WLUK-TV
Encyclopedia
WLUK-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station
for the Fox River Valley
area and Northeastern Wisconsin
. Licensed to Green Bay, Wisconsin
, the station broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter on Scray's Hill in Ledgeview
; the station also broadcasts in Upper Michigan from digital translator W40AN-D (channel 40), licensed to Escanaba, Michigan
and transmitting from a tower in Wells Township
.
WLUK is owned and operated by LIN TV Corporation and is sister station to CW
affiliate WCWF
, which WLUK has operated since 2010 and has been co-owned since Spring 2011; the stations share studios on Lombardi Avenue (U.S. 41 Bus
) in Green Bay. Programming on WLUK includes the full Fox Network lineup; first-run syndicated
programming including Wheel of Fortune
, Jeopardy!
, Judge Judy
, and Judge Joe Brown; reruns including Seinfeld
and King of the Hill
; and an extensive amount of local news programming.
WLUK signed-on September 11, 1954, as NBC
affiliate WMBV-TV licensed to Marinette
. The station was owned by William Walker and largely constructed from the assets of a failed NBC affiliate in Oshkosh
, WOSH-TV. By 1959, it changed its city of license
to Green Bay and its call sign to the current WLUK-TV (for its then on-air slogan "Lucky 11"). The channel also switched affiliations with WFRV-TV
becoming an ABC
affiliate. In 1960, the station was sold to Morgan Murphy Stations. Five years later in 1965, WLUK was sold to Post Corporation (a small media chain not affiliated with Post-Newsweek) whose properties included the nearby Appleton Post-Crescent and a sister station in Marquette, Michigan
, WLUC-TV
. In 1966, WLUK built a new studio and office building on Highland Avenue (now known as Lombardi Avenue). It aired some local entertainment programming including a Saturday night polka show and a daily children's cartoon show using the franchised Bozo the Clown
character.
In 1983, WLUK reclaimed the NBC affiliation when WFRV switched to ABC. In 1984, Gillett Broadcasting bought this channel but turned around and sold it in 1987 to Burnham Broadcasting in order to become owner of the KKR stations. In 1994, Burnham Broadcasting sold most of its stations (WLUK, KHON-TV
in Honolulu, WVUE
in New Orleans. and WALA-TV
in Mobile
) to SF Broadcasting who in turn announced that the four stations would become Fox affiliates. Savoy Communications and Fox shared ownership in SF Broadcasting. Originally Fox had voting stock but this was changed prior to the stations' sale becoming final. A fifth Burnham station, KBAK-TV
in Bakersfield, California
, was excluded from the SF deal and was instead spun off to a new company formed by several former Burnham executives.
WLUK became a Fox affiliate in August 1995 swapping affiliations with WGBA-TV (although the station had never really identified with the NBC network, only using the NBC Peacock sparingly in station advertising). Like most former big three network
affiliates switching to Fox during that time, WLUK picked up almost no syndicated programming from WGBA, though it was unnecessary because of WGBA's local marketing agreement
with WACY; WGBA's programming mainly moved to that station instead.
Because of Fox's 1994 purchase of National Football Conference
television rights, the switch made WLUK the unofficial "home" station of the Green Bay Packers
which became a major ratings draw. Unlike the New World
Fox affiliation converts, WLUK still took Fox Kids
programming running it an hour early on weekdays afternoons from 1 until 4. The channel ran Fox Kids until the weekday block ended at the end of 2001 (when it had been pushed back to as early as 10am) and Saturday morning programming known as Fox Box and later 4KidsTV until that block ended nationally at the end of 2008, when 4Kids and Fox split ways. By the time 4Kids TV ceased airing, Fox completely discontinued airing children's programming for good. The station is one of the few in the nation to use the 1970's NBC
drama Little House on the Prairie
to fulfill their educational and informational content
obligations; the show has run weekdays at 1pm since the 2000-01 television season.
Over the last decade, Packer football games have routinely drawn an eighty percent share of the audience that is far and away the highest-rated programs in the market
. SF sold WLUK and the other three Fox affiliates in 1997 to Silver King/USA Broadcasting. Emmis Communications
purchased the station along with WVUE, KHON, and WALA in 1998. LIN Broadcasting bought WLUK early in 2006 as Emmis put all of its stations up for sale. In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
, WLUK is only available over-the-air in Menominee County
and via a low powered digital translator in Escanaba. Despite this, WLUK is carried by Charter
in the West and Central Upper Peninsula along with WLUC-DT2
except in Gogebic County
which is covered by KQDS-TV
in Duluth, Minnesota
and the Eastern Upper Peninsula which is covered by WWUP-DT 10.2 (standard definition digital simulcast of WFQX-TV
in Cadillac, Michigan
). WLUK can also be seen on Charter in the town of Ludington, Michigan
across Lake Michigan
from the Green Bay area.
On June 4, 2010, it was announced that LIN TV would begin to operate WIWB through shared service and local sales agreements. WLUK began to provide technical, engineering, promotional, administrative, and other operational support services for WIWB, advertising sales services under a related but separate joint sales agreement. That station moved into WLUK's studios that August. This was the second LMA (or similar) in the market (Journal Communications
-owned WGBA-TV has operated WACY-TV which is owned by Ace TV Inc. since 1994). On September 20, 2010, WIWB changed it calls to WCWF. In April 2011, WCWF was officially sold to LIN under a failing station waiver, and both WLUK and WCWF are now fully sister station
s.
On August 17, 2011, the station increased its transmitter power from 17.19 kW to 40 kW. Previously, fellow Fox affiliate WMSN-TV
in Madison
was broadcasting on channel 11, so WLUK had to decrease its transmitter power. When that channel became available, WLUK applied to the FCC to increase power once again.
signal was via antenna over-the-air as the station had maintained edicts going back to its ownership under Emmis not allowing local cable or satellite providers to broadcast their digital signals without paid retransmission consent
. LIN TV continued to apply this policy after its purchase of the Emmis stations and eventually extended it further to the remainder of its existing stations. Zollar and other station officials kept their stance against the local providers defending the station's stance on WLUK's website and in promotions which aired on-air. The first provider to carry WLUK-DT was Dish Network
as part of a March 13, 2008, agreement with LIN TV. Originally, the signal was to come on the air sometime in May 2008 but Green Bay local HD stations were offered early by the provider launching on April 16 on channel 5163. DirecTV
followed on June 8.
With retransmission agreements firmed up with the satellite providers, LIN TV began to pursue the dominant local cable providers for new deals. Charter was the first to be affected with its carriage agreement with WLUK expiring on July 1. The station began to air news ticker
scrolls during programming to advise viewers of the fact and negotiations did break down on June 4. It restarted soon, and by June 11, Charter and LIN TV came to a new agreement under undisclosed terms and WLUK-DT was launched on digital channel 611 shortly thereafter, AT&T
's new U-Verse
service made an agreement to carry the digital signal on June 30, 2008 while Comcast
's lone Northeastern Wisconsin system in Manitowoc
offered compensation to carry WLUK-DT on June 12 on digital channel 234. This left Time Warner
as the lone standout in the area to carry the DT signal as it and LIN TV had not come to an agreement nationally.
The ticker strategy was reused to pressure viewers into forcing Time Warner to come to an agreement, but with no success from either viewer pressure or contentious negotiations, the system was forced to pull WLUK from its systems at Midnight on October 3, 2008. Time Warner quickly offered free antennas to customers to receive the station while WLUK employed its website and Zollar to tell their side of the story while encouraging viewers to switch to Dish Network and U-Verse to continue to watch the station in some form. In the month that passed, the ratings of LIN TV stations affected by the Time Warner dispute plunged while viewers complained about the loss of Green Bay Packers
games and the MLB Playoffs
.
By the time of the World Series, Time Warner made an odd but creative move to allow its viewers to watch the 2008 World Series
on its system offering Fox Sports en Espanol
on basic cable which carried the series in Spanish
while encouraging viewers to turn down the Spanish call and listen to the game in English on ESPN Radio
affiliate WDUZ
radio. Eventually, the two entities finally came to a paid compensation agreement on October 29 and WLUK's analog signal was restored on the same day with WLUK-DT being placed on digital channel 712 (currently 1012) shortly thereafter giving the station's digital signal full cable and satellite carriage on par with the other big three network affiliates.
WLUK was removed on March 5, 2011 from Dish Network at the expiration of the 2008 agreement as LIN and Dish could not come to terms on pricing for their stations, and was restored upon a new agreement on March 12. WCWF remained unaffected as LIN's purchase of that station was not closed and is under the terms of their pre-WLUK SSA carriage agreement negotiated with ACME Communications.
(FCC) public-service regulations as well as a weekly commentary by John Torinus, the editor of the Post-Crescent.
In August 1995 after gaining the Fox affiliation, this station expanded its local news offerings. In its first year with the network, local news ran on weekdays from 6 to 8 a.m., 5 to 6:30 p.m., and 9 to 10:30 p.m. As a news-intensive Fox affiliate, the channel currently airs 37 hours of local news each week (with six hours on weekdays and 3½ hours on weekends). However, as is standard with Fox stations that carry early evening weekend newscasts, WLUK's Saturday and Sunday 5 p.m. newscasts are subject to preemption due to sports coverage.
Since 2007 during the MLB on Fox
's coverage of one of the League Championship Series and World Series
, NFL Playoff games in January, and several NASCAR on Fox
primetime races, WLUK's 9pm newscast aired at the original 9pm time over a leased access
channel of Time Warner Cable
. As of October 2010, WCWF will take over airing WLUK newscasts in pre-emption situations.
On June 5, 2007, WLUK replaced WGBA as the provider of weather updates for Midwest Communications
radio stations in Green Bay/Fox Cities and Sheboygan
. Updates can be heard on eleven Midwest-owned outlets. In addition to their main facilities, this channel operates a Valley Newsroom on West College Avenue in Appleton
along U.S. 41
. The station has its own weather radar
, known as "Fox 11 StormTrackerX", at their main studios, and in 2009 a new addition to the Lombardi Avenue studios was completed to expand the station's newsroom space, and is known as the "Fox 11 Digital Content Center". The station also maintains a tower cam on their Doppler tower known as the "Lambeau Cam" which is mainly pointed in the direction of the stadium.
In September 2008, the station launched a locally produced lifestyle show in the 9 a.m. timeslot called Living with Amy. The program is hosted by former Good Morning Wisconsin anchor Amy Hanten and features cooking and paid business spotlight segments, with the cooking segments mainly sponsored by local supermarket chain Festival Foods
, which has made a recipe compilation book
featuring previous Living with Amy recipes available in-store.
The station is also the only current local television station to have full featured iOS, Android Market
(for mobile phones and tablets) and Yahoo! Widgets (for Internet-connected television) applications.
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
for the Fox River Valley
Fox River (Wisconsin)
The Fox River is a river in eastern and central Wisconsin in the United States. Along the banks is a chain of cities, including Oshkosh, Neenah, Menasha, Appleton, Little Chute, Kimberly, Combined Locks, and Kaukauna. Except for Oshkosh, these cities refer to themselves as the Fox Cities...
area and Northeastern Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. Licensed to Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
, the station broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
digital signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter on Scray's Hill in Ledgeview
Ledgeview, Wisconsin
Ledgeview is a town in Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 3,363 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated communities of Kolb and Pine Grove are located in the town.-Geography:...
; the station also broadcasts in Upper Michigan from digital translator W40AN-D (channel 40), licensed to Escanaba, Michigan
Escanaba, Michigan
Escanaba is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, located in the banana belt on the state's Upper Peninsula. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 13,140, making it the third-largest city in the Upper Peninsula after Marquette and Sault Ste. Marie...
and transmitting from a tower in Wells Township
Wells Township, Marquette County, Michigan
Wells Township is a civil township of Marquette County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the township population was 292.-Communities:...
.
WLUK is owned and operated by LIN TV Corporation and is sister station to CW
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
affiliate WCWF
WCWF
WNMN is the RTV-affiliated television station for Upstate New York that is licensed to Saranac Lake. It broadcasts a digital signal on UHF channel 40 from a transmitter on the WYZY-FM tower north of the village along the Essex and Franklin County line. The station can also be seen on Burlington...
, which WLUK has operated since 2010 and has been co-owned since Spring 2011; the stations share studios on Lombardi Avenue (U.S. 41 Bus
U.S. Route 41 Business
U.S. Route 41 Business may refer to:*U.S. Route 41 Business *U.S. Route 41 Business *U.S. Route 41 Business *U.S. Route 41 Business...
) in Green Bay. Programming on WLUK includes the full Fox Network lineup; first-run syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programming including Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a large wheel. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that...
, Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
, Judge Judy
Judge Judy
Judge Judy is an American court show featuring former family court judge Judith Sheindlin arbitrating over small claims cases in small claims court...
, and Judge Joe Brown; reruns including Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
and King of the Hill
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
; and an extensive amount of local news programming.
History
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate WMBV-TV licensed to Marinette
Marinette, Wisconsin
Marinette is a city in and the county seat of Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 11,749 at the 2000 census.Marinette is the principal city of the Marinette, WI–MI Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Marinette County, Wisconsin and Menominee...
. The station was owned by William Walker and largely constructed from the assets of a failed NBC affiliate in Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
As of the census of 2000, there were 62,916 people, 24,082 households, and 13,654 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,662.2 people per square mile . There were 25,420 housing units at an average density of 1,075.6 per square mile...
, WOSH-TV. By 1959, it changed its city of license
City of license
A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....
to Green Bay and its call sign to the current WLUK-TV (for its then on-air slogan "Lucky 11"). The channel also switched affiliations with WFRV-TV
WFRV-TV
WFRV-TV is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and serving Green Bay, the Fox Valley, and Northeastern Wisconsin. The station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter north of the Brown County town of Morrison...
becoming an ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate. In 1960, the station was sold to Morgan Murphy Stations. Five years later in 1965, WLUK was sold to Post Corporation (a small media chain not affiliated with Post-Newsweek) whose properties included the nearby Appleton Post-Crescent and a sister station in Marquette, Michigan
Marquette, Michigan
Marquette is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Marquette County. The population was 21,355 at the 2010 census, making it the most populated city of the Upper Peninsula. Marquette is a major port on Lake Superior, primarily for shipping iron ore and is the home of Northern...
, WLUC-TV
WLUC-TV
WLUC-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Michigan's Central Upper Peninsula licensed to Marquette. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 35 from a transmitter on South Helen Lake Road southeast of Republic in rural Marquette County. The station can also be seen...
. In 1966, WLUK built a new studio and office building on Highland Avenue (now known as Lombardi Avenue). It aired some local entertainment programming including a Saturday night polka show and a daily children's cartoon show using the franchised Bozo the Clown
Bozo the Clown
Bozo the Clown is a clown character very popular in the United States, peaking in the 1960s as a result of widespread franchising in early television.Originally created by Alan W...
character.
In 1983, WLUK reclaimed the NBC affiliation when WFRV switched to ABC. In 1984, Gillett Broadcasting bought this channel but turned around and sold it in 1987 to Burnham Broadcasting in order to become owner of the KKR stations. In 1994, Burnham Broadcasting sold most of its stations (WLUK, KHON-TV
KHON-TV
KHON-TV is a Fox-affiliated television station in Honolulu, Hawaii. The station broadcasts on virtual channel 2.In addition to its Honolulu broadcast facilities, KHON has relays on all the major Hawaiian Islands to rebroadcast programs outside of metropolitan Honolulu: KHAW-TV in Hilo; KAII-TV in...
in Honolulu, WVUE
WVUE
WVUE-DT, broadcasting on virtual channel 8, is a TV station in New Orleans, Louisiana, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company. WVUE is owned by Louisiana Media Company, with studios in the Gert Town section of New Orleans and transmitter in Chalmette, Louisiana.- Digital television :WVUE-DT...
in New Orleans. and WALA-TV
WALA-TV
WALA-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Southern Alabama, Southeastern Mississippi, and the Western Florida Panhandle that is licensed to Mobile. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 9 from a transmitter in Spanish Fort, Alabama...
in Mobile
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
) to SF Broadcasting who in turn announced that the four stations would become Fox affiliates. Savoy Communications and Fox shared ownership in SF Broadcasting. Originally Fox had voting stock but this was changed prior to the stations' sale becoming final. A fifth Burnham station, KBAK-TV
KBAK-TV
KBAK-TV, virtual channel 29, is a CBS-affiliate television station serving Bakersfield, California, broadcasting digital-only on UHF channel 33. KBAK also operates the local Fox affiliate, KBFX-CA, from a shared facility in Bakersfield.-History:...
in Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....
, was excluded from the SF deal and was instead spun off to a new company formed by several former Burnham executives.
WLUK became a Fox affiliate in August 1995 swapping affiliations with WGBA-TV (although the station had never really identified with the NBC network, only using the NBC Peacock sparingly in station advertising). Like most former big three network
Big Three Television Networks
The Big Three Television Networks are the three traditional commercial broadcast television networks in the United States: ABC, CBS and NBC...
affiliates switching to Fox during that time, WLUK picked up almost no syndicated programming from WGBA, though it was unnecessary because of WGBA's local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
with WACY; WGBA's programming mainly moved to that station instead.
Because of Fox's 1994 purchase of National Football Conference
National Football Conference
The National Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the American Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL.-Current teams:Since 2002, the NFC has comprised 16 teams,...
television rights, the switch made WLUK the unofficial "home" station of the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
which became a major ratings draw. Unlike the New World
New World Communications
New World Pictures was an independent motion picture and television production company, and later television station owner in the United States from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s...
Fox affiliation converts, WLUK still took Fox Kids
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
programming running it an hour early on weekdays afternoons from 1 until 4. The channel ran Fox Kids until the weekday block ended at the end of 2001 (when it had been pushed back to as early as 10am) and Saturday morning programming known as Fox Box and later 4KidsTV until that block ended nationally at the end of 2008, when 4Kids and Fox split ways. By the time 4Kids TV ceased airing, Fox completely discontinued airing children's programming for good. The station is one of the few in the nation to use the 1970's NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
drama Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie (TV series)
Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. The show was an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books...
to fulfill their educational and informational content
E/I
E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...
obligations; the show has run weekdays at 1pm since the 2000-01 television season.
Over the last decade, Packer football games have routinely drawn an eighty percent share of the audience that is far and away the highest-rated programs in the market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
. SF sold WLUK and the other three Fox affiliates in 1997 to Silver King/USA Broadcasting. Emmis Communications
Emmis Communications
Emmis Communications is a media conglomerate based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company owns radio stations and magazines in the United States, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria.-History:...
purchased the station along with WVUE, KHON, and WALA in 1998. LIN Broadcasting bought WLUK early in 2006 as Emmis put all of its stations up for sale. In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Upper Peninsula of Michigan
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the northern of the two major land masses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan. It is commonly referred to as the Upper Peninsula, the U.P., or Upper Michigan. It is also known as the land "above the Bridge" linking the two peninsulas. The peninsula is bounded...
, WLUK is only available over-the-air in Menominee County
Menominee County, Michigan
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 25,326 people, 10,529 households, and 7,001 families residing in the county. The population density was 24 people per square mile . There were 13,639 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile...
and via a low powered digital translator in Escanaba. Despite this, WLUK is carried by Charter
Charter Communications
Charter Communications is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 4.7 million customers in 25 states. By revenues, it is the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, behind Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications...
in the West and Central Upper Peninsula along with WLUC-DT2
WLUC-DT2
WLUC-DT2 is the Fox-affiliated television station for Michigan's Central Upper Peninsula. It is a second digital subchannel of NBC affiliate WLUC-TV owned by Barrington Broadcasting...
except in Gogebic County
Gogebic County, Michigan
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 17,370 people, 7,425 households, and 4,581 families residing in the county. The population density was 16 people per square mile . There were 10,839 housing units at an average density of 10 per square mile...
which is covered by KQDS-TV
KQDS-TV
KQDS-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for the Twin Ports and Iron Range areas of Northeastern Minnesota that is licensed to Duluth. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 17 from a transmitter west of downtown in Hilltop Park. Owned by Red River Broadcasting, the...
in Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
and the Eastern Upper Peninsula which is covered by WWUP-DT 10.2 (standard definition digital simulcast of WFQX-TV
WFQX-TV
WFQX-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for the northern Lower and eastern Upper Peninsulas of Michigan. Licensed to Cadillac, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter at studios on 130th Avenue/Dighton Road in Tustin on Grove Hill...
in Cadillac, Michigan
Cadillac, Michigan
Cadillac is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is the county seat of Wexford County. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 10,000. The city is situated at the junction of US 131, M-55 and M-115...
). WLUK can also be seen on Charter in the town of Ludington, Michigan
Ludington, Michigan
Ludington is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 8,357. It is the county seat of Mason County.Ludington is a harbor town located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Pere Marquette River...
across Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
from the Green Bay area.
On June 4, 2010, it was announced that LIN TV would begin to operate WIWB through shared service and local sales agreements. WLUK began to provide technical, engineering, promotional, administrative, and other operational support services for WIWB, advertising sales services under a related but separate joint sales agreement. That station moved into WLUK's studios that August. This was the second LMA (or similar) in the market (Journal Communications
Journal Communications
Journal Communications, Inc. is a publicly traded media company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It publishes the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a daily newspaper, and it also owns television stations, radio stations and weekly newspapers, among other businesses.-History:The Milwaukee Journal was...
-owned WGBA-TV has operated WACY-TV which is owned by Ace TV Inc. since 1994). On September 20, 2010, WIWB changed it calls to WCWF. In April 2011, WCWF was officially sold to LIN under a failing station waiver, and both WLUK and WCWF are now fully sister station
Sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio and/or television stations operated by the same ownership....
s.
On August 17, 2011, the station increased its transmitter power from 17.19 kW to 40 kW. Previously, fellow Fox affiliate WMSN-TV
WMSN-TV
WMSN-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Southern Wisconsin's Eastern Ridges and Lowlands licensed to Madison. It broadcasts a high definition signal on UHF channel 49 from a transmitter in Madison's Middleton Junction section. The station can also be seen on Charter channel 8 and in...
in Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
was broadcasting on channel 11, so WLUK had to decrease its transmitter power. When that channel became available, WLUK applied to the FCC to increase power once again.
Retransmission controversies
Until April 2008, the only available means to watch WLUK's high definitionHigh-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
signal was via antenna over-the-air as the station had maintained edicts going back to its ownership under Emmis not allowing local cable or satellite providers to broadcast their digital signals without paid retransmission consent
Retransmission consent
Retransmission consent is an option granted to US television stations as part of the law that granted such stations the option to elect must-carry rights. Under retransmission consent, a full-power US television station may elect to negotiate with a cable system operator for carriage of its...
. LIN TV continued to apply this policy after its purchase of the Emmis stations and eventually extended it further to the remainder of its existing stations. Zollar and other station officials kept their stance against the local providers defending the station's stance on WLUK's website and in promotions which aired on-air. The first provider to carry WLUK-DT was Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
as part of a March 13, 2008, agreement with LIN TV. Originally, the signal was to come on the air sometime in May 2008 but Green Bay local HD stations were offered early by the provider launching on April 16 on channel 5163. DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
followed on June 8.
With retransmission agreements firmed up with the satellite providers, LIN TV began to pursue the dominant local cable providers for new deals. Charter was the first to be affected with its carriage agreement with WLUK expiring on July 1. The station began to air news ticker
News ticker
A news ticker resides in the lower third of the television screen space on television news networks dedicated to presenting headlines or minor pieces of news. It may also refer to a long, thin scoreboard-style display seen around the front of some offices or public buildings...
scrolls during programming to advise viewers of the fact and negotiations did break down on June 4. It restarted soon, and by June 11, Charter and LIN TV came to a new agreement under undisclosed terms and WLUK-DT was launched on digital channel 611 shortly thereafter, AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
's new U-Verse
U-Verse
AT&T U-verse is a registered service mark under which AT&T offers Internet access, television, and telephone services in various parts of the United States. It began in 2008 to serve mostly residences and small businesses in urban and suburban areas.-Services:...
service made an agreement to carry the digital signal on June 30, 2008 while Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
's lone Northeastern Wisconsin system in Manitowoc
Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Manitowoc is a city in and the county seat of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The city is located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Manitowoc River. According to the 2000 census, Manitowoc had a population of 34,053, with over 50,000 residents in the surrounding communities...
offered compensation to carry WLUK-DT on June 12 on digital channel 234. This left Time Warner
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
as the lone standout in the area to carry the DT signal as it and LIN TV had not come to an agreement nationally.
The ticker strategy was reused to pressure viewers into forcing Time Warner to come to an agreement, but with no success from either viewer pressure or contentious negotiations, the system was forced to pull WLUK from its systems at Midnight on October 3, 2008. Time Warner quickly offered free antennas to customers to receive the station while WLUK employed its website and Zollar to tell their side of the story while encouraging viewers to switch to Dish Network and U-Verse to continue to watch the station in some form. In the month that passed, the ratings of LIN TV stations affected by the Time Warner dispute plunged while viewers complained about the loss of Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
games and the MLB Playoffs
Major League Baseball postseason
The Major League Baseball postseason is an elimination tournament held after the conclusion of Major League Baseball's regular season. It consists of one best-of-five series and two best-of-seven series...
.
By the time of the World Series, Time Warner made an odd but creative move to allow its viewers to watch the 2008 World Series
2008 World Series
The 2008 World Series was the 104th World Series between the American and National Leagues for the championship of Major League Baseball. The Philadelphia Phillies as champions of the National League and the Tampa Bay Rays, as American League champions, competed to win four games out of a possible...
on its system offering Fox Sports en Espanol
Fox Sports en Español
Fox Deportes is a cable television network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming 24 hours a day in Spanish...
on basic cable which carried the series in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
while encouraging viewers to turn down the Spanish call and listen to the game in English on ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...
affiliate WDUZ
WDUZ
WDUZ and WDUZ-FM are radio stations serving the Green Bay, Wisconsin area, simulcasting a Sports Talk format as "Sports Radio 107.5 and 1400 The Fan." The stations are owned by Clear Channel Communications, though they are still operated by their previous owner, Cumulus Media, who swapped...
radio. Eventually, the two entities finally came to a paid compensation agreement on October 29 and WLUK's analog signal was restored on the same day with WLUK-DT being placed on digital channel 712 (currently 1012) shortly thereafter giving the station's digital signal full cable and satellite carriage on par with the other big three network affiliates.
WLUK was removed on March 5, 2011 from Dish Network at the expiration of the 2008 agreement as LIN and Dish could not come to terms on pricing for their stations, and was restored upon a new agreement on March 12. WCWF remained unaffected as LIN's purchase of that station was not closed and is under the terms of their pre-WLUK SSA carriage agreement negotiated with ACME Communications.
News operation
The station dropped its nightly newscast in 1967 and did not return regular local broadcasts to the air until 1971. However, WLUK did occasionally run documentaries and sports programs to fulfill Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) public-service regulations as well as a weekly commentary by John Torinus, the editor of the Post-Crescent.
In August 1995 after gaining the Fox affiliation, this station expanded its local news offerings. In its first year with the network, local news ran on weekdays from 6 to 8 a.m., 5 to 6:30 p.m., and 9 to 10:30 p.m. As a news-intensive Fox affiliate, the channel currently airs 37 hours of local news each week (with six hours on weekdays and 3½ hours on weekends). However, as is standard with Fox stations that carry early evening weekend newscasts, WLUK's Saturday and Sunday 5 p.m. newscasts are subject to preemption due to sports coverage.
Since 2007 during the MLB on Fox
MLB on FOX
Major League Baseball on Fox or MLB on Fox is the Fox Broadcasting Company's presentation of Major League Baseball games, produced by Fox Sports. Major League Baseball on Fox began on June 1, 1996 and will continue at least through the 2013 World Series.-Early years: 1996–2000:Major League...
's coverage of one of the League Championship Series and World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
, NFL Playoff games in January, and several NASCAR on Fox
NASCAR on Fox
NASCAR on Fox is the Emmy-winning branding used for Fox Sports's broadcasts of NASCAR races airing on the Fox network since 2001. The production has been in high-definition since 2005.-Background:...
primetime races, WLUK's 9pm newscast aired at the original 9pm time over a leased access
Leased access
Leased access is airtime that the Federal Communications Commission mandates must be provided by cable operators for use by independent cable programmers and producers who are not owned by the operators...
channel of Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
. As of October 2010, WCWF will take over airing WLUK newscasts in pre-emption situations.
On June 5, 2007, WLUK replaced WGBA as the provider of weather updates for Midwest Communications
Midwest Communications
Midwest Communications, Inc. consists of Midwest Communications, Inc. and WRIG, Inc., which collectively own forty-six radio stations. The Company got its start in Wausau, Wisconsin, with WRIG, Inc. and the acquisition by the D.E. Wright family of a 1400 kHz, 250 watt AM facility from the...
radio stations in Green Bay/Fox Cities and Sheboygan
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
-Airport:Sheboygan is served by the Sheboygan County Memorial Airport, which is located several miles from the city.-Roads:Interstate 43 is the primary north-south transportation route into Sheboygan, and forms the west boundary of the city. U.S...
. Updates can be heard on eleven Midwest-owned outlets. In addition to their main facilities, this channel operates a Valley Newsroom on West College Avenue in Appleton
Appleton, Wisconsin
Appleton is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is situated on the Fox River, 30 miles southwest of Green Bay and 100 miles north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the county seat of Outagamie County. The population was 78,086 at the 2010 census...
along U.S. 41
U.S. Route 41 in Wisconsin
In the U.S. state of Wisconsin, U.S. Highway 41 runs north–south the eastern side of the state. It enters from Illinois at Pleasant Prairie, and runs north to its northern terminus at the Michigan border at Marinette, WI.-Route description:US-41 is a freeway for nearly 70% of its route...
. The station has its own weather radar
Weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, estimate its type . Modern weather radars are mostly pulse-Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to the...
, known as "Fox 11 StormTrackerX", at their main studios, and in 2009 a new addition to the Lombardi Avenue studios was completed to expand the station's newsroom space, and is known as the "Fox 11 Digital Content Center". The station also maintains a tower cam on their Doppler tower known as the "Lambeau Cam" which is mainly pointed in the direction of the stadium.
In September 2008, the station launched a locally produced lifestyle show in the 9 a.m. timeslot called Living with Amy. The program is hosted by former Good Morning Wisconsin anchor Amy Hanten and features cooking and paid business spotlight segments, with the cooking segments mainly sponsored by local supermarket chain Festival Foods
Festival Foods
Festival Foods is a franchise owned by Supervalu. Stores in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Stores in Wisconsin are owned by the Skogen family. Stores in Minnesota are owned by Knowlan's Super Markets, Inc...
, which has made a recipe compilation book
Cookbook
A cookbook is a kitchen reference that typically contains a collection of recipes. Modern versions may also include colorful illustrations and advice on purchasing quality ingredients or making substitutions...
featuring previous Living with Amy recipes available in-store.
The station is also the only current local television station to have full featured iOS, Android Market
Android Market
Android Market is an online software store developed by Google for Android OS devices. Its gateway is an application program called "Market", preinstalled on most Android devices, allows users to browse and download mobile apps published by third-party developers...
(for mobile phones and tablets) and Yahoo! Widgets (for Internet-connected television) applications.
Newscast titles
- Look What's Happening (1968)
- TV-11 News (1971–1983)
- NewsCenter 11 (1983–1990)
- News 11 (1990–1995)
- Fox 11 News (1995–present)
Station slogans
- "Lucky Eleven" (1960s-early 1970s)
- "News People...In Touch with You" (late 1970s-early 1980s)
- "The News Station" (early-mid 1980s)
- "The Spirit of Wisconsin" (1990–1995)
- "Your Hometeam" (1995–2001)
- "More Local. More Often." (2001–2006)
- "Your Station for Balanced News and Severe Weather Coverage" (2006–present)
News music packages
- "Hello News" by Gari CommunicationsFrank GariFrank Gari is a popular singer and songwriter from the late 1950s and early 1960s. His best known songs as a performer are "Utopia" , "Lullaby of Love" and "Princess" , all of which hit the U.S. Top 40 in 1961. He co-wrote with Roger McGuinn the song Beach Ball for Bobby Darin...
(1983–1985) - "Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence" by Lalo SchifrinLalo SchifrinLalo Schifrin is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations...
(1985–1990) - "News Series 2000" and "News Series 2000 Plus" by Gari Communications (1990–1995)
- "Fox '95" by Stephen Arnold MusicStephen Arnold MusicFounded in 1993 by Stephen Arnold, Stephen Arnold Music is a Dallas-based music production company, specializing in Television news music. With additional offices in San Diego, California and a studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the company services television networks, cable channels, TV stations,...
(1995–2001) - "News Matrix" by Stephen Arnold Music (2001–2008)
- "Viral" by 360 Music (2008–present)
Anchors/hosts
- Amy Hanten - Living with Amy host; also weekday morning cooking and entertainment feature reporter
- Angela Kelly - weekend mornings; also weekday reporter
- Mark Leland - weekends at 5 and 9 p.m.; also weekday reporter
- Rachel Manek - weekday mornings "Good Day Wisconsin"
- Tom Milbourn - weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m.
- Michelle Melby - weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m.
- Laura Smith - weekends at 5 and 9 p.m.
FOX11 Severe Weather Center Team
- Pete Petoniak (AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
and NWANational Weather AssociationThe National Weather Association is an American professional association with a mission to support and promote excellence in operational meteorology and related activities...
Seals of Approval) - director of meteorology; weekday mornings "Good Day Wisconsin" - Patrick Powell (AMS Certified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast Meteorologist is a rating for meteorologists given by the American Meteorological Society.The Certified Broadcast Meteorologist program was established to raise the professional standard in broadcast meteorology and encourage a broader range of scientific understanding,...
Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m. - Doug Higgins (NWA Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekends at 5 and 9 p.m., also "Higgins Hints" segment producer
Sports team
- Drew Smith - sports director; weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m., also heard on WDUZ-AM 1400/WDUZ-FM 107.5
- Paige Pearson - sports anchor; weekends at 5 and 9 p.m., also sports reporter
- Justin Fedler - sports reporter and fill-in sports anchor
- Ted Stefaniak - sports reporter
Reporters
- Kristin Crowley - general assignment reporter
- Emily Deem - weekday morning reporter
- Becky DeVries - general assignment reporter
- Scott Hurley - website producer and "Web Watch" segment producer
- Beth Jones - general assignment reporter
- Ben Krumholz - general assignment reporter
- Lindsay Veremis - Valley Newsroom reporter
Former staff
- Jay JohnsonJay W. JohnsonJay W. Johnson was the director of the United States Mint, Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin, and a former television news anchor in the Green Bay area....
- anchor (1982–1987, previously at WFRV-TVWFRV-TVWFRV-TV is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and serving Green Bay, the Fox Valley, and Northeastern Wisconsin. The station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter north of the Brown County town of Morrison...
; elected to represent the 8th DistrictWisconsin's 8th congressional districtWisconsin's 8th congressional district is a congressional district of the United States House of Representatives in northeastern Wisconsin. The district includes Green Bay and Appleton. It is currently represented by Reid Ribble, a Republican. Ribble defeated incumbent Democrat Steve Kagen for...
in the U.S. HouseUnited States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from 1997–1999 and was US MintUnited States MintThe United States Mint primarily produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792, and placed within the Department of State...
Director from 2000–2001; died on October 17, 2009 http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/local/green_bay/local_wluk_greenbay_former_congressman_dies_101820091606_rev1) - Kyra PhillipsKyra PhillipsKyra Phillips is an American news anchor. She is on the weekday edition of CNN Newsroom.-Early life and career:Phillips was born in North Carolina. She grew up in San Diego and graduated from Helix High School. She received her Bachelor's degree in journalism from University of Southern California...
- (now co-host of CNN's afternoon edition of CNN NewsroomCNN NewsroomCNN Newsroom is an American news program on CNN/US.Broadcasting throughout the week, Newsroom features live and taped news reports, in addition to analysis from experts on the issues being covered, and headlines throughout each hour. The program tends to focus on softer news than their hard news...
) - Bill WeirBill WeirWilliam Francis Weir is an American television journalist and co-anchor of Nightline on ABC. Before Nightline, he was a co-host of the weekend edition of Good Morning America from 2004 to 2010.-Career:...
(current co-anchor for ABC's NightlineNightlineNightline, or ABC News Nightline is a late-night news program broadcast by ABC in the United States, and has a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. It airs weeknights, usually for 31 minutes. Created by Roone Arledge, the program featured Ted Koppel as its main...
, former co-anchor of GMA Weekend and sports anchor of WGN Morning NewsWGN Morning NewsThe WGN Morning News is a popular morning television news program airing on CW affiliate and national cable superstation WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois. The newscast airs Monday through Friday mornings from 4:00-9 a.m...
)