WLNS-TV

WLNS-TV, virtual channel 6 (UHF digital channel 14), is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Lansing, Michigan, United States and serving the Central Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also operates dual ABC/CW+ affiliate WLAJ (channel 53) under joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with owner Shield Media, LLC. The two stations share studios on East Saginaw Street (along US 127/BL I-69/M-43) in Lansing's Eastside section, and transmitter facilities on Van Atta Road in Okemos, Michigan.

History
The station signed-on May 1, 1950, as WJIM-TV and was owned by Harold F. Gross along with WJIM radio (1240 AM), through WJIM, Inc. It is Michigan's second-oldest television station outside Detroit (behind WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids).[1] Gross had started WJIM, the oldest continually operated commercial radio station in Lansing, in 1934; both stations were named after his son Jim. According to local legend, Gross won the original radio license in a card game.

WJIM-TV originally aired an analog signal on VHF channel 6 from a transmitter in Downtown Lansing before moving to its current location on Saginaw Street (known as "the country house") in 1953. Gross was skeptical of the success of television, so the new facility was designed as a motel complete with a pool in case the station did not catch on. As it turned out, the pool had very little use except for the occasional employee party.

WJIM-TV originally carried programming from all four networks: ABC, DuMont, NBC, and CBS; it was, and always has been, a primary CBS affiliate. ABC disappeared from the schedule in 1958 when WJRT-TV signed-on from Flint.[1] DuMont programming disappeared when the network ceased operations in 1956.[citation needed] NBC disappeared from the schedule in 1959 when WILX-TV signed-on. Thus, at the start of the fall 1959 television season, WJIM-TV was broadcasting only CBS.[1]

The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenged the station's license in 1973 alleging that Gross, whose company was by then renamed Gross Telecasting, Inc., prevented a number of prominent political figures from appearing on WJIM-TV.[2] A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) judge ordered the license revoked in 1981. WJIM kept its license when the initial revocation was reversed by the FCC in 1982. The ACLU would eventually agree to a cash settlement in 1984. The stress of the decade-long licensing dispute led Gross to decide to leave the broadcasting business. He sold WJIM-TV to Backe Communications in 1984. The station, per FCC rules at the time (which prohibited TV and radio stations in the same market, but with different ownership, from sharing the same call letters) adopted its current call letters, WLNS-TV, on July 16, 1984. WJIM-AM was sold to Liggett Communications the following year. Backe's ownership of the station was short-lived; in 1986 it sold WLNS to Young Broadcasting.[1]

In May 1994, Detroit CBS affiliate WJBK announced that it would switch its affiliation to Fox as part of a deal between the network and New World Communications.[3] CBS heavily approached WXYZ-TV as a replacement affiliate, but the E. W. Scripps Company renewed the station's affiliation with ABC one month later in exchange for switching the affiliations of three of its sister stations—KNXV-TV in Phoenix, WFTS-TV in Tampa and WMAR-TV in Baltimore—to the network.[4] WDIV was not an option as that station was still in a long-term contract with NBC at the time, while WADL, WXON and WKBD were not interested in affiliating with CBS. As a result, it appeared that CBS would not have an affiliate in Detroit. The network persuaded WLNS-TV to build a translator in Ann Arbor which would serve the western portion of the market. Facing the prospect of having to import WLNS-TV, Flint affiliate WNEM-TV, and Toledo affiliate WTOL for cable subscribers, CBS agreed to purchase independent station WGPR-TV (now WWJ-TV), which became an affiliate of the network on December 11, 1994.[5] WLNS-TV served as the default CBS affiliate for the western portion of the Detroit market until WWJ-TV built a new transmitter in 1999.

WLNS-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 6, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 59 to UHF channel 36, using PSIP to display WLNS-TV's virtual channel as 6 on digital television receivers.[6]

Young filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early-2009.[7] The company was subsequently taken over by its secured lenders and outsourced most of its operations to Gray Television. WLNS-TV was not part of the management agreement because Gray already owned WILX. Young merged with Media General in November 2013.[8]

Following the other Young stations that launched The Country Network in late November 2010, WLNS-TV added that network to its .2 subchannel in the first quarter of 2011.[9] On January 30, 2012, WLNS-TV changed its 6.2 affiliation to the Live Well Network along with 7 other Young stations.[10]

Media General added GetTV to 20 of its stations' subchannels, including WLNS-TV, in a roll out that started on February 1, 2016.[11] Media General merged with Nexstar in January 2017.[12]

News operation
Traditionally, WLNS-TV had been the most watched television station in Central Michigan regularly beating rival WILX in Nielsen ratings. Sometime in the early 2000s, however, WILX overtook WLNS-TV for the first time.

In July 2011, WLNS-TV began airing all of its news programming from a temporary set in the station's breakroom while a new one was constructed in preparation for its own launch of HD news programming. The brand new set debuted on August 26, 2011 during the 5 p.m. newscast while HD newscasts debuted during the 5 p.m. show on October 26, 2011.

On September 12, 2011, 6 News This Morning expanded to two and a half hours and now begins at 4:30 a.m. As a result the CBS Morning News now airs at 4 a.m. locally. On April 1, 2013, WLNS-TV began simulcasting its weeknight 6 and 11 o'clock newscasts on WLAJ. Their morning newscast started simulcasting (from 5 until 7 a.m.) on WLAJ on April 15 and includes separate, recorded cut-ins during ABC's Good Morning America.[17][18]In addition to its main studios, WLNS-TV operates a bureau within the Jackson Citizen Patriot newsroom on South Jackson Street in downtown Jackson.

As of 2018, WLNS-TV remains the only news operation with a noontime newscast in the market.

Newscast titles

 * Six Star (?–1980s)
 * TV-6 News (1980s–1984)
 * NewsCenter 6 (1984–2003)
 * 6 News (2003–present)

Station slogans

 * Your News Leader (2006–2011)
 * Your Local News Leader (2011–?)
 * Here for You (?–present)

Anchors

 * Sheri Jones - weeknights at 6:00 & 11:00 p.m.
 * Jorma Duran - weekday mornings
 * Lauren Thompson - weeknights at 5:00 & 6:00 p.m.
 * Kiara Hay - weekend mornings
 * Chivon Kloepfer - weekdays at noon & 5:30 p.m.
 * Melissa Brennan - weekday mornings
 * Kiyerra Lake - weekend evenings

StormTracker 6 Meteorologists

 * David Young - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5:00, 6:00 & 11:00 p.m.
 * Emily Wahls - meteorologist; weekday mornings
 * Jim Geyer - meteorologist; weekdays at noon & 5:30 p.m.
 * Diane Phillips - meteorologist; weekends

Sports team

 * Audrey Dahlgren - sports director;
 * Alex Sims -
 * Nick Mantas - weekends

Reporters

 * Brittany Flowers
 * Luke Synder - Jackson Bureau
 * Jordan Gulkis
 * Kalie Marantette
 * Araceli Cresencio
 * Ashley Graham
 * Asha Patel