Civil Rights
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
q2K BHP
Black History Portal
THE BHP WIRE —
HIDDEN TRUTHS
What's New!
Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. In 1972 she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, breaking another political barrier.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
 | This article needs more citations. (September 2014) |
 | |
 | |
| |
| City | Springfield, Illinois |
|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Branding |
|
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
|
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WCIA | |
| History | |
First air date | 1967 (current license dates from February 4, 1985) |
Former call signs | W49AA (1967–1985) WCFN (1985–2011) |
Former channel numbers |
|
Call sign meaning | disambiguation from WCIA |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| 42116 | |
| ERP |
|
| HAAT | 175.5 m (576 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 39°47′27.4″N 89°30′53″W / 39.790944°N 89.51472°W |
| Translator(s) | WCIA 3.2 Champaign |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WCIX (channel 49) is a television station licensed to Springfield, Illinois, United States, serving the Central Illinois region. It is programmed primarily as an independent station, but maintains a secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV. WCIX is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Champaign-licensed CBS affiliate WCIA (channel 3). The two stations share studios on South Neil Street/US 45 in downtown Champaign and also operate a sales office and news bureau on West Edwards Street near the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. WCIX's transmitter is located in Clear Lake Township.
Since WCIX's over-the-air signal cannot be seen in eastern parts of the market (including Champaign, Urbana, and Danville), it is simulcast in high definition on WCIA's second digital subchannel (3.2) from a transmitter west of Seymour, Illinois. Nielsen Media Research treats WCIX and WCIA-DT2 as one station in local ratings books, using the identifier name WCIX+.
Before WCIA signed-on in 1953, it originally wanted to build its transmitter tower in White Heath, halfway between Champaign and Decatur. The tower would have been placed on some of the highest ground in Central Illinois. However, after construction began, then-ABC affiliate WTVP (channel 17, now WAND) filed an objection. Even though it was obvious that Champaign–Urbana and Springfield/Decatur would be considered a single market, WTVP owner Prairie Television claimed WCIA was trying to encroach on its territory. To avoid delays, that station moved its transmitter to its current location in Seymour. While the signal from the Seymour tower covered Decatur very well, it was barely viewable in Springfield until cable television arrived in the market in the early 1960s.
WCIA quickly established itself as the dominant station in the region despite its signal issues in the western half of the market. Eventually, then-owner Midwest Television decided to open a low-powered satellite relay of WCIA on UHF channel 49 to get better coverage in Springfield and the surrounding area. This relay launched in 1967 under the callsign W49AA. On February 4, 1985, Midwest Television upgraded channel 49 to a full-power station under new calls, WCFN (standing for its channel number).[2] However, like its low-powered predecessor, WCFN was a straight simulcast of WCIA, even airing its commercials. WCFN's existence was only acknowledged in WCIA's legal station identifications.
In 2002, WCFN broke off from the simulcast to be the market's first full-time UPN affiliate. That network had previously been seen in off-hours on Pax outlet WPXU (channel 23, now WBUI) in Decatur. However, few viewers actually lost access to WCIA, given the extremely high penetration of cable and satellite in central Illinois.
The removal of CBS service from the station would be temporary with the launch of WCFN's digital transmitter, meaning that despite the conversion to UPN, WCFN's schedule could also air as a WCIA subchannel, with WCIA's main CBS channel able to be carried by WCFN. Accordingly, the main channel 49 schedule was added to WCIA-DT2 with channel 3's schedule airing on WCFN-DT2. WCIA's signal aired in full 1080i high definition, with the main WCFN schedule only seen in a reduced 480i standard definition over-the-air on both channels 49.1 and 3.2 as multiplexing of two high-definition signals was not yet possible. In September 2006, with ACME Communications's WBUI (then with executive connections with a former WB network executive) de facto taking The CW affiliation by default, WCFN joined MyNetworkTV instead in the wake of the WB/UPN merger.
In early 2007, Nexstar and the Illinois High School Association came to an agreement to carry coverage of IHSA tournaments in the market on channel 49. Central Illinois had previously been without an over-the-air flagship station for these kind of events. Also, from 2010 to 2019, the station carried Chicago Bulls, Cubs, and White Sox games which aired in Chicago on WCIU and WLS-TV and were produced by WGN Sports. The station carried Indianapolis Colts preseason football games starting in 2011. Before 2011, WCFN featured Labor Day coverage of the US Open tennis tournament from CBS because of WCIA's commitment to air the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon. In 2011, the tennis coverage shifted fully to WCIA since the telethon was limited to the night before Labor Day.
On August 29, 2011, the station's call sign was changed to WCIX—a call sign used on CBS owned-and-operated station WFOR-TV in Miami, Florida from 1967 to 1995, when that station changed from channel 6 to channel 4 and swapped with NBC's WTVJ. At that point, the station's logo was changed to resemble that of sister station KARZ-TV in Little Rock, Arkansas; which is also a MyNetworkTV affiliate associated with a big three network-affiliated station (in that case, NBC outlet KARK-TV).
In June 2015, Nexstar upgraded the transmitters of WCIA and WCIX to allow high definition multiplexing, so WCIX's main MyNetworkTV channel began to be carried on both stations in full 1080i 16:9 on both 49.1 and 3.2.
On December 3, 2018, Nexstar announced it would acquire the assets of Chicago-based Tribune Media for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. The deal—which would make Nexstar the largest television station operator by total number of stations upon its expected closure late in the third quarter of 2019—resulted in WCIX and WCIA gaining additional sister stations in nearby markets including Chicago (independent station WGN-TV) and St. Louis (Fox affiliate KTVI and CW affiliate KPLR-TV). (Ownership conflicts existed in two existing Nexstar markets involving Nexstar's duopoly of CW affiliate WISH-TV and MyNetworkTV affiliate WNDY-TV (which were both sold to Circle City Broadcasting) and Tribune's duopoly of Fox affiliate WXIN and CBS affiliate WTTV/WTTK in Indianapolis and Nexstar's virtual triopoly of CBS affiliate WHBF-TV, CW affiliate KGCW and Fox-affiliated SSA partner KLJB and Tribune-owned ABC affiliate WQAD-TV (which was sold to Tegna) in the Quad Cities.)[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] The sale was approved by the FCC on September 16 and was completed on September 19, 2019.
On April 7, 2005, WCIA began airing the market's first prime time newscast on WCFN. Known on-air as Primetime News at 9, the broadcast originated from the main studios in Champaign but was targeted specifically at a Springfield-based audience. The name was altered to myCFN News at 9 in September 2006 to reflect WCFN's affiliation change to MyNetworkTV.
There would not be any competition in the time slot until September 11, 2006, when rival ABC affiliates WICS/WICD began co-producing a nightly prime time newscast at 9 on Fox affiliates WRSP/WCCU. That program was based out of WICS' Springfield studios but, unlike WCFN's show, featured market-wide coverage (including contributions from WICD reporters based in Champaign). However, there was a separate weeknight weather forecast segment seen on WRSP and WCCU that was specifically geared towards the Springfield and Champaign areas, respectively.
Also in 2006, WCIA began airing an hour-long extension of its weekday morning newscast at 7 a.m. on WCFN. This originally included a simulcast of the 6 o'clock hour of The Morning Show from WCIA. At the end of the first hour, viewers were always reminded to flip the channel to WCFN which offers a local alternative to the national morning programs seen on the big three networks. In 2007, another hour was added to the show which can now be seen from 7 until 9.
In 2009, WCIA announced it would cancel myCFN News at 9 and launch a new sixty-minute newscast weeknights at 7 on WCFN beginning September 28. As a result, MyNetworkTV programming now airs out-of-pattern, via an hour tape delay, from 8 to 10 p.m. The broadcast would eventually be reduced to 30 minutes in length. On October 24, 2012, WCIA upgraded local news production to high definition level. However, WCIX's newscasts were initially seen over-the-air in a letterboxed format because its main channel only transmitted in 4:3 standard definition until it was upgraded to full HD in 2015. WRSP/WCCU added competition to the weekday morning news race on January 20, 2014, after WICS began producing a two-hour extension of its morning show on the Fox affiliates. In addition to WCIA's main facilities, it operates bureaus in Springfield (on West Edwards Street near the Illinois State Capitol) and Decatur (on North Water Street).
In September 2017, the station moved its newscast from 7 to 9 p.m.
WCIX and WCIA broadcast two shared channels (MyNetworkTV on 49.1 and 3.2 and CBS on 49.2 and 3.1) and two unique diginets each. Also broadcast on the WCIX multiplex is a subchannel of WRSP-TV as part of the market's ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) hosting arrangement.
| Channel | Res. | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 49.1 | 1080i | WCIX-HD | Main WCIX programming |
| 49.2 | WCIA-HD | CBS (WCIA) | |
| 49.3 | 480i | Mystery | Ion Mystery |
| 49.4 | Laff | Laff | |
| 55.2 | 480i | TrueCri | True Crime Network (WRSP-TV) |
WCIX-DT1 and WCIA-DT2 both broadcast in 1080i, upscaled from MyNetworkTV's default 720p format.
WCIX (as WCFN) shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 49, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 53, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to VHF channel 13, using virtual channel 49.[14]
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state of Illinois | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Illinois | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
| Defunct | ||
| ||
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
WCIX (channel 49) is a television station licensed to Springfield, Illinois, United States, serving the Central Illinois region. It is programmed primarily as an independent station, but maintains a secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV. WCIX is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Champaign-licensed CBS affiliate WCIA (channel 3). The two stations share studios on South Neil Street/US 45 in downtown Champaign and also operate a sales office and news bureau on West Edwards Street near the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. WCIX's transmitter is located in Clear Lake Township. Since WCIX's over-the-air signal cannot be seen in eastern parts of the market (including Champaign, Urbana, and Danville), it is simulcast in high definition on WCIA's second digital subchannel (3.2) from a transmitter west of Seymour, Illinois. Nielsen Media Research treats WCIX and WCIA-DT2 as one station in local ratings books, using the identifier name WCIX+.
WCIX TV Tower is a 539 metres (1,768 ft) guyed television transmission tower located at 17107 SW 248th Street, Miami, near Homestead, Florida. It was destroyed on August 24, 1992, by Hurricane Andrew and was rebuilt by LeBlanc Tower of Canada. The tower was actually fabricated and engineered by LeBlanc of Canada but was erected by Tower King Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia. At the time of erection the structure was the heaviest guy supported broadcast tower in the world. The tower is currently the transmission platform for four FM radio stations: WRGP (88.1), WDNA (88.9), WMLV (89.7), and WRTO-FM (98.3).
WSVN (channel 7) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with Fox and ABC. It is the flagship station of locally based Sunbeam Television and has studios on the 79th Street Causeway in North Bay Village and a transmitter in Miami Gardens, Florida. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regards WSVN as having signed on for the first time on December 19, 1962, as WCKT under Sunbeam ownership. However, the station was the result of a long and contentious legal battle between Sunbeam and three other applicants for the channel 7 allocation in Miami. Biscayne Television Corporation, a three-way partnership including the publishers of the Miami News and Miami Herald signed on a previous WCKT on July 29, 1956, only to be stripped of its license due to ethics violations within the FCC and unethical behavior by its principals during the application process. Sunbeam purchased WCKT's assets and relaunched the station under a new license with uninterrupted service, while claiming the old WCKT's history as its own. The market's NBC affiliate since its inception, WCKT was renamed WSVN in 1983 and became an independent with Fox programming on January 1, 1989, after NBC's purchase of CBS affiliate WTVJ and CBS's purchase of Fox affiliate WCIX-TV initiated a major affiliation switch. With minimal advance preparation, WSVN relaunched their news department with an emphasis on tabloid journalism under Joel Cheatwood's direction, an unconventional decision initially pilloried by the local media but has since been emulated and copied throughout the industry. WSVN's newscasts have attracted national and international attention for aggressive and controversial content and have been credited as an inspiration for the launch of Fox News. One of the largest Fox affiliates not owned by the network, it was famously called "the future of television" by onetime Fox executive Lucie Salhany. Involved with Sunbeam from the company's beginnings until his death on July 26, 2020, chairman Edmund Ansin repeatedly refused offers to sell either WSVN or his Boston stations. On August 4, 2025, a subchannel of WSVN replaced WPLG as Miami's ABC affiliate.
WSFL-TV (channel 39), branded as The Spot – South Florida 39, is an independent television station in Miami, Florida, United States. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Ion Television station WPXM-TV (channel 35). WSFL-TV's studios are located on Southwest 78th Avenue in Plantation; its transmitter is located in Andover. Channel 39 began broadcasting on October 16, 1982, as WDZL. Though it was the second major independent outlet in the city after WCIX-TV, it struggled in its early years. A mishap when the antenna was installed caused the original owners to develop financial difficulties that forced a sale of controlling interest to Odyssey Partners, while a third independent, WBFS-TV (channel 33), went on the air in December 1984 and nearly immediately surpassed WDZL in the ratings. Under the ownership of Renaissance Communications, the station aired Fox Kids programming in the Miami market, became affiliated with The WB in 1995, and began airing a 10 p.m. newscast produced by NBC station WTVJ in January 1997. The Tribune Company acquired Renaissance in a deal completed in March 1997. Tribune required a waiver to own the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper and WDZL in the same market; under a temporary waiver it obtained from the Federal Communications Commission, it was required to keep their operations separate. WDZL became WBZL in April 1998 to emphasize its network affiliation. In 2002, the hold-separate condition was removed, and Tribune moved WBZL operations into the Sun-Sentinel facility in Fort Lauderdale; began featuring Sun-Sentinel content on channel 39's newscasts; and integrated their advertising sales and other operations. The WTVJ newscast was dropped in 2008 ahead of the 2009 debut of a four-hour morning show, originally known as SouthFlorida.com/Live and later The Morning Show; it lasted 16 months before being canceled due to low ratings. In 2014, Tribune split its publishing and broadcasting holdings into separate companies. Nexstar Media Group bought Tribune Media in 2019 and sold WSFL-TV to Scripps as part of the transaction. Scripps intended to start a news department but instead contracted with WPLG for local newscasts between 2021 and 2025. The station airs a lifestyle show, Inside South Florida, and is the broadcast television home of Florida Panthers hockey.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.
