WLUC-TV
kW | |
HAAT | 258.3 m (847 ft) |
---|---|
Transmitter coordinates | 46°20′11″N 87°50′56″W / 46.33639°N 87.84889°W |
Translator(s) | W14EM-D Marquette (city) |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
WLUC-TV (channel 6) is a
WLUC is relayed on translator station W14EM-D channel 14 (also mapped to virtual channel 6) from the top of the Landmark Inn in Marquette in order to extend its primary signal; the translator is used for areas of Marquette that get a poor reception from the station's main transmitter.
History
Channel 6 signed on April 28, 1956, as WDMJ-TV, the Upper Peninsula's first television station. The station carried programming from all three networks offered at that time, but was a primary CBS affiliate. WDMJ-TV was owned by the Daily Mining Journal along with WDMJ radio (1320 AM). Its studios were on the top floor of the Mining Journal building on Washington Street in Downtown Marquette. The station quickly outgrew its facilities. In 1959, the station moved into its current studios in Negaunee Township. In 1964, it was sold to Post Corporation, owners of WLUK-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin, who changed the calls to WLUC-TV to match its moniker at the time "Lucky 6". WLUC first aired network programs in color in 1963, and with the purchase of color video tape equipment, it began broadcasting all locally produced programs in color in 1969. The station moved its transmitter to southeast of Republic in 1980 and dismantled the original one near its current studios in Negaunee.
WLUC has been affected several times by television shakeups in Green Bay, since rival station
In late 2005 following Raycom's purchase of the
as part of Barrington's family of stations in and around Michigan.Like many other Barrington-owned stations (including WTOM), WLUC operates a rather low-powered (83 kW) UHF signal which has a much smaller coverage footprint than its former analog station. Its over-the-air digital signal covers less than half of the designated market area (DMA). Therefore, WLUC relies on cable as well as satellite carriers DirecTV and Dish Network to distribute programming to the entire area.
In August 2012, WLUC and Fox UP became the official affiliates of the Green Bay Packers Television Network for the Marquette–Escanaba market, taking over for WJMN, which lost the rights to team programming as the last contract ended, which was included as a part of WFRV's official station status in the Green Bay market. The station carries preseason games on the "state network" (as the Packers Television Network has been traditionally called), along with the team's Tuesday night coach's show and other official team programming.[2]
On February 28, 2013, Barrington Broadcasting announced the sale of its entire group, including WLUC, to Sinclair Broadcast Group.[3] The sale was completed on November 25.[4] After 30 years of separate ownership, WLUC and WLUK in Green Bay were briefly reunited as sister stations on December 19, 2014, when Sinclair purchased WLUK and WCWF as part of required sales of stations by LIN Media in order to merge with Media General, which already owned Green Bay's WBAY-TV.
On October 1, 2015, Gray Television announced that it would acquire WLUC-TV from Sinclair; in return, Sinclair would receive WSBT-TV in South Bend, Indiana, from Gray. The swap, part of Gray's acquisition of the broadcasting assets of Schurz Communications (owner of WSBT), was necessary as Gray already owns WNDU-TV in South Bend.[5] The sale was completed on February 16, 2016.[6] A few months later, Gray acquired Green Bay station WBAY-TV, due to divestments made during Nexstar Media Group's acquisition of Media General.[7]
On June 25, 2018, Gray announced it was merging with Raycom. While the deal did not affect WLUC directly, the completion of the deal in January 2019 reunited WLUC with many of its former sister stations from its years under Raycom ownership.[8]
Finland Calling
With 16% of the area's population of Finnish descent (down from about 25% in the 1960s), WLUC produced the only Finnish-language program in the United States, Finland Calling (Finnish: Suomi Kutsuu). The station started the show on March 27, 1962, at the suggestion of a local travel agent who sought to boost travel to Nordic countries. Since its beginning, the show was hosted by Carl Pellonpaa, then a newsman at the station. Pellonpaa retired from news operations but continued to host the show. Early editions of the show were produced live and featured books, photographs, and Finnish music. Camera operators had to learn a few words of Finnish just to be able to follow the show.
The one-hour weekly Sunday morning program regularly featured Finnish visitors to the region including two
In March 2015, it was announced that the 84-year-old Pellonpaa would retire and the program would air its series finale on March 29, 2015, marking the end of a 53-year run.[9][10] Carl Pellonpaa died on September 1, 2018.[11]
Previous logo
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/WLUC-6.jpg)
WLUC used the same multicolored "6" logo for many years from as early as the early 1990s until September 2008. From about 1989 until 1992, a similar metallic-looking "6" was used with a rainbow slash underneath. The rainbow, while used with on-air promos and the news open, was never used on mic flags during this time. From the time WLUC went on the air in 1956, network logos were always separate from the channel logo. That changed in 1992 when the ABC ball was lodged inside the "6".
When the station switched to primary NBC in 1995, it simply replaced the ABC logo with the letters "NBC" rather than place the network's
WLUC-DT2
WLUC-DT2 is the
History
WLUC-DT2 signed-on at some point in late 2005 (under Raycom Media ownership) carrying The Tube Music Network. After that network shut down on October 1, 2007, due to a lack of advertising, NBC Weather Plus was added. Later, Weather Plus was dropped in favor of Universal Sports. Throughout its association with those three services, WLUC-DT2 was carried on Charter digital channel 306.
In July 2009, WLUC announced it would begin carrying Fox on its second digital subchannel starting August 17. It replaced Universal Sports which was relegated to late-night hours while programming from
Previously outside of WZMQ (which during Equity's ownership, was often unable to be received outside of Ishpeming and Marquette due to continuous transmitter issues and lack of engineering staff), Fox was available in the Upper Peninsula over-the-air from WLUK in
).In 2012, lobbying from WLUC, combined with new affiliation requirements from Fox disallowing cable carriage from other affiliates outside a station's market, forced WLUK from most cable systems in the western and central portions of the Upper Peninsula. There were no changes on DirecTV since WLUK was never available to viewers outside Menominee County in the Upper Peninsula. As Sinclair acquired WLUK from their owners LIN Media as part of LIN's merger with Media General in mid-December 2014, the issues between WLUK and WLUC-DT2, including the Escanaba translator issue, were resolved in the time they were under common ownership before WLUC's sale to Gray Television. This included the eventual closedown of W40AN in the summer of 2018, along with new carriage agreements with local providers which gave preference to WLUC-DT2 over WLUK.
The subchannel used to be an affiliate of America One during the late-night and morning hours, which also provided the subchannel's programming for
News operation
For its entire existence, WLUC has held the number-one spot in local
After WLUC-DT2 initially added Fox, it offered a nationally syndicated newscast weeknights at 6:30. The program was produced for America One by the
Unlike most NBC affiliates in the
WLUC began broadcasting its news in 16:9 widescreen in April 2013. On September 6, 2017, WLUC debuted major upgrades to its studio, including a new, larger set and a rebuilt control room. Gray invested over $1 million into these changes.[14]
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
6.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
WLUCNBC | NBC |
6.2 | 720p | WLUCFOX | Fox UP | |
6.3 | 480i | WLUCGRT | Grit | |
6.4 | WLUCOUT | Outlaw
| ||
6.5 | WLUCOXG | Oxygen |
Analog-to-digital conversion
WLUC-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over
Translator
City of license | Callsign | Channel | ERP | HAAT
|
Facility ID | Transmitter coordinates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Marquette | W14EM-D | 14 | 15 kW | 10 m (33 ft) | 197887 | 46°32′41.0″N 87°23′31.5″W / 46.544722°N 87.392083°W |
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WLUC-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "Broadcast Partners". Green Bay Packers. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
- ^ Malone, Michael (February 28, 2013). "Sinclair's Chesapeake TV Acquires Barrington Stations". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
- ^ "Sinclair Broadcast Group Closes on Acquisition of Barrington Stations" (PDF) (Press release). Sinclair Broadcast Group. November 25, 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 3, 2013.
- ^ "Gray Television Sells Some, Buys Some". TVNewsCheck. October 1, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
- ^ "Gray Closes Schurz Acquisition, Related Transactions, and Incremental Term Loan Facility" (Press release). Gray Television. February 16, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- ^ "Gray Buying Two Nexstar Spinoffs For $270M". TVNewsCheck. June 3, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
- ^ Miller, Mark K. (June 25, 2018). "Gray To Buy Raycom For $3.6 Billion". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheckMedia. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
- ^ Brennan, Nick (March 2, 2015). "'Finland Calling' Coming to a Close". Upper Michigan's Source. Negaunee, MI: WLUC-TV. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
- ^ Steele, Anne (March 26, 2015). "After 53 Years, Mr. Pellonpaa Is Finnished". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
- ^ Asplund, Steve (September 1, 2018). "Carl Pellonpaa Passes Away". Upper Michigan's Source. Negaunee, MI: WLUC-TV. Archived from the original on September 4, 2018. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
- ^ "WLUC-TV MARQUETTE, MI". www.rabbitears.info.
- ^ "U.P. Media Honored for Good News" (PDF) (Press release). Marquette, MI: Roman Catholic Diocese of Marquette. May 31, 2012. Retrieved February 9, 2013.
- ^ Buchmann, Nicole. "TV6 airs largest studio upgrade". UpperMichigansSource.com. Gray Television. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
- ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WLUC
- ^ "Attachment I: DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). FCC Record. 21 (7): 5808–6794. June 16, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.