 | This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2021) |
| City | Kenosha, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner | |
| WTMJ-TV | |
| History | |
First air date | June 1, 1988 (36 years ago) (1988-06-01) |
Former call signs | WHKE (1988–1998) |
Former channel number(s) |
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| |
Call sign meaning | Pax Milwaukee |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 37104 |
| ERP | 800kW |
| HAAT | 316 m (1,037 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 43°5′26″N87°53′50″W / 43.09056°N 87.89722°W /43.09056; -87.89722 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | iontelevision |
WPXE-TV (channel 55) is atelevision station licensed toKenosha, Wisconsin, United States, broadcasting theIon Television network to theMilwaukee area. It isowned and operated by theIon Media subsidiary of theE. W. Scripps Company alongsideNBC affiliateWTMJ-TV (channel 4), with engineering and somemaster control operations run out of WTMJ-TV's Radio City facility onEast Capitol Drive in Milwaukee. WPXE's transmitter is located on theWITI TV Tower on East Capitol Drive inShorewood, Wisconsin.
The station first signed on the air on June 1, 1988, as WHKE (for "World Harvest Kenosha Evangelism"), operating as areligious station; it was originally owned byLeSEA Broadcasting. The station's original transmitter was located in Kenosha, just north of theIllinois–Wisconsin state line (the tower remains in use for the transmitter of radio stationWWDV, 96.9 FM). Paxson Communications purchased the station in 1995 and turned it into an all-infomercial format as part of the Infomall TV Network (inTV), though it also aired the dailygreyhound racing recap program from Kenosha's Dairyland Greyhound Park for many years afterWVTV (channel 18) stopped carrying that show in 1996, which met the station's local programming requirements.
In the late 1990s after its purchase by Paxson, the station moved its transmitter to a tower in northernRacine County (nearI-94) which was shared with WEZY (92.1 FM; nowWVTY, which continues to use the tower). Despite the reason for the transmitter move being to serve more of the Milwaukee market, the southerly location and short tower height limited the station's coverage area in southeastern Wisconsin,[2] mainly to keep the channel 55 allocation open for an eventual new station inWausau (which would be given toWittenberg-licensedWFXS-DT in 1999). This caused WHKE to not be available in areas north ofWIS 60, except through cable.[citation needed] The station became a charter affiliate of Pax TV (now Ion) when it launched on August 31, 1998, at which time it changed its call letters to WPXE-TV.
At times during summer due totropospheric propagation in the analog era, WHKE/WPXE would receive heavy interference a few times and even have its signal overwhelmed by that of another distant station on channel 55,WBNX-TV fromCleveland, which broadcast at a stronger power and had its signal brought overLake Michigan into Wisconsin due toLake Erie's heavy "trop effect" amplifying their signal across northern Indiana and lower Michigan.
Until 2021, the station's studios were located on North Flint Road, straddling the city line between Milwaukee andGlendale, and the same facility was also the studio forWTPX-TV, the Ion station in the Wausau market. In October of that year with the 2019 repeal of theFederal Communications Commission (FCC)'s Main Studio Rule, Ion Media officially registered its studio facility (along with most Ion-owned stations) as theScripps Center inCincinnati.
On September 24, 2020, it was announced that the Cincinnati-basedE. W. Scripps Company, owner ofNBC affiliateWTMJ-TV (channel 4), would purchase Ion Media for $2.65 billion, with financing fromBerkshire Hathaway. With this purchase, Scripps divested 23 Ion-owned stations, with WPXE-TV kept and becoming asister station to WTMJ-TV, as there were no regulatory complications within the Milwaukee market which prevented such aduopoly.[3][4][5] The sale was completed on January 7, 2021.
The station had a pastjoint sales agreement (JSA) with WTMJ-TV underJournal ownership that resulted from that station's affiliated network, NBC, having a stake in Paxson Communications/Pax TV; this resulted in the two stations sharing programming (such asMartha Stewart Living and repeats of preseasonGreen Bay Packers games produced for WTMJ, and live games during the2004 Summer Olympics, which aired on WPXE), WPXE airing repeats of WTMJ's evening newscasts for several years, and WTMJ selling advertising time for WPXE. This early agreement was discontinued on July 1, 2005, after Pax TV rebranded as i: Independent Television.
WPXE airs the entire Ion schedule and since the repeal of the Main Studio Rule, it carries the network without any local content outside of an hourly on-screenstation identification. Beginning in2024, WPXE resumed its role as the backup station for Packers preseason football in Olympic years (that year, carrying the team's Family Night scrimmage and the first preseason game inCleveland against theBrowns).[6] Otherwise, the station is not currently used by WTMJ to carry preempted NBC and syndicated programming.
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55.1 | 720p | 16:9 | ION | Ion Television |
| 55.2 | Bounce | Bounce TV | ||
| 55.3 | 480i | CourtTV | Court TV | |
| 55.4 | Grit | Grit | ||
| 55.5 | IONPlus | Ion Plus[8] | ||
| 55.6 | Laff | |||
| 55.7 | GameSho | Game Show Central | ||
| 55.8 | QVC | QVC |
WPXE-TV shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 55, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 40, usingvirtual channel 55.[9] WhenQualcomm introduced itsMediaFLO system toChicago in 2008, WPXE-TV agreed to accept potential interference to 28.87% of the population within its Grade B contour resulting from the service, mostly occurring in fringe areas ofLake County, Illinois, which also received Ion service from Chicago sister stationWCPX-TV.[10] WPXE's digital signal and subchannels were not affected.
OnFebruary 2, 2009, the station converted its main digital signal to airhigh definition content in the 720p format, ahead of Ion's eventual launch of its high definition program schedule. After various tests, however, Ion decided to wait on a full transition and switched back to 480i in April 2009 due to its concerns about a seamless digital transition (as days before February 2, the national transition date was moved by Congress from February 17 to June 12). Full permanent HD service for WPXE launched on April 28, 2010, with the station also receiving HD cable coverage via digital channel 1015 onTime Warner Cable and digital channel 615 onCharter Communications.