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| ATSC 3.0 station | |
|---|---|
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| City | Grand Rapids, Michigan |
| Channels | |
| Branding | WXSP The X |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WOOD-TV,WOTV | |
| History | |
First air date | July 23, 1986 (39 years ago) (1986-07-23) |
Former call signs |
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Former channel number |
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Call sign meaning |
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| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 36851 |
| Class | CD |
| ERP | 15kW |
| HAAT | 124 m (407 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 43°1′1″N85°44′25″W / 43.01694°N 85.74028°W /43.01694; -85.74028 (WXSP-CD) |
| Translator(s) | see§ Repeaters |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
WXSP-CD (channel 15) is alow-power,Class A television station licensed toGrand Rapids, Michigan, United States, servingWest Michigan as an affiliate ofMyNetworkTV. It is owned byNexstar Media Group alongside Grand Rapids–licensedNBC affiliateWOOD-TV (channel 8) andBattle Creek–licensed dualABC affiliate/CWowned-and-operated stationWOTV (channel 41). The stations share studios on College Avenue Southeast in theHeritage Hill section of Grand Rapids, while WXSP-CD's transmitter is located inWalker (alongI-96). Another repeater station licensed to Grand Rapids,WOLP-CD (channel 35), utilizes and is co-located with WOOD-TV's transmitter southwest ofMiddleville.
The station signed on the air on July 23, 1986, as W29AD, broadcasting on UHF channel 29. It moved to UHF channel 15 and acquired the W15AM calls on January 12, 1988. In the station's early days, it was a translator for World Harvest Television fromWHME-TV inSouth Bend, Indiana, which is owned by LeSEA Broadcasting (nowFamily Broadcasting Corporation). The station was then purchased byLIN TV, the owner of WOOD-TV, and converted to the station's Local Weather Station (LWS) format with the call sign WOWD-LP (variation on WOOD-TV). WOWD and its low-power network of repeaters aired 24-hour weather information direct from WOOD-TV's weather center, including current conditions andsevere weather coverage. This was in an early pre-digital format comparable to the now defunctNBC Weather Plus.
The weather programming aired from the mid-1990s until it switched to a general entertainment programming format a few years later. It featured graphic displays of various current conditions and forecasts as well as periodic forecast segments from WOOD-TV's meteorologists. Short commercial breaks would feature promotional advertising for WOOD-TV's news and entertainment programming, as well as LWS'station identification. A format change took place when it became aUPN affiliate on August 31, 1999 (displacing that network from secondary carriage on WOOD-TV andWOTV), prompting the move of LWS to the early morning hours and the adoption of new calls, WXSP-LP. The call-sign WXSP-CA was acquired after it became a Class A station, which meets stricter requirements than most low-powered television stations. WXSP-CD continues to carry WOOD-TV's radar in late night weekend slots whenpaid programming is unable to be sold.
On January 24, 2006, theWarner Bros. unit ofTime Warner andCBS Corporation announced that the two companies would shut down The WB and UPN and combine the networks' respective programming to create a new "fifth" network calledThe CW.[2][3] On February 22, 2006,News Corporation announced the launch of a new "sixth" network calledMyNetworkTV, which would be operated byFox Television Stations and its syndication divisionTwentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created to compete against another upstart network that would launch at the same time that September, The CW (an amalgamated network that was originally consisted primarily of UPN and The WB's higher-rated programs) as well as to give UPN and WB stations that were not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates another option besides converting to independent stations.[4][5]
CBS affiliateWWMT (channel 3) announced on April 4 that it would affiliate with The CW on a newsecond digital subchannel. WXSP became available as a MyNetworkTV affiliate partly because then-WB affiliateWZPX-TV (channel 43) was also an i: Independent Television (nowIon)owned-and-operated station and ran WB programming on a 22-hour delay (prime time shows ran at 6 p.m. the night after the original broadcast and theKids' WB Saturday block aired at 5 a.m. on Sunday mornings). As a result, Southwestern Michigan is one of the largestmarkets in which The CW was only available via digital subchannel/cable and on an entirely new station. It was reported that WXSP was in discussions to join The CW, but due to the station's heavy reliance upon professional sports during prime time and the network's concerns over preempted programming, the two sides could not come to an agreement.
For the final two weeks of UPN's existence, Fox affiliateWXMI (channel 17) airedWWE Smackdown until WWMT-DT2's launch. WXSP joined MyNetworkTV on September 5, while WWMT-DT2 signed on with The CW on September 18. On July 21, 2010, WXSPflash-cut from analog to a digital signal. The call letters were changed to WXSP-CD on August 30. In late-October 2010, LIN TV discontinued the simulcast of WXSP on WOTV-DT2, replacing it with a new digital subchannel network,TheCoolTV (which it discontinued on July 15, 2013). On July 1, 2013, LIN TV ended the simulcast of WXSP on WOOD-DT2, replacing that signal withBounce TV.
On March 21, 2014, it was announced thatMedia General would acquire LIN.[6] The deal closed on December 19, bringing WXSP, along with WOOD and WOTV, under common ownership withCBS affiliateWLNS-TV in Lansing.
On January 27, 2016, Media General announced that it had entered into a definite agreement to be acquired byNexstar Broadcasting Group. The combined company was named Nexstar Media Group, and owned at the time 171 stations (including WOOD, WOTV and WXSP), serving an estimated 39% of households.[7][8] Due to their low-power status, the WXSP-CD network of stations was not affected by the Nexstar-Tribune merger involving the spin-off of Tribune's WXMI toScripps.
In August 2025, Nexstar Media Group agreed to acquireTegna for $6.2 billion.[9] In Grand Rapids, Tegna already ownsWZZM.[10]
Overnights, WXSP airs a live feed of WOOD-TV'sDopplerweather radar (known as "Storm Track Live"), along withNOAA Weather Radio broadcast audio. The station may sometimes air ABC or NBC programming in the event of preemptions by WOTV or WOOD-TV.
The station was the Grand Rapids home for the formerDetroit Pistons,Detroit Red Wings, andBig Ten Conference syndicated packages.[11] In 2024, the station announced a broadcast agreement with theGrand Rapids Rise of thePro Volleyball Federation.[12]
On October 21, 2007, WXSP introduced a 10 PM newscast produced by sister station WOOD-TV, titledNews 8 at 10:00. The half-hour newscast competes with Fox station WXMI's hour-long prime time newscast, and later began to compete with a WWMT-produced program for its CW subchannel.
WXSP-CD's ATSC 1.0 channels are carried on themultiplexed signals of other West Michigan television stations, to the advantage of being at those station's full-power despite WXSP-CD's low-power status:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming | ATSC 1.0 host |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WXSP CD | MyNetworkTV | WOOD-TV |
| 15.2 | 480i | theNest | The Nest | WXMI | |
| 15.3 | Comet | Comet | WWMT |
The station's digital signal is multiplexed, with the repeaters below also maintaining the same channel map arrangement:
| Channel | Res. | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | 1080i | CBS | CBS (WWMT) |
| 3.10 | 1080p | T2 | T2 |
| 3.11 | PBTV | Pickleballtv | |
| 3.20 | GMLOOP | GameLoop | |
| 8.1 | 1080i | WOOD TV | NBC (WOOD-TV) |
| 15.4 | 720p | WXSP-CD | MyNetworkTV |
| 17.1 | FOX17DT | Fox (WXMI) | |
| 41.1 | WOTV | ABC (WOTV) |
Due to its low-power status, WXSP-CD'sbroadcasting radius only covers the immediate Grand Rapids area. Therefore, in order to serve the entire Grand Rapids–Kalamazoo–Battle Creek market, it is relayed on five Class A translators that usually repeat WXSP-CD's programming, but currently all share in hosting the market's ATSC 3.0 signals:
| Station | City of license | Facility ID | ERP | HAAT | Transmitter coordinates |
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WOLP-CD | Grand Rapids | 35 (35) | 167892 | 14.4 kW | 179.7 m (590 ft) | 42°41′14.7″N85°30′35″W / 42.687417°N 85.50972°W /42.687417; -85.50972 (WOLP-CD) | |
| WOBC-CD | Battle Creek | 14 (16) | 67001 | 37 kW | 75 m (246 ft) | 42°17′16.7″N85°9′54.3″W / 42.287972°N 85.165083°W /42.287972; -85.165083 (WOBC-CD) | |
| WOMS-CD | Muskegon | 29 (29) | 67895 | .7 kW | 156 m (512 ft) | 43°15′45.06″N86°4′34.19″W / 43.2625167°N 86.0761639°W /43.2625167; -86.0761639 (WOMS-CD) | |
| WOHO-CD | Holland | 33 (33) | 28926 | .52 kW | 125 m (410 ft) | 42°48′59.10″N85°57′20.17″W / 42.8164167°N 85.9556028°W /42.8164167; -85.9556028 (WOHO-CD) | |
| WOKZ-CD | Kalamazoo | 50 (33) | 36841 | .071 kW | 70 m (230 ft) | 42°17′48.0″N85°38′29.0″W / 42.296667°N 85.641389°W /42.296667; -85.641389 (WOKZ-CD) |
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofMichigan | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Michigan | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish |
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| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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| ABC | .svg){kind=logo} | |
|---|---|---|
| CBS | ||
| The CW |
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| Fox | ||
| MyNetworkTV | ||
| NBC | ||
| Other stations | ||
| TV network |
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| Other assets |
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| Acquisitions | ||
** Owned by third parties but operated by Nexstar through various agreements. | ||
