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54-480: MLive Media Group newspaper publications include The Ann Arbor News , The Bay City Times , The Flint Journal , The Grand Rapids Press , Jackson Citizen Patriot , Kalamazoo Gazette , Muskegon Chronicle , The Saginaw News , and Advance Newspapers . The company also maintains newsrooms in Lansing and Detroit. All of Advance Publications' Michigan content is published on Mlive.com. Booth Newspapers

108-422: A private equity firm that also held an increased involvement in radio station ownership. This company became known as Sunrise Television Corporation . WEYI began broadcasting programming from The WB in overnight hours in 1999, after Superstation WGN ceased airing the network's shows nationally; this ended in 2001. In 2000, WEYI debuted its first morning newscast, a half-hour program. After constructing

162-490: A 4,480-square-foot (416 m ) extension to its newsroom to provide adequate space for its increased staff, the station expanded the newscast from 30 minutes to an hour in May 2001. This was followed by noon and 5:30 p.m. broadcasts in 2002. In January 2002, Sunrise and LIN TV —another Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst–backed company—agreed that LIN would take over WEYI-TV under a local marketing agreement . In March, Sunrise sold

216-479: A UHF station, the possibility of a new station in the stronger very high frequency (VHF) band presented the possibility of financial ruin for WKNX-TV. In 1954, the FCC granted a construction permit for Flint's VHF channel 12 to Detroit radio station WJR , but this was challenged at the FCC and in the courts. Lake Huron Broadcasting emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of the proposed WJRT-TV . In 1955, it filed with

270-503: A bid for Rust Craft, primarily seeking its six television stations. Ziff-Davis had previously hired I. Martin Pompadur, a former ABC executive, as part of the company's plan to acquire television stations. The Rust Craft board approved of the sale that September for a total price of approximately $ 69 million, but booming prices for broadcast properties and an objection by two Rust Craft directors and shareholders, seeking more money, caused

324-547: A channel 46 construction permit from ACME Communications and the rights to WB programming in the Flint–Saginaw–Bay City market, immediately launching a WB affiliate as a subchannel of its digital signal (launched on May 5, 2003 ) and on cable. The service was originally known as WBBC but changed to WBSF in May 2005. Two years passed before channel 46 itself began broadcasting as WBSF in September 2006, in time for

378-426: A disc jockey at WKNX radio and a part-time reporter for channel 25, as the station's first full-time anchorman. The new transmitter facility was activated on December 10, 1972. Studio operation did not move to Clio until January 1973 because of disputes among labor unions involved in the construction work. Rust Craft soon found it did not need all that power. For 46 days in 1976, WEYI-TV operated at half power due to

432-652: A free weekly newspaper for Livingston County published from 2003 to 2009 by the Ann Arbor News . The company closed the Ann Arbor Business Review at the same time and moved the weekly publication under the brand of AnnArbor.com. Several employees of Ann Arbor Business Review were hired by the new company. The Ann Arbor News is believed to be the first daily newspaper to fail in an American city with only one for-profit daily newspaper. (A Monday-through-Friday paper, The Michigan Daily ,

486-632: A larger realignment of network television affiliations , CBS announced it would move its affiliation to the stronger WNEM-TV. NBC was rumored to be wooing WJRT, likely leaving WEYI with ABC, but Capital Cities/ABC moved to buy WJRT and WTVG in Toledo, Ohio , in October. More or less by default, NBC signed an affiliation agreement with WEYI in November. NBC programming moved from WNEM-TV on January 16, 1995. The NBC affiliation switch provided enough of

540-431: A lead-in. Instead, ratings at 11 p.m. declined; six percent of viewers watched WEYI at 11, compared to 39 percent tuning to WNEM-TV and 32 percent watching WJRT-TV. By 1987, the station had reinstated an early newscast at 5:30 p.m. and a noon newscast, but the evening news shows attracted just three percent of the market's viewers, a small fraction of the viewership for the competing WNEM and WJRT offerings. The 11 p.m. news

594-415: A lift in ratings that it attracted a buyer: Smith Broadcasting Group , which purchased WEYI-TV and two other stations for $ 63.5 million in 1995. For company president Bob Smith, a native of Bloomfield Hills , it was the first station he had owned in his home state. Smith put WEYI and other stations up for sale in 1996, only to sell it to a new joint venture of Smith and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst ,

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648-562: A local agreement with WSMH. The move led to the addition of 18 new news staffers. In 2016, Sinclair announced that the UAW had ceased representing nearly 30 WEYI-TV employees. Sinclair announced numerous layoffs at WEYI–WSMH in March 2023, which led to a major cut in news production from the stations. The morning, 5 p.m., and weekend evening newscasts were discontinued, leaving the station to broadcast newscasts at 6 and 11 p.m. The station's signal

702-527: A new studio near Clio in Vienna Township . The studio would be located alongside a new transmitter facility with an effective radiated power of 4 million watts, a 13-fold power increase. The new transmitter allowed the Flint–Tri-Cities market to be fully realized; it gave channel 25 primary coverage of Flint as well as Saginaw, Bay City and Midland. It also brought CBS programming to some areas of

756-532: A power boost to 302,000 watts in 1969, Flint remained outside of its grade-A reception area. In 1969, WKNX-TV and WJIM-TV in Lansing filed a $ 7 million antitrust lawsuit against the American Research Bureau (ARB), a ratings service, and WNEM-TV and WJRT-TV. They claimed that ARB had entered into an agreement with the two stations under which it would not publish separate ratings studies for

810-473: A technical fault; having received no comments from viewers then or during a January 1977 incident when utility Consumers Energy instructed major electricity consumers to reduce their energy usage, the station applied for permanent authority to reduce its power, conserving 153,000 kilowatt-hours of energy a month. In June 1977, the Ziff Corporation, parent of magazine publisher Ziff-Davis , made

864-487: A week (Thursday, Friday, and Sunday) while increasing their web presence; the three newspapers would add a Tuesday edition in March 2010, with The Bay City Times and The Saginaw News sharing an edition. On February 2, 2012, Booth Newspapers split into two companies: MLive Media Group and Advance Central Services Michigan. MLive Group handles advertising and news for all newspapers and websites. Advance Central Services handles human resources, production, and distribution. At

918-456: Is carried by WEYI) and of WBSF to Cunningham Broadcasting (WSMH took over the operations of both WEYI and WBSF through local marketing agreements when the deal was completed). The sale was completed on November 25. Effective April 27, 2015, WEYI took over duties of producing the 10 p.m. newscast for sister Sinclair station WSMH, Fox66 News at 10 . For nearly ten years prior to that date, WNEM-TV had produced WSMH's evening newscast as part of

972-662: Is located in Vienna Township along the Genesee – Saginaw county line. WEYI-TV is the oldest station in the Flint–Saginaw area. It began broadcasting on May 4, 1953, as WKNX-TV on channel 57. Owned by the Lake Huron Broadcasting Corporation and affiliated with CBS , the small local station did not provide primary service to the Flint area for its first two decades of operation. The station moved to

1026-517: Is operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group via a shared services agreement ( SSA ) alongside Flint –licensed Fox affiliate WSMH (channel 66), owned by Sinclair, and Bay City –licensed CW affiliate WBSF (channel 46), owned by Cunningham Broadcasting and operated by Sinclair under a separate SSA. The three stations share studios on West Pierson Road in Mount Morris Township (with a Flint mailing address); WEYI-TV's transmitter

1080-541: Is the only commercial building in the city designed by famed architect Albert Kahn . The building was sold to the University of Michigan Credit Union in 2010. WEYI-TV WEYI-TV (channel 25) is a television station licensed to Saginaw, Michigan , United States, serving the Great Lakes Bay Region of Central Michigan as an affiliate of NBC . Owned by Howard Stirk Holdings , WEYI-TV

1134-413: Is the student newspaper of the University of Michigan and is non-profit.) In 2013, AnnArbor.com was transitioned to MLive.com along with Advance Publications ' other Michigan newspapers and renamed The Ann Arbor News . From 1936 until its closing in 2009, The Ann Arbor News owned and occupied a three-story Art Deco -style building at the corner of Huron and Division streets in downtown Ann Arbor. It

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1188-411: Is transient and young. Those demographics have worked against us." The Ann Arbor News was replaced by a website, AnnArbor.com , which carried daily news stories and was accompanied by print editions on Thursdays and Sundays. Of the 272 people employed as of the announcement of the paper's closing, "more than a dozen" were hired for AnnArbor.com. The closure also ended Livingston Community News ,

1242-613: The DuMont Television Network —represented on the lineup. The station increased its effective radiated power to 207,000 watts in 1954, which came as part of an expansion of the television studios in Bridgeport Township. Among its local programs was a local version of the Romper Room children's franchise with "Miss Carol" J. Hermance Kennedy as the host; Miss Carol started as host in 1956. As

1296-777: The Community Newspapers. In December 2006, the Herald Company, Inc. merged with Advance Magazine Publisher, Inc. but continues to operate under the Booth Newspapers name in Michigan. On November 3, 2008, the day before the 2008 presidential election , many copies of Booth newspapers were delivered inside a white advertising wrapper, paid for by the National Rifle Association , with "Defend Freedom, Defeat Obama " written across

1350-771: The FCC granted the permit on October 1, 1952. Construction moved quickly. Work was underway in early 1953, though a plan to start in March was stymied by delays in receiving equipment. Lake Huron Broadcasting built a 500 feet (150 m) tower at a studio and transmitter site in Bridgeport Township , from which WKNX radio was already broadcast. The station broadcast its first test pattern on April 5; though it had not announced it had started, phone calls reporting reception were fielded from various areas in Mid-Michigan. The station began regular programming on May 4, 1953, with all four networks— CBS , NBC , ABC , and

1404-515: The FCC, charging that WJRT had chosen a transmitter site expressly to take away its CBS affiliation. The next year, it asked the FCC to designate channel 12 as belonging to the entire Flint–Saginaw–Bay City area so it could apply to move WKNX-TV there, later simply applying for Flint's channel 12 itself. However, the grant of channel 12 to WJRT was reaffirmed in April 1958. Even though WJR in Detroit

1458-628: The Flint and Saginaw–Bay City areas, only on a combined basis. This hurt the two stations because WKNX-TV only served Saginaw and Bay City, while WJIM-TV served Flint in addition to Lansing. In 1971, Lake Huron Broadcasting sold WKNX-TV to Rust Craft Broadcasting Corporation, a division of the Rust Craft Greeting Card Company that owned five other TV stations, for $ 1.6 million. The deal was induced by an impending proposed FCC policy that would have barred cross-ownership of AM radio stations like WKNX with television stations in

1512-607: The President and Chief Revenue Officer. The Ann Arbor News The Ann Arbor News is a newspaper serving Washtenaw and Livingston counties in Michigan . Published daily online through MLive.com , the paper also publishes print editions on Thursdays and Sundays. Published in Ann Arbor under various names from 1835 to 2009, The News was part of Booth Newspapers , owned by Advance Publications Inc. The News

1566-560: The United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 30, using virtual channel 25. The signal remained on channel 30 until 2019, when it moved to channel 18 as a result of the 2016 United States wireless spectrum auction . As part of the SAFER Act , WEYI-TV kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of

1620-513: The deal to be delayed and its price to continue to balloon. The original bid had been $ 25 a share; the board approved at $ 26.50 a share. By October 1978, Ziff was offering $ 33.50 per share. The final sales price of $ 33.75 a share, or $ 89 million in total, was approved in February 1979; the transaction already had federal approval, so the new owners were able to take over the next month. Ziff-Davis proved more receptive than Rust Craft to bolstering

1674-676: The digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters . On February 28, 2013, Barrington announced that it would sell its entire group, including WEYI and WBSF, to Sinclair Broadcast Group . However, due to FCC duopoly regulations, since Sinclair already owns Fox affiliate WSMH , Sinclair transferred the license assets of WEYI to Howard Stirk Holdings (owned by founder and CEO of communications firm The Graham Williams Group, political commentator Armstrong Williams , whose Sunday morning talk show The Right Side

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1728-545: The downsizing of the newsroom, which now only produces newscasts on weekday evenings. In August 1952, the Lake Huron Broadcasting Corporation, owner of radio station WKNX (1210 AM) , applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a construction permit to build a television station on ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 57 in Saginaw. With no other applications for the channel,

1782-567: The local three-station news-rating derby. If it were a horse race, the station's entry never left the starting gate—or maybe even the stable. It is that far behind. Ken Tabacsko, The Saginaw News , in 1980 Even after the substantial power increase gave it a coverage area comparable to those of WNEM-TV and WJRT-TV and the 1979 Ziff-Davis investment improved the news operation, WEYI-TV remained stubbornly in third place for local news. In 1983, it moved its lone local newscast from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. in hopes of using CBS prime time programming as

1836-544: The lower channel 25 in 1965. It was purchased in 1972 by the broadcasting division of the Rust Craft Greeting Card Company ; Rust Craft changed the call letters to WEYI-TV and built a new studio and high-power transmitter facility near Clio, significantly improving the station's coverage. Rust Craft was purchased by Ziff-Davis in 1979, followed by a leveraged buyout of most of the Ziff-Davis station group in 1982 that formed Television Station Partners. However, by this point,

1890-617: The market unable to receive Lansing's WJIM-TV or Detroit's WJBK-TV , which had previously been the default CBS affiliates in Flint. The upgrade made WEYI-TV among the most powerful UHF stations in the country, broadcasting from the tallest structure in Michigan. Rust Craft maintained a small studio in Saginaw, where the station was still licensed. Along with the technical facelift came a significant investment in channel 25's news infrastructure, which had been relatively modest under Lake Huron's stewardship. Soon after taking over, Rust Craft sought to change this by hiring Dick Fabian, who had worked as

1944-468: The merger of The WB and UPN into The CW . The WEYI subchannel also aired most of the Detroit Pistons games carried by WDWB in Detroit; unlike WKBD-TV , the previous rightsholder, WDWB was not available on cable in Flint or Saginaw. WEYI-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 25, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in

1998-405: The outside. The bags were mostly reported with The Flint Journal , but there were also similar reports from customers of The Saginaw News and The Bay City Times . The Flint Journal posted a short apology on its website that stated that "The wrapper was supposed to be inserted into the newspaper." The Journal also told WJRT-TV , who also received a flood of calls about the incident, that there

2052-658: The remaining four outlets—WEYI; WRDW-TV in Augusta, Georgia ; WROC-TV in Rochester, New York ; and WTOV-TV in Steubenville, Ohio —to a group of investors led by Pompadur in a $ 56.2 million leveraged buyout . The new ownership was known as Television Station Partners. After briefly being represented by NABET , station workers voted in 1988 to unionize under the banner of the United Auto Workers . It

2106-453: The same markets; Lake Huron wished to "effectuate" the policy by making the sale. Rust Craft moved quickly to improve the station's facilities, announcing plans for extensive improvements along with its acquisition. With the separation from WKNX radio, channel 25 changed its call sign to WEYI-TV on June 11, 1972; the new call sign referred to the CBS eye logo. That month, construction began on

2160-413: The same time, home delivery of Booth's remaining daily newspapers was reduced to Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays with subscribers receiving e-editions on the other days on which they print. Also in 2012, Mlive contracted with former WEYI-TV meteorologist Mark Torregrossa to run the website's weather section with the expectation of increasing the section's views from 900,000 to 1 million. Instead by 2014,

2214-575: The section received on average 5 million to 6 million page views with a high in January 2014 of 13 million. In 2012, the former 21st Century Newspapers-owned papers in the Flint area had all ceased publication, although the Clio Messenger had stopped publishing two years prior. In 2013 AnnArbor.com joined MLive Media Group, which was established in 2012 as the Michigan brand for Advance Publications . At that time, AnnArbor.com's web presence

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2268-566: The station and five others to LIN, with FCC approval granted in April 2002. LIN agreed to sell WEYI-TV for $ 24 million to Barrington Broadcasting in January 2004; the sale became official in May 2004. It was the first broadcast acquisition for Barrington, a company based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois , that managed eight stations. Barrington immediately shook up local management; all of the employees had to reapply for their jobs though all but five were retained. It also made improvements to

2322-441: The station more than doubled its news staff, reinstated a full-length late news program, and began hourly news updates. The revamp was considerable for the station; Doug Pullen, the media columnist for The Flint Journal , noted that viewers "may be inclined to scoff" at the news and that several of his friends laughed when told of the changes. In June 1994, as part of a deal with WNEM-TV owner Meredith Corporation instigated by

2376-440: The station was an entrenched distant third in local news ratings; by 1989, the station only had one regular daily newscast. In 1994, WEYI aggressively relaunched and expanded its news operation, including additional newscasts and the doubling of the news team. In an unrelated move, the station switched affiliations to NBC from CBS in January 1995 after that network signed an agreement with previous NBC affiliate WNEM-TV . Channel 25

2430-511: The station's cable and over-the-air signal, which was inferior to that of Detroit NBC affiliate WDIV-TV on Comcast 's Flint cable system. In January 2005, acting on a petition by WEYI-TV, the FCC ordered Comcast to block network programs broadcast by WDIV-TV to protect WEYI-TV. A year later, in September 2006, WDIV-TV was removed outright to make way for the new MyNetworkTV subchannel of WNEM-TV. In 2004, three years after WEYI ended its secondary WB affiliation, Barrington Broadcasting acquired

2484-638: The very small news department, which gained its first separate news director, experimented with news at 11 p.m., and converted to electronic news gathering. Ziff decided in 1981 to put the stations on the market, having already sold off the Rust Craft radio stations and its greeting card businesses, and focus on its publishing businesses. After having sold WRCB-TV in Chattanooga, Tennessee , and WJKS-TV in Jacksonville, Florida , Ziff then sold

2538-670: Was "some miscommunication" with the paper carriers. The three papers mentioned endorsed Barack Obama for president. On March 23, 2009, Booth Newspapers announced in The Ann Arbor News that it would end the paper's 174-year print run in July 2009, due to economic difficulties, and be replaced by AnnArbor.com , a daily web paper that will have a twice-weekly print edition. Also on this date, Booth announced that beginning June 1, 2009, The Bay City Times , The Saginaw News , and The Flint Journal would reduce publishing to three times

2592-409: Was a CBS affiliate, WJRT ultimately signed with ABC, which had been a secondary affiliation for WKNX-TV. Lake Huron Broadcasting filed in 1963 to switch channel 57 with channel 25, which had been assigned to Midland . Two years later, a supplement to an FCC order stipulated that WKNX-TV move from channel 57 to channel 25. The station changed channels to 25 on September 14, 1965; however, even after

2646-552: Was dropped in 1989 due to continued low ratings; while management at the time stated a desire to restore late news within six to eight months, this never came to pass, and it was newsworthy when the station aired a late newscast for one week in August 1992 to cover the Buick Open and local elections. In January 1994, under general manager Eric Land, WEYI made a major reinvestment in its news product. Rebranded Eyewitness News ,

2700-858: Was founded by George Gough Booth and his brothers in 1893 and was a media company based in Grand Rapids, Michigan . In 1976, Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr. of Advance Publications acquired Booth Newspapers for $ 305 million, the equivalent to $ 1,452,406,433 in 2021. The Herald Company, Inc. merged with Booth Newspapers, Inc. in July 1987. In September 2002, Booth Newspapers acquired 21st Century Newspapers , Inc.'s Heritage Newspapers ' Suburban Flint Newspaper Group which had nine local papers: Clio Messenger , Davison Flagstaff , Fenton Press , Grand Blanc News , Flint Township News , Flushing Observer , Holly Press , Suburban Burton , and Swartz Creek News , and included Suburban Flint Shopper . All of these operated with The Flint Journal as

2754-513: Was integrated with the other Michigan properties under the MLive.com URL and the AnnArbor.com newspaper returned to its historical identity as The Ann Arbor News . In 2019, a similar group of Booth/Advance/MLive-owned community newspapers in the Grand Rapids area, operating under the banner Advance Newspapers , also ceased publishing. In March 2020, MLive Media Group announced Tim Gruber as

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2808-433: Was published in the afternoons Monday through Friday and in the mornings on weekends and holidays. It published special sections throughout the year. The newspaper ended its 174-year print run on July 23, 2009. The publisher blamed the loss of classified advertising revenue (which moved to Craigslist ), and noted "the seven-day-a-week print model just is not sustainable here. We have very low home ownership. The population

2862-528: Was sold four times in eight years from 1996 to 2004; during this time, the news department continued to expand. Under Barrington Broadcasting ownership, the station launched WBSF, originally as a cable- and digital-only service and later as a standalone station to bring The WB and The CW to the market. Howard Stirk Holdings acquired WEYI in 2013 as part of the purchase of Barrington by Sinclair Broadcast Group, with which Howard Stirk stations contract for services and management. In 2023, layoffs at Sinclair led to

2916-410: Was the first time the UAW organized at a television station. A 46-day strike culminated with workers approving an agreement in August. That same year, Television Station Partners put its stations on the market; none of the offers were satisfactory to the owners, and in January 1989, the company announced its stations were no longer for sale. Channel 25 is still where it was 10 years ago—dead last in

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