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| City | Springfield, Illinois |
| Channels | |
| Branding |
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| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WCIA | |
| History | |
First air date | 1967; 58 years ago (1967)(current license dates from February 4, 1985) |
Former call signs | W49AA (1967–1985) WCFN (1985–2011) |
Former channel number(s) |
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Call sign meaning | Former callsign ofWFOR-TV disambiguation from WCIA |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 42116 |
| ERP |
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| HAAT | 175.5 m (576 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 39°47′27.4″N89°30′53″W / 39.790944°N 89.51472°W /39.790944; -89.51472 |
| Translator(s) | WCIA-DT 3.2 (34.2UHF) Champaign |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WCIX (channel 49) is atelevision station licensed toSpringfield, Illinois, United States, serving theCentral Illinois region as an affiliate ofMyNetworkTV. It is owned byNexstar Media Group alongsideChampaign-licensedCBS affiliateWCIA (channel 3). Both stations share studios on South Neil Street/US 45 in downtown Champaign and also operate a sales office andnews bureau on West Edwards Street near theIllinois State Capitol in Springfield. WCIX's transmitter is located inClear Lake Township.
Since WCIX's over-the-air signal cannot be seen in eastern parts of themarket (including Champaign,Urbana, andDanville), it issimulcast inhigh definition on WCIA's seconddigital subchannel (3.2) from a transmitter west ofSeymour, Illinois.Nielsen Media Research treats WCIX and WCIA-DT2 as one station in local ratings books, using the identifier nameWCIX+.
Before WCIA signed-on in 1953, it originally wanted to build its transmitter tower inWhite Heath, halfway between Champaign andDecatur. The tower would have been placed on some of the highest ground in Central Illinois. However, after construction began, then-ABC affiliate WTVP (channel 17, nowWAND) filed an objection. Even though it was obvious that Champaign–Urbana and Springfield/Decatur would be considered a single market, WTVP owner Prairie Television claimed WCIA was trying to encroach on its territory. To avoid delays, that station moved its transmitter to its current location in Seymour. While the signal from the Seymour tower covered Decatur very well, it was barely viewable in Springfield untilcable television arrived in the market in the early 1960s.
WCIA quickly established itself as the dominant station in the region despite its signal issues in the western half of the market. Eventually, then-owner Midwest Television decided to open alow-poweredsatellite relay of WCIA on UHF channel 49 to get better coverage in Springfield and the surrounding area. This relay launched in1967 under thecallsign W49AA. On February 4, 1985, Midwest Television upgraded channel 49 to a full-power station under new calls, WCFN. However, like its low-powered predecessor, WCFN was a straight simulcast of WCIA, even airing its commercials. WCFN's existence was only acknowledged in WCIA's legalstation identifications.
In 2002, WCFN broke off from the simulcast to be the market's first full-timeUPN affiliate. That network had previously been seen in off-hours onPax outlet WPXU (channel 23, nowWBUI) in Decatur. However, few viewers actually lost access to WCIA, given the extremely high penetration of cable andsatellite in central Illinois.
The removal of CBS service from the station would be temporary with the launch of WCFN's digital transmitter, meaning that despite the conversion to UPN, WCFN's schedule could also air as a WCIA subchannel, with WCIA's main CBS channel able to be carried by WCFN. Accordingly, the main channel 49 schedule was added to WCIA-DT2 with channel 3's schedule airing on WCFN-DT2. WCIA's signal aired in full1080i high definition, with the main WCFN schedule only seen in a reduced480istandard definition over-the-air on both channels 49.1 and 3.2 asmultiplexing of two high-definition signals was not yet possible. In September 2006, withACME Communications's WBUI (then with executive connections with aformer WB network executive)de facto takingThe CW affiliation by default, WCFN joined MyNetworkTV instead in the wake of theWB/UPN merger.
In early 2007, Nexstar and theIllinois High School Association came to an agreement to carry coverage of IHSA tournaments in the market on channel 49. Central Illinois had previously been without an over-the-air flagship station for these kind of events. Also, from the2010–11 NBA season to the2019 Major League Baseball season, the station carriedChicago Bulls,Cubs, andWhite Sox games which aired inChicago onWCIU andWLS-TV and were produced byWGN Sports. The station carriedIndianapolis Colts preseason football games starting in2011. Before 2011, WCFN featuredLabor Day coverage of theUS Open tennis tournament fromCBS because of WCIA's commitment to air theJerry LewisMDA Labor Day Telethon. In2011, the tennis coverage shifted fully to WCIA since the telethon was limited to the night before Labor Day.
On August 29, 2011, the station's call sign was changed to WCIX—a call sign used on CBSowned-and-operated stationWFOR-TV inMiami, Florida from 1967 to 1995, when that station changed from channel 6 to channel 4 and swapped withNBC'sWTVJ. At that point, the station's logo was changed to resemble that of sister stationKARZ-TV inLittle Rock, Arkansas; which is also a MyNetworkTV affiliate associated with abig three network-affiliated station (in that case, NBC outletKARK-TV).
In June 2015, Nexstar upgraded the transmitters of WCIA and WCIX to allow high definition multiplexing, so WCIX's main MyNetworkTV channel began to be carried on both stations in full 1080i16:9 on both 49.1 and 3.2.
On December 3, 2018, Nexstar announced it would acquire the assets of Chicago-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—resulted in WCIX and WCIA gaining additionalsister stations in nearby markets including Chicago (independent stationWGN-TV) andSt. Louis (Fox affiliateKTVI and CW affiliateKPLR-TV). (Ownership conflicts existed in two existing Nexstar markets involving Nexstar's duopoly of CW affiliateWISH-TV and MyNetworkTV affiliateWNDY-TV (which were both sold to Circle City Broadcasting) 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-owned ABC affiliateWQAD-TV (which was sold toTegna) in theQuad Cities.)[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] The sale was approved by the FCC on September 16 and was completed on September 19, 2019.
On April 7, 2005, WCIA began airing the market's first prime time newscast on WCFN. Known on-air asPrimetime News at 9, the broadcast originated from the main studios in Champaign but was targeted specifically at a Springfield-based audience. The name was altered tomyCFN News at 9 in September 2006 to reflect WCFN's affiliation change to MyNetworkTV.
There would not be any competition in the time slot until September 11, 2006, when rival ABC affiliatesWICS/WICD began co-producing a nightly prime time newscast at 9 on Fox affiliatesWRSP/WCCU. That program was based out of WICS' Springfield studios but, unlike WCFN's show, featured market-wide coverage (including contributions from WICD reporters based in Champaign). However, there was a separate weeknightweather forecast segment seen on WRSP and WCCU that was specifically geared towards the Springfield and Champaign areas, respectively.
Also in 2006, WCIA began airing an hour-long extension of its weekday morning newscast at 7 a.m. on WCFN. This originally included a simulcast of the 6 o'clock hour ofThe Morning Show from WCIA. At the end of the first hour, viewers were always reminded to flip the channel to WCFN which offers a local alternative to the nationalmorning programs seen on the big three networks. In 2007, another hour was added to the show which can now be seen from 7 until 9.
In 2009, WCIA announced it would cancelmyCFN News at 9 and launch a new sixty-minute newscast weeknights at 7 on WCFN beginning September 28. As a result, MyNetworkTV programming now airs out-of-pattern, via an hourtape delay, from 8 to 10 p.m. The broadcast would eventually be reduced to 30 minutes in length. On October 24, 2012, WCIA upgraded local news production to high definition level. However, WCIX's newscasts were initially seen over-the-air in a letterboxed format because its main channel only transmitted in 4:3 standard definition until it was upgraded to full HD in 2015. WRSP/WCCU added competition to the weekday morning news race on January 20, 2014, after WICS began producing a two-hour extension of its morning show on the Fox affiliates. In addition to WCIA's main facilities, it operates bureaus in Springfield (on West Edwards Street near theIllinois State Capitol) and Decatur (on North Water Street).
In September 2017, the station moved its newscast from 7 to 9 p.m.
WCIX and WCIA broadcast two shared channels (MyNetworkTV on 49.1 and 3.2 and CBS on 49.2 and 3.1) and two uniquediginets each. Also broadcast on the WCIX multiplex is a subchannel of WRSP-TV as part of the market'sATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) hosting arrangement.
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WCIX-HD | MyNetworkTV |
| 49.2 | WCIA-HD | CBS (WCIA) | ||
| 49.3 | 480i | Mystery | Ion Mystery | |
| 49.4 | Laff | Laff | ||
| 55.2 | 480i | 16:9 | TrueCri | True Crime Network (WRSP-DT2) |
WCIX-DT1 and WCIA-DT2 both broadcast in 1080i, upscaled from MyNetworkTV's default720p format.
WCIX (as WCFN) shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 49, 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 relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 53, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, toVHF channel 13,[13] usingvirtual channel 49.
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