WTMJ-TV

Encyclopedia : W : WT : WTM : WTMJ-TV

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For the related radio station with the same call letters, see WTMJ (AM)

WTMJ-TV, "Today's TMJ4" is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When WTMJ-TV began broadcasting on December 3, 1947, it was the seventeenth television station in the United States. Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin, including Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan and Waukesha. Its transmitter is located in Shorewood, Wisconsin approximately 8 miles north of downtown Milwaukee. WTMJ-TV transmits its signal from an antenna 1,045 feet in height.

The station's current nickname, used in its onscreen promotions, is "Today's TMJ4". The station also provides office facilities and engineering assistance for i affiliate WPXE (Channel 55); previously WPXE aired WTMJ newscasts on a half-hour delay in the evening and shared some programming with Channel 4, however this deal was ended in July 2005.

History

The Journal Company's first television license was granted in September 1931 for experimental station W9XD, using a low-definition electromechanical system. The station conducted field tests from 1931 to 1933, before converting its facilities to experimental high-fidelity apex radio unit W9XAZ in 1934. Its license was withdrawn by the FCC in 1938 as part of an effort to limit licenses to stations actively engaging in the development of television. No publicly announced television programming was broadcast by W9XD during this experimental period.

The Journal Company obtained in September 1941 one of the first commercial television construction permits issued by the FCC, under the call letters WMJT (Milwaukee Journal Television), and built a new broadcast facility by August 1942. But the U.S. War Production Board halted the manufacture of television and radio broadcasting equipment for civilian use from April 1942 to October 1945, suspending the company's television plans.

On December 3, 1947 WTMJ-TV went on the air, becoming the first commercial television station in Wisconsin, and the fifth commercial station in the Midwest. When the station began broadcasting in 1947, there were only 500 television sets in Milwaukee, jumping to 2,050 by the following April. WTMJ affiliated with the NBC television network in May 1948, although it also carried programming from CBS, ABC, and Du Mont before those networks had their own affiliated stations in Milwaukee. WTMJ is the only station in Milwaukee to be affiliated with the same network since it signed on.

WTMJ originally transmitted on Channel 3, and shifted to Channel 4 in 1953 to avoid interference with Kalamazoo, Michigan's Channel 3 (WKZO; now WWMT), which is nearly directly across Lake Michigan.

WTMJ was one of the first stations in the country to purchase color equipment, and in December 1953, they broadcast the color television program Amahl and the Night Visitors from NBC, when only two prototype color sets existed in Milwaukee. The city's first color TV sets were sold in March 1954, and by July 1954 WTMJ broadcast their first local color program originating from their studios, The Grenadiers. About 3,000 color sets existed in Milwaukee in February 1957.

Newscast Titles

WTMJ was formerly known as News 4 Milwaukee, and then shortened down to News 4, with the late news known as News 4 Tonight at 10. The newscast name was changed to Newschannel 4 from 1990 until July 1992, when the Today's TMJ4 imaging was inagurated during coverage of the 1992 Summer Olympics. The first generation of the branding lasted until July 2004 and the 2004 Summer Olympics, when a modern and glassy image campaign fit for HDTV was launched. The 'sailboat 4' logo was retired, and the music for the station became more elaborate and grand, though the former theme was retained.

Logos

Image:WTMJ 1964-1967.jpg|Station logo from 1964-1967. Image:wtmj0475.jpg|Station logo used from 1967-1975 to promote the conversion to color; has some similarities to the future 'Sailboat 4'. Image:WTMJ-TV Bicentennial Logo.jpg|WTMJ's 1976 logo, used to salute the Bicentennial. Image:wtmj0479.jpg|The 'Tube 4', used from 1977 until 1980. Image:WTMJ 1980-1992.jpg|The first iteration of the 'Sailboat 4' logo, used from 1980-July 1992 (the NBC peacock wasn't added until May, 8, 1986). Image:Old-WTMJ-TV-Logo.jpg|The first generation Today's TMJ4 logo, used from July 1992-July 2004, with the 'sailboat' figure slanted more to the right. Image:Wtmj-tv.png|Current Today's TMJ4 logo, used since July 2004.

Newscasts

Weekdays:
Live at Daybreak (5-7 am)
Live at 11:00 (11-11:30 am)
Live at 11:30 (11:30 am-12:00 pm)
Live at 4:00 (4-4:30 pm)
Live at 4:30 (4:30-5 pm)
Live at 5:00 (5-5:30 pm)
Live at 6:00 (6-6:30 pm)
Live at 10:00 (10-10:35 pm, with a rebroadcast from 2:05-2:35 am)

Weekends:
Live at Daybreak (Saturdays 8-10 am, Sundays 6-7 am, 8-9 am)
Live at 5:00 (5-5:30 pm)
Live at 6:00 (Saturdays 6-6:30 pm)
Live at 10:00 (10-10:35 pm, rebroadcast from 4-4:30 am)

In addition, Daybreak and all newscasts airing between 5pm-10pm are available on Time Warner Cable's VOD service, Wisconsin on Demand 1111 throughout southeastern Wisconsin, two hours after each program's original airing and for three days after. Also available through this service are specific WTMJ reports, I-Team investigations and consumer stories, along with Sunday public affairs programs Sunday Night with Mike Gousha and Sunday Insight with Charlie Sykes.

Anchors

Mike Gousha (Weekdays on Live at 4:00, 5:00, 10:00)
Carole Meekins (Weekdays on Live at 4:00, 6:00, 10:00)
Mike Jacobs (Weekdays on Live at 4:30, 6:00)
Courtny Gerrish (Weekdays on Live at 4:30)
Susan Kim (Weekedays on Live at Daybreak)
Vince Vitrano (Weekdays on Live at Daybreak, 11:00, 11:30)
Diane Pathieu (Weekdays on Live at 11:00, 11:30)
Charles Benson (Weekends on Live at 5:00, 6:00, 10:00)
Shelley Walcott (Weekends on Live at 5:00, 6:00, 10:00)

Programming

WTMJ broadcasts all of NBC's schedule, with the exception of some older made-for-TV movies bought by Channel 4 which are used to pre-empt NBC movies or Saturday night programming for additional local advertising revenue several times a year. However, this practice is nothing new, for they also had a reputation of pre-empting or delaying a handfull of NBC shows in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (NBC's Daytime gameshow and soap opera lineup, moving Sanford and Son to Saturday nights and placing the syndicated Fame in place of Gimme a Break and Mama's Family on Thursday nights during the 1983-1984 TV season were examples of this). But its most controversal move would come in 1979 when it asked NBC permission to delay The Tonight Show to 11pm so it could carry reruns of Maude. They would try again in 1984, attempting to ask for a Tonight Show move to 11:30pm in 1984 to air Trapper John, M.D. after the late news. NBC refused again, and the program was moved to then-independent WVTV (Channel 18), where it aired at 10:30pm from September 1984-September 1988, when WTMJ decided to cede to NBC and air the program at its regular time. The station also delayed Late Night with Conan O'Brian to 12:05am from the program's beginning in 1992 until 2001.

Current syndicated programming includes Martha Stewart's new program Martha (WTMJ had been the previous home of Martha Stewart Living), Montel Williams, and the The Tony Danza Show.

The station is also the 'official station' of the Green Bay Packers for the Milwaukee market. WFRV (Channel 5) in Green Bay is the overall 'official station' for the Packers. WTMJ airs shows involving the team, including the head coach's weekly show.

On March 1, 2006, WTMJ launched its local version of the NBC Weather Plus service called TMJ4 Weather Plus, a 24-hour weather channel which features a mix of local/national forecasts and weather, and features WTMJ's meteorologists. The station airs over HDTV Channel 4-2, and on Time Warner Digital Cable over Channel 104 throughout Southeastern Wisconsin. Charter Communications, the other main local cable provider, currently does not carry TMJ4 Weather Plus. In June, the station changed their weather branding on the main newscasts from "Storm Team 4" to "TMJ4 Weather Plus", as have most stations airing the service.

The ownership remains under Journal Broadcast Group. In August 2004 Green Bay's NBC affiliate, WGBA (Channel 26), was bought by Journal and became a sister station to WTMJ. WGBA and WTMJ now use the same news theme, news director, and graphics packaging.

Trivia

WTMJ's logo is shown on the top of the scoreboard in the 1989 film Major League, which was filmed at Milwaukee County Stadium. The Cleveland Indians are also interviewed by a WTMJ reporter, which for the purpose of continuity in the film, was a Cleveland TV station.

External links

• [WTMJ website]
• [Wayback Machine archive of WTMJ's 50th anniversary website]
• [Journal Broadcast Group website]
• [FCC information on WTMJ-TV]
• [History of Milwaukee television]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for WTMJ]

Broadcast television in the Milwaukee market  [(Nielsen DMA #33)]
WTMJ 4 (NBC) - WITI 6 (FOX) - WMKE-CA 7 (MTV2) - WMVS 10 (PBS) - WISN 12 (ABC) - WVTV 18 (The WB/The CW) - WCGV 24 (UPN/MNTV/Tube on DT-2) - WVCY 30 (FamilyNet) - WMVT 36 (PBS) - WMLW-CA 41 (Ind.) - WJJA 49 (S@H/JTV) - WWRS 52 (TBN) - WPXE 55 (i) - WDJT 58 (CBS) - WYTU-LP 63 (TMD)
Broadcast television available on cable only:
WHA 21 (PBS/WPT) (Madison)

 

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