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WXII-LD (channel 12) is a low-power television station in
Cedar, Michigan Cedar is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Leelanau County in the U.S. State of Michigan. The CDP had a population of 93 at the 2010 census. Cedar is located within Solon Township. As an unincorporated community, Cedar ...
, United States, serving the Traverse City
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area with programming from MyNetworkTV and
Cozi TV Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1960s to the 2000s. The network origina ...
. Owned by Bridge Media Networks, it is sister to Lake City-licensed NEWSnet
owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
WMNN-LD WMNN-LD (channel 26) is a low-power television station licensed to Lake City, Michigan, United States, serving the Cadillac–Traverse City area as the East Coast flagship of the 24/7 headline news service NEWSnet. It is owned and operated by ...
(channel 26). Both stations share studios on West 13th Street in
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, while WXII-LD's transmitter is located west of downtown Traverse City near Harris and Cedar Run roads. Despite having a digital signal of its own, WXII-LD is only 1.5 kW whereas WMNN-LD is 15 kW, so WXII-LD is
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
over WMNN-LD's twelfth
digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
(UHF channel 17.12 or virtual channel 26.12) to expand its over-the-air reach.


History

On December 12, 1996, the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) issued a
construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
for a low-power television station on
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
channel 51 in Pinconning, Michigan with the call sign W51CS. In 2001, the permit was moved to VHF channel 12 in Traverse City under call letters W12CX. In 2003, the call letters were changed to WLLZ-LP. From 1980 to 1996, the WLLZ calls were used by an album oriented rock FM radio station broadcasting on 98.7 in the
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area, nicknamed "Detroit's Wheelz" (later
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"V98.7" and now top-40 "AMP Radio" WDZH). After the FM station dropped the call letters, they were used for several years on an AM station in the market, and were picked up by Channel 12 after the AM station dropped them in 2003. WLLZ's owner at the time, P & P Cable Holdings, is known for picking up calls discarded by other Michigan radio and television stations for use on their own stations. WLLZ-LP signed on in January 2004 as an affiliate of
Urban America Television Urban America Television (UATV) was an over-the-air television broadcast network in the United States targeted towards Black Americans. According to the company's website, the network had 70 affiliate stations. UATV claimed to have had a reach o ...
. It added America One programming to its schedule in Summer 2004. WLLZ became a full affiliate of the network in May 2006 when Urban America Television ceased operations. In June 2008, the station was added to
Charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...
channel 202 throughout the northern Lower Peninsula. It moved to the basic tier on channel 72 in December 2008 and has now moved to channel 11 in 18 counties on Charter cable. Also in December 2008, WLLZ became a primary affiliate of MyNetworkTV; the station was then branded as "My TV 12". Until then, there was no local affiliate in the northern Michigan
market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: * Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand * Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, a ...
. On May 15, 2009, WLLZ discontinued an affiliation with The Sportsman Channel (which was phasing out its over-the-air affiliations) and added RTV, with America One programming significantly reduced (though not eliminated). Previously from 2007 until 2008, NBC affiliate WPBN-TV (channel 7) carried RTV on a second digital subchannel. This was dropped in favor of a simulcast of
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
affiliate WGTU (channel 29). Due to its low-powered status, WLLZ was exempt from switching to digital-only broadcasting on June 12, 2009. The station discontinued their affiliation with America One in 2015, when it merged with Youtoo TV into Youtoo America, allowing a contractual out of that agreement. With the start of the 2015–16 season, WLLZ has wound down carrying nearly all of their syndicated programming, with Cozi TV being carried most of the day and MyNetworkTV in prime time. On November 1, 2017, the FCC approved the sale of WLLZ-LP to Freelancer Television Broadcasting, Inc. On December 4, 2017, the sale to Freelancer Television Broadcasting was completed, making it a sister station to WMNN-LD; the station then modified its branding to "MI TV 12". It changed its call sign to WXII-LP on December 21, 2017. On April 23, 2019, the FCC granted WXII-LP a construction permit to operate a digital companion channel on UHF channel 30. In the meantime, digital over-the-air access to this station had been being provided through a simulcast over a
digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
of co-owned station WMNN-LD; that simulcast continued post-transition to improve this station's over-the-air reach and also to feed local cable systems. On September 14, 2021, WXII-LP commenced digital operations and the FCC changed this station's call sign to WXII-LD to reflect this station's new digital operations. Concurrent with the launch of this station's digital operations, an uninterrupted national feed of the NEWSnet service, absent of any locally-produced content, was added as a second subchannel. On January 13, 2022, Freelancer Television Broadcasting's portfolio, including NEWSnet, WMNN-LD, and WXII-LD, were sold to investor
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, with Eric Wotila retaining 10% ownership in the new company Bridge News, LLC. Under the terms of the deal, Bridge News would operate the stations via a time brokerage agreement with Freelancer Television Broadcasting. The sale was consummated on March 24.


News programming

Until May 2009, WLLZ aired ''INN National News'', a newscast produced by Independent News Network in
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from America One. It also carried a video simulcast of an hour of radio station
WMKT WMKT (1270 AM) is a radio station licensed to Charlevoix, Michigan, broadcasting a talk radio format. The station also broadcasts on two FM translators on W272CR 102.3 (formerly 92.1) and W277DY 103.3 and streams online. The station features loca ...
's morning show hosted by Greg Marshall. The simulcast was discontinued in early 2011. In late 2017, following the station's callsign switch to WXII-LP, sister station WMNN-LD began producing 90-second news updates for channel 12 that aired during prime time over the first commercial break aired each hour. News programming expanded in March 2018, when WMNN-LD began producing hour-long 7:00 and 11:00 p.m. newscasts for the station each weeknight. The early newscast competes against a half-hour newscast produced by CBS affiliate WWTV (channel 9) that airs on Fox affiliate WFQX-TV (channel 32), while the 11:00 p.m. competes against longer-established late night newscasts on WWTV (and its
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satellite WWUP, channel 10), and WPBN-TV (and its Cheboygan satellite WTOM-TV, channel 4) as well as a pre-recorded broadcast on the latter's sister ABC affiliate, WGTU (and Sault Ste. Marie satellite WGTQ, channel 8).


Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:


References


External links

* {{MNTV Michigan MyNetworkTV affiliates Cozi TV affiliates XII-LD Television channels and stations established in 2004 2004 establishments in Michigan Low-power television stations in the United States