View source for WRSP-TV

{{Short description|Television station in Springfield, Illinois}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox television station dual
| name1                   = WRSP-TV
| city1                   = [[Springfield, Illinois|Springfield]]–[[Decatur, Illinois]]
| atsc3                   = yes
| logo                    = Fox Illinois.jpeg
| logo_size               = 200px
| branding                = {{ubl|Fox Illinois (general)|''Fox Illinois News'' (newscasts)}}
| digital1                = 16 ([[UHF]])
| virtual1                = 55
| affiliations            = {{ubl|'''55.1/27.1:''' [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]]|''for others, see {{section link||Subchannels}}''}} 
| owner                   = GOCOM Media, [[LLC]]
| licensee                = GOCOM Media of Illinois, LLC
| operator                = [[Sinclair Broadcast Group]] via [[local marketing agreement|JSA]]/[[shared services|SSA]]; to be operated by Rincon Broadcasting Group upon sale of WICS/WICD
| country                 = United States
| airdate1                = {{start date and age|1979|6|1|p=y}}
| callsign_meaning1       = For "Springfield"
| sister_stations         = [[WBUI]], [[WICS]], [[WICD (TV)|WICD]]
| former_callsigns1       = WBHW (1979–1982)
| former_channel_numbers1 = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 55 (UHF, 1979–2009)|'''Digital:''' 44 (UHF, 1999–2020)}}
| former_affiliations1    = {{ubl|[[Independent station|Independent]] (1979–1986)}}
| erp1                    = 310 kW
| haat1                   = {{convert|436|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| facility_id1            = 62009
| coordinates1            = {{coord|39|48|15|N|89|27|40|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}}
| licensing_authority     = [[FCC]]
| website                 = {{URL|https://foxillinois.com/}}
| name2                   = WCCU
| city2                   = [[Urbana, Illinois|Urbana]]–[[Champaign, Illinois]]
| digital2                = 36 (UHF)
| virtual2                = 27
| airdate2                = {{start date and age|1986|2|19|p=y}}
| callsign_meaning2       = [[Central Illinois]] Champaign–Urbana
| former_channel_numbers2 = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 27 (UHF, 1986–2009)|'''Digital:''' 26 (UHF, 2001–2020)}}
| erp2                    = 125 kW
| haat2                   = {{convert|381|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| facility_id2            = 69544
| coordinates2            = {{coord|40|4|10|N|87|54|46|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|name=WCCU}}
}}

'''WRSP-TV''' (channel 55) is a [[television station]] licensed to [[Springfield, Illinois]], United States, affiliated with the [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] network. It is owned by GOCOM Media, [[LLC]], alongside [[Decatur, Illinois|Decatur]]-licensed [[The CW|CW]] affiliate [[WBUI]] (channel 23). GOCOM maintains [[Local marketing agreement|joint sales]] and [[shared services]] agreements (JSA/SSA) with the [[Sinclair Broadcast Group]], owner of Springfield-licensed [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] affiliate [[WICS]], channel 20 (and its [[semi-satellite]], [[Champaign]]-licensed [[WICD (TV)|WICD]], channel 15), for the provision of certain services. WRSP's transmitter is located west of [[Mechanicsburg, Illinois|Mechanicsburg]], in [[unincorporated area#United States|unincorporated]] [[Sangamon County]]; the station shares studios with WBUI and WICS on East Cook Street in Springfield's [[Springfield, Illinois#Cityscape|Eastside]]. However, WBUI also operates an advertising sales office on South Main Street/[[U.S. Route 51 in Illinois|US 51]] in downtown Decatur.

'''WCCU''' (channel 27) in [[Urbana, Illinois|Urbana]]–Champaign operates as a semi-satellite of WRSP for the eastern portion of the [[Central Illinois]] [[media market|market]], including [[Danville, Illinois|Danville]]. As such, it clears all network and [[television syndication|syndicated]] programming from its parent but airs separate local commercial inserts and [[station identification|legal identifications]]. WCCU's transmitter is located northeast of [[Homer, Illinois|Homer]], along the [[Vermilion County, Illinois|Vermilion]]–[[Champaign County, Illinois|Champaign]] county line; it shares studios with WICD on South Country Fair Drive in downtown Champaign.

==History==
What is now WRSP signed on June 1, 1979, as WBHW, a [[religious broadcasting|religious]] [[Independent station|independent]] (the call letters stood for "We Believe His Word"). It aired an [[analog television|analog]] signal on UHF channel 55 and was built by the Windmill Broadcasting Company, which had received the construction permit in September 1978.<ref name="hc">{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=85894 |title= History Cards for WRSP-TV|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]}} ([[Wikipedia:WikiProject Radio Stations/History Cards|Guide to reading History Cards]])<!--Converted from {{FCC letter}}--></ref> It was the first new [[commercial television|commercial station]] in the [[media market|market]] (not counting satellite stations) 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 Corp. Digital Media|News Corporation Interactive]].

[[File:WRSP-WCCU Fox 55-27 Illinois Logo.png|200px|thumb|right|WRSP/WCCU's logo from 2006–2019.]]
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]] (FCC), which allowed GOCOM to buy WBUI under a "failed station" waiver to its [[duopoly (broadcasting)|duopoly]] rules. The Central Illinois market already had one duopoly, [[Nexstar Broadcasting Group]]'s WCIA and [[WCIX|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 [[New Year's Eve|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. Route 45 in Illinois|US 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.

On July 28, 2021, the FCC issued a Forfeiture Order stemming from a lawsuit against WRSP/WCCU/WBUI owner GOCOM Media. The lawsuit, filed by [[AT&T]], alleged that GOCOM failed to negotiate for retransmission consent in good faith for the stations. Owners of other Sinclair-managed stations, such as [[Deerfield Media]], were also named in the lawsuit. GOCOM was ordered to pay a fine of $1,536,684.<ref name="forfeiture">{{Cite news|url=https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-21-89A1.pdf|title=Forfeiture Order|date=July 28, 2021|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]|access-date=October 4, 2021}}</ref>

==News operation==
{{see|WICS#News operation|WICD (TV)#News operation}}
On September 11, 2006, WRSP/WCCU (then separately controlled) 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 (produced by WCIA).

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 forecasting|weather]] segment for WRSP and WCCU.<ref>[http://www.dougquick.com/ per WICD anchor Doug Quick's website]</ref> 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 [[Breakfast television#United States|morning programs]] seen on the [[Big Three television networks|big three networks]]. It also competes with another two-hour local newscast seen at same time on [[MyNetworkTV]] affiliate WCIX (produced by WCIA).

On March 13, 2015, Sinclair announced that WICD would stop offering separate newscasts on weekdays that focus on the eastern areas of the market (Champaign/Urbana/Danville). This change took effect after the final WICD-produced newscast aired on April 3. In its place are newscasts simulcast from WICS (in all time slots) 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 (weeknights at 9) 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''. As such, WICD no longer produces Champaign-specific local news.<ref name=tng-wicdnewswics>{{cite news|last1=Dodson|first1=Don|title=Changes coming to local TV scene|url=http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2015-03-13/changes-coming-local-tv-scene.html|access-date=March 25, 2015|work=[[The News-Gazette (Champaign-Urbana)|The News-Gazette]]|date=March 13, 2015}}</ref><ref name=b&c-wicdnewswics>{{cite news|last1=Malone|first1=Michael|title=WICS Springfield (Ill.) to Produce WICD News|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/local-tv/wics-springfield-ill-produce-wicd-news/139077|access-date=March 25, 2015|work=[[Broadcasting & Cable]]|date=March 24, 2015}}</ref>

==Technical information==
===Subchannels===
{| class="wikitable"
|+Subchannels provided by WRSP-TV (ATSC 1.0)<ref name="rei1">[http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WICS#station RabbitEars TV Query for WICS]
*[http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WCIX#station RabbitEars TV Query for WCIX]
*[http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WAND#station RabbitEars TV Query for WAND]</ref>
! scope = "col" | [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! scope = "col" | [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! scope = "col" | [[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! scope = "col" | Short name
! scope = "col" | Programming
! scope = "col" | ATSC 1.0 host
|-
! scope = "row" | 55.1
| [[720p]] || rowspan=2|[[16:9]] || FOX || [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] || [[WICS]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 55.2
| rowspan=2|[[480i]] || TrueCri || [[True Crime Network]] || [[WCIX]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 55.3
| [[4:3]] || Antenna || [[Antenna TV]] || [[WAND (TV)|WAND]]
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+Subchannels provided by WCCU (ATSC 1.0)<ref name="rei2">[http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WICD#station RabbitEars TV Query for WICD]
*[http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WCIA#station RabbitEars TV Query for WCIA]
*[http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WBUI#station RabbitEars TV Query for WBUI]</ref>
! scope = "col" | [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! scope = "col" | [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! scope = "col" | [[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! scope = "col" | Short name
! scope = "col" | Programming
! scope = "col" | ATSC 1.0 host
|-
! scope = "row" | 27.1
| [[720p]] || rowspan=2|[[16:9]] || FOX || [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] || [[WICD (TV)|WICD]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 27.2
| rowspan=2|[[480i]] || TrueCri || [[True Crime Network]] || [[WCIA]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 27.3
| [[4:3]] || Antenna || [[Antenna TV]] || [[WBUI]]
|}

===Analog-to-digital conversion===
Both stations shut down their analog signals, respectively on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to [[Digital television transition in the United States|transition from analog to digital broadcasts]] under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital channel allocations post-transition are as follows:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds |access-date=March 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829004251/http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |archive-date=August 29, 2013 }}</ref>
* WRSP-TV shut down its analog signal, over [[UHF]] channel 55; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 44, using [[virtual channel]] 55. On July 1, 2020, WRSP-TV moved its digital channel from UHF 44 to UHF 16.
* WCCU shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 27; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 26, using virtual channel 27. On January 14, 2020, WCCU moved its digital channel from UHF 26 to UHF 36.

===ATSC 3.0===
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Subchannels of WRSP-TV (ATSC 3.0)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WRSP|title=RabbitEars TV Query for WRSP|website=www.rabbitears.info|access-date=December 8, 2022}}</ref>
! style="background-color: #bdbdff" scope = "col" | [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! style="background-color: #bdbdff" scope = "col" | [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! style="background-color: #bdbdff" scope = "col" | Short name
! style="background-color: #bdbdff" scope = "col" | Programming
|-
! scope = "row" | [[WAND (TV)|17.1]]
| [[1080p]] || WAND || [[NBC]] ([[WAND (TV)|WAND]])
|-
! scope = "row" | [[WICS|20.1]]
| [[720p]] || WICS || [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] ([[WICS]])
|-
! scope = "row" | 20.10
| 1080p || style="background-color:#ffffd0|T2 || style="background-color:#ffffd0|[[Tennis Channel#Streaming channels|T2]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 20.11
| || style="background-color:#ffffd0|PBTV || style="background-color:#ffffd0|[[Pickleballtv]]
|-
! scope = "row" | [[WCIX|49.1]]
| 1080p || WCIX || [[MyNetworkTV]] ([[WCIX]])
|-
! scope = "row" | 55.1
| 720p || WRSP || [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]]
|}
{{legend|#ffffd0|Subchannel streamed via the Internet<ref name="atsc3streams">{{Cite web|url=https://www.rabbitears.info/static.php?name=atsc3_streaming|title=ATSC 3.0 Streams Delivered Via Internet|website=[[RabbitEars.info]]|accessdate=March 24, 2024}}</ref>}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Subchannels of WCCU (ATSC 3.0)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WCCU|title=RabbitEars TV Query for WCCU|website=www.rabbitears.info|access-date=December 8, 2022}}</ref>
! style="background-color: #bdbdff" scope = "col" | [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! style="background-color: #bdbdff" scope = "col" | [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! style="background-color: #bdbdff" scope = "col" | Short name
! style="background-color: #bdbdff" scope = "col" | Programming
|-
! scope = "row" | [[WCIA|3.1]]
| [[1080p]] || WCIA || [[CBS]] ([[WCIA]])
|-
! scope = "row" | [[WICD (TV)|15.1]]
| [[720p]] || WICD || [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] ([[WICD (TV)|WICD]])
|-
! scope = "row" | 15.10
| 1080p || style="background-color:#ffffd0|T2 || style="background-color:#ffffd0|[[Tennis Channel#Streaming channels|T2]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 15.11
| || style="background-color:#ffffd0|PBTV || style="background-color:#ffffd0|[[Pickleballtv]]
|-
! scope = "row" | [[WBUI|23.1]]
| 1080p || WBUI || [[The CW]] ([[WBUI]])
|-
! scope = "row" | 27.1
| 720p || WCCU || [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]]
|}
{{legend|#ffffd0|Subchannel streamed via the Internet{{r|atsc3streams}}}}

On December 6, 2022, WRSP/WCCU began broadcasting an [[ATSC 3.0]] NextGen TV signal for the Champaign–Springfield market.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|https://foxillinois.com/}}
*[http://cw23tv.com/ WBUI "CW 23"]
*[https://newschannel20.com/ WICS "ABC NewsChannel 20"]

{{CDSTV}}
{{Fox Illinois}}
{{SBGI}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrsp-Tv}}
[[Category:1979 establishments in Illinois]]
[[Category:1986 establishments in Illinois]]
[[Category:Antenna TV affiliates]]
[[Category:ATSC 3.0 television stations]]
[[Category:Fox Broadcasting Company affiliates]]
[[Category:Sinclair Broadcast Group]]
[[Category:Springfield, Illinois]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1979]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1986]]
[[Category:Television stations in Illinois]]
[[Category:True Crime Network affiliates]]