| WSMH | |
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| Flint / Saginaw / Bay City, Michigan |
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| City of license | Flint |
| Branding | FOX 66 |
| Channels | Digital: 16 (UHF) |
| Subchannels | 66.1 FOX HD 66.2 FOX SD |
| Affiliations | FOX ESPN Plus |
| Owner | Sinclair Broadcast Group (WSMH Licensee, LLC) |
| First air date | March 1985 |
| Call letters’ meaning | We Show More Hits |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 66 (UHF, 1985-2009) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1985-1986) The Tube (on DT2, 2006-2007) 4KidsTV |
| Transmitter Power | 245 kW |
| Height | 365.5 m |
| Facility ID | 21737 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 43°13′31″N 84°4′33″W / 43.22528°N 84.07583°W |
| Website | wsmh.com |
WSMH is the FOX-affiliated television station for Mid-Michigan that is licensed to Flint. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 16 from a transmitter northeast of Chesaning. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station has studios on West Pierson Road in Mount Morris Township. Syndicated programming on WSMH includes: The Simpsons, Two and a Half Men, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Seinfeld, as well as college football via ESPN Plus. WSMH also airs a different movie every weeknight at 2:00 AM.
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History
WSMH went on-the-air in March 1985 as an independent station. On October 6, 1986, it 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. From 1990 to 1997, WSMH was the Mid-Michigan provider of the now defunct syndication package Disney Afternoon. To this day, reruns of FOX affiliate programs as well as those normally not shown on most other affiliates (including those aired on many Tribune CW and past UPN stations) are part of WSMH's schedule. In addition, it also carries a few first-run syndicated programs seen on FOX affiliates and several shows not carried by those same stations.
In September 2006, shortly after WSMH's digital signal was activated on UHF channel 16, the station added the now defunct 24-hour music video channel called The Tube on a new second digital subchannel. However, this channel was removed sometime between February and March 2007. WSMH-DT2 now serves as a standard definition digital simulcast of their main signal. The retransmission agreement between the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Comcast was set to expire on February 5, 2007. An extension was granted two times so the sides could negotiate. During the talks, Comcast stated that they would not pay cash for retransmission rights but were willing to give free commercial time to WSMH in exchange for retransmission rights. On March 9, Sinclair and Comcast signed a new deal to extend retransmission rights for four years to expire on March 1, 2011.
WSMH and WXMI in Grand Rapids are the longest serving FOX affiliates in the state because WKBD in Detroit joined UPN. Oddly, that station 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 owned-and-operated affiliate. Sinclair and FOX cut a six year affiliation contract extension for the company's nineteen FOX affiliates. As a result, the network will remain on WSMH through at least March 2012. It gave up cartoons in December 2008 when FOX discontinued 4KidsTV. The station shut down its analog signal and became digital exclusive at Noon on May 21, 2009. [1] WSMH shut down its analog signal on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States. WSMH remained on its current pre-transition channel number, 16 using PSIP to display its virtual channel as 66. [2]
News operation
On October 28, 2002, WSMH began airing a nightly 10 o'clock newscast known as FOX 66 News at 10. The broadcast was powered by Sinclair's controversial News Central operation. Local news originated from WSMH's studios while weather and sports aired from News Central headquarters in Hunt Valley, Maryland. The station was the first Sinclair-owned property to use the News Central service and marked the first time it had ventured into the news market. As a result of the newscast airing at 10 o'clock, ratings were hard to determine amongst competitors in the region. In January 2006, the Sinclair Broadcast Group announced plans to end its News Central operation due to low ratings and expense. Other Sinclair owned stations in Buffalo, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, and Tampa were also notified of the decision and had their newscasts either outsourced to other stations or dropped all together. On April 10, Sinclair announced that CBS affiliate WNEM-TV would begin producing a nightly 10 o'clock newscast on WSMH known as TV 5 News at 10 on FOX 66.
The WNEM-produced newscasts began airing on April 24. The production feature that station's current news team and originate from its studios North Franklin Street in downtown Saginaw. After the final News Central broadcast on April 21, some WSMH news employees were laid off. It had been expected that some former WNEM personalities on WSMH's News Central team would join the newscast in the future according to a press release. This was the case for former WSMH reporter David Custer who joined the WNEM news team on May 3. Custer left WNEM and is now the Main Weeknight Anchor at WNWO-TV in Toledo, OH. Another WSMH News Central member, Jim Kiertzner, joined Detroit's NBC affiliate WDIV-TV. The final News Central broadcast featured, in its last few minutes, clips from past shows. At the end, the studio was darkened, and Kiertzner and his boss left for the last time. Even after the station shut down its news operation, Mark E. Hyman's controversial "The Point" editorials continued to air on the station following the end of the WNEM-produced newscasts. Hyman ended his commentaries on November 30. On Monday nights during the 10 o'clock broadcast, the "Fugitive Files" segment airs. On May 1, 2009, the 10 o'clock news was re-branded and received updated graphics.
News team
FOX 66 News at 10 (10 to 11 P.M.)
Weeknights
- Anchors:
- Bill Walsh
- Erica Donerson
- Weather:
- Darrin Bradley
- Sports:
- Darryl Sellers
Weekends
- Anchor:
- Amy Andrews
- Weather:
- Eric Jylha
- Sports:
- Jason Fielder
WSMH features additional news personnel from WNEM. See that article for a complete listing.
Past personnel
- Jim Kiertzner - weeknight anchor and investigative reporter
- now at WDIV
- Tara Edwards - weeknight anchor and reporter
- David Custer - weekend anchor, reporter, and producer
- Dawn Sterling - weekend anchor and reporter
- Jennifer Gladstone - national news
- now weekday morning anchor at WBFF
- Morris Jones - national news
- now Sinclair Chief National Correspondent
- Vytas Reid - Chief Meteorologist seen weeknights
- now Chief Meteorologist at WBFF
- Chuck Bell - meteorologist
- Megan Glaros - meteorologist
- Elizabeth Hart - meteorologist
- Scott Padgett - meteorologist
- Jonas Schwartz - Sports Director seen weeknights
- Mark Armstrong - weekend sports
- Mark E. Hyman - "The Point" segment producer
- Jennifer Bauer - reporter
- Katie McClelland - reporter
- Nicole Hunter - reporter
References
External links
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