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| WSJV | |
| History | |
First air date | December 21, 1952 (72 years ago) (1952-12-21)[1] |
Former channel numbers |
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Call sign meaning | South Bend Tribune (former owner) |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 73983 |
| ERP | 400kW |
| HAAT | 332.6 m (1,091 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°37′0″N86°13′1″W / 41.61667°N 86.21694°W /41.61667; -86.21694 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | wsbt |
WSBT-TV (channel 22) is atelevision station inSouth Bend, Indiana, United States, affiliated withCBS andFox. It is owned bySinclair Broadcast Group alongsideWSJV (channel 28). The two stations share studios on East Douglas Avenue inMishawaka and transmitter facilities on Ironwood Road in South Bend, near theSt. Joseph County4-H Fairgrounds.
The station first signed on the air on December 21, 1952, and was owned by theSouth Bend Tribune.[1][3] Its studios were originally in theSouth Bend Tribune building at Lafayette and Colfax, in downtown South Bend.[1][3] They were moved to Lafayette and Jefferson street in 1956.[3] WSBT-TV was originally affiliated with all four major networks of the time: it was a primary CBS affiliate with secondary affiliations withNBC,ABC andDuMont; it lost the latter three networks whenWSJV (channel 28, now aHeroes & Icons affiliate) signed on in March 1954. It was the firstUHF station in the United States to produce a live telecast, a five-minute local news bulletin. Although WSBT is the oldest continuously operating UHF station in the country, it switched channels once during the analog era. Originally broadcasting on UHF channel 34, the station moved to channel 22 in 1958.[3]
WSBT was the first station on UHF to telecast ahigh school basketball tournament, which came fromJohn Adams High School. In 1953, WSBT-TV had several sports-related firsts. In the fall of that year, WSBT became the first television station in the country to present aclosed-circuit telecast of acollege football practice. This allowedNotre Dame coachFrank Leahy to direct the practice, as he was hospitalized at the time. WSBT-TV was also the first station in Indiana to broadcast incolor, starting in 1954 in new studios designed by architectWilliam Pereira.
When theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) tightened itscross-ownership regulations in the 1970s to bar common ownership of television stations and newspapers in the same market, the combination of theTribune and the WSBT radio and television stations were among the few such combinations that weregrandfathered under those rules. WSBT has the distinction of being the longest-tenured CBS affiliate in the state of Indiana.
In April 1995, Fox signed an affiliation agreement with then-ABC affiliate WSJV, with the switch taking effect on October 18 of that year.[4] For about a year prior to the switch, some Fox programming such as the network'sNFL game broadcasts andThe Simpsons. had been airing on WSBT;[5][6] the remainder of the network's programming was provided to most of the market on cable viaChicagoowned-and-operated stationWFLD,Grand Rapids affiliateWXMI, orFort Wayne affiliateWFFT (depending on the location), whileDetroit affiliateWKBD was carried on cable systems in some areas of the Michigan side of the market untilWJBK switched to the network in December 1994.[7][8]
The station unveiled its new all-digital facility in Mishawaka on November 16, 2008, beginning with the station's 10 p.m. newscast (which airs on its second digital subchannel). The new facility was built from the ground up for digital broadcasting, and channel 22 became the first Michiana station to broadcast its local newscasts inhigh definition. The radio stations began broadcasting from the new facility a few weeks earlier.[9] The former WSBT studio building is now home to the area'sPBS member stationWNIT (channel 34).[10]
On August 4, 2008, WSBT announced plans to purchaseWeigel Broadcasting's three stations in the market, ABC affiliateWBND-LP (channel 57),CW affiliateWCWW-LP (channel 25) andMyNetworkTV affiliateWMYS-LP (channel 69). Since the three stations are all low-power outlets, they are not counted under FCC ownership rules which permit common ownership of a full-power television station and one or more low-power stations. Alongside WSBT-DT's existing three channels, the purchase would have given Schurz Communications a total of six channels in the market across four stations, including two "Big Four" network affiliates. However, in the absence of action by the FCC, the deal was called off in August 2009.[11]
Schurz announced on September 14, 2015, that it would exit broadcasting and sell its television and radio stations toGray Television for $442.5 million. Gray already ownedWNDU-TV (channel 16) in South Bend. Despite WSBT-TV's higher ratings, Gray kept WNDU and sold WSBT-TV to expedite approval of the deal;[12][13] on October 1, 2015, Gray announced that the station would be swapped toSinclair Broadcast Group forWLUC-TV inMarquette, Michigan.[14] The sale separated channel 22 from both theSouth Bend Tribune, which Schurz would keep, and the WSBT Radio Group, which was sold toMid-West Family Broadcasting.[12][13][15] The FCC approved the sale on February 12, 2016,[16] and the sale would be completed on February 16.[17] Sinclair's purchase of WSBT also marked a re-entry into Indiana as the company had ownedWTTV/WTTK in Indianapolis from 1996 before that station was sold toTribune Broadcasting in 2002. As a result of the sale, fellow CBS affiliateWWMT to the north inKalamazoo, Michigan, which serves the Grand Rapids market, became a sister station to WSBT.
On July 25, 2016, Sinclair announced that WSBT-DT2 would affiliate with Fox beginning on August 1, 2016.Quincy Media had reached an agreement to transfer the affiliation from WSJV in exchange for the ABC and CW affiliations inPeoria, Illinois from Sinclair-ownedWHOI.[18] A few of WSJV's employees were transferred to WSBT.[19][20] For a sixty-day period, WSBT-DT2 was simulcast on WSJV-DT1 to allow viewers to transition to the new signal, along with pay television providers. SBT2's broadcasts ofSouth Bend Cubs baseball games also ended for the season; Sinclair intended to begin a new broadcasting relationship with the team for the 2017 season.[21]
WSBT-TV presently[when?] broadcasts49+1⁄2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with8+1⁄2 hours each weekday, four hours on Saturdays and three hours on Sundays); in addition to the newscasts seen on WSBT's primary channel, the station broadcasts 16 hours of newscasts a week for its Fox subchannel (with three hours each weekday and a half-hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). The station maintains a news and weather content agreement with their former sister radio stations (now owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting)WSBT,WNSN,WYTZ-FM andWYRX-FM, with six Michigan Mid-West Family stations (WSJM-FM,WQYQ,WIRX,WCXT,WRRA-FM andWCSY-FM) also adding content sharing services in early 2019. Sinclair also continues to partner with former sister publication theSouth Bend Tribune, with news stories seen in theTribune and the station providing the paper's observations for their weather page.
On September 5, 2006, the station began producing a half-hour weeknight 10 p.m. newscast on its second digital subchannel (currently branded asWSBT 22 News at 10 on Fox Michiana), after WSBT-DT2 lost its UPN affiliation. On November 16, 2008, WSBT became the first television station in the South Bend market to being broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition.
On September 8, 2014, WSBT added the area's first-ever 4 p.m. newscast with the half-hour newscast calledWSBT 22 News, First at 4:00.[22] On August 15, 2016, it expanded to an hour, replacing a second airing ofJeopardy! in the 4:30 timeslot.[23]
On September 20, 2015, WSBT added a newscast on Sunday mornings from 6:30 to 8 a.m.[24]
In August 2016, with WSBT-DT2 getting the Fox affiliation from WSJV, it added two additional hours of WSBT's morning newscast from 7 to 9 a.m. and expanded its 10 p.m. newscast on weeknights to an hour.[25]
From 2017 to 2023, WSBT produced newscasts for Sinclair sister stationWNWO-TV inToledo, Ohio,[26][27] and continues to do so forWOLF-TV inHazleton, Pennsylvania. Both feature(d) a centralized studio and footage from local reporters.[28][29]
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | CBS | CBS |
| 22.2 | 720p | FOX | Fox | |
| 22.3 | 480i | Charge! | Charge! | |
| 28.1 | 480i | 16:9 | ROAR | Roar (WSJV) |
| 28.6 | Bounce | Bounce TV (WSJV) |
In 2001, WSBT-TV became the second TV station in Michiana (behind WNDU-TV) to broadcast a digital signal.[33][34]
In 2003, WSBT launched aUPN-affiliateddigital subchannel (branded as "UPN Michiana") on digital channel 22.2. WSBT-DT2 became anindependent station in September 2006, when UPN shut down and its programming was merged with that ofThe WB to form The CW. At that point, UPN Michiana was rebranded as SBT2. On August 1, 2016, SBT2 became "Fox Michiana". The weather radar channel was discontinued at that time.[20]
WSBT-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 22, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were totransition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 30 to channel 22 for post-transition operations.[35]
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofIndiana | ||
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Indiana | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
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| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofMichigan | ||
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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 | ||
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| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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** Owned by third parties and operated by Sinclair through various operating agreements. *** Owned by Sinclair and operated byMarquee Broadcasting. JV Joint venture. | ||||||||||||||||||
