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WBUI

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WBUI
CityDecatur, Illinois
Channels
Branding
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
  • GOCOM Media,LLC
  • (GOCOM Media of Illinois, LLC)
OperatorSinclair Broadcast GroupviaJSA/SSA
WRSP-TV, WCCU, WICS,WICD
History
FoundedDecember 28, 1983
First air date
May 14, 1984(40 years ago)(1984-05-14)[a]
Former call signs
  • WFHL (1984–1998)
  • WPXU (1998–1999)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:23 (UHF, 1984–2009)
Call signmeaning
The WB (former affiliation) andUniversity of Illinois(allusion of service to Champaign–Urbana)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID16363
ERP325kW
HAAT401 m (1,316 ft)
Transmitter coordinates39°56′56″N88°50′12″W/ 39.94889°N 88.83667°W/39.94889; -88.83667
Links
Public license information
Websitecw23tv

WBUI(channel 23) is atelevision stationlicensed toDecatur, Illinois,United States, serving theCentral Illinoisregion as an affiliate ofThe CW.It is owned by GOCOM Media,LLC,alongsideSpringfield-licensedFoxaffiliateWRSP-TV,channel 55 (and itssemi-satellite,Urbana-licensed WCCU, channel 27). GOCOM maintainsjoint salesandshared servicesagreements (JSA/SSA) withSinclair Broadcast Group,owner of Springfield-licensedABCaffiliateWICS,channel 20 (and its semi-satellite,Champaign-licensedWICD,channel 15), for the provision of certain services. WBUI, WRSP and WICS share studios on East Cook Street in Springfield'sEastside;WBUI maintains an advertising sales office on South Main Street/US 51in downtown Decatur and transmitter facilities inWhitmore Township(betweenOreanaandI-72).

History

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The station signed on May 14, 1984, as WFHL and was owned by the localFoursquare Church.One half of the station's programming was Christian programming with shows such asThe 700 Cluband localreligious programs.The station's original studios were located on North Parkway Court in Decatur. The other half of the schedule consisted of recent bartercartoons,some older cartoons, family-oriented off-networkdramashows, classic sitcoms,westerns,and oldmovies.

In 1998, the station was sold to Paxson Communications, who renamed the station WPXU. The station replaced most hours of programming withinfomercialsuntil it joined the company'sPax TVnetwork 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 withUPNas did several other Paxson-owned stations.[2]

ACME Communicationsacquired the station from Paxson on June 2, 1999, and changed it toWBaffiliate WBUI. (Paxson, nowIon Media Networks,promptly moved theWPXU-TVcall letters to its station inJacksonville, North Carolina). 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 toKPLR-TVinSt. LouisandWBXX-TVinKnoxvilleby 2000.[3]

When WCFN (nowWCIX) 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 aformer WB network executive) took The CW affiliation by default while WCFN joined the other new broadcast television network,MyNetworkTV.On June 20, 2007, GOCOM Media announced its intent to purchase this station from ACME Communications.[4]The sale was approved on September 14 by theFederal Communications Commission(FCC) which waived itsduopolyrules for the sale.

The Central Illinoismarketdid 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'sWCIAand 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.[5]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.

OnDecember 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.[6]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 45in 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 morningmeteorologistprovided WBUI withweather forecastsseen on-air (during its airing ofThe Daily Buzz) and through its website that were taped in advance. The segments were appropriately titledC-More Weather(owing to its CW affiliation). WBUI no longer offersThe Daily Buzzas part of its schedule.

Technical information

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Subchannels

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The station's signal ismultiplexed:

Subchannels of WBUI[7]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
23.1 1080i 16:9 CW The CW
23.2 480i Dabl Dabl
23.3 TheNest The Nest
23.4 Rewind Rewind TV
27.3 480i 4:3 Antenna Antenna TV(WCCU)
Broadcast on behalf of another station

Analog-to-digital conversion

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WBUI shut down its analog signal, overUHFchannel 23, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were totransition from analog to digital broadcastsunder federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 22,[8]usingvirtual channel23.

Towers

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  • The 411.8-meter (1,351.0 ft) tall WBUI tower (left tower) near Argenta, Illinois, 2007.[9]
    The 411.8-meter (1,351.0 ft) tall WBUI tower (left tower) nearArgenta, Illinois,2007.[9]
  • The upper portion of the WBUI-TV tower, 2007.
    The upper portion of the WBUI-TV tower, 2007.

Notes

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  1. ^TheBroadcasting and Cable Yearbooksays May 14, while theTelevision and Cable Factbooksays May 13.

References

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  1. ^"Facility Technical Data for WBUI".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^Burke, David (September 18, 1998)."'Air exchange' puts UPN on WPXU ".Herald & Review.RetrievedApril 23,2012.
  3. ^Schneider, Michael (February 22, 2000)."Sharing the wealth".Variety.RetrievedApril 22,2012.
  4. ^"ACME Communications".acmecommunications.Archived fromthe originalon September 5, 2007.
  5. ^"ACME Communications".acmecommunications.Archived fromthe originalon July 7, 2011.
  6. ^"Sinclair Broadcast Group".sbgi.net.Archived fromthe originalon August 17, 2013.
  7. ^RabbitEars TV Query for WBUI
  8. ^"DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds"(PDF).RetrievedMarch 24,2012.
  9. ^WBUI's tower is actually taller than the WAND tower at right, but is farther away from the point of observation."Listing 1215843".Antenna Structure Registration database.U.S.Federal Communications Commission..
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