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In 2009, WCIA's longtime weathercaster Judy Fraser retired from the station after 34 years. The station still airs Illini men's basketball games that are carried as part of CBS's overall NCAA and Big Ten contracts. Beginning in 2007, these games have since moved to the Big Ten Network. Originally produced by WCIA, the station later carried the Illini via the Big Ten Conference's syndicated package with ESPN Plus. WCIA was the longtime home to Illinois Fighting Illini football and men's basketball games that were not aired on national television. In November 2006, work began to re-secure WCIA's existing tower in Seymour so it would be able to hold a new digital transmission line and antenna. WCIA's Grade B signal still covers the Bloomington–Normal area decently (extending as far west as Morton), meaning that Bloomington–Normal residents can still receive WCIA over-the-air. A group known as "Citizens to Keep WCIA on-the-air" petitioned Nexstar to revert the change, but was unsuccessful. It would centralize WMBD's advertising revenue and preserve its ratings standing within the Peoria market without numbers being further stunted by WCIA. In March 2000, shortly after Nexstar bought controlling interest in both stations, it announced it would drop WCIA from AT&T Cable Services (now Comcast Xfinity) and cable systems in surrounding areas, a move that would eventually be forced nationwide, due to CBS affiliation agreements requiring only one affiliate being authorized per market on pay television services. WCFN changed its call letters to WCIX in 2011.įor decades, WCIA was available on cable systems in Bloomington– Normal, in the Peoria market, along with sister station WMBD-TV.
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This, and area cable and satellite access, assured both stations full market coverage. WCFN's main channel instead carried WCIA's main schedule in full high definition, with WCFN's channel remaining in standard definition until multiplexing technology improved to allow WCIA and WCFN's main channels to both be in HD. The few viewers who lost access regained it soon afterward when WCIA and WCFN activated their digital television services and added each other to their second digital subchannels. However, few viewers on the western half of the market lost access to WCIA due to the extremely high penetration of cable and satellite, which is all but essential for acceptable television in much of this vast market. In 2002, WCFN separated from WCIA and became the area's UPN affiliate. In 1985, this became full-powered station WCFN. While it frequently trounced WICS/WICD and WAND in the ratings, Meyer decided to open a low-powered relay of WCIA on UHF channel 49 to get better coverage in the state capital. Despite this, Decatur (the second-largest city in the western half of the market) receives WCIA's signal very well. To avoid delays, WCIA moved its transmitter to the current location in Seymour. Prairie claimed WCIA was encroaching on its territory. However, just after construction began, Prairie Television (owner of WTVP, now WAND) filed an objection. The tower would have been placed on some of the highest ground in Central Illinois. He originally wanted to build WCIA's tower in White Heath, roughly halfway between Champaign and Decatur. Meyer realized early on that Champaign– Urbana and Springfield/ Decatur were going to be one giant television market. On two occasions, it fought off attempts by WICS/WICD and WAND to force it onto the UHF band by claiming that moving to UHF would cause it to lose 150,000 viewers.ĭespite its dominance of the market, WCIA provides only a Grade B signal to the Springfield area. It also carried a few ABC shows during the 1953–1954 television season.Īs the only commercial VHF station in Central Illinois, WCIA has been one of the country's most dominant television stations for most of its history. DuMont shut down in 1956 and WCIA dropped NBC in 1959 when WCHU-TV (now WICD) started. WCIA was a primary CBS affiliate, carrying secondary affiliations with NBC and DuMont. That company acquired Midwest's remaining interest in the Illinois stations in 2001. Midwest sold off controlling interest in its Illinois television holdings to Nexstar in 1999.
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Meyer founded Midwest Television in 1952, and expanded the company's footprint by buying WMBD-AM– FM– TV in Peoria, Illinois, in 1960 and KFMB-AM– FM– TV in San Diego, California, in 1964.
Meyer Sr., a lawyer and chairman of the board of the Champaign-based Bank of Illinois. It was owned and operated by Champaign-based Midwest Television, headed by August C. WCIA made its first broadcast on November 14, 1953.