WRSP-TV


WRSP-TV, virtual channel 55, is a Fox-affiliated television station licensed to Springfield, Illinois, United States and also serving Decatur. The station is owned by GOCOM Media, LLC, as part of a duopoly with Decatur-licensed CW affiliate WBUI. Both outlets are operated under joint sales and shared services agreements by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, making them sister stations to Springfield-licensed ABC affiliate WICS, channel 20. WRSP's transmitter is located west of Mechanicsburg, in unincorporated Sangamon County; the station shares studios with WBUI and WICS on East Cook Street in Springfield's Eastside. However, WBUI also operates an advertising sales office on South Main Street/US 51 in Downtown Decatur.
WCCU in Urbana–Champaign operates as a semi-satellite of WRSP for the eastern portion of the Central Illinois market, including Danville. As such, it clears all network and syndicated programming from its parent but airs separate local commercial inserts, legal identifications, and a weeknight prime time newscast. WCCU and WICD share transmitter facilities northeast of Homer, along the Vermilion–Champaign county line; the two stations also share studios on South Country Fair Drive in downtown Champaign.

History

What is now WRSP signed-on June 1, 1979 as WBHW, a religious independent. It aired an analog signal on UHF channel 55. It was the first new commercial station in the market since WCIA launched back in 1953. On November 24, 1982, it was sold to new owners who changed the call letters to WRSP-TV and turned it into the area's first general entertainment independent.
In the winter of 1985, WRSP announced it would join the upstart Fox network the following year. As part of the agreement, on February 19, 1986, it added full-time satellite WCCU in Urbana, with an analog signal on UHF channel 27. Both stations began transmitting digital signals in mid-2000 with programming from Fox in high definition. It eventually introduced a new website based on the "My Fox" owned-and-operated station platform licensed from News Corporation Interactive.
On June 20, 2007, GOCOM Media announced its intent to purchase WBUI from ACME Communications. The sale was approved on September 14 by the Federal Communications Commission, which allowed GOCOM to buy WBUI under a "failed station" waiver to its duopoly rules. The Central Illinois market already had one duopoly, Nexstar Broadcasting Group's WCIA and WCFN, and under normal conditions there wouldn't have been enough unique station owners to allow a second duopoly.
However, ACME claimed it was losing money on WBUI and could not find a buyer that did not require a duopoly waiver. The sale to GOCOM Media officially closed on October 25, 2007. At that point, WBUI consolidated its operations from its original studios at North Parkway Court in Decatur into WRSP's facilities in Springfield. In mid-2010, WRSP's web site was taken over by Broadcast Interactive Media.
On December 31, 2012, Sinclair 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. Sinclair is providing sales and other non-programming services to the stations pursuant to shared services and joint sales agreements. Both WRSP/WCCU and WBUI were initially operated from separate facilities from WICS/WICD.
However, WCCU quickly moved its advertising sales operation from its location on South Neil Street/U.S. 45 in Champaign into WICD's studios. Eventually, WRSP and WBUI also moved from their offices on Old Rochester Road in Springfield and were consolidated into WICS' facility.

Digital television

Digital channels

The stations' digital signals are multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
55.1
27.1		720pWRSP-HD
WCCU-HD		Main programming / Fox
55.2
27.2		480iME-TVMeTV
55.3
27.3		480iAnt TVAntenna TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

Both stations shut down their analog signals, respectively on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital channel allocations post-transition are as follows:
On September 11, 2006, WRSP/WCCU established a news share agreement with WICS/WICD. As a result, a nightly prime time newscast began airing on the Fox affiliates that was jointly produced by the two ABC outlets. Known as NewsChannel at 9 on Fox Illinois, it aired from a modified set at WICS's Springfield studios featuring unique duratrans indicating the Fox-branded show. From the start, NewsChannel at 9 competed with a newscast already established in the time slot on then-UPN affiliate WCFN.
Unlike the WRSP/WCCU show, WCFN's broadcast originated from WCIA's Champaign facilities but was targeted specifically at a Springfield audience. The WRSP/WCCU newscast featured market wide coverage, including contributions from WICD reporters, but there was a separate weeknight weather segment for WRSP and WCCU. WCFN's prime time broadcast would be eventually canceled by WCIA on September 28, 2009. On October 7, 2013, the weekday edition NewsChannel at 9 was expanded to an hour.
The effort on WRSP/WCCU was further expanded on January 20, 2014 when WICS began producing a two-hour weekday morning show for the Fox affiliates. 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. It also competes with another two-hour local newscast seen at same time on MyNetworkTV affiliate WCIX.
On March 13, 2015, Sinclair announced that WICD would stop offering separate newscasts on weekdays that focus on the eastern areas of the market. This change took effect after the final WICD-produced newscast aired on April 3. In its place are newscasts simulcast from WICS which provide market-wide coverage including content from the eastern areas through a downsized bureau at WICD's studios. On April 7, 2015 despite this significant reduction, WICD began airing a full sixty-minute Champaign-based prime time newscast on WCCU entitled Fox Champaign News at Nine.
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. The weekend edition of the prime time news will continue to be a market-wide product simulcasted on WRSP and WCCU. With the exception of the WCCU newscast, WICD no longer produces Champaign-specific local news.