WOTV - History

History

The station signed on July 24, 1971 as WUHQ-TV (UHF HeadQuarters). It was owned by Channel 41, Inc. a group of nineteen investors from Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. WUHQ signed-on because the southern portion of the market did not receive an adequate signal from WZZM. Originally licensed on VHF channel 9, that station swapped channels with WWTV in Cadillac and moved to channel 13 just before signing-on in 1962. As a result, its transmitter is farther north than the other Southwestern Michigan stations in order to protect WTVG in Toledo, Ohio. Before WUHQ signed-on, viewers in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek watched ABC from either WSJV in Elkhart/South Bend, Indiana, WXYZ-TV in Detroit, or during the summer months with tropospheric propagation across Lake Michigan, WLS-TV in Chicago and WITI in Milwaukee (then that city's ABC affiliate).

In the early days, the station could not get ABC to provide a direct network feed. This forced channel 41 to switch to and from WZZM's signal during the times when ABC network programming was being shown. This practice, however, was less than satisfactory as WZZM often pre-empted network shows in favor of locally originated or other programming (such as Billy Graham crusades). In cases where WUHQ had advance notice of such changes, the station was able to procure filmed copies of the pre-empted network programming for broadcast. However, WZZM sometimes pre-empted a program with no advance notice such as for breaking local news or severe weather reports. When this happened, WUHQ simulcasted WSJV, usually with less than satisfactory results. At times, atmospheric conditions were not suitable enough to simulcast WSJV, forcing WUHQ to substitute a film or other non-network programming.

WZZM's owners, Northstar Television, planned to buy WUHQ in 1991 and turn it into a satellite. This would have created a strong combined signal with about 40% overlap. Northstar received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval to do this but the deal fell through when the company was unable to come up with the funds necessary to close the transaction. Instead, WUHQ's owner entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with LIN Broadcasting, owner of WOTV in Grand Rapids. The deal closed on November 11, 1991. Shortly after, channel 8 regained its heritage WOOD-TV calls and moved WOTV calls to channel 41. The previous calls are currently used on a low-powered Daystar affiliate in Grand Rapids.

In 1996, WOTV boosted its transmitter power to five million watts, making it the most powerful station in West Michigan. It now had at least Grade B coverage throughout the entire market. AT&T bought WOOD-TV and the LMA with WOTV in 1994, when LIN spun off its television division as LIN TV. However, LIN TV continued to operate both stations. LIN TV reacquired WOOD-TV from AT&T in 1999 and bought WOTV outright in 2002. As of December 2006, all operations of the station have been consolidated into WOOD-TV's facilities in Grand Rapids. Reporter Gerry Barnaby, who joined WOTV in 1993, left the station at end of the year. WOTV's studios on West Dickman Road (M-96) in Battle Creek were donated to a city entity, Battle Creek Unlimited, and the equipment went to the Calhoun County Vocational Educational Center.

Both WOTV and WZZM have had a unique history of having one ABC affiliate pre-empt network programming during Labor Day weekend for the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon while another airs the pre-empted ABC programming. In recent years, WOTV has aired the MDA Telethon while WZZM has aired ABC programming preempted by the telethon. It was the other way around in previous years however. Also, Bill Steffen is the only current news personality to appear on the telethon on both stations having been employed by WZZM and WOOD-TV. On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that could have resulted in the sale of the company.

On June 12, 2009, WOTV's digital signal remained on channel 20 when the analog to digital conversion was completed. In late-October 2010 with LIN TV beginning to launch digital translators of WOOD-TV in the southwestern portion of the market and near universal availability of WXSP on cable and satellite, WOTV discontinued its simulcast of WXSP on a second digital subchannel. This was replaced with TheCoolTV, a 24-hour music video network. The last logo this station used displayed both digits for channel 41, its defunct analog signal, but highlighted the numeral four in positive space and displayed the numeral one immediately adjacent in negative space (similar to the hidden numeral "11" in the former Big Ten Conference logo).

In March 2012, WOTV launched a new station identity, "WOTV 4 Women". With the launch, the station began to shift its focus towards the female demographic—its website was re-designed to feature more lifestyle-oriented content, and its daytime lineup features more female and lifestyle-oriented programming (such as Dr. Oz, Swift Justice with Jackie Glass, The Nate Berkus Show, Better, and The Wendy Williams Show). The station still simulcasts selected programming from WOOD-TV, and still airs the standard ABC schedule with station identification as WOTV 4.