A few years into the split schedule between the two stations, it was decided by WICS that WICD should drop "Saturday Night Live" and air the WICS late movie. During the Summer of 2004, it was announced that WAND would become the market's NBC station. They are subject to removal by the contributors and YouTube. This is a 2018 clip from Sunrise with Joe Crain and an explanation of the eventual controversial weather warning.. Network screen grabs were from the collection of Bob Lee, Jo Warfield for sharing her recollections. In its place are newscasts simulcast from WICS (in all time slots) which provide market-wide coverage including content from the eastern areas through a downsized bureau at WICD's studios. December 26, 2013 | 7:31 am EST by TVNewsCheck, TVNewsCheck/Playout | The trainwould stop in as many of the NBC affiliate home towns as possible amid fans and local media. Quotation[0] = "'Mr. // ====================================== 1988 was the 50th anniversary of Springfield's Mel-O-Cream Donuts and Dave Heller did a report on the local company. This is a 1996 report on a local Springfield pastry tradition, Mel-O-Cream Donuts. Be sure to check other regions around Springfield, IL to locate the records of more people. Along with television, Elmer Balaban also owned a number of local radio stations in medium-size markets around the country. Quotation[4] = "'FTVLive a TV news website that is often on the money' - LA Times"; This arrangement nearly brought down WICD, and for a time, it appeared the station would revert to a full-time satellite of WICS. During the Summer of 2004, it was announced that WAND would become the market's NBC station. The Resignation of President Nixon as covered by NBC, August 8, 1974. Hickman was an anchor at the ABC-affiliate from 1972 until his retirement in 2001. WICS, Channel 20, Springfield, Rick Lipps On Sundays, WICS would sign on at 6:30 am with a block of religious programming and public affairs. 1976 Fall TV montage of shows broadcast during the week. Effingham Area Weather Forecast. John Belushi who was with the show from 1975 to 1979, Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin were there from 1975-1980. Anchors Trey Paul - weekdays mornings and reporter (also reporter) Natalie Sparacio - weekday mornings Marianne Manko - weeknights at 5, 6, and 9 Vince DeMentri - weeknights at 5, 6, and 10 Liz Foster - weeknights at 10 Shantel Middleton - General Assignment/weekend anchor Kevilee Douglas - Illinois Central host Storm Team 20 They might have had a strange talent, demonstrated a stunt, had a peculiar occupation.I think you get the idea. [15][8][10][12] On June 13, a spokesman for Sinclair stated that he had been, in fact, let go. The Bloomington Pantagraph While the network programming would shift from one set of stations to another, the syndicated shows would remain on the original stations, with some shifting time slots. WICS Advertises For Meteorologists Replacement, Code Red Alert Gone After Meteorologists Knock, At KCCI Des Moines, The CSD Draws On Long And Varied Experience, Talking TV: CBCs About That Elevates Explainer News For Streaming, For NextGen TV, Cheaper Receivers, Bigger Markets And More HDR Are Next, Many Forces Working Against TV M&A In 2023, Hawaiis This Is Now Bridges Digital, Broadcast, Talking TV: Welcoming The End Of News Objectivity, Scale Complicates Monitoring, But Tools Level Up To The Challenge, Chatbots Downside For Media Is Already Clear, TV Groups Turn To Solutions Journalism, And Viewers Lean In, Local Businesses Pull Ads From WICS In Support Of Weathercaster, WICS Forecaster May Be Out After Criticizing Sinclair, WICS Meteorologist Criticizes Sinclair Code Red Alerts, WICS Strong Leader In Central Ill. Social Media, WICS Fires Anchor, Reporter After Hooters Fight, WICS Sports Director Krista Lander Leaving, WICS News Set Nominated For Mid-America Emmy, Vince DeMintri Joins Anchor Staff At WICS, WICS Reporter Katie Heinz Injured In Accident, Former WICS Anchor Don Hickman Dies At 74, Spot TV Forecast: After Political Bonanza In 22, Flat Will Suffice For 23, Top 30 Station Groups: Standard General Leaps Into Second Place With Tegna Acquisition, 13th Annual Women In Technology Awards Reception, Revenue Strategies: Advanced Targeting for Local TV. It was originally called "NBC's Saturday Night" and premiered on October 11, 1975. It was originally called "NBC's Saturday Night" and premiered on October 11, 1975. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. She took to social media to inform viewers of her life outside of news: For weeks I have been very quiet on social media. It as done with a panel which included John Barbour, Sarah Percell, Byron Allen, Skip Stephenson, Bill Rafferty, Mark Russell, Fred Willard and even Peter Billingsley(of "Christmas Story"). December 7, 2012 | 8:17 am EST by TVNewsCheck, SJ-R.com | Gordon was named the Executive Director of the Hoogland Center for the Arts on February 1, 2013. WICS-TV Jun 2018 - Feb 2020 1 year 9 months. A spokesman for the stations parent, Sinclair Broadcast Group, confirmed Wednesday night that Joe was let go., TVNewsCheck | On April 7, 2015 despite this significant reduction, WICD began airing a full sixty-minute Champaign-based prime time newscast (weeknights at 9) on WCCU entitled Fox Champaign News at Nine. It was hosted by Chuck Acri a businessman who also ran a home improvement company in the Quad Cities. There was no Saturday, 6 pm newscast, scheduled instead of the syndicated first-run comedy/variety show Hee Haw which would air from 5 to 6 pm. Jordan Elder is switching Sinclair owned stations. WICS would often time preempt NBC for the airing of local origination programming during the prime time during the month following a rating period. This is a 10 pm newscast from February 24, 2016. Off-network shows were syndicated in 30-minute versions and in central Illinois appeared on WMBD-TV, Peoria as well as sister station WCIA in Champaign. // to increment the Quotation[x] index! Along with television, Elmer Balaban also owned a number of local radio stations in medium-size markets around the country. WICS continued to be owned by Plains Television Partners from its beginnings through 1986 and co-owned with sister station WICD in Champaign. WICS serves the western half of the Central Illinois market while WICD serves the eastern portion. This probably wasn't met favorably by NBC, but it seems that it didn't stop WICS from doing it. It seems that Saturday Night Live replaced a time period in which local stations previously programmed it to air movies and other syndicated programming. It's unknown why the Balaban's held onto the Champaign property. Syndicated Programming Combining the signals of WICS with WCHU, Channel 33 in Champaign, and WICD, Channel 24 in Danville increased the audience of the Plains Television stations to nearly that of Midwest Television's WCIA, Channel 3. by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh On June 26, 2010, rival WAND became the first television station in East-Central Illinois to upgrade news production to high definition level. On September 5, 2005, the two stations swapped affiliations with WAND and became ABC affiliates as part of a larger national deal between LIN and NBC that also involved WDTN in Dayton, Ohio (who swapped affiliations with WICS/WICD's Dayton sister station WKEF the year before). Read more about those struggles in "Pictures on the Prairie" available by clicking on the link above. Kathryn Dinardo Open in Who Shared Wrong byline? Traveled on assignment . The picture with WICS staff members was taken sometime in the last days of "The Virginian" or during the 1974-75 era of "Lucas Tanner" which aired on NBC. Please note that the schedule for WICD and WICS were virtually identical. As mentioned above, WICS frequently pre-empted prime time programming to insert its own programming. Plains Television Partners held onto WICD making it the final property owned by the company before finally selling to Guy Gannett. The station's social media page was flooded with comments from viewers demanding the reinstatement of Joe Crain, pushing the hashtag #IStandWithJoeCrain, while U.S. Price Point | Was The Code Red Meteorologist Right? This was produced to promote the 1975-76 Fall Preview Special. Vice President at Frontline Public Strategies, Inc. Senior public affairs & media relations strategist, Founder of Frontline Public Strategies. Springfield, Illinois Metropolitan Area MMJ/Reporter . WICS Improvements/Planning // ============================================== This left WICS and WICD without a major network affiliation. The situation with WICS/WICD wasunique when it came to Saturday Night Live. Neuhoff Broadcasting-Danville Meanwhile, WICD in Danville broadcast a signal of about 30 miles from Danville. June 13, 2019 | 6:58 am EDT by Brian Stelter, One week ago Joe Crain, the morning meteorologist at WICS Springfield, Ill., called out station management for mandating over-the-top Code Red weather alerts. Quotation[8] = "'CNBC wanted a reaction to a story someone had seen on FTVLive' - Vanity Fair "; Former Channel 20 anchor Don Hickman dies JOHN REYNOLDS and MATTHEW DIETRICH 0:00 0:35 Don Hickman, whose nearly three decades as news anchor at WICS Channel 20 made him one of. Unlike the WRSP/WCCU show, WCFN's broadcast originated from WCIA's Champaign facilities but was targeted specifically at a Springfield audience. SKILLS -Avid, Edius, and Premier Pro: Non-linear editing -Various web publishing programs Communications, Public Speaking, Public Relations, Writing, Marketing, Video Editing, Broadcasting, Broadcast, Broadcast Journalism, Non-linear Editing. Vince DeMentri is a popular American who now serves as the president and CEO of deadline media consulting in Tampa, Florida, since September 2017. Us @2023 FTVLive LLC Senate Republican Caucus, Vice President & Senior Trust Officer at Jacksonville Savings Bank, Communication Manager/Spokesperson at Illinois Department of Transportation, President, Savant Multimedia, Social Media Management/Advertising Firm. Blocks NBC affil WAND came in second. Railsplitters would go on to sponsor the Sunday night movie as well, "The Sunday Cinema.". If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Brittany is no stranger to Illinois as she's worked at news stations in southern and central . Some of the religious shows included Jimmy Swaggart, Herald of Truth and Faith for Today. Sometime in the 1960s, WICS began a tradition of airing a movie at 9:30 am. This popular horror movie feature was produced at WQAD, Channel 8 in Moline, Illinois, and was syndicated to KCRG-TV(Cedar Rapids, Iowa), along with WEEK-TV(Peoria), and across central Illinois on WICS and WICD. This change took effect after the final WICD-produced newscast aired on April 3. It also aired whatever ABC programs WTVP in Decatur (now WAND) had to turn down in order to air CBS shows not cleared by WCIA. Twitter | WICS owner Sinclair did not give her the chance to tell . Guy Gannett finally bought WICD in 1994. Local newscasts, produced by WICS, are simulcast on both stations. HMTF was majority stockholder of the LIN TV Corporation, then-owner of WAND. window._taboola = window._taboola || []; The News-Gazette A 1979 NBC promo for the premiere network broadcasts of "Escape to Witch Mountain" and "The Towering Inferno" narrated by Casey Kasem. June 8, 2019 | 8:03 am EDT by Matthew Cappucci. This is a clip of the event. The Final Years of Plains Television Partners and WICS. During most of its run in the late 1960s and 70s, it was sponsored by the local Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Springfield, Railsplitters Motors. That of Channel 20(WICS) in Springfield, Channel 33(WCHU) in Champaign, Channel 24,(WICD) in Danville and Channel 75(W-75-AD) in Mattoon, Illinois. Professional Background CheckInformation on professionals, their work history and resumes. However, WICS was the only station uplinked by satellite providers due to contractual obligations, since it was considered the main station. Hazard, Kentucky . Local pickets, letters, boycotts, and threats were made..and the decision was reversed in a matter of a couple of weeks. Well Poteau has left the station and TV news altogether. She also co-anchored FOX40 Live Morning. WICS, WICD, WCIA, WRSP, WCCU, WAND, WBUI and WCIX are now broadcasting with ATSC 3.0 technology. It states that WICD was also purchased by Guy Gannett Communications in 1986. I have been in the midst of a big transition. Pictured are WICS staff members Robert Wilson and John McKinney. From August 12, 2016, the 10pm newscast from WICS, Channel 20. In June 2019, Sinclair fired Joe Crain, a weekday morning meteorologist who had been with WICS since 2006,[7] for speaking out on-air during the June 5 edition of NewsChannel 20 Sunrise against a group mandate to Sinclair's news-producing stations to denote threats of severe thunderstorm activity through "Code Red" alerts, regardless of the severity of the event being forecast, stating that the system was "created by, likely, a journalism school graduate," rather than a professional meteorologist. Justin Carter and Brittany Hardaway (WICS) SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) Many people are wondering where Newschannel 20 and FOX Illinois morning anchors Justin Carter and Brittany Hardaway have been. The change represented the second attempt at a joint market-wide product by WICS/WICD. WICD would follow with a play of its public affairs program Assignment 15.. The rest of the weekday schedule was filled with NBC programming, with a local newscast at 10 pm. 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