTMJ anchor Mike Gousha joined channel 12 in 2007, a year after he retired as WTMJ's evening news anchor in order to focus on his new position as a distinguished fellow in law and public policy at Marquette University.
WISN has gradually expanded its newscast schedule since 2007, beginning to program hour-long newscasts, starting that year with a Sunday at 10 p.m. broadcast and for a time, an hour-long Saturday 6 p.m. newscast (the 6:30 p.m. half-hour currently features either paid programming, Project Pitch It [a local version of ABC's Shark Tank, which is syndicated to stations throughout Wisconsin] or 12 Sports Saturday). On July 30, 2010, WISN, like most of its ABC-affiliated sister stations under Hearst did on that date, added a one-hour extension of its weekend morning newscast from 8 to 9 a.m. On September 6, 2010, WISN expanded its weekday morning newscast a half-hour early to 4:30 a.m., extending the program to 2+1⁄2 hours.[20]
On April 21, 2009, the station began using full-time pillarboxing with the station logo and callsign on the respective sides of the screen for newscasts and other standard-definition programming.
On January 24, 2011, WISN-TV expanded its 10 p.m. newscast to one hour (becoming the third Hearst-owned station with an hour-long late local newscast, along with
On September 10, 2018, the station added an hour-long 11 a.m. local newscast leading into GMA Day (now
On June 6, 2022, the station launched a 4 p.m. hour-long newscast with the end of The Ellen DeGeneres Show on weekdays (which shifted back to 3 p.m. to complete its run through the summer), thus being the last station in the market to do so.[26]
Notable former on-air staff
- John Coleman – weather anchor (later founded The Weather Channel, deceased)[27]
- Dan Lewis – anchor (1982–1985; now semi-retired)
- Joel Kleefisch – reporter (1994–2003; current State Representative for Wisconsin's 38th District)
- Rebecca Kleefisch – anchor (1999–2004; former Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin)
- DeMarco Morgan – anchor/reporter (2004–2007; current co-anchor of ABC's midday newscast GMA3: What You Need to Know)
- Shaun Robinson – anchor (later weekend anchor and correspondent of Access Hollywood)
- Jerry Taff – anchor (1979–2005; retired)
- Ben Tracy – anchor (now Los Angeles correspondent for CBS News)[28]
- Paul Weyrich – political reporter and weekend anchor; later a prominent conservative activist and founder of the now-defunct National Empowerment Television; deceased[29]
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
WISN TV | Main WISN-TV programming / ABC |
| 12.2 | 480i | CRIME | True Crime Network | |
| 12.4 | STORY | Story Television[31] | ||
| 12.5 | Grio | theGrio | ||
| 12.6 | GET TV | Get[32] |
Analog-to-digital conversion
WISN-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, over
On May 17, 2010, WISN-TV filed an application to upgrade its digital transmitter's power to 1 megawatt, mainly to place the station's digital antenna at the taller height of the dormant analog antenna, which would be replaced by a new digital unit.[35] The analog antenna was removed in September 2010, and the digital antenna was activated from the new placement in early October 2010.
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WISN-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- Broadcasting - Telecasting, January 10, 1955, p. 7. https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1955/1955-01-10-BC.pdf Archived November 8, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ ISBN 978-0-87462-055-9.
- ^ "Milwaukee stations to switch networks. Archived November 23, 2021, at the Wayback Machine" Broadcasting, January 30, 1961, pg. 9.
- ^ "In Brief." Broadcasting, September 27, 1976, pg. 28. https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1976/1976-09-27-BC.pdf Archived November 8, 2021, at the Wayback Machine (the text incorrectly states that WISN-TV had been a CBS affiliate since 1954, omitting the 1961 affiliation switch.)
- ^ "Milwaukee connection." Broadcasting, October 18, 1976, pg. 36 https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1976/1976-10-18-BC.pdf Archived November 8, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
- The Milwaukee Sentinel. March 26, 1977.
- ^ Dudek, Duane (March 21, 2014). "Hello again, Milwaukee: The little TV jingle that will not die". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on August 24, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
- ^ "WISN-TV to Broadcast "Big Bang" Fireworks in High Definition, Live from Summerfest - About WISN 12 News Story - WISN Milwaukee". Archived from the original on November 20, 2008. Retrieved June 16, 2006.
- ^ Accord puts Channel 6 weather, news on Clear Channel radio stations Archived July 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 24, 2009.
- ^ Foxx tells 'Idol' contestants 'the real deal' Archived July 31, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 29, 2009.
- ^ Veteran WISN Reporter Nick Bohr Heckled by Protestors in Madison Archived February 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, TVSpy, February 22, 2011.
- ^ "'The Grio' debuts on 12.5 – WISN is adding new programming to its 12.5 subchannel" (Press release). WISN.com. September 30, 2021. Archived from the original on September 30, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
- ^ Kirchen, Rich (July 10, 2012). "Channel 12 stays on Time Warner Cable – for now". The (Greater Milwaukee) Business Journal. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
- Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Archivedfrom the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
- ^ Dudek, Duane (July 11, 2012). "WISN-TV disputes Time Warner's 'blackout' assertions". Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
- ^ Dudek, Duane (July 12, 2012). "WISN-TV off Time Warner Cable midnight Thursday". Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
- ^ "Michael R. Gousha - Distinguished Fellow in Law and Public Policy". Archived from the original on November 2, 2009. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ "UpFront with Mike Gousha". Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ "WISN 12 Expands Morning Newscast To Start At 4:30 A.M. - Milwaukee News Story - WISN Milwaukee". August 7, 2011. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
- ^ "WITI6fan". Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
- Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, December 14, 2010. Retrieved December 15, 2010.
- OnMilwaukee.com, March 24, 2011.
- ^ Foran, Chris (August 9, 2018). "WISN-TV (Channel 12) is adding an hourlong 11 a.m. newscast". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
- ^ Foran, Chris (January 10, 2019). "WISN-TV trimming its 10 p.m. newscast to 35 minutes, adding 9 p.m. news on Channel 12.2". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on March 26, 2019. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
- ^ "WISN 12 News at 4 p.m. debuts on June 6" (Press release). WISN-TV. May 9, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
- ^ "John Coleman bio". KUSI-TV. Archived from the original on April 4, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2013.
- ^ "Ben Tracy biography". CBS News. Archived from the original on September 29, 2013. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
- Op-Ed, The Washington Times, July 13, 2008, p. B3
- ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for WISN". www.rabbitears.info. Archived from the original on March 28, 2018. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ "Wyff Greenville, Sc".
- ^ "getTV launches on 12.6 with classic shows and movies" (Press release). WISN-TV. June 1, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
- ^ "CDBS Print". licensing.fcc.gov. Archived from the original on November 23, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
- ^ Staff, FCC Internet Services. "Application View ... Redirecting". licensing.fcc.gov. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
