WSMH

WSMH, virtual channel 66 (UHF digital channel 16), branded on-air as Fox 66, is a Fox-affiliated television station licensed to Flint, Michigan, United States and serving the Flint/Tri-Cities television market. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which also operates Saginaw-licensed NBC affiliate WEYI-TV (channel 25, owned by Howard Stirk Holdings) and Bay City-licensed CW affiliate WBSF (channel 46, owned by Cunningham Broadcasting) through separate shared services agreements (SSAs). However, Sinclair effectively owns WBSF as the majority of Cunningham's stock is owned by the family of deceased group founder Julian Smith.

WSMH
Flint/Saginaw/Bay City/Midland, Michigan
United States
CityFlint, Michigan
BrandingFox 66[1]
newscasts: Mid Michigan Now
ChannelsDigital: 16 (UHF)
Virtual: 66 (PSIP)
Affiliations
OwnerSinclair Broadcast Group[2]
LicenseeWSMH Licensee, LLC
FoundedSeptember 27, 1984
First air dateJanuary 13, 1985 (1985-01-13)
Call sign meaningWe Show More Hits[2]
Sister station(s)WEYI-TV, WBSF
Former channel number(s)Analog:
66 (UHF, 1984–2009)
Former affiliations
Transmitter power245 kW
Height365.5 m (1,199 ft)
Facility ID21737
Transmitter coordinates43°13′31″N 84°4′33″W
Licensing authorityFCC
Public license informationProfile
CDBS
Websitewsmh.com

WSMH's studios–which also house master control and some internal operations for WEYI and WBSF–are located on West Pierson Road in Mount Morris Township (with a Flint mailing address), and its transmitter is located on Amman Road (near Gary Road) near St. Charles, Michigan. On cable, the station is available on channel 8 on most systems in the market.

History

Flint Broadcasting Limited Partnership requested a station with the call letter WSMH,[3] which were assigned on September 27, 1984.[1] WSMH first went on the air on January 13, 1985 as an independent station with Frederick (Fritz) Mills as general manager. Mills was formerly director of national sales, UPI Media in Chicago.[4] A fire at the transmitter in April 1985 forced the station to go off the air for about one month until repairs could be made.[2] Flint Broadcasting sold the station to Gerald J. Robinson by July 1986.[5] On October 9, 1986,[6] it became a charter Fox affiliate.[2] Sinclair Broadcast Group bought the station in 1996.[2] From 1990 to 1997, WSMH was the Mid-Michigan affiliate of the now defunct syndication package The Disney Afternoon.

On October 28, 2002, the station launched its first newscast, News at Ten, the first using a centralization model for all Sinclair stations.[7]

On September 30, 2006, WSMH began broadcasting The Tube on its secondary subchannel.[8] Channel 66 dropped its local news staff in 2006, opting instead to contract with WNEM to replace its 10 p.m. newscast.[9]

The retransmission agreement between the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Comcast was set to expire on February 5, 2007. An extension was granted twice so the sides could negotiate. During the talks, Comcast stated that it would not pay cash for retransmission rights but was willing to give free commercial time to WSMH in exchange for carriage. On March 9, Sinclair and Comcast signed a new deal to extend retransmission rights for four years to expire on March 1, 2011.

Per a new five-year affiliation agreement reached between Sinclair and Fox on May 15, 2012, WSMH would remain a Fox affiliate until at least December 31, 2017, although currently, it's Fox affiliation remains to this day.[10]

In late 2010 and early 2011 with new carriage deals by owner Sinclair, WSMH added two music video networks to its digital subchannels, TheCoolTV on 66.2 and The Country Network on 66.3.[11][12]

In late August 2012, TheCoolTV was dropped from all 32 Sinclair stations that carried the channel, including WSMH, with no replacement due to non-renewal of affiliation.[13] Sinclair signed an agreement on June 2014 which adds GetTV to 33 TV markets with WSMH adding that channel on channel 66.2 effective July 2.[14]

Effective April 27, 2015, WEYI took over duties of producing the news for sister station WSMH.[15] The station, being operated by Sinclair, may carry sports since August 30, 2015 from Sinclair Networks' American Sports Network.[16] Zuus was replaced on .3 by sci-fi network Comet on October 31, 2015.[17] In December 2015, the station replaced GetTV with Antenna TV.[18] It also carried the now-defunct Sinclair-owned childrens' programming block KidsClick 7 days a week from July 1, 2017 until the block's end on March 31, 2019.

Programming

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:[1]

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming
66.1720p16:9FOX66Main WSMH programming / Fox
66.2480i4:3ANTENNAAntenna TV
66.316:9COMETTVComet
66.4STADIUMStadium

News operation

On October 28, 2002, WSMH started up a news department and began airing local broadcasts every night at 10.[7] Known as Fox 66 News at 10, it was assisted by Sinclair's centralized news department[7] under the News Central brand. Local news originated from WSMH's studios while national news, weather, and sports aired from News Central headquarters in Hunt Valley, Maryland.[19] The station was the first Sinclair-owned property to use the News Central service and marked the first time it had ventured into the local news market.[7] In January 2006, Sinclair announced plans to end its News Central operation due to low ratings and expense.

On April 10, Sinclair announced that CBS affiliate WNEM-TV would begin producing a nightly 10 o'clock show on WSMH known as TV 5 News at 10 on Fox 66. This began airing on April 24 from WNEM's studios on North Franklin Street in Downtown Saginaw. After the final News Central broadcast on April 21, many local WSMH news employees were laid off. It had been expected that some personalities would join the WNEM-produced newscast in the future according to a press release. This was the case for former WSMH reporter David Custer who joined the WNEM news team on May 3.

The final News Central broadcast featured, in its last few minutes, clips from past shows. At the end, the studio was darkened and Jim Kiertzner and his boss left for the last time. Even after WSMH shut down its news operation, Mark E. Hyman's controversial "The Point" editorials continued to air following the end of the WNEM-produced newscasts. Hyman ended his commentaries on November 30. On May 1, 2009, the 10 o'clock news title was re-branded and the broadcast received updated graphics. Every night at 10:45, a fifteen-minute sports highlight show called Sports Extra airs. There is also a segment called "Fugitive Files" airing every week on Mondays which is a common segment offered by local news departments operated by Sinclair. Although WNEM upgraded its newscasts to 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen on October 14, 2010, the newscasts on WSMH remain in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition because this channel lacks a modern master control facility at its separate studios to receive the newscast in widescreen.

Effective April 27, 2015, WEYI took over duties of producing the 10 p.m. newscast for sister Sinclair station WSMH, FOX66 News at 10. Prior to April 27, WNEM-TV produced WSMH's evening newscast as part of a local agreement with WSMH.[15] Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson, a Sinclair Broadcast Group produced half-hour investigative news program, airs on the channel on Sunday morning starting October 4, 2015.[20]

See also

References
  1. "Digital TV Market Listing for WSMH". Listing. RabbitEars.info. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  2. "WSMH TV Channel 66 Flint". Station Listings. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  3. "Call letters Applications" (PDF). Broadcasting Magazine. Broadcasting Publications Inc. October 8, 1984. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  4. "Fates & Fortunes: Media" (PDF). Broadcasting. January 21, 1985. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  5. "Ownership Changes" (PDF). Broaccasting. July 7, 1986. p. 95. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  6. Thomas, Laurie; Litman, Barry R. (November 21, 1991). "Fox Broadcasting Company, Why Now - An Economic Study of the Rise of the Fourth Broadcast Network". Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. 35: 139.
  7. "Sinclair to increase news output". Digital Spy. National Magazine Company Ltd. October 7, 2002. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  8. "Form 10-Q Quarterly Report". Yahoo!. SINCLAIR BROADCAST GROUP INC. August 14, 2006. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  9. "Flint area watchers can find major networks, cable on tube". The Flint Journal. Mlive Media Group. May 5, 2009. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  10. Sinclair Reups With Fox, Gets WUTB Option, TVNewsCheck, May 15, 2012.
  11. "Sinclair links with The Country Network to fill digital TV tier". Television Business Report. August 23, 2010. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
  12. "Television". Flint and Tri-Cities Radio and TV Dial Guide. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  13. Malone, Michael (January 2, 2013). "TheCoolTV Signs Up New Stations". Broadcasting and Cable. NewBay Media, LLC. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  14. "GetTV Signs Big Affiliation Deal With Sinclair". TVNewsCheck. June 23, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  15. Dodson, Andrew (March 26, 2015). "WNEM TV 5 newscast on Fox 66 being replaced by WEYI 25 starting battle for 10 p.m." Flint Journal. Mlive Media Group. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  16. Deborah McAdams (July 17, 2014). "Sinclair Launches Sports Network". TV Technology. Archived from the original on July 21, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
  17. "Sinclair to launch science fiction network on Halloween". Baltimore Sun. October 20, 2015. Retrieved November 11, 2015.
  18. Lafayette, Jon (November 17, 2015). "26 More Stations Carrying Antenna TV". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media, LLC. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  19. "Central Casting in Local News Broadcasts". Newshour. PBS. December 11, 2003. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  20. "Sinclair Announces "Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson" New Investigative Broadcast To Debut On October 4, 2015" (Press release). Baltimore: Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. July 13, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2015 – via PRNewswire.
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