It was hosted by Chuck Acri a businessman who also ran a home improvement company in the Quad Cities. Viewers have been wondering what happened to WICS (Springfield) Anchor Maggie Poteau? Here was a TV Guide entry for just such a pre-emption. Danville Public Library NBC filled the post late news time with sporting events, along with Saturday Night Live. WICS would follow SNL with a videotaped replay of its own 10 pm news. 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. Please note that the schedule for WICD and WICS were virtually identical. The low powered translatoron channel 75 in Mattoon probably didn't broadcast much more than a few miles from Mattoon. No corporation is perfect, nor is every policy. Quotation[3] = "'The TV Blogger who broke the news.' - Gawker"; The History of WICS, Channel 20, Springfield, IL. Pictured below are few snapshots from their visit in Springfield, IL supplied by WICS. The union had represented six employees until its contract expired onNov. 15. Some shows were pre-empted by reruns of, "The Gallant Men." WICS/WICD was to have switched to ABC at the beginning of the 200405 television season, but it was required to remain with NBC for another year, as its affiliation contract with the station did not expire until September 4 of the following year. . 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 would air paid religious programs by a professional evangelist, as well as paid info-commercials on behalf of charitable organizations. Meanwhile, WICS would struggle with the technical limitations of WCHU and WICD. (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". Gordon was named the Executive Director of the Hoogland Center for the Arts on February 1, 2013. Decatur Public Library Pictured are WICS staff members Robert Wilson and John McKinney. Click on the button to see the program schedule from the dates indicated above. On Sundays, WICS would sign on at 6:30 am with a block of religious programming and public affairs. Director of the Center for Online Leadership and Strategy (COLS) at University Professional and Director of the UPCEA Center for Online Leadership and Strategy - and - UIS Associate Vice Chancellor of Online Learning. WICS-TV in Springfield and former station meteorologist Joe Crain say in the Monday joint statement that they've reached a "private agreement" and are "moving on from their dispute . The station originally had facilities at the Leland Hotel on Capitol Street in Downtown Springfield. The NBC lineup included Hollywood Squares, High Rollers, Wheel of Fortune, Mind Readers, Password Plus, Days of Our Lives, Doctors and Another World. By3pm, the lineup featured all syndicated off-network fare, including I Love Lucy, Gilligan's Island, Batman, The Brady Bunch and Happy Days, Again"(the syndicated title of Happy Days). Now Crain is officially out of a job. 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. It was originally called "NBC's Saturday Night" and premiered on October 11, 1975. This operations saw local news operations reduced at some stations and combined with national news coverage, weather forecasting, and sports headlines based out of Sinclair's headquarters in Hunt Valley, Maryland. By 1978, WHNB-TV was sold to Viacom, while the Balaban's retained their Plains Television Partners stations WICS and WICD. function showQuotation(){document.write(Quotation[whichQuotation]);} Don Hickman, former WICS Springfield News Channel 20 anchor, recalls his childhood in Tennessee, adolescent years, introduction to broadcasting via radio, switch to television and many of the events he covered during his career: the Civil Rights Movement, the JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations, and the Vietnam War. This was the 1965-66 Season Premiere Video produced for NBC Sales. His characters were Vincent Hedges(a vampire), Emmit(the hunchback), Beauregard(the caveman), and Bertie and Bernie(the skull). Former Weather Channel Anchor Cheryl Lemke hasn't run into Homer Simpson yet, but she is enjoying life in Springfield, Illinois. Although the WRSP/WCCU newscast features market wide coverage, including contributions from WICD reporters based in Champaign, there is a separate weeknight weather segment for WRSP and WCCU that was seen. That was in April of 1978. This was particularly the case when covering Decatur (located between Springfield and Champaign). 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. Others in the news staff included: Dale Coleman, Nick Alexander, Kyle Hill, Dave Lange, Alan Crane, and others. WICS Sold by Plains Television Partners to Guy Gannett Communications. WICS began operations on September 17, 1953 and was owned by Plains Television Partners of Springfield, which was a 50/50 joint venture of . 2016, WICS News Anchor Team, Stacey Skrysak, John Reger, (YouTube). Broadcasting-Telecasting Magazine Decatur Area Weather Forecast. Gatton joined WICS in February 2017 and has been a news anchor and reporter since then. Joe Crain has been a meteorologist at WICS Springfield, Ill., for 15 years. (You Tube), Linda Ellerby doing an NBC News Update from 1977. It was not until December 2012 that local newscasts seen on WICS were upgraded to HD. J.R. Evans Anchors Jerry Lambert and Marianne Manko are featured with weathercaster Kelly Curran. The SangamonLink has posted about historical highlights for Sangamon County including a story about WICS television history, in which it credits me as a source. 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"). It features Ric Kearbey, Liz Foster, Vince DeMentri, Shantel Middleton, Brett Baldeck, Garrett Brnger, and Donnie Tillman. Champaign Public Library Bomke's broadcast career began in Central Illinois as a morning anchor and reporter for WICD-TV in Champaign and WICS-TV in her hometown of Springfield. Most of the time it was to air more big dollar commercials during syndicated programming. The journalist is popular for anchoring "Dateline" for NBC, and from 1997 to 2011, she was news anchor on the network's "Today" show. Facebook (YouTube). Plains Television Partners held onto WICD making it the final property owned by the company before finally selling to Guy Gannett. This page is here to encourage an open dialogue with our viewers and provide an online community where people can express themselves and interact with See more 134,949 people like this 234,742 people follow this http://www.newschannel20.com/ That left a huge part of the rural areas including Charleston, Tuscola, and other east-centralcommunities without NBC network service from 1959 through 1967. During the Summer of 2004, it was announced that WAND would become the market's NBC station. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, and maintains studios on East Cook Street in Springfield's Eastside; its transmitter is located west of Mechanicsburg, in unincorporated Sangamon County. Pictured are WICS staff members Robert Wilson and John McKinney. August 9, 2013 | 8:20 am EDT by TVNewsCheck, NewscastStudio | December 6, 2022 | 1:16 pm EST by TVN Staff. Weekend newscasts on WICD Champaign, Ill., will originate from Springfield, beginning March 26. WICS also pre-empted "Saturday Night Live" for a long period of time replacing it with a local-originated movie which allowed for more local ad sales than what was available during "SNL." It was owned by Plains Television Partners and was a low-powered full-time satellite of Springfield's WICS. YouTube videos are the property of the individual copyright holders and only posted for their historical significance. It's been an incredible ride over the past 2+ years here in Springfield, one that I won't soon forget. From 2009, this weather promo features Gus Gordon, Joe Crain and Danny Russell. Randy Miller for his picture contributions That is false. Hickman was a CNN original one of the first faces seen . When "Star Trek" premiered, it was pre-empted by WICS for off-network reruns of "Laramie." When WICS moved from the former Leland Hotel studios, it moved into a large facility located at 2680 East Cook Street in Springfield. In the early days, the WICS studios would allow for cars to be driven into the studios as well as for the many children's shows which included a studio audience as well as a panel of local kids. There were some TV classics there, such as the acclaimed Brian's Song but most were very forgettable. Springfield, Illinois Area Sports Reporter/Anchor WYMT Jun 2016 - Jun 2018 2 years 1 month. However, the FCC did not allow Sunrise to buy WICS/WICD due to Sunrise's ownership structure. The owners of Plains Television Partners were Harry and Elmer Balaban, the two younger brothers of Barney Balaban, who was the head of Paramount Pictures during the 1940s and '50s. The rest of the weekday schedule was filled with NBC programming, with a local newscast at 10 pm. When the station was to go on the air in late January or early February of 1967, the area suffered a major ice storm. The trainwould stop in as many of the NBC affiliate home towns as possible amid fans and local media. President and Former Vice President of Print Us @2023 FTVLive LLC WICS/WICD, however, did air The Point (a one-minute conservative political commentary) that was also controversial and a requirement of all Sinclair-owned stations with newscasts until the series was discontinued in December 2006. On December 31, 2012, the Sinclair Broadcast Group closed on the purchase of the non-license assets of GOCOM's three television stations, WRSP/WCCU and sister station WBUI for approximately $25.6 million. Quotation [14] = " 'FTVLive's Scott Jones one of the Most Important Media Reporters in America'- Mediaite" He was 66. Quotation[4] = "'FTVLive a TV news website that is often on the money' - LA Times"; With the threat of having channel 2 in its backyard being over, Plains Television Partners made a major commitment to central Illinois viewers with the building of a huge TV studio/office complex on Springfield's east side. It carried programming from all four networks of the era (NBC, CBS, ABC, and DuMont). March 7, 2011 | 6:17 am EST by TVNewsCheck. The switch was to take place on Labor Day of 2005. I have been in the midst of a big transition. Farm Report. The rest of the morning consisted of typical children's programming from NBC including more modern versions of classic fare like Fred and Barney Meet the Schmoo and the re-worked Warner Brothers cartoons with Daffy Duck and a modern rework of Casper. The State Journal-Register | (The initiative, which Sinclair began implementing in 2018 and is similar to systems devised by other groups such as Gray Television through the stations it inherited from the now-defunct Raycom Media, is known by different names depending on the station, such as "Weather Warn" or as a "(weather branding) Alert Day".) Effingham Area Weather Forecast. That enabled WICS to compete on the level of attracting central Illinois viewers to nearly an equal plain to its major competitor. 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. WICS owner Sinclair did not give her the chance to tell viewers goodbye. Even as WCHU went on the air in 1960, plans were being made to bring a full-powered station to east central Illinois which would re-broadcast the signal of WICS and bring a city-grade signal to an even larger area than that of WCIA. He researched, produced, and presented award-winning investigative . Along with several other Sinclair properties, WICS/WICD did not participate in the wider implementation of the company's now-defunct, controversial News Central format for their newscasts. Multimedia journalists based at WICD's Champaign studios still provide coverage of the eastern areas of the market. John Belushi who was with the show from 1975 to 1979, Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin were there from 1975-1980. Guy Gannett finally bought WICD in 1994. WICS owner Sinclair did not give her the chance to tell . This is from 2013. Neuhoff Broadcasting-Danville Quotation [17] = " 'An insider newsy website' - Hoda Kotb" Quotation[6] = "'The site that everyone that works in TV News turns to' - NPR "; The relationship of the two central Illinois NBC affiliates was so intertwined that it would be questionable that either one could continue to be successful without the other. During the Summer of 1967, the new WICD(channel 15) would go on the air from the tallest (tower)structure in the state of Illinois at the time. During football season, NBC would air the AFC early football game and WICS/WICD would follow with a replay of Capitol Conference, than a local movie insertion.yet another TV movie, usually. WCHU, Channel 33 in Champaign only broadcast a radius of about 15 miles from downtown Champaign. 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. if(window.ImageLoader) window.ImageLoader.bootstrap({}, document);Squarespace.afterBodyLoad(Y); Anchor Leaves Station without a Word (Thanks to Sinclair). Although identifying as a separate station in its own right, WICD is considered . This is a 1996 report on a local Springfield pastry tradition, Mel-O-Cream Donuts. 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. The two stations are counted as a single unit for ratings purposes. 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. The weekend edition of the prime time news will continue to be a market-wide simulcast on WRSP and WCCU. Cindy Larson and others at WICS The Springfield State Journal-Register | You can see Robert Wilson in WICS's early history as a cast member of "Pegwill's Circus", 1972 Chuck Acri host of the Acri Creature Feature, picture from Houseofthejitters.com, 1972 Chuck Acri and characters from the Acri Creature Feature, picture from Houseofthejitters.com, 1972 Acri Creature Feature, picture from Houseofthejitters.com, Acri Creature Feature The Urbana Courier Newspaper 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. 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