WSMH

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WSMH-TV
Flint / Saginaw / Bay City, Michigan
Branding	FOX 66
Channels	66 (UHF) analog, 16 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	FOX The Tube (on DT2)
Owner	Sinclair Broadcast Group
Founded	March 1985
Call letters meaning	We Show More Hits
Former affiliations	Independent
Transmitter Power	1170 kW
Website	wsmh.com

WSMH-TV "FOX 66" is the FOX television affiliate for the Flint - Saginaw - Bay City, Michigan television market. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Licensed to Flint, Michigan, its office and studios are located in Mount Morris Township, Michigan. Its transmitter facilities are located near Chesaning, Michigan.

On cable, WSMH can be seen on channel 8 on Comcast Flint and Charter Tri-Cities systems.

Contents 1 History 2 Newscasts 3 Sinclair dispute with Comcast 4 Logos 5 External links

[edit] History

WSMH went on the air in March 1985 as an independent television station, and in 1987, became a charter FOX affiliate.

The station took its call letters from the fact that it airs syndicated reruns of more hit series than most stations that eventually joined WSMH's current network. The call letters stand for the slogan "We Show More Hits", and not for anyone in the Smith family whose Sinclair Broadcast Group bought the station in 1996. To this day, reruns of FOX affiliate programs, as well as those normally not shown on most other FOX affiliates (including those aired on many UPN affiliates as well as Tribune Broadcasting's WB affiliates), are part of WSMH's schedule. In addition, WSMH also carries a few first-run syndicated programs seen on FOX affiliates as well as several first-run syndicated shows not carried by those same stations.

In September 2006, shortly after WSMH's digital signal was activated, the station added The Tube, a 24-hour music video channel to its DT2 digital subchannel.

WSMH and WXMI in West Michigan are the longest serving FOX affiliates in the state because WKBD in Detroit joined UPN. Oddly, WKBD was available in Mid-Michigan cable systems while still a FOX affiliate, and would serve as the region's UPN affiliate for that network's existence. (WJBK is currently Detroit's FOX affiliate.)

Sinclair and FOX cut a 6 year affiliation contract extension for Sinclair's 19 FOX affiliates. As a result, FOX will remain on WSMH through at least March 2012.

[edit] Newscasts

In 2002, WSMH began airing a weekday 10 p.m. newscast, under the name of FOX 66 News at 10, powered by News Central. It was the first Sinclair-owned station to use the News Central service, and marked the first time the station had ventured into the news market. As a result of the news program airing at 10 p.m., ratings were hard to determine amongst competitors in the region.

In January 2006, Sinclair Broadcasting Group announced plans to end its News Central broadcast due to low ratings and expense. Other Sinclair owned stations in Buffalo, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, and Tampa have already been notified of the decision and have had their newscasts either outsorced to other stations or dropped all together.

As a result, on April 10, 2006, Sinclair announced that the area's CBS affiliate WNEM, owned by Meredith Corporation, would begin producing a daily 10 p.m. newscast for WSMH, to be titled TV 5 News at 10 on FOX 66. The WNEM-produced newscasts began airing on April 24, 2006. The newscast features WNEM anchors and staff. After the final News Central broadcast on April 21, some WSMH news employees were laid off. It is expected that some former WNEM personalities on WSMH's News Central team will join the newscast in the future, according to a press release. [1]. Former WSMH reporter David Custer joined the WNEM news team on May 3, 2006. Another WSMH News Central member, Jim Kiertzner, joined Detroit's NBC affiliate, WDIV. [2]

Mark Hyman's The Point editorials continued to air on WSMH, following the end of the WNEM-produced newscasts. Hyman ended his commentaries on November 30.

The final News Central newscast featured, in its last few minutes, clips from past newscasts. At the end, the studio was darkened, and Kiertzner and his boss left for the last time. [3]

The time slot for the weekend newscasts before the first WNEM-produced newscast was filled with infomercials.

WNEM TV 5 News at 10 on FOX 66 (10-11 p.m., daily)

Weekdays

• Anchors: Sam Merrill & Katie O'Mara
• Weather: Darrin Bradley
• Sports: Mike Terry

Weekends

• Anchor: Craig McMorris, also weekday reporter
• Weather: Eric Jylha, also weekday reporter
• Sports: Darryl Sellers, also weekday sports reporter

[edit] Sinclair dispute with Comcast

The retransmission agreement between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Comcast Corporation was set to expire on February 5, 2007. An extension was granted so the retransmission agreement is now set to expire on March 1, 2007.[4] The deadline was 2 a.m. early Thursday morning, March 1.[5] The two sides are still talking so the deadline was extended to March 10.[6] Comcast has stated that they will not pay cash for retransmission rights, but is willing to give free commercial time to Fox 66 in exchange for retransmission rights.[7] On March 9, Sinclair and Comcast signed a new deal to extend Comcast retransmission rights for four years to expire on March 1, 2011.

[edit] Logos

WSMH's first logo, from a 1987 TV Guide ad. This logo was in use from 1985 until the mid-1990s.

The first FOX 66 logo from a promotional tile coaster.

WSMH's current FOX 66 logo.

Ad for WNEM-produced news from WSMH's website.

[edit] External links

• WSMH Website
• WNEM Website
• FOX Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WSMH

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Broadcast television in the Mid-Michigan (Flint / Saginaw / Bay City / Midland) market  (Nielsen DMA #66)
WNEM 5 (CBS/MNTV on DT2) - WJRT 12 (ABC, The AccuWeather Channel on DT2) - WCMU 14 / WCML 6 (PBS) - WDCP 19 / WDCQ 35 (PBS) - WEYI 25 (NBC) - WFUM 28 (PBS) - WHNE-LP 32 (A1) - WBSF 46 (The CW) - W46CR 46 (3ABN) - WAQP 49 (TBN / TCT) - WXON 54 (Ind) - WSMH 66 (FOX) (The Tube on DT2)
Significantly Viewed Out-of-Market Broadcast Stations Reception may vary by geographical location CBMT 6 (CBC, Montreal) - CBET 9 (CBC, Windsor) - WWTV 9 (CBS, Cadillac) - WBKB 11 (CBS, Alpena) - WKBD 50 (The CW, Detroit)
Defunct Television Stations:
WTAC 16 (ABC / DuMont)