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|---|---|
| City | Bloomington, Illinois |
| Channels | |
| Branding | WYZZ |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| Operator | Nexstar Media Group viaLMA |
| WMBD-TV | |
| History | |
First air date | October 18, 1982 (1982-10-18) |
Former call signs | WBLN (1982–1985) |
Former channel numbers | Analog: 43 (UHF, 1982–2009) |
| Independent (1982–1986) | |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 5875 |
| ERP | 1,000kW |
| HAAT | 293 m (961 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°38′40.5″N89°10′45.9″W / 40.644583°N 89.179417°W /40.644583; -89.179417 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WYZZ-TV (channel 43) is atelevision station licensed toBloomington, Illinois, United States, serving as theFox affiliate for thePeoria area. It is owned byCunningham Broadcasting, which maintains alocal marketing agreement (LMA) withNexstar Media Group, owner ofCBS affiliateWMBD-TV (channel 31), for the provision of certain services. The two stations share studios on North University Street in Peoria, with a secondary studio andnews bureau on East Lincoln Street in Bloomington (which served as WYZZ's original studios). WYZZ-TV's transmitter is located nearCongerville, avillage ofMontgomery Township,Woodford County.
The station signed on the air on October 18, 1982, as WBLN (standing for "What We Believe In") and aired ananalog signal on UHF channel 43. It was founded by Grace Communications,[2] a consortium of members of Peoria's GracePresbyterian Church. Except for thecall sign, it was unrelated to the old WBLN that broadcast on UHF channel 15 in the 1950s. The station first broadcast from studios located on East Empire Street/IL 9 in Bloomington. The station was ageneral entertainmentindependent and first new commercial outlet to sign-on since future sister WMBD hit the airwaves 24 years earlier. Grace Communications sold the station to Midwest Television Associates in 1983. It initially signed on at 9 a.m. runningreligious shows until noon and low budget and barter shows from noon to midnight. This would be a mix ofcartoons,public domainmovies, somedrama shows,westerns, news fromCNN, and exercise shows.
In 1984, the station began signing on at 7 a.m. and began running a block of cartoons from 7 to 9 weekday mornings. Midwest then sold WBLN to local businessman G.J. Robinson in 1985, who changed its call letters to the current WYZZ-TV in September 1985.[3] The station slightly cut back the religious shows but also began running stronger programming such as more of-networksitcoms, both older and recent. On October 9, 1986, the station joined Fox as a charter affiliate. WYZZ later relocated its operations to a new facility located on East Lincoln Street in Bloomington. The station would eventually be sold toSinclair Broadcast Group in 1996.
On December 1, 2001, Sinclair and theNexstar Broadcasting Group (owner of WMBD) entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) in which WMBD would take over WYZZ's operations.[4] As part of the deal, WYZZ abandoned its Bloomington studios and merged its operations into WMBD's facility in Peoria. In August 2005, a similar agreement would be established between Sinclair'sWUHF and Nexstar'sWROC-TV inRochester, New York.
WYZZ broadcasts digitally on UHF channel 28 and (like most Sinclair-owned or -operated stations) has been digital-only since February 17, 2009.[5] According to a post onThe Peoria Chronicle website, WYZZ and WMBD were planning on terminating the LMA between the two effective April 1, 2010. This move was ultimately not followed through with.[6] On May 15, 2012, Sinclair and Fox agreed to a five-year extension to the network's affiliation agreement with Sinclair's nineteen Fox stations, including WYZZ, allowing them to continue carrying the network's programming until 2017.[7]
Sinclair announced the acquisition ofBarrington Broadcasting's stations, includingWHOI, on February 28, 2013. On that date, Sinclair made public that it would transfer the WYZZ license (along with that of then-sister stationWSYT inSyracuse, New York; it would later be dropped from the plan and sold separately) toCunningham Broadcasting because the WHOI purchase would violateFederal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations onduopoly ownership.[8] However, nearly all of Cunningham Broadcasting's stock is controlled by trusts in the names of the principal owners of Sinclair. Thus, for all intents and purposes, Sinclair still owns WYZZ. Even with the nominal ownership change (the transaction was finalized on November 22), WMBD will continue to operate WYZZ for the time being.
WEEK-TV's joint sales andshared services agreements with WHOI were originally set to expire in March 2017.[9] However, Sinclair announced that it would terminate the JSA/SSA with WEEK-TV within nine months after the consummation of its sale fromGranite Broadcasting toQuincy Newspapers.
On December 3, 2018, Nexstar announced it would acquire the assets ofChicago-basedTribune Media for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. The deal—which would make Nexstar the largest television station operator by total number of stations upon its expected closure late in the third quarter of 2019—would result in the WYZZ/WMBD virtual duopoly gaining additionalsister stations in nearby markets including Chicago (independent stationWGN-TV) andSt. Louis (Fox affiliateKTVI andCW affiliateKPLR-TV). (Ownership conflicts exist in two existing Nexstar markets involving Nexstar's duopoly of CW affiliateWISH-TV andMyNetworkTV affiliateWNDY-TV and Tribune's duopoly of Fox affiliateWXIN and CBS affiliateWTTV/WTTK inIndianapolis and Nexstar's virtual triopoly of CBS affiliateWHBF-TV, CW affiliateKGCW and Fox-affiliated SSA partnerKLJB and Tribune-ownedABC affiliateWQAD-TV in theQuad Cities.)[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]
In April 2002, WMBD established a news share agreement with WYZZ, resulting in a prime time newscast on the Fox affiliate that was produced by WMBD,[20] calledFox 43 News at 9. The thirty-minute broadcast was originally broadcast every night before being dropped from weekends at some point in time. The newscast did not have any competition in the time slot until June 5, 2006, when WEEK-TV added its own half-hour newscast at 9 on then-UPN affiliateWAOE (that was also seen solely on weeknights until the end of 2014).
On May 7, 2015, WMBD became the first television station in the market to produce local news in full high definition. On the same day, WYZZ's weeknight 9 p.m. newscast was included in the upgrade and rebranded asWYZZ News at 9 and WMBD also began producing a two-hour weekday morning show for the Fox affiliate calledGood Day Central Illinois, airing from 7 to 9 a.m. In addition to its primary studios, it operates aTwin Cities Bureau on East Lincoln Street in Bloomington (in the same building as WYZZ's original, separate studios).
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WYZZ-DT | Fox |
| 43.2 | 480i | 4:3 | Merit | Merit TV |
| 43.3 | GetTV | Get |
The term of this Agreement (the "Term") shall commence on December 1, 2001 [...]Filed as part of"filed - WYZZ JSA redacted (14170367746771).pdf"(PDF).Public Inspection Files.Washington, D.C.:Federal Communications Commission. November 26, 2014. p. 24. RetrievedMay 3, 2020.
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofIllinois | ||
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Illinois | ||
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** Owned by third parties but operated by Nexstar through various agreements. | ||
