WITI

Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Branding	Fox 6 Milwaukee (general) Fox 6 News (news) TV 6.2 (WITI-DT2 subchannel)
Slogan	So Fox 6 (general) When It Matters to You, It Matters to Us; Fox 6 News, Because You Matter (news) Be Prepared, Not Scared (weather)
Channels	Digital: 33 (UHF) Virtual: 6 (PSIP) FM HD Radio audio: WMIL-FM 106.1-HD3
Subchannels	6.1 Fox 6.2 Antenna TV
Affiliations	Fox Broadcasting Company
Owner	Local TV (sale pending) (Community TV of Wisconsin License, LLC)
First air date	May 21, 1956
Call letters' meaning	Independent Television Inc. (original owner)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 6 (VHF, 1956-2009)
Former affiliations	Primary: Independent (1956–1959) CBS (1959–1961, 1977–1994) ABC (1961–1977) DT2: RTV (2009–2010)
Transmitter power	980 kW
Height	289 m
Facility ID	73107
Transmitter coordinates	)
Website	www.fox6now.com

WITI, virtual channel 6.1 (digital channel 33), is the Fox-affiliated television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The station is owned by Local TV, the broadcasting subsidiary of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, and broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 33 using its former analog assignment of channel 6 as its virtual digital channel via PSIP. WITI's studio facilities are located in Brown Deer (though with a Milwaukee address) and its transmitter is located in Shorewood, Wisconsin.

History []

Early history []

The station began broadcasting on May 21, 1956, and was originally owned by Independent Television, Inc., to whom the channel 6 license was granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on June 11, 1955. The station was originally licensed to the North Shore village of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin on a technicality in order to address short-spacing concerns with Davenport, Iowa station WOC-TV (which also broadcast on channel 6) before the FCC fully finessed spacing among television station signals in different markets.

WITI started out as an independent station; in October 1956, the station affiliated with the NTA Film Network, which provided the station with 52 20th Century Fox films and syndicated programming. Among the programs aired by WITI were The Passerby, Man Without a Gun, and This is Alice.^[1]

Upon moving to their 27th Street studios, WITI began using RCA TK-11 monochrome cameras.

From 1956 to 1959, WITI used the DuMont Vitascan color system for its locally produced programs. Vitascan required a completely darkened set with a single strobe light, causing eye strain. The situation was difficult for the on-air talent, according to Sid Armstrong, who worked at WITI as a news reporter during the station's early years.^[1] The station switched to monochrome cameras when it moved to the building on North 27th Street.^[2]

First CBS affiliation, then switch to ABC []

On August 8, 1958, the Storer Broadcasting (which was based in Toledo, Ohio at the time) bought WITI in hopes of affiliating the station with the CBS network, with which the company had good relations. At the time, CBS had owned a local UHF station, WXIX (channel 18, now WVTV) as part of a corporate effort to determine if UHF station operation and ownership would be successful. But once the disadvantages of being on a UHF frequency became clear, CBS was eventually compelled to move to the VHF band. In turn, CBS sold WXIX to a local party, and WITI-TV began its first stint as a CBS affiliate on April 1, 1959. At that time, WITI moved from its original facility in Mequon to the former WXIX studios on North 27th Street on Milwaukee's North Side (which were later used by WCGV-TV from 1980 to 1994). Storer also applied to move the channel 6 allocation from Whitefish Bay to the city of Milwaukee; the request was granted on July 30, 1959.^[3]

In 1961, CBS decided to affiliate with WISN-TV (channel 12), since its sister radio station had been a longtime affiliate of the CBS Radio Network. As a result, WITI-TV and WISN-TV swapped networks, and channel 6 became an ABC affiliate on April 2, 1961.^[4] In 1963, the station began to operate transmitter facilities in Shorewood, bringing it onto equal footing with Milwaukee's other broadcast stations. As a result of being an ABC affiliate, WITI carried the first few seasons of the Milwaukee-set sitcom Happy Days, as well as its spin-off Laverne & Shirley from 1974 to 1977 (the rights to both shows are now owned by CBS).

Second time around with CBS []

In 1977, ABC had emerged as the most-watched American broadcast network. However, Storer Broadcasting had developed a bitter relationship with ABC. Four years earlier in 1973, San Diego station KCST-TV won a long battle to strip that market's ABC affiliation from Tijuana, Mexico-based XETV-TV. Storer purchased the station the following year, but ABC was not happy with having been forced to surrender an affiliation with a VHF station (XETV had broadcast on channel 6) in favor of a UHF outlet (KCST, which broadcast on channel 39) in San Diego. Perhaps in protest of ABC moving its San Diego affiliation from KCST to VHF station KGTV (channel 10, then-owned by McGraw-Hill), Storer announced weeks into the 1976-77 season that it would change WITI-TV's network alignment back to CBS.^[5] Without hesitation, WISN-TV aligned with ABC, officially reversing the 1961 affiliation swap between the two stations;^[6] the switch occurred on March 27, 1977.

In 1978, the station would move to new studios at the northwest corner of North Green Bay and Brown Deer roads in Brown Deer, just outside Milwaukee. After Storer Broadcasting was bought out by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in 1985, the station underwent a series of ownership changes. KKR sold the stations to Gillett Communications in 1987; shortly thereafter, SCI Television was spun off from Gillett to take over the stations after Gillett's bankruptcy. New World Communications purchased WITI-TV and the other SCI Television stations in 1993. As a CBS station, WITI-TV had carried most Green Bay Packers games that aired on CBS as part of that network's broadcast contract with the NFC, which expired after the 1993 season.

As a Fox station []

In early 1994, New World announced a long-term program development and station affiliation deal with the Fox Broadcasting Company, resulting in most of the stations that were part of the New World station group switching their affiliations from one of the Big Three television networks to Fox – including WITI..^[7] CBS scrambled to find a new affiliate, eventually landing on the then low-profile WDJT-TV (channel 58). The switch to Fox took place on December 11, 1994, with Fox NFL Sunday becoming the first Fox program to be broadcast on WITI, leading into that year's Chicago Bears–Green Bay Packers game at Lambeau Field. It was Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to the National Football League's NFC package (which moved to Fox from CBS)^[8] that spurred the network into seeking upgrades to its affiliate body, and the eventual deal with New World. In recent years, the station has aired most of the NFL Network's Thursday Night Football telecasts featuring the Packers.

In the fall of 1995, the station became began branding itself as "Six is News", in order to emphasize the station's newly expanded schedule of newscasts. Conversely, during Fox prime time hours, the station was promoted as "Fox is Six" to try to build an audience for the growing network on the stronger Milwaukee station (Cleveland sister station WJW used a very similar branding technique during the same period, branding itself as "ei₈ht is News" and "Fox is ei₈ht", playing off the on-air brand that the station used during the 1960s and 1970s as a CBS affiliate).

In 1996, the News Corporation subsidiary Fox Television Stations bought WITI and the remaining New World stations outright. After the sale was approved in January 1997, which made channel 6 a Fox owned-and-operated station, the station's branding was changed to "Fox SIX", with the channel number still fully spelled out (WITI's logo at the time closely resembled the one used by Fox for its NFL programming). Channel 6 officially rebranded as "Fox 6" in April 1998 with the introduction of the "Milwaukee's Newscenter" set; a "Weather Deck" located outside of the station's studios also began to be used around this time, providing an outdoor setting for forecast segments.

In 2006, WITI celebrated its 50th anniversary with an hour-long prime time special ("50 Years and Counting") in April and vignettes aired throughout the year, beginning on January 1.[8] With the installation of a new graphics and control switcher on September 29, 2007,^[9] WITI began using the standardized graphics package first adopted by Fox's other O&Os during that time. The logo's coloring and other minor graphical elements changed, but did not take on the vertically-stacked appearance of its sister stations, most likely due to the fact that the horizontal logo had been heavily integrated into the station's news set.

On June 13, 2007, Fox Television Stations announced that it would put WITI and seven other Fox O&O stations up for sale.^[10] On December 22, 2007, Fox entered into an agreement to sell these stations^[11] to the Oak Hill Capital Partners subsidiary Local TV, a sale that was finalized on July 14, 2008.^[12] Nine months later on March 31, 2009, WITI preempted Osbournes: Reloaded – becoming the first Fox program to be preempted by channel 6 since it joined the network (the program was delayed to 1:05 a.m., due to inappropriate content); the program's timeslot was replaced with a discussion program called Dealing with Drugs, about the effects of drug abuse on southeastern Wisconsin teens.^[13]

On January 28, 2009, WITI launched a redesigned website hosted by Tribune Interactive (now Tribune Digital), the result of a broadcast management agreement between Local TV and the Tribune Company; the site's domain name changed to Fox6Now.com (the Fox6.com domain remains owned by current San Diego CW affiliate XETV-TV, though the station's website does not use it as a redirect). The management agreement resulted in the sharing of newsgathering resources between WITI and Tribune's Chicago flagship station WGN-TV, although the station still shares news footage and other resources with Fox's Chicago O&O WFLD through the Fox News affiliate service. The station also aired a tornado relief telethon from Huntsville, Alabama sister station WHNT-TV on May 6, 2011, over digital subchannel 6.2.^[14] In January 2012, WITI's website began to be operated under the WordPress.com VIP plaftorm.

Broadcasting facilities []

The WITI TV Tower is located in Shorewood, Wisconsin and stands 1078 feet tall; it was completed in August 1962, and for a short time, the transmitter had been the tallest free-standing tower in the world.

The station's studios are located in Brown Deer, Wisconsin at the intersection of Green Bay Road and Brown Deer Road. The building contains at least two studios: Studio A houses the station's primary news set, and studio B houses the set for the station's morning newscast. In May 2008, a new set for the morning show was constructed in Studio B with the old Wake-Up News "living room" set, an area used for guest performances, and the Ask Gus set being dismantled. The front lobby and newsroom are also utilized for auxiliary studios depending on the broadcast; the lobby was set up to broadcast the station's local coverage of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon on Labor Day, until WITI decided to discontinue airing it in 1996 (the telethon returned to WITI in 2011, after a 15-year run on CBS affiliate WDJT-TV,^[15] with Fox network programming being delayed until the overnight hours on the night of its broadcast).

Digital television []

Digital channels []

The station's digital is multiplexed:

In May 2012, the station activated their second audio program channel one year before FCC requirements for network-provided audio description went into effect for the Milwaukee market, which was done for all Local TV stations at the master control level. The station carries all Fox programming available with Descriptive Video Service audio, along with Spanish language audio broadcasts of Fox Sports telecasts.

WITI-DT2 []

On July 23, 2009, after a series of tests of a new digital subchannel, WITI began carrying programming from the Retro Television Network on digital channel 6.2, featuring a much different set of programming than the network's default schedule due to the presence of Weigel Broadcasting's Me-TV on WBME-TV (channel 49), which held the local television rights to most of the programs that were broadcast by RTV. Charter Communications began carrying the 6.2 subchannel on digital channel 967 on August 11, followed by its addition to Time Warner Cable on digital channel 991 on October 13, 2009.

On December 31, 2010, WITI switched its subchannel's affiliation to Antenna TV (as part of network owner Tribune Broadcasting's co-management agreement with Local TV's stations), and was rebranded as TV 6.2, featuring a modified version of WITI's "TV 6" logomark that was used from 1974 to 1995 as a CBS affiliate.^[16][17] The station uses the subchannel to air WITI's 9 p.m. newscast in the event of sports or extended movie broadcasts by Fox that delay or preempt the program, and to simulcast severe weather coverage from 6.1, including closings and weather warning graphics. The subchannel also aired coverage of the December 2010 funeral of Chicago Cubs legend Ron Santo from WGN-TV; it previously aired a same day encore of Real Milwaukee at 8 p.m. weeknights.

Analog-to-digital conversion []

As part of the transition from analog to digital television, WITI shut down its analog transmitter on the evening of June 12, 2009, with its digital signal continuing to broadcast on its pre-transition digital channel 33. Digital television receivers display WITI's virtual channel as 6 through the use of PSIP. For two weeks until June 25, the analog signal featured a "nightlight" loop supplied by the National Association of Broadcasters of digital converter box operating instructions in English and Spanish, with several interruptions in the interim for severe weather emergencies.

The switch to digital resulted in radio listeners no longer being able to hear WITI's audio feed; during the analog television era, the audio for stations broadcasting on VHF channel 6 was audible over the 87.7 MHz frequency; this is no longer possible since the digital television transition, even for stations that actually continue to use channel 6 for their digital broadcasts. While at least one station offered a separate broadcast on 87.7,^[18] WITI took a more direct though experimental approach to restore its TV audio, having it restored in August 2009 to an HD Radio subchannel of WMIL-FM (106.1) via an agreement with the station's owner Clear Channel Communications to provide news and weather content for the company's Milwaukee radio cluster (a forecast-only content agreement between Channel 6 and Entercom Communications's three local stations and occasional check-in during WakeUp on WXSS's and WSSP's morning shows continues without any audible forecasts from Fox 6 meteorologists).^[19] HD Radio equipment or a car stereo that is equipped with an HD Radio receiver is required to listen to the audio simulcast. WITI is one of the few stations that formerly broadcast on Channel 6 prior to the digital transition to restore its audio feed legally, as Albany, New York's WRGB attempted a subcarrier audio service after the transition that was subsequently pulled on FCC request.

Digital tower []

WITI's digital channel ran at a lower power until November 2009, due to the antenna being located lower on the WITI Tower than the former analog antenna (this setup was common during the digital transition among all Fox O&O-turned-Local TV stations that transmit their signals from a broadcast tower; the station had originally transmitted their HD signal on low power from their STL tower in Brown Deer until HD equipment was installed on the main tower in late 2004). That antenna was removed in September, with the digital antenna relocated higher on the tower in October, causing some interruptions in over-the-air service, along with affecting the operations of WUWM (89.7), which is a tenant on the WITI Tower. The station hinted at transitioning its local news and programming to high definition before the end of 2009,^[20] it began airing non-news programming in HD with the Milwaukee downtown Christmas parade on November 21, 2009 (with training and equipment assistance from Milwaukee Public Television), and then the newscasts on December 5, 2009.

Programming []

As a Fox-owned station, WITI largely aired syndicated programs distributed by Twentieth Television and was used as a test station for many of those series. However since 2010, programs distributed by the syndication unit have been reduced to only a small portion of channel 6's syndicated lineup, which includes The Wendy Williams Show, The Steve Harvey Show and The Ricki Lake Show, Divorce Court and Judge Alex. Other syndicated programs seen on the station include Judge Judy, TMZ on TV, station stalwart Seinfeld, Extra and Private Practice. The station carries Edgemont and children programs distributed by Entertainment Studios to fulfill FCC E/I requirements. The station carries all syndicated series in high definition.

WITI ran M*A*S*H starting with the 1977 CBS/ABC affiliation switch, in both its original CBS run and in syndication. WITI obtained the local syndication rights to the show in the 1990s after a long and successful run on WISN-TV. As an ABC affiliate, WITI preempted The Dick Cavett Show in favor of old movies in the early 1970s (it was shown instead on then-independent station WVTV); All My Children was also preempted in favor of running a noon newscast, which moved to 11 a.m. in September 2007.

As with many of the stations that Fox acquired from New World, WITI never aired Fox's children's program block. Fox Kids aired on WCGV from December 1994 to September 2004, when the block (by that time known as 4Kids TV) moved to WMLW-CA (channel 41) until Fox discontinued the block in December 2008. Subsequently, WITI has refused to carry Fox's Saturday morning Weekend Marketplace infomercial block, as have WCGV and WMLW, in deference to the longtime local home contractor/subdivision programming that has aired on the station in that time period since the late 1980s, the block is therefore unseen in the Milwaukee market.

On September 7, 2010, WITI debuted a new morning talk program called Real Milwaukee, which airs at 9 a.m. following the station's morning newscast; it is produced by WITI's news department, and focuses on current events and community issues. The program differs from WTMJ-TV's talk/lifestyle program The Morning Blend in that it does not feature paid demonstration segments by local businesses.^[21] From the first ratings period after the start of Real Milwaukee, the program has generated significantly stronger ratings than The Morning Blend.

News operation []

WITI presently broadcasts 52 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (8½ hours on weekdays, and five hours on Saturdays and 5½ hours on Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output of any television station in the Milwaukee market and the state of Wisconsin in general. The station's morning newscasts usually place a strong first or second in the demographic ratings with WISN and WDJT finishing third or fourth. With the November 2011 ratings book, the Fox 6 Wake Up News beat all its competitors to finish first in the ratings and officially holding that position for two straight years.

Channel 6's news department began with the launch of the station in 1956, its newscast was then known as Milwaukee Newsreel. When WITI became a Fox-owned station in the mid-1990s, the station placed more emphasis on its local newscasts; newscasts expanded to include an additional two hours of its morning newscast in the 7-9 a.m. slot, the 5 p.m. newscast expanded from 30 minutes to one hour on weekdays and an hour-long nightly primetime newscast at 9 p.m. was added. The station is also one of several Fox stations with a newscast in the traditional late news timeslot (in WITI's case, 10 p.m. Central time), in addition to the primetime 9 p.m. newscast, along with one of the few to continue their existing Big Three-era 10 p.m. newscast after the affiliate switch, and one of a handful of Fox stations to run a 10 p.m. (or 11 p.m.) newscast seven nights a week.

On December 3, 2007, the weekday noon newscast moved to 11 a.m. Two days prior on December 1, the Saturday morning edition of Wake-Up News was expanded to two hours beginning at 7 a.m., and the Sunday morning broadcast was also moved to 7 a.m., but remained one hour long. In addition, Gus Gnorski's Saturday morning DIY program Ask Gus, was put on hiatus, with Gnorski's segments merged into the Saturday morning newscast; the program's former studio became the new home of Wake-Up in May 2008. On March 28, 2009, the station suspended its morning and early evening newscasts on weekends; the weekend morning newscasts were briefly replaced by reruns of Ask Gus on April 4 (Gus Gnorski's medically necessitated retirement put an end to the station's plans to revive Ask Gus, with the how-to program ending its 15-year run on November 24, 2007).^[22]

On December 5, 2009, WITI became the second station in Milwaukee (behind WTMJ-TV) to begin broadcasting their local newscasts in high definition. WITI is the first and (as of June 28, 2011) only Milwaukee area station to broadcast all locally originated portions of its newscasts, including live field reports in high definition (WTMJ, WDJT and WISN also produce HD newscasts, though WTMJ and WDJT both carry a mix of HD and SD news footage, footage from WTMJ's helicopter is upconverted to widescreen, and most field video shown on WISN's newscasts are broadcast in widescreen SD). In February 2010, WITI extended its weekday morning newscast to 4½ hours, with the start time moved one hour earlier to 4:30 a.m. On April 2, 2011, WITI resumed the Saturday and Sunday morning newscasts after a two-year absence, airing for two hours from 7 to 9 a.m. on both days.^[23] Weekend early evening newscasts were subsequently restored at the start of April 2012.

In December 2012, WITI began construction of a new Studio A set designed by FX Group, resulting in the dismantling of the "Milwaukee's Newscenter" set, which had received three refreshes over the course of its 14 years of use. All newscasts and Real Milwaukee then temporarily originated from the in Studio B set that houses the station's morning newscast (WakeUp News).^[24] The new Studio A was partially introduced on February 11, 2013, with modifications to the secondary set continuing for a couple of weeks after. A new graphics package and the debut of a new music package ("Extreme" by Stephen Arnold) was introduced on April 22, 2013.

News/station presentation []

Newscast titles []

• Milwaukee Newsreel (1956–1961)
• The Six O'Clock Report/The Ten O'Clock Report (1961–1966)
• TV-6 News (1966–1984)
• 24 Hours (10 p.m. newscast; 1966–1977)
• TV-6 Eyewitness News (1977–1984)
• The TV-6 News (1984–1995, WITI used this newscast after the switch from CBS to Fox)^[25]
• Six is News (1995–1997)
• Fox Six News (1996–1999)
• Fox 6 News (1999–present)^[26]

Station slogans []

• "Your Kind of People" (1969–1970 and 1980s)
• "The Winners" (1970–1971)
• "Today is a New Day" (1971–1972)
• "You Can Count on Us" (1978)
• "You Sure Look Like a Winner" (1980)^[27]
• "Fox is Six" (general) / "Six is News" (news; 1995–1997)
• "Just You Watch the Best" (2006–2008; general slogan)
• "The Most Powerful Name in Local News" (2007–2011; news slogan)^[28]
• "So Fox 6" (2008–present; local version of Fox promotional campaign)
• "Because It Matters" (2011–2013)
• "Because You Matter" (2013–present)

On-air staff []

Current on-air staff^[29] []

Anchors

• Ben Handelman - weekend mornings on Weekend WakeUp News (7:00-9:00 a.m.); also weekday reporter
• Brad Hicks - Monday-Thursdays at 6:00 and 9:00; and Fridays at 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 9:00 and 10:00 p.m.
• Tami Hughes - Saturdays at 6:00, 9:00 and 10:00 p.m.; also weeknight reporter
• Nicole Koglin - weekday mornings on WakeUp News (4:30-9:00 a.m.)
• Kim Murphy - weekday mornings on WakeUp News (4:30-9:00 a.m.)
• Shawn Patrick - weekday mornings on WakeUp News (4:30-9:00 a.m.)
• Ted Perry - Sunday-Thursdays at 5:00 and 5:30, Sundays at 9:00 and Sunday-Thursdays at 10:00 p.m.
• Anne State - Monday-Thursdays at 6:00 and 9:00; and Fridays at 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 9:00 and 10:00 p.m.
• Mary Stoker Smith - Sunday-Thursdays at 5:00 and 5:30, Sundays at 9:00 and Sunday-Thursdays at 10:00 p.m.
• Beverly Taylor - Monday-Thursdays at 11:00 a.m. and Saturdays at 6:00, 9:00 and 10:00 p.m.; also weeknight reporter
• Derica Williams - weekend mornings on Weekend WakeUp News (7:00-9:00 a.m.); also weekday reporter

Fox 6 Storm Center

• Vince Condella (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval) - chief meteorologist; Sundays-Thursdays at 5:00 and 5:30, Mondays-Thursdays at 6:00 and Sundays-Thursdays at 9:00 and 10:00 p.m.
• Rob Haswell (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval; CMOS-endorsed weathercaster) - meteorologist; weekday mornings on WakeUp News (4:30-9:00 a.m.)
• Brittney Sager - meteorologist; weekend mornings on Weekend WakeUp News (7:00-9:00 a.m.) and Mondays and Fridays at 11:00 a.m.
• Justin Zollitsch (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; Tuesdays-Thursdays at 11:00 a.m.; Fridays at 5:00 and 5:30; and Fridays and Saturdays at 6:00, 9:00 and 10:00 p.m.

Fox 6 Sports

• Tom Pipines - sports director; Sundays at 5:00 and 5:30; and Sundays-Thursdays at 9:00 and 10:00 p.m.
• Tim Van Vooren - sports anchor; weeknights at 5:00 and 6:00 p.m.; also sports reporter

Reporters

Real Milwaukee

• Tony Clark - "roving reporter"
• Katrina Cravy - co-host
• Rob Haswell - co-host
• Nicole Koglin - co-host
• Cassandra McShepard - co-host

Notable former on-air staff []

• Bart Adrian - meteorologist (retired October 22, 2010; now teaches at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee)^[30]
• Tom Skilling - meteorologist (1975–1978; now chief meteorologist at WGN-TV/Chicago, Illinois)
• Clarice Tinsley - anchor/reporter/monthly public affairs show host (1975–1978; now at KDFW/Dallas-Fort Worth)

References []

• www.fox6now.com. - Personality names and positions

External links []

• Official WITI website
• Real Milwaukee official website
• History of Milwaukee television
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WITI
• Toon Tracker's Albert the Alley Cat page