WXMI

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WXMI
WXMI 2009 Logo.png
Grand Rapids / Kalamazoo /
Battle Creek, Michigan
Branding Fox 17 (general)
Fox 17 News (newscasts)
Slogan West Michigan's FOX
Channels Digital: 19 (UHF)
Virtual: 17 (PSIP)
Subchannels 17.1 Fox
17.2 This TV
Translators W42CB 42 Hesperia
W52DB 52 Muskegon
Owner Tribune Company
(Tribune Television Holdings, Inc.)
First air date March 18, 1982
Call letters' meaning FoX MIchigan
(call sign predates network by three years)
Former callsigns WWMA (1982-1983)
Former channel number(s) Analog: 17 (UHF, 1982-2009)
Former affiliations Independent (1982-1986)
The Tube (on DT2)
Transmitter power 750 kW
Height 334 m
Facility ID 68433
Transmitter coordinates 42°41′15″N 85°31′57″W / 42.6875°N 85.5325°W / 42.6875; -85.5325
Website fox17online.com

WXMI, channel 17, is a Fox-affiliated television station in Grand Rapids, Michigan, owned by the Tribune Company. WXMI's studio and office facility is located in Grand Rapids, and its transmitter is based southwest of Middleville, Michigan.

Contents

[edit] History

Wiki letter w.svg This section requires expansion with:
further information on WXMI's history.

The station signed on-the-air March 18, 1982 as a locally-owned independent with the call sign WWMA. The call letters are said to have stood for We're West Michigan Alternative. Approximately a year after signing on, additional shareholders bought control of the station and changed the calls to the current WXMI on August 15, 1983. The "XMI" at the time were said to stand for EXtreme Michigan. It became a charter affiliate of FOX after signing an affiliation deal in 1987. In 1989, the station's stock was purchased by a New York-based company headed by Robert Dudley.

Its logo used from 1999 until April 20, 2009.

Nine years later, WXMI was purchased by Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications which traded the station with sister KTZZ in Seattle, Washington to Tribune in 1998 in exchange for FM station WQCD in New York City. From August 2006 until September 2007, The Tube aired on a second digital channel. Three months later, cartoons were dropped from the WXMI schedule with the cancellation of 4KidsTV.

[edit] Digital television

WXMI became digital-only on June 12, 2009. [1] Its digital signal remained on channel 19 when the analog to digital conversion completed.[2][3] In July 2010 the station reactivated the 17.2 digital subchannel to carry This TV.

[edit] Translators

In addition to its main signal, the station also operates two translators. W42CB channel 42 has a construction permit to perform a flash-cut to digital-only broadcasting. W52DB channel 52 has a construction permit to air a digital signal on channel 17.

Call letters Channel City of license Transmitter location
W42CB 42 Hesperia south of village along M-120
W52DB 52 Muskegon northeast of city and U.S. 31

[edit] Newscasts

On January 11, 1999, WXMI started a news department and launched the market's first prime time newscast FOX 17 News at 10. It aired weeknights for 35 minutes and weekends for a half-hour. This was unlike FOX which had no national nightly news. The program would expand to a full hour seven nights a week in 2004. On August 28, 2006, the station premiered FOX 17 Morning News. Originally a two hour-long broadcast, it expanded to four hours on September 15, 2008. On April 17, 2009, it began producing its local news in high definition. It was the first station in West Michigan to have made the upgrade. The planning for the upgrade first started in December 2008. On April 20 during the weekday morning show, the station officially unveiled a new logo, graphics, music package ("The Unexpected" by 615 Music), and set.

The 10 o'clock news now competes with shows that air on MyNetworkTV WXSP-CA and CW affiliate WWMT-DT2. Sports Ticket is a weekly half-hour sports highlight broadcast that airs every Sunday night at 10:30. Blitz is a weekly sports program focusing on high school sports that airs Friday nights at 10:45. During the Fall, it is known as the Friday Football Blitz and during the Winter it is called Basketball Blitz. In Fall 2008, a one-hour edition of Blitz was added Friday nights at 5 replacing The Simpsons and King of the Hill. WXMI is an affiliate of the Detroit Lions Television Network which airs pre-season games as well as the weekly syndicated show The Ford Lions Report during the regular season. Also, since it is outside of the team's local blackout area, it also airs all regular season games produced by NFL on FOX. On September 21, 2009 WXMI debuted FOX 17 News at Six, an hour-long newscast that competes against half-hour newscasts on WWMT, WOOD-TV, and WZZM and their national network evening newscasts.[4]

[edit] News/station presentation

[edit] Newscast titles

[edit] Station slogans

Television.svg This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

[edit] On-air staff

[edit] Current on-air staff

Anchors

FOX17 Weather Team

Sports team (all are seen on Blitz)

Reporters

[edit] Former on-air staff

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-45/1233929734304040.xml&coll=6
  2. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  3. ^ CDBS Print
  4. ^ [Media:http://www.fox17online.com/news/fox17-news-at-six,0,4276764.story]

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Television stations in West Michigan (including Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Battle Creek)
Local stations

WWMT (3.1 CBS, 3.2 The CW) • WOOD (8.1 NBC, 8.2 MNTV) • WZZM (13.1 ABC, 13.2 AccuWX) • WXSP-CA (15.1 MNTV) • WXMI (17.1 Fox, 17.2 This) • WUHQ-LP 29 (Daystar) • WGVU / WGVK (35.1/52.1 PBS) • WUHO-LP 36 (Ind.) • WMKG-LP 38 (FN/Sportsman) • WOTV (41.1 ABC, 41.2 MNTV) • WZPX (43.1 ION) • W48CL 48 (3ABN) • WTLJ (54.1 TCT, 54.2 TCT HD) • WLLA (64.1 FN, 64.2 RTV, 64.3 MyFam)
Cable Channels
Distant stations

Traverse City/Cadillac: WPBN (7.1 NBC) • WWTV (9.1 CBS) • WFQX (32.1 Fox)
Lansing: WLNS (6.1 CBS) • WILX (10.1 NBC) • WKAR (23.1 PBS) • WSYM (47.1 Fox)
Mid-Michigan: WJRT (12.1 ABC) • WCMU (14.1 PBS)
South Bend: WNDU (16.1 NBC) • WSBT (22.1 CBS) • WSJV (28.1 Fox) • WNIT (34.1 PBS) • WHME (46.1 LeSEA)

Michigan Broadcast television areas by city: Alpena · Detroit · Duluth, MN · Flint-Saginaw-Bay City · Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo · Green Bay, WI · Lansing/Jackson · Marquette · Northern Michigan · South Bend, IN · Toledo, OH

See also: Milwaukee TV
v • d • e
FOX Network Affiliates in the state of Michigan

WJBK 2 (Detroit) • WLUC 6.2 (Marquette) • WBKB 11.2 (Alpena) • WXMI 17 (Grand Rapids) • W32CV 32 1 (Ironwood) •
WFQX 32 / WFUP 45 (Cadillac / Vanderbilt) • W40AN 40 2 (Escanaba) • WSYM 47 (Lansing) • WSMH 66 (Flint)
1 W32CV is a repeater of KQDS-TV Duluth, Minnesota; 2 W40AN is a repeater of WLUK-TV Green Bay, Wisconsin.
See also: ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, ION, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS and Other stations in Michigan
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WXMI"
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