Programming
Channel 12 clears all of the ABC schedule, and until it was dropped by ABC on August 28, 2010, it preempted ABC Kids airings of the Power Rangers series which had been done since September 2006 due to lack of E/I content, as have all Hearst ABC stations; the station unusually aired Kim Possible and Power Rangers SPD early Monday mornings before World News Now in the 2005-2006 season for the same reason. Since July 31, 2010 due to the extension of its weekend morning newscasts, WISN split up the Litton Weekend Adventure lineup over the course of two days, with the regular Saturday block airing from 9-11 a.m. and an additional hour on Sundays from 11 a.m.-noon.
The station airs most of the highest-rated programs in syndication and because of this usually has had very light schedule turnover each fall for the last few years, with Live! with Kelly and Michael after Good Morning America, Anderson Live before the ABC Daytime lineup followed by Katie, and Ellen and Dr. Oz paired up in mid-afternoons together. Entertainment Tonight airs before primetime. Nightline and Jimmy Kimmel Live! are delayed a half-hour to facilitate WISN's hour-long newscast, then late night encores of ET and Dr. Oz before World News Now. Channel 12's local and select ABC programming is also available on Time Warner Cable's "Start Over" service, allowing viewing of a program after it has already started.
The station was the home in Milwaukee of Oprah since a 1994 deal bringing it to most Hearst stations until the program's May 2011 end, and Dr. Phil from its September 2002 premiere until September 2011; that program is now seen on WDJT (Channel 58).
Channel 12 also airs Green Bay Packers Monday Night Football games originating on ESPN simulcasting the 720p ESPNHD feed. The same arrangement was in place for the 2007 NFL Network game against the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Stadium the Thursday after Thanksgiving, and the station also airs the Donald Driver-hosted Inside the Huddle from Fox affiliate WLUK-TV (channel 11) in Green Bay. ESPN is 20% owned by Hearst, owners of Channel 12, thus Hearst is allowed right of first refusal on these broadcasts in their markets, which it has never declined for WISN. Dancing with the Stars are thus carried after the late newscast with a voting window opened up for the Milwaukee market in these situations.
The station also has a branding alliance with ESPN Radio affiliate WAUK (540), which carries a daily program hosted by sports director Dan Needles, including a co-marketed spotlight high school sports "game of the week" (in men's basketball or football, depending on season) under Hearst's "Operation Football" high school sports branding, which airs live Friday evenings on WAUK. As part of this, a Saturday evening program called The Big 12 Sports Show with 540 ESPN hosted by Needles and radio partner Drew Olson airs before ABC primetime on that evening, which analyzes the next day's Packer game and acts as a post-game or pre-game for that day's Badger football game, along with coverage of other sports.
On September 8, 2008, Channel 12 became the first Milwaukee station to air non-network syndicated HD programming daily, and now carries all of their weekday syndicated programming in the format. Later in the year, the station became the first in the market with HD tape-delay and character generator capabilities.
WISN makes the claim based on Nielsen Media Research numbers that it is among the top-rated ABC affiliates in the nation (an honor that was shared with fellow ABC station WPTA-TV (channel 21) in Fort Wayne, IN), which is based on market size and household ratings percentages. In fact, the three highest-rated ABC affiliates in the nation are all Hearst stations (WISN, plus KOCO (channel 5) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and KMBC (channel 9) in Kansas City, Missouri). "One of America's Leading ABC Stations" had been the station's slogan until September 24, 2007, when in conjunction with ABC's new image campaign, Channel 12 launched the new "Start here" slogan, which signified both Channel 12's broadcast channel and the station's website, which was relaunched in August 2007 to move away from Hearst Argyle's "LocalChannel" strategy to focus on WISN's local content and emphasize the station's call letters in the web address. The top-rated station claim returned in late 2009 to being voiced out until the station's switch to widescreen in late 2010.
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