The existing hour-long WICS-produced newscast on WRSP, which had been simulcast on WCCU, was refocused to Springfield and became known as Fox News at Nine. 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. Although WICD maintains its own studios on South Country Fair Drive in downtown Champaign, master control and most internal operations are based at WICS' facilities. 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. The switch ended up being one of the most confusing things to happen to local TV since the advent of cable TV. Linda Ellerby doing an NBC News Update from 1977. (picture courtesy of Teresa Wilson Ericson, daughter of Robert Wilson), You can see Robert Wilson in WICS's early history as a cast member of "Pegwill's Circus".
It seems that Saturday Night Live replaced a time period in which local stations previously programmed it to air movies and other syndicated programming. This page also includes the "limbo" era in which Sinclair held the properties before deciding to hold on to a long time Illinois duopoly. The low powered translator on channel 75 in Mattoon probably didn't broadcast much more than a few miles from Mattoon.
From the start, NewsChannel at 9 competed with a newscast already established in the time slot on then-UPN affiliate WCFN (produced by WCIA). WICS would air paid religious programs by a professional evangelist, as well as paid info-commercials on behalf of charitable organizations. Here was a TV Guide® entry for just such a pre-emption. Guy Gannett finally bought WICD in 1994.
Television careers began, on-air personalities became local celebrities while other broadcasters worked behind the scenes. There was no Saturday, 6 pm newscast, scheduling instead of the syndicated first-run comedy/variety show “Hee Haw” which would air from 5 to 6 pm. Teresa Wilson Ericson Others in the news staff included: Dale Coleman, Nick Alexander, Kyle Hill, Dave Lange, Alan Crane and others. 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). Notable former on-air staff. His characters were Vincent Hedges(a vampire), Emmit(the hunchback), Beauregard(the caveman) and Bertie and Bernie(the skull). John Belushi who was with the show from 1975 to 1979, Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin were there from 1975-1980. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) stating that the "Code Red" system "overstat[es] the danger to our community." The dog was Fang, the wonderdog. This is a WICS 10 pm weathercast from February 4, 2014.
Click on the button to see the program schedule from the dates indicated above. This facility would house the station for many years to come even after bringing the operations of the GoCom stations (WRSP, WCCU and WBUI) into the fold in the 2010s. Programming WICS from 1979 to 1986 First day of ABC, Sept 5, 2005 (Doug Quick Collection), 2013 WICS Weekend Anchors, Sports, Santel Middleton and Joe Brooks (You Tube), Work being done to master control with new digital High Definition Equipment (Joe Crain photo), WICS Master Control before 2011 (Joe Crain photo). WCHU, Channel 33 in Champaign only broadcast a radius of about 15 miles from downtown Champaign. This ice storm would bring down the newly constructed WICD tower. 45 in Champaign into WICD's studios.
The existing hour-long WICS-produced newscast on WRSP, which had been simulcast on WCCU, was refocused to Springfield and became known as Fox News at Nine. 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. Although WICD maintains its own studios on South Country Fair Drive in downtown Champaign, master control and most internal operations are based at WICS' facilities. 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. The switch ended up being one of the most confusing things to happen to local TV since the advent of cable TV. Linda Ellerby doing an NBC News Update from 1977. (picture courtesy of Teresa Wilson Ericson, daughter of Robert Wilson), You can see Robert Wilson in WICS's early history as a cast member of "Pegwill's Circus".
It seems that Saturday Night Live replaced a time period in which local stations previously programmed it to air movies and other syndicated programming. This page also includes the "limbo" era in which Sinclair held the properties before deciding to hold on to a long time Illinois duopoly. The low powered translator on channel 75 in Mattoon probably didn't broadcast much more than a few miles from Mattoon.
From the start, NewsChannel at 9 competed with a newscast already established in the time slot on then-UPN affiliate WCFN (produced by WCIA). WICS would air paid religious programs by a professional evangelist, as well as paid info-commercials on behalf of charitable organizations. Here was a TV Guide® entry for just such a pre-emption. Guy Gannett finally bought WICD in 1994.
Television careers began, on-air personalities became local celebrities while other broadcasters worked behind the scenes. There was no Saturday, 6 pm newscast, scheduling instead of the syndicated first-run comedy/variety show “Hee Haw” which would air from 5 to 6 pm. Teresa Wilson Ericson Others in the news staff included: Dale Coleman, Nick Alexander, Kyle Hill, Dave Lange, Alan Crane and others. 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). Notable former on-air staff. His characters were Vincent Hedges(a vampire), Emmit(the hunchback), Beauregard(the caveman) and Bertie and Bernie(the skull). John Belushi who was with the show from 1975 to 1979, Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin were there from 1975-1980. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) stating that the "Code Red" system "overstat[es] the danger to our community." The dog was Fang, the wonderdog. This is a WICS 10 pm weathercast from February 4, 2014.
Click on the button to see the program schedule from the dates indicated above. This facility would house the station for many years to come even after bringing the operations of the GoCom stations (WRSP, WCCU and WBUI) into the fold in the 2010s. Programming WICS from 1979 to 1986 First day of ABC, Sept 5, 2005 (Doug Quick Collection), 2013 WICS Weekend Anchors, Sports, Santel Middleton and Joe Brooks (You Tube), Work being done to master control with new digital High Definition Equipment (Joe Crain photo), WICS Master Control before 2011 (Joe Crain photo). WCHU, Channel 33 in Champaign only broadcast a radius of about 15 miles from downtown Champaign. This ice storm would bring down the newly constructed WICD tower. 45 in Champaign into WICD's studios.
The existing hour-long WICS-produced newscast on WRSP, which had been simulcast on WCCU, was refocused to Springfield and became known as Fox News at Nine. 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. Although WICD maintains its own studios on South Country Fair Drive in downtown Champaign, master control and most internal operations are based at WICS' facilities. 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. The switch ended up being one of the most confusing things to happen to local TV since the advent of cable TV. Linda Ellerby doing an NBC News Update from 1977. (picture courtesy of Teresa Wilson Ericson, daughter of Robert Wilson), You can see Robert Wilson in WICS's early history as a cast member of "Pegwill's Circus".
It seems that Saturday Night Live replaced a time period in which local stations previously programmed it to air movies and other syndicated programming. This page also includes the "limbo" era in which Sinclair held the properties before deciding to hold on to a long time Illinois duopoly. The low powered translator on channel 75 in Mattoon probably didn't broadcast much more than a few miles from Mattoon.
From the start, NewsChannel at 9 competed with a newscast already established in the time slot on then-UPN affiliate WCFN (produced by WCIA). WICS would air paid religious programs by a professional evangelist, as well as paid info-commercials on behalf of charitable organizations. Here was a TV Guide® entry for just such a pre-emption. Guy Gannett finally bought WICD in 1994.
Television careers began, on-air personalities became local celebrities while other broadcasters worked behind the scenes. There was no Saturday, 6 pm newscast, scheduling instead of the syndicated first-run comedy/variety show “Hee Haw” which would air from 5 to 6 pm. Teresa Wilson Ericson Others in the news staff included: Dale Coleman, Nick Alexander, Kyle Hill, Dave Lange, Alan Crane and others. 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). Notable former on-air staff. His characters were Vincent Hedges(a vampire), Emmit(the hunchback), Beauregard(the caveman) and Bertie and Bernie(the skull). John Belushi who was with the show from 1975 to 1979, Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin were there from 1975-1980. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) stating that the "Code Red" system "overstat[es] the danger to our community." The dog was Fang, the wonderdog. This is a WICS 10 pm weathercast from February 4, 2014.
Click on the button to see the program schedule from the dates indicated above. This facility would house the station for many years to come even after bringing the operations of the GoCom stations (WRSP, WCCU and WBUI) into the fold in the 2010s. Programming WICS from 1979 to 1986 First day of ABC, Sept 5, 2005 (Doug Quick Collection), 2013 WICS Weekend Anchors, Sports, Santel Middleton and Joe Brooks (You Tube), Work being done to master control with new digital High Definition Equipment (Joe Crain photo), WICS Master Control before 2011 (Joe Crain photo). WCHU, Channel 33 in Champaign only broadcast a radius of about 15 miles from downtown Champaign. This ice storm would bring down the newly constructed WICD tower. 45 in Champaign into WICD's studios.
The existing hour-long WICS-produced newscast on WRSP, which had been simulcast on WCCU, was refocused to Springfield and became known as Fox News at Nine. 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. Although WICD maintains its own studios on South Country Fair Drive in downtown Champaign, master control and most internal operations are based at WICS' facilities. 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. The switch ended up being one of the most confusing things to happen to local TV since the advent of cable TV. Linda Ellerby doing an NBC News Update from 1977. (picture courtesy of Teresa Wilson Ericson, daughter of Robert Wilson), You can see Robert Wilson in WICS's early history as a cast member of "Pegwill's Circus".
It seems that Saturday Night Live replaced a time period in which local stations previously programmed it to air movies and other syndicated programming. This page also includes the "limbo" era in which Sinclair held the properties before deciding to hold on to a long time Illinois duopoly. The low powered translator on channel 75 in Mattoon probably didn't broadcast much more than a few miles from Mattoon.
From the start, NewsChannel at 9 competed with a newscast already established in the time slot on then-UPN affiliate WCFN (produced by WCIA). WICS would air paid religious programs by a professional evangelist, as well as paid info-commercials on behalf of charitable organizations. Here was a TV Guide® entry for just such a pre-emption. Guy Gannett finally bought WICD in 1994.
Television careers began, on-air personalities became local celebrities while other broadcasters worked behind the scenes. There was no Saturday, 6 pm newscast, scheduling instead of the syndicated first-run comedy/variety show “Hee Haw” which would air from 5 to 6 pm. Teresa Wilson Ericson Others in the news staff included: Dale Coleman, Nick Alexander, Kyle Hill, Dave Lange, Alan Crane and others. 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). Notable former on-air staff. His characters were Vincent Hedges(a vampire), Emmit(the hunchback), Beauregard(the caveman) and Bertie and Bernie(the skull). John Belushi who was with the show from 1975 to 1979, Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin were there from 1975-1980. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) stating that the "Code Red" system "overstat[es] the danger to our community." The dog was Fang, the wonderdog. This is a WICS 10 pm weathercast from February 4, 2014.
Click on the button to see the program schedule from the dates indicated above. This facility would house the station for many years to come even after bringing the operations of the GoCom stations (WRSP, WCCU and WBUI) into the fold in the 2010s. Programming WICS from 1979 to 1986 First day of ABC, Sept 5, 2005 (Doug Quick Collection), 2013 WICS Weekend Anchors, Sports, Santel Middleton and Joe Brooks (You Tube), Work being done to master control with new digital High Definition Equipment (Joe Crain photo), WICS Master Control before 2011 (Joe Crain photo). WCHU, Channel 33 in Champaign only broadcast a radius of about 15 miles from downtown Champaign. This ice storm would bring down the newly constructed WICD tower. 45 in Champaign into WICD's studios.
The existing hour-long WICS-produced newscast on WRSP, which had been simulcast on WCCU, was refocused to Springfield and became known as Fox News at Nine. 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. Although WICD maintains its own studios on South Country Fair Drive in downtown Champaign, master control and most internal operations are based at WICS' facilities. 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. The switch ended up being one of the most confusing things to happen to local TV since the advent of cable TV. Linda Ellerby doing an NBC News Update from 1977. (picture courtesy of Teresa Wilson Ericson, daughter of Robert Wilson), You can see Robert Wilson in WICS's early history as a cast member of "Pegwill's Circus".
It seems that Saturday Night Live replaced a time period in which local stations previously programmed it to air movies and other syndicated programming. This page also includes the "limbo" era in which Sinclair held the properties before deciding to hold on to a long time Illinois duopoly. The low powered translator on channel 75 in Mattoon probably didn't broadcast much more than a few miles from Mattoon.
From the start, NewsChannel at 9 competed with a newscast already established in the time slot on then-UPN affiliate WCFN (produced by WCIA). WICS would air paid religious programs by a professional evangelist, as well as paid info-commercials on behalf of charitable organizations. Here was a TV Guide® entry for just such a pre-emption. Guy Gannett finally bought WICD in 1994.
Television careers began, on-air personalities became local celebrities while other broadcasters worked behind the scenes. There was no Saturday, 6 pm newscast, scheduling instead of the syndicated first-run comedy/variety show “Hee Haw” which would air from 5 to 6 pm. Teresa Wilson Ericson Others in the news staff included: Dale Coleman, Nick Alexander, Kyle Hill, Dave Lange, Alan Crane and others. 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). Notable former on-air staff. His characters were Vincent Hedges(a vampire), Emmit(the hunchback), Beauregard(the caveman) and Bertie and Bernie(the skull). John Belushi who was with the show from 1975 to 1979, Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin were there from 1975-1980. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) stating that the "Code Red" system "overstat[es] the danger to our community." The dog was Fang, the wonderdog. This is a WICS 10 pm weathercast from February 4, 2014.
Click on the button to see the program schedule from the dates indicated above. This facility would house the station for many years to come even after bringing the operations of the GoCom stations (WRSP, WCCU and WBUI) into the fold in the 2010s. Programming WICS from 1979 to 1986 First day of ABC, Sept 5, 2005 (Doug Quick Collection), 2013 WICS Weekend Anchors, Sports, Santel Middleton and Joe Brooks (You Tube), Work being done to master control with new digital High Definition Equipment (Joe Crain photo), WICS Master Control before 2011 (Joe Crain photo). WCHU, Channel 33 in Champaign only broadcast a radius of about 15 miles from downtown Champaign. This ice storm would bring down the newly constructed WICD tower. 45 in Champaign into WICD's studios.
+ denotes WICD personnel ++ denotes Sinclair personnel, Sports (both seen on Hangtime and The Blitz). Unfortunately, those local children's shows would end with the abundance of syndicated sitcoms. Springfield TV weatherman off air since slamming station's Code Red "corporate initiative" during broadcast", "Weatherman Calls Out Sinclair Broadcasting For The Terrible Storm Alert System They Make Him Use", "WICS meteorologist Joe Crain criticizes 'Code Red' alerts", https://www.sj-r.com/news/20190613/sinclair-meteorologist-joe-crain-let-go-from-wics, "Viewers displeased after weatherman Ric Kearbey announces he's leaving WICS", "Former WICS personality Ric Kearbey raising money for online weather site", sorted by primary channel network affiliations, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WICS&oldid=975588397, Television channels and stations established in 1953, Television stations in the Champaign–Springfield–Decatur market, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 29 August 2020, at 10:26. This is a 10 pm newscast from February 24, 2016. Flip was WICS weathercaster for the six and ten-PM newscasts from 1973 to 1979. This is from 2013. This was particularly the case when covering Decatur (located between Springfield and Champaign). [19] This is not the first time the station has taken issue with talent popular with their viewers; in 2015, chief meteorologist Ric Kearbey was unable to reach a deal with WICS on a new contract, while anchor Liz Foster resigned to take a new position in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was sponsored by Railsplitters Lincoln-Mercury which would either do live or recorded commercials in the studio with featured vehicles both new and used. Known as Good Day Illinois, the program can be seen from 7 until 9 and offers a local alternative to the national morning programs seen on the big three networks. He later would be at CNN for over 20 years and at WXIA in Atlanta before moving to a role in public relations and working for the United Way in Atlanta. In 1983, as part of a publicity stunt, the cast toured the country via a train called the "Real People Express." On June 26, 2010, rival WAND became the first television station in East-Central Illinois to upgrade news production to high definition level.
The existing hour-long WICS-produced newscast on WRSP, which had been simulcast on WCCU, was refocused to Springfield and became known as Fox News at Nine. 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. Although WICD maintains its own studios on South Country Fair Drive in downtown Champaign, master control and most internal operations are based at WICS' facilities. 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. The switch ended up being one of the most confusing things to happen to local TV since the advent of cable TV. Linda Ellerby doing an NBC News Update from 1977. (picture courtesy of Teresa Wilson Ericson, daughter of Robert Wilson), You can see Robert Wilson in WICS's early history as a cast member of "Pegwill's Circus".
It seems that Saturday Night Live replaced a time period in which local stations previously programmed it to air movies and other syndicated programming. This page also includes the "limbo" era in which Sinclair held the properties before deciding to hold on to a long time Illinois duopoly. The low powered translator on channel 75 in Mattoon probably didn't broadcast much more than a few miles from Mattoon.
From the start, NewsChannel at 9 competed with a newscast already established in the time slot on then-UPN affiliate WCFN (produced by WCIA). WICS would air paid religious programs by a professional evangelist, as well as paid info-commercials on behalf of charitable organizations. Here was a TV Guide® entry for just such a pre-emption. Guy Gannett finally bought WICD in 1994.
Television careers began, on-air personalities became local celebrities while other broadcasters worked behind the scenes. There was no Saturday, 6 pm newscast, scheduling instead of the syndicated first-run comedy/variety show “Hee Haw” which would air from 5 to 6 pm. Teresa Wilson Ericson Others in the news staff included: Dale Coleman, Nick Alexander, Kyle Hill, Dave Lange, Alan Crane and others. 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). Notable former on-air staff. His characters were Vincent Hedges(a vampire), Emmit(the hunchback), Beauregard(the caveman) and Bertie and Bernie(the skull). John Belushi who was with the show from 1975 to 1979, Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin were there from 1975-1980. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) stating that the "Code Red" system "overstat[es] the danger to our community." The dog was Fang, the wonderdog. This is a WICS 10 pm weathercast from February 4, 2014.
Click on the button to see the program schedule from the dates indicated above. This facility would house the station for many years to come even after bringing the operations of the GoCom stations (WRSP, WCCU and WBUI) into the fold in the 2010s. Programming WICS from 1979 to 1986 First day of ABC, Sept 5, 2005 (Doug Quick Collection), 2013 WICS Weekend Anchors, Sports, Santel Middleton and Joe Brooks (You Tube), Work being done to master control with new digital High Definition Equipment (Joe Crain photo), WICS Master Control before 2011 (Joe Crain photo). WCHU, Channel 33 in Champaign only broadcast a radius of about 15 miles from downtown Champaign. This ice storm would bring down the newly constructed WICD tower. 45 in Champaign into WICD's studios.
