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WSIL-TV

Harrisburg/Marion/Carbondale, Illinois/ Cape Girardeau, Missouri/ Paducah, Kentucky United States
City	Harrisburg, Illinois
Channels	Digital: 34 (UHF) Virtual: 3
Branding	WSIL-TV 3; News 3 WSIL
Programming
Affiliations	3.1: ABC for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Allen Media Broadcasting (Harrisburg TV License Company, LLC)
History
First air date	December 6, 1953 (71 years ago) (1953-12-06)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 22 (UHF, 1953–1959); 3 (VHF, 1959–2009)
Call sign meaning	Southern Illinois
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	73999
ERP	1,000 kW
HAAT	291 m (955 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	37°36′50″N 88°52′20″W / 37.61389°N 88.87222°W / 37.61389; -88.87222
Translator(s)	K10KM-D 10 Cape Girardeau, MO
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.wsiltv.com
Satellite station
KPOB-TV
Poplar Bluff, Missouri United States
Channels	Digital: 15 (UHF) Virtual: 15
Branding	KPOB-TV 15; News 3
Programming
Affiliations	15.1: ABC for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Allen Media Broadcasting (Harrisburg TV License Company, LLC)
History
First air date	September 1, 1961 (63 years ago) (1961-09-01)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 15 (UHF, 1967–2009) Digital: 18 (UHF, until 2009)
Call sign meaning	Poplar Bluff
Technical information
Facility ID	73998
ERP	34.5 kW
HAAT	184 m (604 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	36°48′4″N 90°27′6″W / 36.80111°N 90.45167°W / 36.80111; -90.45167 (KPOB-TV)
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS

WSIL-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Harrisburg, Illinois, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for Southern Illinois, Southeast Missouri, the Purchase area of Western Kentucky, and Northwest Tennessee. Owned by Allen Media Broadcasting, the station maintains studios on Country Aire Drive (IL 13) in Carterville and a transmitter near Creal Springs, Illinois. It is rebroadcast on KPOB-TV (channel 15) in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, covering areas of southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas, and translator K10KM-D (channel 10), in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

WSIL-TV was the first television station in southern Illinois, debuting on ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 22 on December 1, 1953. It soon affiliated with ABC and NBC before moving to channel 3 in 1959 and becoming a sole ABC affiliate. The station has traditionally fallen behind its two rivals in the market in news ratings and resources.

History

Construction on channel 22

When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifted its four-year freeze on new television station allocations in 1952, channel 22 in the then-new ultra high frequency (UHF) band was assigned to Harrisburg. The Turner-Farrar Association, whose partners owned movie theaters in Southern Illinois, applied for the channel on June 23, 1952, and received a construction permit on March 11, 1953.

With the permit in hand, Turner-Farrar began construction on the station's studio facility in what was known as the Lockwood building on Poplar Street in Harrisburg, absorbing a former billiards hall in the process. A 550-foot (170 m) tower was erected on the site for the transmission facility. The station began broadcasting a test pattern on December 3, 1953. Two days later, an open house was held at the studios, and regular programming from Southern Illinois's first TV station began on December 6.

The station had no network affiliation in its early months, but it added ABC in March 1954, followed by NBC in December 1955.

Move to channel 3; construction of KPOB

Soon after starting WSIL-TV on channel 22, Turner-Farrar petitioned for the FCC to assign a channel in the more widely available VHF band. In its first attempt, denied in July 1956, the company attempted to have channel 13 relocated to Harrisburg from Bowling Green, Kentucky. The next month, Turner-Farrar applied to have channel 22 changed to channel 3. This proposal, along with the addition of educational channel 8 to Carbondale, was approved by the FCC in March 1958; in doing so, the commission rejected a competing proposal to allocate channel 3 to Carbondale. Construction of the channel 3 facility was completed in early March 1959, and on March 4, WSIL-TV permanently moved to channel 3 from Creal Springs, greatly increasing its coverage area; the tower at Harrisburg remained in place and was utilized for communications purposes. Coinciding with the move to VHF, WSIL-TV became ABC's 87th primary affiliate.

In May 1960, the Turner–Farrar Association applied to the FCC to build ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 15 in Poplar Bluff to serve southeast Missouri. The transmitter was completed in August 1961 and began broadcasting programs on September 1 of that year. KPOB-TV was off the air on several occasions in its first 15 years: for over a month in June and July 1962 (due to lack of network signal), from September 1966 to October 1967, and for more than a month in 1974 for construction. The last of these outages, from April 1976 to January 1977, was for financial reasons. During this time, WSIL attempted to sell KPOB-TV to the Hernreich Group, which would have switched it to rebroadcasting KAIT in Jonesboro, Arkansas, but negotiations proved unfruitful. In the early 1980s, KPOB briefly broadcast some local programming of its own.

New ownership in the 1980s

Turner-Farrar continued in the television business until 1980, when it announced it would sell WSIL-TV and KPOB in what amounted to a partial trade. As part of the transaction, O. L. Turner acquired the WEBQ radio stations in Harrisburg from Macauley "Mackie" Nicholes, who became one of several stockholders in the new ownership of the television stations. FCC approval was granted in May 1981, allowing the $3 million TV station transaction and $700,000 radio station sale to go forward. Nicholes, along with cable television system operator John Kirby, faced a monumental task in trying to improve WSIL-TV. Under Turner-Farrar, its news staff numbered five people; its principal competitors in the region, WPSD-TV in Paducah and KFVS-TV in Cape Girardeau, each had more than 20 people in their news departments. WSIL news attracted just five percent of the audience compared to 38 and 42 percent for the other stations, respectively. Further, restrictions on the channel 3 allotment meant that unlike WPSD or KFVS, a 2,000 feet (610 m) tower was not possible for WSIL. A feature in The Southern Illinoisan newspaper characterized the station's reputation for "illustrat a flood by showing its audience a hand-drawn picture of a lake in the corner of the screen, rather than sending a film crew to the scene". In 1981, for the first fall season under the new owners, the station revamped its evening lineup; it ceased the practice of tape-delaying World News Tonight. The station moved its cartoon program, Uncle Briggs and the Funny Company, from early evenings to early mornings; the show, which traced its origins back to the station's first day on air in 1953 as the first live program to air, was canceled in April 1982 as part of an effort to professionalize the station.

Nicholes sold his stake in WSIL-TV to Kirby in December 1982. Months later, Kirby agreed to sell the station to Mel Wheeler, Inc., a Texas-based radio station owner, for $6.6 million. The transmitter facility was revamped in 1984, including a 210-foot (64 m) height extension to the tower. The station also relocated from its increasingly outmoded and cramped Harrisburg studio. In 1983, Wheeler had purchased a tract of land in Crainville, Illinois, a site which would be more centrally located to Marion and Carbondale for news coverage and advertising sales; however, serious consideration to leaving Harrisburg for Crainville recurred in 1987. Construction began on the new facility in September 1988.

Under Mel Wheeler, Inc. WSIL-TV became a family affair. Steve Wheeler, Mel's son, became the operations manager and general manager by 1986; his wife, Bonnie, served as the news director. Under Wheeler, WSIL-TV continued to focus its news department exclusively on Southern Illinois news; ratings improved but remained far behind the competition. Despite equipment improvements—such as a refresh of the news set and imaging in 2004 and the introduction of high-definition local news in 2010—as well as the launch of a morning newscast in 2004, WSIL continued to remain off the pace of KFVS and WPSD; it was third in revenue (using 2013) data) and ratings (as of 2014).

The station was one of 57 ABC affiliates that refused to air NYPD Blue during its first season in 1993–1994; the show aired in the market on Fox affiliate KBSI. Steve Wheeler appeared on Good Morning America to explain his decision; during the interview announced that if the program was successful, WSIL would reconsider. Citing his feeling that the show's content had been toned down since its pilot episode, Wheeler approved the program for air on WSIL-TV beginning in September 1994.

WSIL was the first station in the market to broadcast a digital signal at a full 1 megawatt of power (equivalent to 5 megawatts in analog) on October 22, 2002. It was also the first to air a mobile digital signal.

Quincy and Allen ownership

On October 31, 2018, it was announced that Quincy Media would acquire WSIL and KPOB for $24.5 million. WSIL would be Quincy's fourth station in its home state of Illinois. The sale was approved by the FCC on December 20. The sale was completed on January 15, 2019.

On January 7, 2021, less than two years after acquiring WSIL, Quincy Media announced that it had put itself up for sale. A few weeks later, Gray Television announced its intent to purchase Quincy for $925 million. As Gray already owns the market's KFVS-TV and both that and WSIL rank among the top four in ratings in the Paducah–Cape Girardeau–Harrisburg market, it intended to keep KFVS and sell WSIL (and KPOB) in order to satisfy FCC requirements. On April 29, 2021, it was announced that Allen Media Broadcasting would acquire WSIL, KPOB and the remaining Quincy stations not being acquired by Gray Television for $380 million. The sale was completed on August 2.

News operation

WSIL's newscasts are known as News 3 WSIL.

On January 18, 2004, the news operation underwent a major renovation, including the set, logo and on-air graphics. Some personnel changes were also made.

On October 6, 2010, WSIL became the first station in the market to offer news in high definition.

Notable current on-air staff

• Jason Lindsey – freelance meteorologist

Notable former on-air staff

• Christen Drew – reporter
• Briggs Gordon – children's show host
• Tony Laubach – meteorologist; Weather Warrior

Technical information

Subchannels

The stations' signals are multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

Both stations shut down their analog signals, respectively on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital channel allocations post-transition are as follows:

• WSIL-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 3; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 34. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 3.
• KPOB-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 15; the station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 18 to channel 15.

References

1. "Facility Technical Data for WSIL-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
2. "Facility Technical Data for KPOB-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
3. T., Timotheus (April 15, 1952). "About Town And Country: WEBQ Has Made Application for New TV Channel". The Daily Register. pp. 1, 3. Retrieved July 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "FCC History Cards for WSIL-TV". Federal Communications Commission.
5. "Harrisburg Group Seeks TV Station". Southern Illinoisan. August 9, 1952. p. 1. Retrieved July 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Local TV Likely Ready By November: Equipment is Ordered by Turner-Farrar". The Daily Register. April 29, 1953. p. 1. Retrieved July 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "November Set For Opening of Station WSIL-TV: Reconstruct Former Lockwood Building for Complete Studio". The Daily Register. October 14, 1953. p. 1. Retrieved July 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "WSIL-TV To Hold Open House Saturday: Station About Ready to Begin TV Programs". The Daily Register. December 4, 1953. p. Special 1. Retrieved July 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Station WSIL-TV On Air with First Formal Telecast". The Daily Register. December 7, 1953. p. 1. Retrieved July 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "WSIL-TV Signs ABC Agreement". The Daily Register. March 19, 1954. p. 1. Retrieved July 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "WSIL Affiliates With NBC; Will Telecast Programs". The Daily Register. December 1, 1955. p. 1. Retrieved July 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "TV Channel Change Denied". Southern Illinoisan. July 20, 1956. p. 3. Retrieved July 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
13. "These Want Changes". Broadcasting. August 13, 1956. p. 76. ProQuest 1401221743.
14. "FCC Refuses to Deintermix Champaign-Urbana, Ill., Area". Broadcasting. March 24, 1958. p. 9. ProQuest 1401225867.
15. "FCC Allocates Channel 3 to Station WSIL-TV". The Daily Register. March 22, 1958. p. 1. Retrieved July 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
16. "WSIL Showing Test Pattern on Channel 3". The Daily Register. March 2, 1959. p. 1. Retrieved July 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
17. "Channel 3 Adds VHF Channel For Area Viewers". Southern Illinoisan. March 5, 1959. p. 15. Retrieved July 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
18. "Turner-Farrar, With Theatres and TV, Strives To Keep Pace With Viewing Entertainment Tastes". Eldorado Daily Journal. June 28, 1965. p. 30. Retrieved July 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
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20. "FCC Asked For Permit To Build TV Station Here". Weekly Citizen Democrat. June 9, 1960. p. 1. Retrieved June 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
21. "Test Pattern For KPOB-TV Started Today". Daily American Republic. August 8, 1961. p. 3. Retrieved June 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
22. "FCC History Cards for KPOB-TV". Federal Communications Commission.
23. "Kpob Goes Off the Air". Daily American Republic. April 14, 1976. p. 1. Retrieved June 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
24. "Arkansas Firm Negotiating To Purchase Local Station". Daily American Republic. July 16, 1976. p. 1. Retrieved June 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
25. Lopata, Roger (December 23, 1976). "KPOB Announces It Will Resume Broadcasts". Daily American Republic. p. 1. Retrieved June 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
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49. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 21, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
50. "Application For Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
51. "Quincy Media now owns WSIL-TV". WSIL-TV. January 15, 2019. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
52. "Consummation Notice". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. January 16, 2019. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
53. "Quincy Media, Inc. Considering sale of company".
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57. "TV Query for WSIL-TV". RabbitEars.
58. "TV Query for KPOB". RabbitEars.
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External links

• WSIL-TV/KPOB-TV
• WSIL Station History

• American Broadcasting Company affiliates
• Ion Television affiliates
• ABC network affiliates
• Heroes & Icons affiliates
• True Crime Network affiliates
• Court TV affiliates
• Television stations in the Paducah–Cape Girardeau–Harrisburg market
• Television channels and stations established in 1953
• 1953 establishments in Illinois
• Entertainment Studios