Difference between revisions of "WIND-FTV"

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==History==
 
==History==
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===Early history===
 
===Early history===
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The station first signed on the air on July 1, 1949, originally broadcasting on VHF channel 4 as '''WBRC-TV''' (standing for <u>B</u>ell <u>R</u>adio <u>C</u>ompany, after [[List of neighborhoods in Birmingham, Alabama|Fountain Heights]] physician J.C. Bell, founder of radio station [[WERC (AM)|WBRC]] (960 AM).<ref name="bob"/> the "-TV" suffix was dropped from the call sign in June 1999).<ref name="Billboard">{{cite journal|title=WBRC-TV To Debut July 1, First in Ala.|journal=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|page=13|date=June 11, 1949}}</ref> Although WBRC-TV was the first television station in Birmingham to be granted a [[broadcast license|license]] by the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC), it is the second-oldest television station in Alabama, signing on just over one month after WAFM-TV (channel 13, now [[WVTM-TV]]), which debuted on May 29. It was originally owned by the Birmingham Broadcasting Company, run by Eloise D. Smith Hanna, along with WBRC radio (her son, M.D. Smith III, who worked at the radio stations in advertising sales and was later promoted to [[program director]] and [[vice president]], ran the television station as its operations manager).
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The station first signed on the air on July 1, 1962, originally broadcasting on UHF channel 62. Although WIND was the first UHF fantasy  television station in Indianapolis to be granted a [[wikipediabroadcast license|license]] by the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC), it is the second-oldest UHF fantasy television station in Indianapolis, signing on just over eight years after [[WHOO-FTV]] (channel 24), which debuted on March 15, 1954. It was originally owned by the Indianapolis Broadcasting Company
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Although Indianapolis had long been large enough to support three full network affiliates, there were no commercial VHF allotments available, and prospective station owners were skeptical about the prospects for two UHF stations in a market which stretched from Martinsville in the west to Muncie in the east. UHF stations did not cover large amounts of territory very well at the time.
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===As an ABC affiliate===
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On March 1, 1962, WIND signed an agreement with ABC to become a full-time affiliate of the network.<ref>??</ref> This was very unusual for a market with only two UHF commercial stations; usually, one or both stations carried ABC as a secondary affiliation, since that network would not be on anything resembling an equal footing with CBS and NBC until the 1970s.
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Additionally, WIND's main competitors, WEVI (then NBC, now a CW affiliate) and WHOO (then CBS, now an ABC affiliate), were two of the strongest performers for their respective networks at the time, having built up followings over the previous dozen years or so on VHF channel 4 and UHF channel 24, respectively. WIND also had to deal with longer-established ABC affiliates in South Bend (WSBL, now [[WTXI-FTV|WTXI]]) Dayton, Ohio (WJDO, now a CBS affiliate), Cincinnati (WXCO-FTV, now a sister station to WIND as a Fox O&O), and Louisville, Kentucky (WKJM, now a CBS affiliate) being available over the air with strong [[wikipedia:Very high frequency|VHF]] signals in much of the surrounding area. Channel 62's transmitter was located on the Marion-Johnson County line, providing only a grade B signal in Indianapolis itself and rendering it practically unviewable over-the-air in northern and eastern Hamilton County.
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It also pre-empted the ''ABC Evening News'' (the forerunner to ''[[ABC World News Tonight|World News Tonight]]'') from the program's debut in 1968 until August 7, 1972, as well as daytime network programs at aired during the 10:00&nbsp;a.m. hour. However, ABC largely brushed off the pre-emption issue, even though it would eventually become the #1 network nationwide by the late 1970s,.
  
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Originally broadcasting for three hours per day, it operated as a primary [[NBC]] affiliate (earning the affiliation as a result of WBRC radio's longtime affiliation with the [[NBC Red Network]]), and also carried secondary affiliations with [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] and the [[DuMont Television Network]]; during the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the [[NTA Film Network]].<ref name="Boxoffice7">{{cite journal|title=Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films |url=http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_111056-1 |journal=[[Boxoffice (magazine)|Boxoffice]] |volume= |issue= |page=13 |date=November 10, 1956 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/20090614204506/http://issuu.com:80/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_111056-1 |archivedate=June 14, 2009 }}</ref> WBRC-TV originally operated from WBRC radio's facilities on 19th Street and 2nd Avenue, near downtown Birmingham, which originally only housed business and [[master control]] operations; the station originally relied mainly on network and film content for much of the programming it broadcast. The station's transmitter was originally purposed as the transmitter facilities for radio station WBRC-FM (102.5, now [[WBPT]] at 106.9 FM; original frequency now occupied by [[WDXB]]), which signed on in 1947 with the highest radiated power of any radio station worldwide, operating at 500,000 watts; after the FM station suspended operations in June 1948 due to continued revenue losses due to the lack of radios equipped with FM tuners, Hanna borrowed $150,000 to build a new studio facility and transmitter atop Red Mountain for the television station.
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WIND began broadcasting local programming in [[color television|color]], after the station signed on. Even after WIND's sign-on, ABC continued to allow WEVI [[right of first refusal]] for its programming. WEVI chose to [[wikt:Special:Search/cherry picking|cherry-pick]] higher-rated programs from NBC and ABC, leaving WIND to carry the lower-rated shows as well as ABC's news programming.<ref>"Economics blamed for UHF ills." ''Broadcasting'', December 29, 1969, pg. 56. </ref> Still, the damage had been done, in terms of station identity and loyalty, making things vastly more difficult in the years to come.
  
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WBRC became the first television station to broadcast the [[United Cerebral Palsy]] Telethon, an event to raise money for the [[cerebral palsy]] research organization that premiered in 1949; it was from WBRC that the event emerged into national prominence, with national celebrities even making appearances on the telecast. Even in its final years on WBRC, mini-documentaries produced by the station (which were produced by Randy Mize and Tom Stovall) for the local segments aired during the UCP Telethon; WBRC stopped producing and broadcasting the local segments of [[telethon]] soon after it switched to Fox in 1996. In September 1950, WBRC established a [[coaxial cable]] link with fellow NBC-DuMont affiliate [[WRGB]] (now a [[CBS]] affiliate) in [[Schenectady, New York]], allowing the station to broadcast NBC and DuMont network programs both live and live-to-air. WBRC began producing live local programming that year after it converted the building that formerly housed WBRC-FM into a makeshift television studio; the station also acquired additional studio camera equipment, including shows such as ''Coffee Break'', ''Supersonic Sam'' and ''Cowboy Theatre''.
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WIND further cemented viewer allegiances by carrying a heavy schedule of local programs during the 1960s and 1970s, most notably two long-running morning shows. The first was ''The Morning Show''; airing for 27 years from 1967 to 1994, it was a more general-interest interview and features program that was formatted basically a local version of ''[[Today (U.S. TV program)|Today]]''.
  
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On February 19, 1953, WBRC-TV moved to channel 6 as part of a frequency realignment ordered by the FCC, resulting from the ''Sixth Report and Order'' issued the year prior in 1952. This move was made in order to alleviate signal interference problems between WBRC and WSM-TV (now [[WSMV-TV]]) in [[Nashville]], which also transmitted on channel 4, that were present in portions of northern Alabama. Later that year, Hanna also sold the WBRC television and radio stations to [[Storer Broadcasting]] for $2.3 million.<ref>{{cite web|title=Storer options fifth TV as two others reach limit|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/53-OCR/1953-03-30-BC-0027.pdf|periodical=[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting - Telecasting]]|page=27|date=March 30, 1953}}</ref> George B. Storer, the company's founder and [[chairman]], was a member of the [[board of directors]] at [[CBS]], and most of his television stations were affiliates of that network. Storer may have used his leverage to secure a primary CBS affiliation for WBRC-TV, which joined the network on July 4, 1954. NBC programming subsequently moved to channel 13 (by then, using the call sign WABT); both stations, however, retained a secondary affiliation with ABC.
 
  
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On September 17 of that year, the WBRC stations moved to a new, much larger studio facility located on Red Mountain that was built by Storer, where channel 6 continues to operate from to this day. The building, like many of those built by Storer to serve as studios for its broadcast properties, resembled an [[antebellum architecture|antebellum]] mansion. While it may have been out of place in most of Storer's other markets (many of which were located outside of the [[Southern United States]]), it was a perfect fit for Birmingham. Unusual for a commercial broadcaster, Storer supported [[educational television]], and the company donated two transmitters and frequencies in the Birmingham market (channels 7 and 10, which were respectively occupied by WCIQ and WBIQ when both stations signed on in 1955) to Alabama Educational Television (now [[Alabama Public Television]]). This also, however, may have been a move to forestall future commercial competition in the market; WBRC and WABT remained the only commercial stations in Birmingham, which would not get a third commercial broadcast television outlet until WBMG (now [[WIAT]]) debuted in October 1965, on UHF channel 42, a signal considerably weaker than that of either channels 6 or 13, and a problem which hampered that station's progress until the early [[2000s (decade)|2000s]].
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The program, meanwhile, was so popular that, when ABC debuted ''[[AM America]]'' in January 1975, WIND declined to carry it – preferring not to alter, let alone cancel, what had become a local television institution in ''The Morning Show''; this continued after ABC replaced the more news-driven ''AM America'' with ''[[Good Morning America]]'', which maintained a format similar to '''The Morning Show''', in November of that year. WIND began to clear the second hour of ''GMA'' in the early 1980s, and began airing the two-hour program in its entirety . Pre-emptions of some ABC programs would continue in later years; until it became a Fox station, and pre-empted the soap opera ''[[Loving (TV series)|Loving]]'' throughout its 1986 to 1994 run.
  
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In 1957, Storer sold the WBRC stations to Radio Cincinnati Inc., the forerunner of what would become [[Taft Broadcasting]], for $2.3 million.<ref>{{cite web|title=This week's receipts: $26 million|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/57-OCR/1957-04-08-BC-0031.pdf|periodical=Broadcasting - Telecasting|pages=31–32|date=April 8, 1957}}<br>{{cite web|title=This week's receipts: $26 million|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/57-OCR/1957-04-08-BC-0032.pdf|periodical=Broadcasting - Telecasting|pages=31–32|date=April 8, 1957}}</ref> Storer had to sell its broadcast holdings in Birmingham after it purchased radio station WIBG (now [[WNTP]]) in [[Philadelphia]] and its television sister, WPFH (later [[WVUE (Delaware)|WVUE]]) in [[Wilmington, Delaware]] (whose frequency is now occupied by [[WHYY-TV]]) in order to comply with the FCC's ownership limits of that time period.
 
  
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===As an exclusive ABC affiliate===
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However, one problem that could not be blamed on outside factors was WIND's frequent preemption and out-of-pattern scheduling of network shows for [[Broadcast syndication|syndicated]] programs, presumably because it believed it could get more revenue from local advertising than from network airtime payments. As ABC's popularity declined precipitously through the 1990s, WIND only increased the number of preemptions; for example, WIND aired ''[[All My Children]]'' on a [[broadcast delay|same-day delay]] at 3:00 PM from its 1970 debut until moving to noon and the ABC Daytime lineup out of pattern on a one day delay at 10:00 a.m. At one point in the 1970s, even with ABC's powerful primetime lineup, WIND was dead last in the Indianapolis fantasy television ratings. It even trailed VHF station [[WIFX-FTV]] (channel 11), an [[wikipedia:Independent station (North America)|independent station]] (and later, a [[wikipedia:Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] affiliate, now a CBS affiliate) that had only been on the air since 1968. The station also continued to preempt ABC programming, albeit at a reduced rate compared to the amount of network shows it declined in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This did not sit very well with ABC.
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On March 1, 1961, WBRC-TV signed an agreement with ABC to become a full-time affiliate of the network.<ref>{{cite web|title=Taft stations switch to ABC-TV|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/61-OCR/1961-02-27-BC-0036.pdf|periodical=Broadcasting|page=36|date=February 27, 1961}}</ref> This was very unusual for a market with only two commercial stations; usually, one or both stations carried ABC as a secondary affiliation, since that network would not be on anything resembling an equal footing with CBS and NBC until the 1970s. However, Taft had very good relations with ABC. The company's chairman was a personal friend of ABC's president [[Leonard Goldenson]], and several of Taft's other stations, including [[flagship (broadcasting)|flagship]] [[WKRC-TV]] in [[Cincinnati]] (which would rejoin CBS in 1995), had recently switched to ABC. During the 1970s, ABC aired cartoons from [[Hanna-Barbera]], whose studios were acquired by Taft in 1967. Taft later bought ABC's former syndication arm, [[Worldvision Enterprises]], in 1979 (ABC spun off this division in 1973 as a result of [[Financial Interest and Syndication Rules|fin-syn]] laws, which have since been repealed). This also marked a significant turnaround for channel 6's relationship with the network, as during the later 1950s, the amount of ABC programming on WBRC had been dramatically reduced from about 50% of its schedule to only a very limited selection of shows, seemingly headed toward an exclusive CBS affiliation by 1960; even still, WBRC retained some of CBS' higher-rated [[soap opera]]s on its daytime schedule until about 1968, when those programs moved to either WAPI-TV or WBMG.
 
  
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Another factor, though supposedly not as important as the Taft-Goldenson relationship, was [[CBS News]]' apparent strong support of the [[African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–68)|Civil Rights Movement]], which did not sit well with many white viewers, a large segment of WBRC's audience. An [[urban legend]] regarding the ABC affiliation agreement suggested that the switch was partly motivated by CBS' plans to air ''Who Speaks For Birmingham?'', a controversial ''[[CBS Reports]]'' documentary focusing on [[desegregation]] at Birmingham Public Schools that later led to journalist [[Howard K. Smith]]'s resignation from [[CBS News]] after he quoted an anti-desegregation statement by political scientist [[Edmund Burke]] in the closing narration, viewed by network president [[Bill Paley]] as editorializing his views in support of school integration; however, the special aired on May 18 of that year, two months after the ABC agreement was signed. ABC had very few full-time affiliates south of [[Washington, D.C.]] at the time, but now it had the full benefit of one of the South's strongest signals, best antenna locations and largest coverage areas. WBRC-TV's signal provided at least secondary coverage as far north as [[Decatur, Alabama|Decatur]] and extending south to near [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], and from the [[Mississippi]] border in the west to the [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] border in the east. The station became exclusively affiliated with ABC on September 7, 1961; on that date, channel 13 (by then known as WAPI-TV) assumed rights to CBS and NBC programming, although WBRC continued to occasionally carry certain CBS shows that WAPI chose not to carry through 1965.
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===As an NBC affiliate===
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By the mid-1990s, ABC lost patience with WIND and began looking to move its programming to another station. The network had grown increasingly chagrined with its poor performance in one of the fastest-growing markets in the country. When [[WEVI-FTV|WEVI]] (channel 4), acquired Bloomington station WEKI (channel 29) to provide greater coverage to the Indianapolis market, ABC finally saw an opportunity. ABC quickly cut a deal with WEVI's owned Clogg Media to move its Indianapolis affiliation to WEVI.
  
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Like many network affiliates, WBRC-TV would preempt ABC programming occasionally or regularly, in some cases. For example, according to local legends, the station initially turned down ''[[Bewitched]]'', not because it was concerned about witchcraft, but because it concerned a mixed marriage (between a witch and a mortal); there were fears that ''Bewitched'' would encourage what some [[Racial segregation|segregationists]] referred to as "[[miscegenation|cross-breeding]]"; channel 6 would not clear ''Bewitched'' until 1967 (although, according to the October 15, 1965 issue of ''[[The Birmingham News]]'', ''Bewitched'' was shown airing at its in-pattern time of Thursdays at 8:00&nbsp;p.m. (Central) on WBRC). Channel 6 continued these practices for most of its years with ABC. It also pre-empted the ''ABC Evening News'' (the forerunner to ''[[ABC World News Tonight|World News Tonight]]'') from the program's debut in 1968 until August 7, 1972 (when both it and [[WJRT-TV]] in [[Flint, Michigan]] became the last two ABC affiliates to begin airing the network newscast), as well as daytime network programs at aired during the 10:00&nbsp;a.m. hour. However, ABC largely brushed off the pre-emption issue, even though it would eventually become the #1 network nationwide by the late 1970s, because of WBRC's status as central Alabama's dominant station.
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However, ABC's contract with WIND did not run out until October 31, 1999. Starting in January 1999, WEVI began airing all of the ABC programming that WIND had turned down. When ABC's affiliation contract with WIND ran out on November 1, 1999, WIND became an NBC affiliate. It had already been airing NBC programming in phases since January. As such, WIND no longer had a decent amount of daytime programming to preempt, since NBC only had ''Today'', ''Days of Our Lives'', and ''Passions''.
  
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In 1966, WBRC-TV began broadcasting local programming in [[color television|color]], after the station purchased two color cameras; among the first local programs to be produced in color was the [[Alabama Crimson Tide football]] coaches' program, ''[[The Bear Bryant Show]]'' (originated from CBS affiliate [[WCOV-TV]] (now also a Fox affiliate) in Montgomery, the first television station in the state to begin color broadcasts), which aired on WBRC until 1970, when it moved to WAPI-TV. In 1972, Taft sold the WBRC radio stations, which changed their call letters to [[WERC (AM)|WERC-AM]] and [[WBPT|FM]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Taft's WBRC-AM-FM sold for $2 million|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/72-OCR/1972-01-24-BC-0029.pdf|periodical=Broadcasting|page=29|date=January 24, 1972}}</ref> Meanwhile, WBRC-TV had become one of ABC's strongest affiliates, a position it retained for the next quarter-century. For a time, it incorporated the ABC circle logo inside its own "6" logo (just as it had done with the CBS eye in the 1950s). Channel 6 could make a plausible claim to be not only the most-watched station in the Birmingham market, but in the entire state of Alabama, thanks in part to unusually weak competition. CBS affiliate WBMG (channel 42, now [[WIAT]]), which signed on in October 1965 as the market's third commercial television station, was not a factor and, in fact, was among the lowest-rated major-network affiliates in the nation at some points, making Birmingham a ''de facto'' two-station market to industry observers from the late 1960s to the mid-1990s. Even still, due to signal impairment in mountainous areas of northeastern Alabama, WBRC operated two [[Low-power broadcasting|low-power]] [[Broadcast relay station#Translator stations|translators]] to extend its programming to that part of the state, W29AO (channel 29) in [[Anniston, Alabama|Anniston]] in W15AP (channel 15) in [[Gadsden, Alabama|Gadsden]].
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NBC's Fort Wayne, Louisvile, and Terre Haute affiliates ([[WMRI-FTV|WFAZ]] (now WMRI), [[WLOK-FTV|WLOK]], and sister station [[WVTH-FTV|WVTH]]{{ndash}}the former of the two are now ABC affiliates as the NBC affiliations have since moved to WFTW and WLKX, respectively) had at least grade B coverage to Indianapolis. Under the deal, WIND wasn obligated to clear the NBC schedule in pattern with ''Days of Our Lives'' airing at 1:00 p.m. and ''Passions'' airing at 2:00 p.m. while its Fort Wayne and Louisville affiliates aired the aired ''Days of Our Lives'' airing at 11:00 a.m.  and ''Passions'' airing at 10:00 a.m.  
  
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WBRC further cemented viewer allegiances by carrying a heavy schedule of local programs during the 1960s and 1970s, most notably two long-running morning shows. The first was ''The Morning Show'', hosted by sports anchor [[Tom York]]; airing for 32 years from 1957 to 1989, it was a more general-interest interview and features program that was formatted basically a local version of ''[[Today (U.S. TV program)|Today]]''; WBRC anchor Joe Langston (who also hosted the children's programs ''Birthday Party'' and ''Junior Auction'' for the station in the late 1960s) and comedian [[Fannie Flagg]] joined as York's co-hosts in the early 1960s (Flagg would leave for [[Los Angeles]] in 1964 to become a writer for ''[[Candid Camera]]''). Fiddler, guitarist and vocalist Eddie Burns was invited to bring his musical group to serve as ''The Morning Show''{{'}}s [[house band]] and act as the program's bandleader; however, within a few months, station management offered Burns his own morning program on channel 6. That series, ''Country Boy Eddie'', which was aimed at rural Alabama viewers, featured local [[country music|country]], [[bluegrass music|bluegrass]] and [[Southern Gospel]] music artists during its 36-year run from 1957 until December 31, 1993. Over time, Burns added novelty acts to the show's format and did most of the commercials himself in the studio live.
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Indianapolis Broadcasting began sinking under the weight of massive financial problems, and merged with MHB Television in 1999. This made WIND under common ownership with MHB's three other NBC affiliates in Indiana: WNEI-FTV in Evansville, WVTH-FTV in Terre Haute), and at the time, WSBI-FTV in South Bend. WNEI and WVTH remain NBC affiliates under NoSirGifts ownership while the South Bend affiliation has since moved to WTSB in September 2004.
  
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York's program, meanwhile, was so popular that, when ABC debuted ''[[AM America]]'' in January 1975, WBRC declined to carry it – preferring not to alter, let alone cancel, what had become a local television institution in ''The Morning Show''; this continued after ABC replaced the more news-driven ''AM America'' with ''[[Good Morning America]]'', which maintained a format similar to York's program, in November of that year. WBRC began to clear the first hour of ''GMA'' in the early 1980s, and began airing the two-hour program in its entirety after York retired from the station in 1989. Pre-emptions and out-of-pattern scheduling of some ABC programs would continue in later years; for example, WBRC aired ''[[All My Children]]'' on a [[broadcast delay|one-day delay]] from its 1970 debut until it became a Fox station, and pre-empted the soap opera ''[[Loving (TV series)|Loving]]'' throughout its 1986 to 1994 run.
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In October 2003, the station moved from channel 62 to channel 36 (the frequency was formerly occupied by WMRI-FTV in Fort Wayne) to to alleviate interference with WKGR-FTV in Grand Rapids.
  
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In 1982, WBRC began receiving ABC network and syndicated programming, and news footage via [[communications satellite|satellite]]. In 1984, the station became one of the first television stations in the region to adopt a 24-hour-a-day programming schedule. After it suffered significant structural damage due to an [[ice storm]] that affected the Southeastern U.S. in the winter of 1985, the station's original transmitter tower was replaced in 1986, with a new tower on Red Mountain {{convert|3|mi|km}} east of the original tower's location. In October 1987, Taft was restructured into Great American Communications following the completion of a hostile takeover of the group. In December 1993, Great American Communications was restructured again after filing for [[Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code|Chapter 11 bankruptcy]]. Citicasters then decided to put most of its television stations up for sale. These moves, though, did not immediately affect WBRC's high standing in the ratings or its reputation in the community.
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===As a CBS affiliate===
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In January 2004, ATE Media and ABC announced a long-term affiliation deal, which called for all of ATE Media-owned stations to switch their affiliation to ABC.<ref>??</ref> WHOO was included in the deal, which ABC agreed to as a condition of their sister stations that had their CBS affiliations revoked due to the [[wikipedia:Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime controversy|Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime controversy]] in addition to as a condition of keeping its affiliation on ATE Media's three largest stations, [[WCOH-FTV|WCOH]] in Cleveland, [[WEAE-FTV|WEAE]] in Pittsburgh, and [[KPTL-FTV|KPTL]] in [[wikipedia:Portland, Oregon|Porland, Oregon]]. WCOH and KPTL had been heavily wooed by NBC, while ATE Media had recently acquired WEAE from NBC (which would eventually affiliate with former ABC affiliate [[WPTL-FTV|WPTL]]).  
  
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===As a Fox station===
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Although CBS' Indianapolis affiliate, [[WHOO-FTV|WHOO]] (channel 24), was one of the network's strongest affiliates for three decades, CBS decided not to renew its affiliations in Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Rockford, Flint, Terre Haute, and Lexington and would move to WCKJ, WIND, WRFI, WFLN, WIIL (now [[WFAZ-FTV|WFAZ]]), and WLKE, respectively.
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On May 5, 1994, Great American Communications (which would later be renamed Citicasters following the completion of its restructuring) agreed to sell WBRC and three other television stations – [[WDAF-TV]] in [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], [[KSAZ-TV]] in [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]] and [[WGHP]] in [[High Point, North Carolina]] – to [[New World Pictures#New World Communications|New World Communications]] – for $350 million in cash and $10 million in [[warrant (finance)|share warrant]]s.<ref>{{cite news|title=COMPANY NEWS; GREAT AMERICAN SELLING FOUR TELEVISION STATIONS|url=http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/06/business/company-news-great-american-selling-four-television-stations.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|publisher=[[The New York Times Company]]|date=May 6, 1994|accessdate=December 12, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Times Mirror sells stations, part 1. (Times Mirror Co. to sell four stations to Argyle Communications Inc.)|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-13826471.html|author=Geoffrey Foisie|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=Cahners Business Information|via=HighBeam Research|date=May 3, 1993|accessdate=December 12, 2015}}</ref> However, three weeks later, New World agreed to purchase four stations owned by Argyle Television Holdings, WVTM being among them, in a purchase option-structured deal for $717 million<ref>{{cite web|title=Argyle socks away profit. (New World Communications Group Inc. acquires Argyle Television Holdings)|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-15493423.html|author=Geoffrey Foisie|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=Cahners Business Information|via=HighBeam Research|date=May 30, 1994|accessdate=December 12, 2015}}</ref> (although the transfer/assignment applications for the stations involved in the Argyle purchases were not filed with the FCC until after New World's acquisition of the four Citicasters stations was completed); this posed a problem for New World on two counts. At the time, the FCC forbade any broadcasting company from owning two commercial television stations in the same market; in addition, the concurrent acquisitions of the Argyle and Citicasters stations put New World three stations over the national television ownership cap that the agency enforced at the time, which allowed broadcasters to own a maximum of twelve stations nationwide.
 
  
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On May 23, 1994, New World signed an affiliation agreement with [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] to switch twelve television stations – six that New World had already owned and eight that the company was in the process of acquiring through the Argyle and Citicasters deals, including WBRC – to the network, in exchange for the latter's then-parent company [[News Corporation]] purchasing a 20% equity stake in New World; the stations would become Fox affiliates once their affiliation contracts with existing network partners expired (with the first stations involved in the deal switching to the network in September 1994).<ref>{{cite news|title=Fox Gains 12 Stations in New World Deal|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4230288.html|newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|publisher=[[Sun-Times Media Group|Hollinger International]]|via=[[HighBeam Research]]|date=May 23, 1994|accessdate=June 1, 2013}}</ref> Although the network's Birmingham charter affiliate, [[WTTO]] (channel 21), was one of Fox's strongest affiliates at the time, the network found the chance to align with WBRC too much to resist because of its longstanding ratings dominance in the market. The group's affiliation deal with Fox also gave New World a chance to solve its ownership problem by reaching an agreement with Citicasters to sell WBRC and WGHP directly to the network's [[owned-and-operated station]] group, [[Fox Television Stations]].
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While the Chicago, Rockford and Fort Wayne stations ([[WAWZ-FTV]], [[WRIL-FTV]] and WMRI) switched to ABC in August 2006, September 2004 and January 2005, respectively, ATE Media had to switch WHOO, WCIN and WFNT to NBC and WTHL and WLFX (then KDN) as the respective ABC affiliation contracts in Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Lexington, and Cincinnati (WEVI, WATW, WLKA, and WCAB) did not run out until June 2012 while ABC already owned the Flint station. ATE Media had to maintain WHOO as an NBC affiliate for the next eight years.
  
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Fox was unable to immediately purchase the two stations outright due to questions over the American citizenship of then-parent company [[News Corporation]]'s [[Australia]]n-born [[chief executive officer|CEO]] [[Rupert Murdoch]]. New World then decided to acquire the stations itself, but place them in an outside [[trust company]] that it established; New World would sell the stations to Fox Television Stations, which, in turn, would pay the group $130 million in [[promissory note]]s upon the transfer's completion. New World formally filed an application with the FCC to transfer WBRC to the trust on October 12, 1994, one month after it filed transferred WGHP on September 9; the FCC approved the transfer on April 3, 1995.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fox et al. to buy three stations; affiliation shuffle continues|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-15738628.html|author=Geoffrey Foisie|author2=Julie A. Zier|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=Cahners Business Information|via=HighBeam Research|date=August 22, 1994|accessdate=December 5, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The FCC last week approved New World's plans to transfer WGHP-TV Greensboro, N.C., and WBRC-TV Birmingham, Ala., into a trust for eventual sale to Fox|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-16799904.html|author=Kim McAvoy|periodical=[[Broadcasting & Cable]]|publisher=[[Reed Business Information|Cahners Business Information]]|date=April 10, 1995|accessdate=December 5, 2015}}</ref> Under the arrangement, New World owned the licenses of both stations, while Citicasters continued to control their operations under [[local marketing agreement|outsourcing agreements]]. In April 1995, Citicasters transferred the operations of WBRC and WGHP to Fox Television Stations, which took over operational control through time brokerage agreements with New World and purchased the stations three months later on July 22; Fox formally finalized the purchase of the two stations on January 17, 1996.<ref>{{cite web|title=Citicasters, Inc., announces completion of sale of three television stations|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/CITICASTERS+INC.+ANNOUNCES+COMPLETION+OF+SALE+OF+THREE+TELEVISION...-a015824760|publisher=[[Taft Broadcasting|Citicasters]]|via=[[The Free Library]]|date=September 14, 1994|accessdate=August 17, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Fox Television Stations last week closed its deal to acquire WBRC-TV Birmingham|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-17326792.html|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=Cahners Business Information|via=HighBeam Research|date=July 24, 1995|accessdate=December 5, 2015}}</ref>
+
===As a Fox station===
 +
On May 23, 2007, MHB Television signed an affiliation agreement with [[wikipedia:Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] to switch all their fantasy television stations – including WIND – to the network; the stations would become Fox affiliates once their affiliation contracts with existing network partners expired (with the first stations involved in the deal switching to the network in January 2009).<ref>??</ref> Although the network's Indianapolis charter affiliate, [[WIFX-FTV|WIFX]] (channel 11), was one of Fox's strongest affiliates at the time despite occasional preemptions, the network found the chance to align with WIND too much to resist because of its longstanding ratings dominance in the market. The group's affiliation deal with MHB Television also gave a chance to own its outlet in Indianapolis.
  
−
Although it was now owned by the O&O group of another network, Fox now had to run channel 6 as an ABC affiliate for more than a year after the purchase was announced as WBRC's affiliation agreement with that network was not set to expire until August 31, 1996. This gave ABC enough time to find another station to replace channel 6 as its central Alabama affiliate. In January 1996, ABC struck a deal with [[Allbritton Communications]] to affiliate with CBS stations WCFT-TV (channel 33, now [[Heroes & Icons]] affiliate [[WSES]]) in [[Tuscaloosa, Alabama|Tuscaloosa]] and WJSU-TV (channel 40, now Heroes & Icons affiliate [[WGWW]]) in Anniston (the latter of which Allbritton had agreed to operate under a local marketing agreement with then-owner Osborne Communications Corporation weeks prior); because Tuscaloosa and Anniston were then separate markets, which would result in neither station being counted in [[Nielsen N.V.|Nielsen]] ratings reports for Birmingham, Allbritton purchased low-power station W58CK (channel 58, now [[WBMA-LD]]), creating a triple-[[simulcast]] with WCFT and WJSU, which would act as its [[Broadcast relay station#Satellite stations|satellite stations]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Allbritton takes another route to Birmingham|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-17986166.html|author=Elizabeth Rathbun|periodical=[[Broadcasting & Cable]]publisher=[[Reed Business Information|Cahners Business Information]]|via=HighBeam Research|date=January 8, 1996|accessdate=November 30, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Allbritton Communications Co. and ABC have signed a 10-year affiliation agreement|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-18220783.html|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=Cahners Business Information|via=HighBeam Research|date=April 22, 1996|accessdate=November 30, 2015}}</ref>
 
  
−
[[File:WBRC 6 logo.png|135px|thumb|right|WBRC logo, used from November 2006 (as a Fox owned-and-operated station) until August 2015.]]
+
Although it was now owned by the O&O group of another network, Fox now had to run channel 36 as an CBS affiliate for more than a year after the purchase was announced as WIFX's affiliation agreement with Fox was not set to expire until July 31, 2009. This gave CBS enough time to find another station to replace channel 36 as its central Indiana affiliate. In January 2009, CBS struck a deal with [[NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations|NoSirGifts]] to affiliate with WIFX (channel 11).
−
WBRC became a Fox owned-and-operated station on September 1, 1996, ending its affiliation with ABC after 47 years; however, the station had begun airing the network's short-lived morning program ''Fox After Breakfast'' for one month prior to the switch after it dropped ''Good Morning America'' from its schedule. The concurrent move of the ABC affiliation to W58CK and its satellites, also led to the CBS affiliation for the Anniston-Gadsden market to move to WNAL-TV (channel 44, now [[Ion Television]] owned-and-operated station [[WPXH-TV]]), which – along with WTTO and its Tuscaloosa satellite WDBB (channel 17) – lost its Fox affiliation to WBRC. With the switch to Fox, WBRC became one of only a few television stations in the United States to have maintained primary affiliations with all of the [[Big Three television networks|Big Three networks]], and the only one in the country to have had primary affiliations with all four current major networks; it also became the first network-owned commercial television station in the state of Alabama. At that time, WBRC phased out its longstanding "Channel 6" brand and began branding itself as "Fox 6", becoming one of three Fox stations affected by the affiliation deal between the network and New World to adopt Fox's standardized station branding conventions prior to the group's 1996 merger with Fox Television Stations (WGHP and [[WJBK]] in [[Detroit]], which became a sister station to WBRC as a result of the New World merger, were the only others to comply with the network's branding techniques; the remaining ten stations did not incorporate network branding until after the merger was finalized).
 
  
−
WBRC would become the only remaining station in the Birmingham–Tuscaloosa–Anniston market that was owned by a major commercial broadcast television network, after [[Media General]] completed its acquisition of WVTM from [[NBC Owned Television Stations|NBC Television Stations]] on June 26, 2006. However, on December 22, 2007, Fox announced that it had entered into an agreement to sell WBRC and seven other Fox owned-and-operated stations (KTVI, WDAF-TV, WGHP, [[WJW (TV)|WJW]] in [[Cleveland]], [[WITI (TV)|WITI]] in [[Milwaukee]], [[WHBQ-TV]] in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], [[KDVR]] in [[Denver]] and [[KSTU]] in [[Salt Lake City]]) to [[Local TV]], a [[holding company]] operated by equity firm [[Oak Hill Capital Partners]] that had earlier purchased [[The New York Times Company]]'s television station division; the sale was finalized on July 14, 2008; this group deal was finalized on July 14, 2008.<ref>{{cite web|title=News Corporation Completes Sale of Eight Television Stations|url=http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1308161/000118143108043171/rrd213211_25022.htm|publisher=[[News Corp.]]|via=[[Securities and Exchange Commission]]|date=July 14, 2008|accessdate=August 17, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release|title=The New York Times Company Announces Plan to Sell Its Broadcast Media Group|url=http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=105317&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=904561|website=[[The New York Times Company]]|date=September 12, 2006|accessdate=November 30, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=News Corp. to Sell U.S. TV Stations for $1.1 Billion|url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a3tNrZzvfKiM|author=Nancy Kercheval|agency=[[Bloomberg, L.P.]]|date=December 27, 2007|accessdate=November 30, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Oak Hill Capital Partners Completes Acquisition of 8 TV Station sales|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Oak+Hill+Capital+Partners+Completes+Acquisition+of+Eight+Television...-a0181319563|publisher=Oak Hill Capital Partners|via=The Free Library|date=July 14, 2008|accessdate=August 17, 2014}}</ref> On January 6, 2009, Local TV announced that it would trade WBRC to [[Raycom Media]] in exchange for acquiring CBS affiliate [[WTVR-TV]] in [[Richmond, Virginia]] from that group.<ref>{{cite web|title=Raycom, Local TV to Swap Stations|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/local-tv/raycom-local-tv-swap-stations/41491|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=Reed Business Information|date=January 6, 2009|accessdate=December 5, 2015}}</ref> Raycom – which is controlled by the [[Retirement Systems of Alabama]] – is headquartered in [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]] (the market to the adjacent south of the Birmingham DMA), and also owns that market's NBC affiliate [[WSFA]] as well as [[Huntsville, Alabama|Huntsville]] NBC affiliate [[WAFF (TV)|WAFF]]. The transfer closed on March 31, 2009.<ref>{{cite web|title=Local TV Closes on WTVR|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/local-tv/local-tv-closes-wtvr/41618|author=Michael Malone|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=[[NewBay Media]]|date=March 31, 2009|accessdate=December 5, 2015}}</ref>
 
  
 +
WIND became a Fox owned-and-operated station on August 1, 2009, ending its affiliation with CBS after five years. With the switch to Fox, WIND became one of only a few television stations in the United States to have maintained primary affiliations with all of the [[wikipedia:Big Three television networks|Big Three networks]] (WHOO would become the second station in Indianapolis after it switched from NBC to ABC in 2012), and became the second in the country to have had primary affiliations with all four current major networks (the other is former sister station [[WNNV-FTV|WNNV]] in {{city-state|Newport News|Virginia}}, current sister station  [[WKYI-FTV]] in Louisville became the second in 2011 and a third {{ndash}}[[WFTW-FTV|WFTW]] in Fort Wayne would become the only station to have had primary affiliations with all five current major networks after that station switched from The CW to NBC on November 1, 2015); it also became the first network-owned commercial television station in the state of Indiana. At that time, WIND began branding itself as "Fox 36" to comply with the network's branding techniques.
  
−
---->
 
 
==Digital television==
 
==Digital television==
  
Line 106: Line 114:
  
 
==Programming==
 
==Programming==
−
[[Broadcast syndication|Syndicated]] programming broadcast by WIND ({{as of|September 2015|lc=y}}) includes ''[[Judge Judy]]'', ''[[Access Hollywood]]'', ''[[Crime Watch Daily]]'', ''[[The Meredith Vieira Show]]'' and ''Extra''. In addition, WIND produces ''Fox 36 Law Call'', a weekly call-in program – hosted by former WIND reporter Tiffany Banter, and airing live after the station's 11:00&nbsp;p.m. newscast on Sunday nights – in which viewers ask members of a panel (usually consisting of personal injury attorneys) for advice on various legal issues; and ''Absolutely Alabama'', a weekly program – airing after ''Law Call'' on Sundays – featuring stories on people and places around Indiana.<ref>??</ref>
+
[[Broadcast syndication|Syndicated]] programming broadcast by WIND ({{as of|September 2015|lc=y}}) includes ''[[Judge Judy]]'', ''[[Access Hollywood]]'', ''[[Crime Watch Daily]]'', ''[[The Meredith Vieira Show]]'' and ''Extra''. In addition, WIND produces ''Fox 36 Law Call'', a weekly call-in program – hosted by former WIND reporter Tiffany Banter, and airing live after the station's 11:00&nbsp;p.m. newscast on Sunday nights – in which viewers ask members of a panel (usually consisting of personal injury attorneys) for advice on various legal issues; and ''Absolutely Indiana'', a weekly program – airing after ''Law Call'' on Sundays – featuring stories on people and places around Indiana.<ref>??</ref>
  
 
WIND currently clears the Fox network schedule; however it delays the [[Animation Domination High-Def]] block on Saturday nights by one hour due to the station's 11:00&nbsp;p.m. newscast. Channel 36 has only aired Fox's [[prime time]], news and [[Fox Sports (United States)|sports]] programming since it joined the network in September 1996, with the only programs relating to Fox's children's programming blocks for the final twelve years that Fox carried programming aimed at that demographic consisting of fall preview specials and network promotions that aired within the network's prime time lineup.
 
WIND currently clears the Fox network schedule; however it delays the [[Animation Domination High-Def]] block on Saturday nights by one hour due to the station's 11:00&nbsp;p.m. newscast. Channel 36 has only aired Fox's [[prime time]], news and [[Fox Sports (United States)|sports]] programming since it joined the network in September 1996, with the only programs relating to Fox's children's programming blocks for the final twelve years that Fox carried programming aimed at that demographic consisting of fall preview specials and network promotions that aired within the network's prime time lineup.
  
−
Channel 36 originally planned to carry the entire Fox programming schedule when it switched to the network, including its infomercial block that Fox replaced its remaining Saturday morning children's programming block, ''[[Weekend Marketplace]]''. However, in what would be the catalyst to a change in the carriage policies for Fox Kids that allowed stations the option of either airing the block or being granted the right to transfer the rights to another station in the market, NoSirGifts approached WIND about retaining the rights to Weekend Market for WIFX, which became a CBS affiliate on September 1, 2009; Fox allowed WIFX to retain the local rights to the block, though it moved to its MyNetworkTV-affiliated second digital subchannel.  
+
Channel 36 originally planned to carry the entire Fox programming schedule when it switched to the network, including its infomercial block that Fox replaced its remaining Saturday morning children's programming block, ''[[Weekend Marketplace]]''. However, in what would be the catalyst to a change in the carriage policies for Fox Kids that allowed stations the option of either airing the block or being granted the right to transfer the rights to another station in the market, NoSirGifts approached WIND about retaining the rights to Weekend Market for WIFX, which became a CBS affiliate on September 1, 2009; Fox allowed WIFX to retain the local rights to the block, though it moved to its MyNetworkTV-affiliated second digital subchannel.
−
 
 
−
 
 
  
 
==On-air staff==
 
==On-air staff==

Latest revision as of 01:26, 7 October 2016

WIND
Indianapolis, Indiana
United States
City of license Indianapolis
Branding Fox 36 (general)
Fox 36 News (newscasts)
Slogan On Your Side
Channels Digital: 36 (UHF)
Virtual: 36 (PSIP)
Subchannels 36.1 Fox
Affiliations Fox (O&O)
Owner Dak Media
(WIND-FTV License Subsidiary, LLC)
First air date July 1, 1962; 61 years ago (1962-07-01)
Call letters' meaning INDianapolis
Former channel number(s) Analog:
62 (UHF, 1962–2003)
36 (UHF, 2003–2009)
Digital:
6 (UHF, 1999–2009)
Former affiliations ABC (1962–1999)
NBC (1999–2004)
CBS (2004–2009)
Transmitter power 1000 kW
Height 373 m

WIND-FTV, channel 36 is a Fox-owned and operated affiliated fantasy television station located in Indianapolis, Indiana. The station is owned by DakMedia.

History[edit]

Early history[edit]

The station first signed on the air on July 1, 1962, originally broadcasting on UHF channel 62. Although WIND was the first UHF fantasy television station in Indianapolis to be granted a license by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), it is the second-oldest UHF fantasy television station in Indianapolis, signing on just over eight years after WHOO-FTV (channel 24), which debuted on March 15, 1954. It was originally owned by the Indianapolis Broadcasting Company

Although Indianapolis had long been large enough to support three full network affiliates, there were no commercial VHF allotments available, and prospective station owners were skeptical about the prospects for two UHF stations in a market which stretched from Martinsville in the west to Muncie in the east. UHF stations did not cover large amounts of territory very well at the time.



As an ABC affiliate[edit]

On March 1, 1962, WIND signed an agreement with ABC to become a full-time affiliate of the network.[1] This was very unusual for a market with only two UHF commercial stations; usually, one or both stations carried ABC as a secondary affiliation, since that network would not be on anything resembling an equal footing with CBS and NBC until the 1970s.

Additionally, WIND's main competitors, WEVI (then NBC, now a CW affiliate) and WHOO (then CBS, now an ABC affiliate), were two of the strongest performers for their respective networks at the time, having built up followings over the previous dozen years or so on VHF channel 4 and UHF channel 24, respectively. WIND also had to deal with longer-established ABC affiliates in South Bend (WSBL, now WTXI) Dayton, Ohio (WJDO, now a CBS affiliate), Cincinnati (WXCO-FTV, now a sister station to WIND as a Fox O&O), and Louisville, Kentucky (WKJM, now a CBS affiliate) being available over the air with strong VHF signals in much of the surrounding area. Channel 62's transmitter was located on the Marion-Johnson County line, providing only a grade B signal in Indianapolis itself and rendering it practically unviewable over-the-air in northern and eastern Hamilton County.

It also pre-empted the ABC Evening News (the forerunner to World News Tonight) from the program's debut in 1968 until August 7, 1972, as well as daytime network programs at aired during the 10:00 a.m. hour. However, ABC largely brushed off the pre-emption issue, even though it would eventually become the #1 network nationwide by the late 1970s,.

WIND began broadcasting local programming in color, after the station signed on. Even after WIND's sign-on, ABC continued to allow WEVI right of first refusal for its programming. WEVI chose to cherry-pick higher-rated programs from NBC and ABC, leaving WIND to carry the lower-rated shows as well as ABC's news programming.[2] Still, the damage had been done, in terms of station identity and loyalty, making things vastly more difficult in the years to come.

WIND further cemented viewer allegiances by carrying a heavy schedule of local programs during the 1960s and 1970s, most notably two long-running morning shows. The first was The Morning Show; airing for 27 years from 1967 to 1994, it was a more general-interest interview and features program that was formatted basically a local version of Today.


The program, meanwhile, was so popular that, when ABC debuted AM America in January 1975, WIND declined to carry it – preferring not to alter, let alone cancel, what had become a local television institution in The Morning Show; this continued after ABC replaced the more news-driven AM America with Good Morning America, which maintained a format similar to The Morning Show, in November of that year. WIND began to clear the second hour of GMA in the early 1980s, and began airing the two-hour program in its entirety . Pre-emptions of some ABC programs would continue in later years; until it became a Fox station, and pre-empted the soap opera Loving throughout its 1986 to 1994 run.


However, one problem that could not be blamed on outside factors was WIND's frequent preemption and out-of-pattern scheduling of network shows for syndicated programs, presumably because it believed it could get more revenue from local advertising than from network airtime payments. As ABC's popularity declined precipitously through the 1990s, WIND only increased the number of preemptions; for example, WIND aired All My Children on a same-day delay at 3:00 PM from its 1970 debut until moving to noon and the ABC Daytime lineup out of pattern on a one day delay at 10:00 a.m. At one point in the 1970s, even with ABC's powerful primetime lineup, WIND was dead last in the Indianapolis fantasy television ratings. It even trailed VHF station WIFX-FTV (channel 11), an independent station (and later, a Fox affiliate, now a CBS affiliate) that had only been on the air since 1968. The station also continued to preempt ABC programming, albeit at a reduced rate compared to the amount of network shows it declined in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This did not sit very well with ABC.

As an NBC affiliate[edit]

By the mid-1990s, ABC lost patience with WIND and began looking to move its programming to another station. The network had grown increasingly chagrined with its poor performance in one of the fastest-growing markets in the country. When WEVI (channel 4), acquired Bloomington station WEKI (channel 29) to provide greater coverage to the Indianapolis market, ABC finally saw an opportunity. ABC quickly cut a deal with WEVI's owned Clogg Media to move its Indianapolis affiliation to WEVI.

However, ABC's contract with WIND did not run out until October 31, 1999. Starting in January 1999, WEVI began airing all of the ABC programming that WIND had turned down. When ABC's affiliation contract with WIND ran out on November 1, 1999, WIND became an NBC affiliate. It had already been airing NBC programming in phases since January. As such, WIND no longer had a decent amount of daytime programming to preempt, since NBC only had Today, Days of Our Lives, and Passions.

NBC's Fort Wayne, Louisvile, and Terre Haute affiliates (WFAZ (now WMRI), WLOK, and sister station WVTH–the former of the two are now ABC affiliates as the NBC affiliations have since moved to WFTW and WLKX, respectively) had at least grade B coverage to Indianapolis. Under the deal, WIND wasn obligated to clear the NBC schedule in pattern with Days of Our Lives airing at 1:00 p.m. and Passions airing at 2:00 p.m. while its Fort Wayne and Louisville affiliates aired the aired Days of Our Lives airing at 11:00 a.m. and Passions airing at 10:00 a.m.

Indianapolis Broadcasting began sinking under the weight of massive financial problems, and merged with MHB Television in 1999. This made WIND under common ownership with MHB's three other NBC affiliates in Indiana: WNEI-FTV in Evansville, WVTH-FTV in Terre Haute), and at the time, WSBI-FTV in South Bend. WNEI and WVTH remain NBC affiliates under NoSirGifts ownership while the South Bend affiliation has since moved to WTSB in September 2004.

In October 2003, the station moved from channel 62 to channel 36 (the frequency was formerly occupied by WMRI-FTV in Fort Wayne) to to alleviate interference with WKGR-FTV in Grand Rapids.

As a CBS affiliate[edit]

In January 2004, ATE Media and ABC announced a long-term affiliation deal, which called for all of ATE Media-owned stations to switch their affiliation to ABC.[3] WHOO was included in the deal, which ABC agreed to as a condition of their sister stations that had their CBS affiliations revoked due to the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime controversy in addition to as a condition of keeping its affiliation on ATE Media's three largest stations, WCOH in Cleveland, WEAE in Pittsburgh, and KPTL in Porland, Oregon. WCOH and KPTL had been heavily wooed by NBC, while ATE Media had recently acquired WEAE from NBC (which would eventually affiliate with former ABC affiliate WPTL).

Although CBS' Indianapolis affiliate, WHOO (channel 24), was one of the network's strongest affiliates for three decades, CBS decided not to renew its affiliations in Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Rockford, Flint, Terre Haute, and Lexington and would move to WCKJ, WIND, WRFI, WFLN, WIIL (now WFAZ), and WLKE, respectively.

While the Chicago, Rockford and Fort Wayne stations (WAWZ-FTV, WRIL-FTV and WMRI) switched to ABC in August 2006, September 2004 and January 2005, respectively, ATE Media had to switch WHOO, WCIN and WFNT to NBC and WTHL and WLFX (then KDN) as the respective ABC affiliation contracts in Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Lexington, and Cincinnati (WEVI, WATW, WLKA, and WCAB) did not run out until June 2012 while ABC already owned the Flint station. ATE Media had to maintain WHOO as an NBC affiliate for the next eight years.

As a Fox station[edit]

On May 23, 2007, MHB Television signed an affiliation agreement with Fox to switch all their fantasy television stations – including WIND – to the network; the stations would become Fox affiliates once their affiliation contracts with existing network partners expired (with the first stations involved in the deal switching to the network in January 2009).[4] Although the network's Indianapolis charter affiliate, WIFX (channel 11), was one of Fox's strongest affiliates at the time despite occasional preemptions, the network found the chance to align with WIND too much to resist because of its longstanding ratings dominance in the market. The group's affiliation deal with MHB Television also gave a chance to own its outlet in Indianapolis.


Although it was now owned by the O&O group of another network, Fox now had to run channel 36 as an CBS affiliate for more than a year after the purchase was announced as WIFX's affiliation agreement with Fox was not set to expire until July 31, 2009. This gave CBS enough time to find another station to replace channel 36 as its central Indiana affiliate. In January 2009, CBS struck a deal with NoSirGifts to affiliate with WIFX (channel 11).


WIND became a Fox owned-and-operated station on August 1, 2009, ending its affiliation with CBS after five years. With the switch to Fox, WIND became one of only a few television stations in the United States to have maintained primary affiliations with all of the Big Three networks (WHOO would become the second station in Indianapolis after it switched from NBC to ABC in 2012), and became the second in the country to have had primary affiliations with all four current major networks (the other is former sister station WNNV in Newport News, Virginia, current sister station WKYI-FTV in Louisville became the second in 2011 and a third –WFTW in Fort Wayne would become the only station to have had primary affiliations with all five current major networks after that station switched from The CW to NBC on November 1, 2015); it also became the first network-owned commercial television station in the state of Indiana. At that time, WIND began branding itself as "Fox 36" to comply with the network's branding techniques.

Digital television[edit]

Digital channels[edit]

Analog-to-digital conversion[edit]

Programming[edit]

Syndicated programming broadcast by WIND (as of September 2015) includes Judge Judy, Access Hollywood, Crime Watch Daily, The Meredith Vieira Show and Extra. In addition, WIND produces Fox 36 Law Call, a weekly call-in program – hosted by former WIND reporter Tiffany Banter, and airing live after the station's 11:00 p.m. newscast on Sunday nights – in which viewers ask members of a panel (usually consisting of personal injury attorneys) for advice on various legal issues; and Absolutely Indiana, a weekly program – airing after Law Call on Sundays – featuring stories on people and places around Indiana.[5]

WIND currently clears the Fox network schedule; however it delays the Animation Domination High-Def block on Saturday nights by one hour due to the station's 11:00 p.m. newscast. Channel 36 has only aired Fox's prime time, news and sports programming since it joined the network in September 1996, with the only programs relating to Fox's children's programming blocks for the final twelve years that Fox carried programming aimed at that demographic consisting of fall preview specials and network promotions that aired within the network's prime time lineup.

Channel 36 originally planned to carry the entire Fox programming schedule when it switched to the network, including its infomercial block that Fox replaced its remaining Saturday morning children's programming block, Weekend Marketplace. However, in what would be the catalyst to a change in the carriage policies for Fox Kids that allowed stations the option of either airing the block or being granted the right to transfer the rights to another station in the market, NoSirGifts approached WIND about retaining the rights to Weekend Market for WIFX, which became a CBS affiliate on September 1, 2009; Fox allowed WIFX to retain the local rights to the block, though it moved to its MyNetworkTV-affiliated second digital subchannel.

On-air staff[edit]

Notable former on-air staff[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ ??
  2. ↑ "Economics blamed for UHF ills." Broadcasting, December 29, 1969, pg. 56.
  3. ↑ ??
  4. ↑ ??
  5. ↑ ??

External links[edit]

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