HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

WBUI (channel 23) is a
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...
licensed to
Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city in Macon County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...
, United States, serving the Central Illinois region as an affiliate of
The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...
. It is owned by GOCOM Media, LLC, alongside Springfield-licensed Fox affiliate WRSP-TV, channel 55 (and its
semi-satellite A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or trans ...
, Urbana-licensed WCCU, channel 27). GOCOM maintains joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with
Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...
, owner of Springfield-licensed ABC affiliate WICS, channel 20 (and its semi-satellite, Champaign-licensed WICD, channel 15), for the provision of certain services. WBUI, WRSP and WICS share studios on East Cook Street in Springfield's Eastside; WBUI maintains an advertising sales office on South Main Street/ US 51 in downtown Decatur and transmitter facilities in Whitmore Township (between Oreana and I-72).


History

The station signed on May 14, 1984, as WFHL and was owned by the local Foursquare Church. One half of the station's programming was Christian programming with shows such as '' The 700 Club'' and local religious programs. The station's original studios were located on North Parkway Court in Decatur. The other half of the schedule consisted of recent barter cartoons, some older cartoons, family-oriented off-network
drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
shows, classic sitcoms, westerns, and old
movies A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...
. In 1998, the station was sold to Paxson Communications, who renamed the station WPXU. The station replaced most hours of programming with
infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of di ...
s until it joined the company's
Pax TV Ion Television (referred to on-air as simply Ion) is an American terrestrial television, broadcast television network and Free ad-supported streaming television, FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scri ...
network at its launch on August 31, 1998. At that point, the syndicated shows aired by previous ownership were dropped entirely. On October 5, WPXU added a secondary affiliation with UPN as did several other Paxson-owned stations. ACME Communications acquired the station from Paxson on June 2, 1999, and changed it to WB affiliate WBUI. (Paxson, now Ion Media Networks, promptly moved the WPXU-TV call letters to its station in
Jacksonville, North Carolina Jacksonville is a city in Onslow County, North Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 72,723, which makes Jacksonville the List of municipalities in North Carolina, 14th-most populous city in North Caroli ...
). At this point, some of the syndicated shows previously airing on the station returned along with mix of classic sitcoms and cartoons. Even after the sale, the station retained its secondary UPN affiliation with ACME expanding the arrangement to KPLR-TV in St. Louis and WBXX-TV in
Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
by 2000. When WCFN (now WCIX) joined UPN in 2002, WBUI became a sole WB affiliate. Gradually from about 2000 until 2005, the station phased out most cartoons and classic sitcoms for more recent sitcoms, talk shows, and court shows. In September 2006 with the merge between UPN and The WB, WBUI (owned by a former WB network executive) took The CW affiliation by default while WCFN joined the other new broadcast television network,
MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...
. On June 20, 2007, GOCOM Media announced its intent to purchase this station from ACME Communications. The sale was approved on September 14 by the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) which waived its
duopoly A duopoly (from Greek , ; and , ) is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market, and most (if not all) of the competition within that market occurs directly between them. Duopoly is the most commonly ...
rules for the sale. The Central Illinois market did not have enough station owners at the time to legally permit another duopoly under normal conditions (there was already an existing duopoly in the market, Nexstar Broadcasting's WCIA and WCFN). However, ACME and GOCOM sought a "failed station" waiver for the deal. ACME claimed it was losing money on WBUI and could not find a buyer that did not require a duopoly waiver. The sale to GOCOM Media officially closed on October 25, 2007. At that point, the station moved its operations from its original studios at North Parkway Court in Decatur into WRSP's facilities on Old Rochester Road in Springfield. On December 31, 2012, the Sinclair Broadcast Group closed on the purchase of the non-license assets of GOCOM's three television stations (WRSP/WCCU and sister station WBUI) for approximately $25.6 million. Sinclair provides sales and other non-programming services to the stations pursuant to shared services and joint sales agreements. Both WBUI and WRSP were initially operated from separate facilities from WICS/WICD. However, WCCU quickly moved its advertising sales operation from its location on South Neil Street/ US 45 in Champaign into WICD's studios. Eventually, WRSP and WBUI also moved from their offices in Springfield and were consolidated into WICS' facility. Through a previous arrangement with WICS, the ABC outlet's weekday morning
meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...
provided WBUI with
weather forecasts Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmo ...
seen on-air (during its airing of '' The Daily Buzz'') and through its website that were taped in advance. The segments were appropriately titled ''C-More Weather'' (owing to its CW affiliation). WBUI no longer offers ''The Daily Buzz'' as part of its schedule.


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:


Analog-to-digital conversion

WBUI shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 23, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 22, using virtual channel 23.


Towers

Image: WAND and WBUI towers.jpg, The tall WBUI tower (left tower) near Argenta, Illinois, 2007.WBUI's tower is actually taller than the WAND tower at right, but is farther away from the point of observation. . Image:WBUI TV antenna.jpg, The upper portion of the WBUI-TV tower, 2007.


Notes


References

*
Broadcasting & Cable article on the FCC's approval of the WBUI sale


External links

*
WBUI-DT2 "This TV Illinois"

WRSP-TV/WCCU "Fox 55/27 Illinois"

WICS "ABC NewsChannel 20"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wbui 1984 establishments in Illinois The CW affiliates Dabl affiliates Decatur, Illinois The Nest (TV network) affiliates Rewind TV affiliates Sinclair Broadcast Group Television channels and stations established in 1984 Television stations in Illinois