WICD

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WICD
Champaign/Urbana, Illinois
Branding	ABC NewsChannel 15
Slogan	Coverage You Can Count On
Channels	15 (UHF) analog, 41 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	ABC
Owner	Sinclair Broadcast Group
Founded	July 14, 1967
Call letters meaning	W Illinois' Cities are Champaign & Danville
Former callsigns	WDAN-TV (1953-60) WCHU-TV (1959-67)
Former affiliations	NBC (1959-2005)
Website	www.wicd15.com

WICD, which brands itself as "ABC NewsChannel 15", is an ABC affiliate located in Champaign, Illinois. It is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group and broadcasts on channel 15. WICD's transmitter facility is located in Vermilion County, north east of Homer.

Although the station broadcasts its own local news and commercials, it is essentially a satellite station of WICS (channel 20). It serves the eastern half of the Springfield-Decatur-Champaign/Urbana and Danville market, while WICS serves the western half.

Contents 1 History 2 Personalities 2.1 Current 3 Former 4 Current Photogs 5 External links

[edit] History

WICD signed on as WDAN-TV from Danville, Illinois on December 19, 1953. Originally, the station was an ABC affiliate broadcasting on channel 24 with a signal which radiated about 25 miles from its transmitter in Danville. WDAN-TV was owned by Northwest Publishing, owner and publisher of the Danville Commercial-News newspaper.

Meanwhile, another station, WCHU-TV, began broadcasting in September of 1959 from Champaign. This station was an NBC affiliate that served as a satellite of WICS (channel 20) in Springfield, Illinois. WCHU broadcast on channel 33 with a signal that radiated about 15 miles from its transmitter atop the Inman Hotel in downtown Champaign. Channel 33 began colorcasting the next year. WCHU was owned by Plains Television Partners.

In July of 1960, WDAN-TV was purchased by Plains Television Partners. The call letters were changed to WICD and it was made a satellite station of WICS and WCHU. Even though it was now an NBC affiliate, WICD on channel 24 was never able to broadcast in color. From 1960 to 1967, both WCHU and WICD broadcast some locally originated programs from the WCHU studio in Champaign.

In 1967, the operations of WCHU and WICD were merged into a single station that would broadcast on channel 15 from Champaign under the WICD call sign (as a result, the studio in Danville was vacated), using the tallest tower in the state of Illinois (around 1385 feet). It was now a full power station at 1,000,000 watts, and able to broadcast NBC shows in color. The station moved from the Inman Hotel (which had remained its studio facility) to its current studio facility on 250 Country Fair Drive in 1978.

In 1986, WICD and WICS were purchased by Guy Gannett Broadcasting (no relation to the much larger Gannett Company). Guy Gannett then sold most of his stations, including WICD and WICS, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1999. Almost immediately after the acquisition by Sinclair was finalized, Sinclair announced the sale of the two stations, plus KGAN in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Sunrise Television. However, Sunrise was denied FCC approval to acquire the stations because both LIN TV (the owner of WAND at the time) and Sunrise Television were owned in part by Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst (HMTF), and the acquisitions of WICS/WICD would have resulted in a duopoly between two of the four largest stations in a market, which the FCC does not allow. Sinclair subsequently withdrew the offer to sell the three stations in 2000.

On September 5, 2005, WICD and WICS swapped affiliations with WAND (channel 17) and became an ABC affiliate.

[edit] Personalities

[edit] Current

• Bart Barker - Weekend Sports Anchor/Reporter
• Checky Beckford - Reporter/Photographer
• Emily Carlson - Reporter/Photographer
• Matt Coldagelli - Morning Anchor/Sports Reporter
• Jennifer Copeland - Anchor at 6 & 10 p.m.
• Jill Noelle - Morning/Midday weathercaster
• Ryann Hubbard - Reporter/Photographer
• Nick Janes - Reporter
• Bob McCaffrey - Reporter
• Melody Mendez - Weekend Anchor/Reporter
• Erin Murphy - Anchor at 5 p.m./Reporter
• Kent Ninomiya - Anchor at 5, 6, and 10 p.m.
• Doug Quick - Chief Weathercaster at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Danny Russell - Weekend weathercaster
• Josh Samuels - Sports Anchor
• Sara Vincent - Morning Anchor

[edit] Former

• Maira Ansari
• Scott Andresen
• Art Baron
• Angela Bettis
• Natalie Bomke
• Jennifer Broecker
• Keisha Brown
• Stacy Case
• Julie Chang
• Sandra Chapman
• Susan Chapman
• Kelli Cheatham
• Chris Curtis
• Ron Davis
• Paul Donohue
• Elroy Edwards
• Gwen Ellis
• Rob Elgis
• Carol Fisher
• Jeff Friend
• Dave Furgeson
• Tamara Gibbs
• Tiffini Helberg
• Bruce Jakubowski
• Demetria Kaye
• Kim Khazei
• Jack Keefe (former News Director)
• Maureen Kocot
• Dave Malkoff
• Tom Milbourn
• Andrew Miller
• Bob Miller
• Jennifer Mitchell
• Karen Moe
• Kathy Morris
• Scott Musgrave
• Carlene Orig
• Keith Page (deceased)
• Rich Porter
• Susan Rieke
• Erik Rinderle
• Jerome Ritchey
• Geni Roark
• Tiffani Sargent
• Mark Schanowski
• Niki Surles
• Loren Tate
• Nathalie Voirin
• Mark Welp
• Elizabeth Wooley
• Brian Zents

[edit] Current Photogs

Chief Photog: Jack Larson

Awesome Morning Photog: Shane Stefanchik

Nightside Photogs: Nathan Thompson, Doug Anderson

Part-time: Jon Nilles

[edit] External links

• Home page for WICD
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WICD
• WICD-TV Where Are They Now? Page

Broadcast television in the Champaign-Urbana/Decatur/Springfield market  (Nielsen DMA #82)
WCIA 3 (CBS) - WSIU 8 / WUSI 16 (PBS) - WILL 12 (PBS) - WSEC 14 (PBS) - WICD 15 / WICS 20 (ABC) - WAND 17 (NBC) - WBUI 23 (The CW) - W29BG/W34DL 34 (TBN) - WBXC 46 (MTV2) - WCFN 49 (MNTV) - WEIU 51 (PBS) - WRSP 55 / WCCU 27 (Fox)
Defunct stations:
WJJY 14 (ABC)