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| Channels | |
| Branding | WISN 12 |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
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| History | |
First air date | October 27, 1954 (70 years ago) (1954-10-27) |
Former call signs | WTVW (1954–1955) |
Former channel number(s) |
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Call sign meaning | The Wisconsin News (former Hearst-owned Milwaukee newspaper later merged byThe Milwaukee Sentinel) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 65680 |
| ERP | 1,000kW |
| HAAT | 304.7 m (1,000 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 43°6′42″N87°55′42″W / 43.11167°N 87.92833°W /43.11167; -87.92833 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WISN-TV (channel 12) is atelevision station inMilwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated withABC and owned byHearst Television. The station's studios are located on the west end of theMarquette University campus, and its transmitter is located atLincoln Park in the northeastern part of Milwaukee.
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 ofThe Milwaukee Sentinel and owners ofWISN 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 newspaperThe Wisconsin News.[2] The station originally operated as a primary ABC affiliate with a secondaryDuMont 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 theBadger Television Network, a three-station network serving Wisconsin that also includedWFRV-TV inGreen Bay andWKOW-TV inMadison.[3] Programs broadcast by the network includedHomemaker's Holiday, aquiz show;Good Housekeeping, titled after theHearst magazine of the same name; andPretzel Party, avariety program originally. All three programs originated from WISN-TV's studios. During March 1958, the network also aired U.S. Senate Investigation Committee hearings during late-night hours. The network ceased operations on August 8, 1958.[3] WISN-TV and WISN radio gained an FM radio sister when Hearst signed on WISN-FM (97.3, nowWRNW) in 1961.
In 1961, CBS affiliated with WISN-TV, as its sister radio station had been a longtime affiliate of theCBS Radio Network. As a result,Storer Broadcasting-ownedWITI-TV (channel 6) and WISN swapped networks: channel 12 switched its affiliation to CBS and channel 6 became an ABC affiliate on April 2, 1961.[4]
During channel 12's time with CBS, it was the home station for theNFL'sGreen Bay Packers for the Milwaukee market, airingthe team's first twoSuper Bowl appearances.
On September 26, 1976, CBS announced it was moving its Milwaukee affiliation back to WITI-TV.[5] Storer Broadcasting had much better relations with CBS than it reportedly had with ABC; weeks earlier, ABC opted to drop Storer'sSan Diego stationKCST-TV from the network after a four-year dispute stemming from KCST's successful battle to strip that market's ABC affiliation fromXETV-TV in nearbyTijuana, Mexico. Meanwhile, ABC had become the top-rated television network in the United States, thanks in large part to two Milwaukee-set sitcoms:Happy Days andLaverne & Shirley. WISN-TV and ABC agreed to a new affiliation contract about a month later;[6] the two stations swapped networks once again on March 27, 1977; the final CBS program to air on channel 12 was an episode ofThe Carol Burnett Show with guestKen Berry, which aired at 9 p.m.Central Time on the night before the station rejoined ABC (the station also aired theUnited Cerebral Palsy Telethon ahead of its return to ABC at 6 p.m. that Sunday evening).[7] WISN even usedHappy Days starHenry Winkler (in character asArthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli) to herald its return to ABC with the slogan "Happy Days are Here Again" in on-air and print campaigns leading up to the switch. To this day, WISN-TV has been one of ABC's most successful affiliates, and bills itself as such in its own promotions.
Around the same time, the station was the first which utilized newscast composerFrank 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 inBank Gothic font. Vocally, the station remains "WISN 12". The station is among the few in the nation which has their logo in atransparent bug at all times, including ABC network and news programming, though not during commercial breaks orpaid programming.
Channel 12 was the first commercial station in the market to produce ahigh-definition broadcast, airing theSummerfest "Big Bang"fireworks show in HD on June 29, 2006.[9]Milwaukee Public Television assisted WISN-TV in the production of the broadcast, and have continued to do so each year since, with additional help from sister stations inSacramento andBoston in later years.
Hearst sold WISN radio and what by then became WLTQ toClear Channel Communications in 1997, and the third floor WLTQ/WISN radio studios were vacated in 2000 after their move to the expandedWOKY facility inGreenfield. During the transition, WLTQ's live on-air personnel, who also acted as hosts for WISN's local programming andWisconsin Lottery drawings and its game show,The Money Game (allowing the news department to avoid any on-air role with the lottery outside relaying winning numbers), became employees of Clear Channel, and afterThe Money Game ended production in the mid-2000s, the station virtually ceased local productions not connected to newscasts, advertising, or charity efforts. All ties between WISN-TV and its former sister radio stations were severed when a longtime agreement with channel 12 to provide forecasts for WISN (AM) and the then-WQBW (now WRNW) and four others within Clear Channel's Milwaukee radio cluster ended on July 27, 2009 (though WRNW continues to transmit from WISN-TV's tower), as WITI began its own weather/news content agreement with the stations.[10] WISN-TV then began a news content agreement with Saga Communications for its five area radio stations (WKLH,WHQG,WJMR-FM,WJYI andWNRG-FM),[11] along with providing weather forecasts toWGXI inPlymouth. Due to the now separate ownership of the two stations, WISN-TV's news staff disclaim both on-air and through theirsocial networking channels that the station has no connections with WISN radio'sconservative talk format other than sharing the same call letters, a point of contention and confusion during events such aslive shots at theWisconsin State Capitol for the2011 state budget debate.[12]
In February 2014, the station added anSAP audio channel, allowing the station to carry ABC programming featuringaudio description or aSpanish-languagedub, and complying with the FCC's requirements to offer audio description.
On April 30, 2021, the station added a third subchannel carryingShop 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 fromtheGrio 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'sStory Television at the end of March 2022, and 12.3 went dark upon the end of Shop LC's carriage deal with Hearst.
As Hearst andTime Warner Cable entered into aretransmission consent dispute that resulted in Hearst's stations being removed from TWC's systems in certain markets on July 10, 2012, WISN was not immediately removed from its Milwaukee area systems in an eleventh hour announcement, as the direct fiber connection between WISN and TWC was then the same line utilized toCharter Communications; before the two companies merged in 2017 asSpectrum, Charter served the outer portions of the market such as westernWaukesha County and most ofWashington,Fond du Lac andSheboygan counties. Under aside agreement between the providers, TWC was bound to keep the fiber connection on the air, along with Hearst for Charter.[14] It was the only Hearst station to remain on TWC during the dispute, but with both Start Overvideo on demand and the ability to record station programming to TWCDVRs completely removed.[15] Charter then tried to pursue a different method of transmitting WISN's signal to remove itself as an intermediary from the dispute,[16] and was able to make the arrangements by July 12,[17] allowing WISN's removal from Time Warner Cable one day later, with WISN's SD and HD channel slots replaced withHallmark Movie Channel. The dispute was resolved on July 19, returning the station to TWC's systems that evening.
WISN airs anyMilwaukee Bucks games that are selected to be broadcast on theNBA on ABC; this included the team's victory in the2021 NBA Finals, the team's and the city's first championship in50 years. The station also carriesMonday Night Football games featuring the Green Bay Packers by virtue of Hearst's 20% ownership ofESPN.
WISN-TV presently broadcasts 39 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with six hours each weekday and4+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 twoweather radars as part of its "Doppler 12 Radar Network", using radar sites based at theNational Weather Service forecast office inSullivan, and atopFroedtert's Community Memorial Hospital inMenomonee Falls, which is operated by the station. It is the only Milwaukee station to have a helicopter for newsgathering.
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.[18] Gousha served as a political analyst for WISN, and hosted the Sunday morning programUpFront with Mike Gousha, which is a mix of the interview segments familiar to viewers of his former WTMJ programSunday Night, and local political analysis.[19] Hearst syndicated the show to other stations statewide, and in August 2010 all of the stations involved (along with Milwaukee Public Television, which provided technical assistance with HD production) broadcast a Gousha-moderated forum for the WisconsinRepublicangubernatorial candidates called theUpFront Town Hall Challenge from Marquette's new law building, which was purposefully structured to avoid classification as a traditional debate where either candidate could use the format to "sell" themselves. The format was repeated in October 2010 between theDemocratic and Republican nominees for governor andU.S. Senate.
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'sShark Tank, which is syndicated to stations throughout Wisconsin] or12 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 to2+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.[21] Afterwards, the station began to slowly implement16:9 graphical elements; in March 2010, WISN-TV unveiled 16:9-optimized weather alert graphics to allow programs to continue to be shown in HD rather than force a downscale to a modified4:3 mode in which the program was displayed in 3:3 (to much viewer complaint over the years, especially with ABC prime time programming), with the weather warnings taking up the remainder of the screen.News tickers and logo bugs were also later upgraded; the only HD news segments until late June 2011 aired on its newscasts the day of the Summerfest "Big Bang" fireworks show, usually scenic and human interest pieces, along with Milwaukee Public Television co-productions. On October 10, 2010, the station began broadcasting its newscasts in 16:9widescreenstandard definition, with the pillarboxes being removed. Then on June 28, 2011, WISN-TV became the third station in Milwaukee (behind WTMJ-TV and WITI) to begin broadcasting its newscasts in high definition. Footage shot in-studio is broadcast in HD, while all news video from on-remote locations was initially upconverted to widescreen standard definition for broadcast. Since 2012, the station has upgraded its mobile units and field cameras to HD as equipment has needed replacement. In May 2013, the station unveiled its first HD skycam, overlooking the downtownCathedral Square Park.
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 withAlbuquerque'sKOAT andHonolulu'sKITV).[22] This bumpedAccess Hollywood from its longtime 10:30 p.m. slot to 12:30 a.m., resulting inNBCUniversal Television Distribution asking for an opt-out from the program's syndication contract with WISN to moveAccess, ending up on WTMJ at 6:30 p.m. on April 11, 2011[23] (Access aired at 1:37 a.m. from January 2013 until September 2014 due to WTMJ's January 2013 relaunch of its 6:30 p.m. newscast as the newsmagazineWisconsin Tonight; it now airs on WITI in overnights at 4 a.m.).
On September 10, 2018, the station added an hour-long 11 a.m. local newscast leading intoGMA Day (nowGMA3: What You Need To Know), which coincided with the station introducing a next-generation news set, replacing one utilized since October 2001 with multiple re-facings and equipment replacements in the interim.[24] On January 14, 2019, the station reduced its 10 p.m. newscast to the standard 35 minutes due to Hearst's newest ABC affiliation agreement, allowing WISN-TV to carry the ABC late night lineup "live" and in pattern for the first time in the station's history. The station began to air a nightly half-hour 9 p.m. newscast on WISN-DT2 on April 1, 2019, entitledWISN 12 News at 9, joining WITI and WMLW-TV (via WDJT) in carrying news at that time. It joined with many of its fellow Hearst stations in programming a prime time newscast on their .2 subchannels, which are usually associated with MeTV.[25] On days where TCN has an hour-long program in the news timeslots, alternate programming likeUpfront andMatter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien is re-aired in the latter half to fill the entire hour. The 9 p.m. newscast ended on December 27, 2024, with resources re-allocated to updates through the station's social media presences during prime time programming.[26] WISN-DT2 also carries the Saturday 6 p.m. newscast during thecollege football season, along with the premiere of that week'sBig 12 Sports Saturday.
On June 6, 2022, the station launched a 4 p.m. hour-long newscast with the end ofThe 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.[27]
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WISN TV | ABC |
| 12.2 | 480i | CRIME | True Crime Network | |
| 12.4 | STORY | Story Television[32] | ||
| 12.6 | GET TV | Get[33] |
WISN-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, overVHF channel 12, at 8:30 a.m. on June 12, 2009. The transition was led by a retrospective on the station's history narrated by former longtime anchor Jerry Taff, followed by a still of digital transition information that remained until noon, when its analog transmitter was permanently shut down.[citation needed] The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transitionUHF channel 34,[34][35] usingvirtual channel 12. The channel 12 frequency was subsequently used as the post-transition digital signal ofWBBM-TV inChicago.
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.[36] The analog antenna was removed in September 2010, and the digital antenna was activated from the new placement in early October 2010.
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