WSYX

{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:

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• Template:Infobox television channel
• Template:Infobox television station

WSYX, channel 6, is the ABC television affiliate in Columbus, Ohio. WSYX is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group and is the sister station to Fox affiliate WTTE (channel 28). The two stations share a studio in suburban Grandview Heights, which shares a post office with Columbus. WSYX carries a secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV on its second digital subchannel.

WSYX's audio signal can be heard on 87.75 MHz in much of central Ohio. The analog audio component of television channel 6 is located on the same frequency as 87.7 FM. WSYX emphasizes the fact that many FM radios can also receive the station when a television set is not nearby. This analog signal will disappear when the station goes digital in June, 2009.

History

The station began operations on August 30, 1949 as WTVN-TV, Columbus' second television station. The station was owned by Picture Waves, Inc., controlled by Toledo attorney and investor Edward Lamb, and was a sister station to WTVN radio (610 AM). In February 1953, Picture Waves sold the WTVN stations to the Cincinnati-based Taft Television and Radio Company. Taft later purchased an FM station in Columbus, WLWF (96.3 MHz.), from the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation in 1959, renaming the FM station WTVN-FM (it is now WLVQ).

WTVN-TV was an affiliate of the DuMont Television Network at its inception, and was one of only three primary affiliates of that network. In 1953, it took on a secondary affiliation with ABC. Channel 6 became an exclusive ABC station when DuMont closed down operations in 1955. In the early 1970s, Taft's common ownership of WTVN-TV and WKRC-TV in Cincinnati was awarded "grandfather status" by the Federal Communications Commission which, under its newly-enacted "one-to-a-market" rule, prohibited television stations with overlapping signals to share common ownership while protecting existing instances. (One of channel 6's competitors, Crosley/Avco-owned WLWC [channel 4, now WCMH-TV], was also given grandfathered protection through a similar situation.)

File:Wtvntv-1978.png

WTVN-TV identification logo, circa 1978.

In 1987 Taft Broadcasting underwent a hostile takeover, which saw Cincinnati financier Carl Lindner acquire a majority of Taft's shares, renaming the company Great American Broadcasting. However, as the FCC considered the restructuring as an ownership change, WTVN-TV lost its grandfathered protection and could not be retained by Great American. A group of former Taft Broadcasting shareholders, led by millionaire Robert Bass, purchased WTVN-TV for their new company, called Anchor Media. The sale closed on August 31, 1987, and the new owners renamed the station WSYX. WTVN and WLVQ-FM remained owned by Great American Broadcasting for the next several years.

Anchor Media, which also purchased fellow ABC affiliates WLOS in Asheville, North Carolina (in April 1987) and KOVR in Stockton, California (in January 1989), was purchased by River City Broadcasting in 1993. River City was merged into the Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1996. Sinclair owned Columbus' Fox affiliate, WTTE, but could not keep both stations since the FCC did not allow common ownership of two stations in a single market. Sinclair kept the longer-established WSYX and sold WTTE to Glencairn, Ltd., owned by former Sinclair executive Edwin Edwards. However, the Smith family (Sinclair's founding owners) controlled nearly all of Glencairn's stock. In effect, Sinclair now had a duopoly in Columbus in violation of FCC rules. Sinclair and Glenciarn further circumvented the rules by merging WTTE's operations with those of WSYX under a local marketing agreement, with WSYX as the senior partner.

In 2001, after the FCC allowed duopolies, Sinclair tried to acquire Glencairn outright. However, the FCC would not allow Sinclair to repurchase WTTE for two major reasons. First, the FCC does not allow duopolies between two of the four highest-rated stations in a single market. Also, the Columbus market has only seven full-power stations -- too few to legally permit a duopoly. Glencairn was renamed Cunningham Broadcasting, but is still effectively owned by Sinclair because nearly all of its stock is owned by trusts controlled by the Smith family. This situation is one of many that has led to allegations that Cunningham is simply a shell corporation used by Sinclair to circumvent FCC ownership rules.

In August 2006, WSYX launched a digital subchannel to carry programming from My Network TV, a new programming service from News Corporation, the parent company of Fox. The digital subchannel is known as My TV Columbus, and added programming from This TV in the daytime and overnight hours on November 1, 2008.

Digital television

The station's digital signal, VHF 13, is multiplexed:

Digital channels

Channel	Programming
6.1	main WSYX/ABC programming
6.2	MyTV Columbus/FUNimation Channel/This TV

Analog-to-digital transition

After the analog television shutdown scheduled for June 12, 2009 , WSYX-DT will remain on channel 13 using PSIP to display WSYX's virtual channel as 6 on digital television receivers.

Technical Information

WSYX's audio signal will no longer be available on 87.75 FM after the digital transition is complete.

News Operation

Channel 6 was generally in last place in the local news ratings, except for two periods when the station was intensely competitive -- from 1977 to 1983 (when ABC was either the number one or a close number two network), and from 1987 to 1992. During the 1977-83 era, channel 6 often passed WCMH for second place behind long-dominant WBNS-TV, and during 1987-1992, channel 6 and WBNS traded second place ratings. Over the years, the station has featured high profile Columbus anchors including Tom Ryan (who moved from WBNS to WTVN in 1979), Pat Lalama, I.J. Hudson, Lou Forrest (known as Louis de la Foret on CNN Headline News), and Deborah Countiss. Liz Claman, now an anchor on CNBC, and Carol Costello, now an anchor on CNN, were also one time reporters on WSYX. The station became competitive again in the late 1990s, and, in the past several years, has waged a fierce battle with WCMH for the runner-up position behind WBNS-TV (and since 2008 has beaten WCMH in some time slots).

Currently, WSYX's news programs are called "ABC 6 On Your Side" while programming on WTTE is branded "FOX 28 News at 10" and "Good Day Columbus." The news operation produces five hours of news each weekeday on channel 6 and three hours of news on channel 28. The stations place a prime focus on their weather operation, which uses the full suite of Weather Central technology, by placing the forecast near the beginning of each newscast and by providing weather updates every ten minutes during morning newscasts. WSYX and WTTE did not participate in the wider implementation of Sinclair's now-defunct News Central format for its newscasts, but did air "The Point", a one-minute political commentary that was a requirement of all Sinclair-owned stations with newscasts until the series was discontinued in December 2006.

WSYX launched its newscasts in High Definition on May 10, 2008, making WSYX the third Columbus station to have all major news operations producing news in high definition. In addition, this was the second Sinclair-owned station to launch local newscasts in High Definition.

Newscast/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

• Your Esso Reporter (1949-1956)
• WTVN News (1956-1964)
• 6-Star News (1964-1967)
• Eyewitness News (1967-1972)
• WTVN Newservice (1972-1977)
• Action 6 News (1977-1987)
• Channel 6 News (1987-1992)
• 6 On Your Side News (1992-1995)
• 6 News (1995-1999)
• NewsCenter on ABC 6 (1999-2006)
• ABC 6 NewsCenter (2006-2007)
• ABC 6 News/On Your Side (2007-Present)

Station Slogans

• Channel 6 Calls it Home (Early 1970s)
• We're Ohio's Very Own, TV-6 (Mid 1970s)
• Bringing it Home to You (1979-?)
• Where News Comes First! (Early 1980s)
• The Spirit of Ohio (1985-1988)
• Still The Team to Watch (Mid-late 1980s)
• News You Can Use (1996-1998)
• Television With The Power Times Two (1998-2001)
• Your Weather Authority (2002-2006)
• On Your Side (2006-Present)

Current Personalities

Anchors

• Terri Sullivan - weekday mornings and noon
• Andy Dominianni- weekday morning and noon
• Yolanda Harris - 5,6,10pm and 11pm weeknights
• Gabe Spiegel - 5,6,10pm and 11pm weeknights
• Kent Justice - weekends
• Sean Cuellar - weekends

Weather

• Lisa Colbert - weekday mornings and noon (also chief meteorologist at KDNL-TV)
• Jerry Martz - chief meteorologist/weekday evenings
• Dana Turtle - weekends

Sports

• Clay Hall - sports director/weeknights
• Anthony Rothman - weekends

Reporters

General Assignment Reporters

• Tom Bosco (On Your Side)
• Susan Burton (Health and Science)
• Johnny DiLoretto (Entertainment)
• Maria Durant
• Mary Jedlicka
• Carol Luper
• Emily Riemer (State House)
• Shannon McCormick
• Adam Slinger
• Dr. Marivi Soto
• Shawndrea Thomas
• Jake Whittenberg
• Alexis Wiley (On Your Side Investigations)

Former personalities

• Donna Hanover, anchor. (Actress and ex-wife of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani)

• Bob Alan, chief weathercaster. (1977-1980)

• Anne Allred, Reporter (2004-2006) (Now at WHDH-TV in Boston)

• Mary Baer morning/noon anchor (1989-1992) now at WJXT

• Mike Bettes, meteorologist. Now at The Weather Channel.

• Terre Blair, anchor. (Married songwriter Marvin Hamlisch.)

• Kimberly Boles, anchor/reporter.

• Mike Bowersock, reporter (1986-1989) now at WCMH-TV

• Chris Bradley, chief meteorologist. (1998-2005) Now the Chief Meterorologist on WBNS-TV as of July 06.

• Charlene Brown, 5,6,11 anchor (1990-2002)

• Tom Burris, anchor.

• Calvin Sneed, 6 On Your Side Consumer Reporter/Anchor, talk show host, (1986-1989), now news anchor at WTVC-TV Chattanooga

• Don Carson, chief meteorologist (1980-1984)

• Liz Claman (1989-1991) Now at CNBC

• Kirstin Cole, anchor.(1997-1999) Now at WCBS-TV

• Larry Cosgrove, chief meteorologist. (1984-1989)

• Carol Costello,weekend anchor. (1988-1990) Now at CNN

• Chad Myers, chief meteorologist. (1991-1994) Now at CNN

• Deborah Countiss main evening 6/11pm anchor. (1991-1998)

• Tom Zizka, Reporter/Troubleshooter (1992-1998) now at KRIV

• Wendi Craver, anchor/weekend weather meteorologist (1972-1997 now retired)

• Ray Crawford, sports anchor/reporter (1998-2003) current anchor Columbus Sports Network

• Crystal Davis, Reporter/Weekend Meteorologist

• Jim Finnerty, 6/11pm anchor (1987-1988)

• Michele Gailiun, main evening 6/11pm anchor.(1981-1991)

• Keisha Grant, anchor/reporter. (2000-2003) now at WVIT

• Earl Green, anchor (1955-1980)

• Jon Greiner, morning/noon anchor (1990-2000) now at WTAE

• Lou Forrest, 6/11pm anchor. (1988-1992)

• Ted Hart, investigative reporter (1980s)now at WBNS

• Lonnie Haskins, sports director.

• Bob Hetherington, anchor. (1992-2001)

• I.J. Hudson, anchor. (1977-1980)

• Mike Jackson, anchor/reporter (-1994)

• Bud Kaatz, sports director (-1982)

• Bruce Kirk, 6:00 anchor/reporter (1970s-1980s)now at WINK

• Pat Lalama, anchor (early 1980s).

• Dwight Lauderdale, early 1970s, now at WPLG

• Tom Lawrence, evening anchor (1992-1994)now at WDAF

• Tom Layson, reporter/anchor. (1996-2001)

• Bill Linson, sports (1970's)

• Rick Lord, reporter (2002-2005) now at WCHS-TV

• Bill Martin weekend anchor (1988-1990) now at WJW

• Tram Mai, anchor/reporter, now at KPNX

• Karen Massie, anchor/reporter (-1987) now at KXTV

• Dawn Meadows, morning/noon anchor

• Jim Miller, anchor

• Steve Minich, sports anchor (1979-1990)now at WMTW

• Larry Nichols, anchor

• Meredith Paul, anchor.

• Megan Pringle, morning & noon anchor(2002-2006) now at WMAR

• Liz Ogletree, reporter

• Mariza Reyes, reporter (2002-2005) now at KPRC

• Ralph Robinson

• Tom Ryan, 6/11pm anchor. (1979-1987)

• Larry Sales, weathercaster

• Marc Silverstein, Six On Your Side/Troubleshooter (1989-1995). Food Network Host: The Best Of, Discovery Channel Host: "Go Ahead, Make My Dinner."

• Gary Somerset, reporter. (1999-2001)

• Tony Victor, weathercaster, reporter (1991-1996). WTTE Fox 28 weekend anchor 1996-1997. now Director of Major Gifts, Gannon University, Erie, PA.

• Lorene Wagner, anchor. (1995-2001)

• Shelley Walcott, reporter(2003-2005) now at WTMJ-TV

• Simone Wilkinson, reporter. (2006-2007) now at KUSA-TV

• Ben Woods, chief meteorologist. (1994-1998)

Jan Ryan, anchor/reporter (1977-1980) now President CEO of www.NewsPowerOnline.com and Managing Partner www.GlobalArtisanShowcase.com.

External links

• WSYX Website
• WTVN-TV History Page at the Early Television Foundation
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• [1] -Columbus Dispatch story about WSYX running fake news
• http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/73525.html FCC document about Channel 6 audio interference with educational stations in lower FM megahertz band