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WMBD-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station licensed for Peoria in the Peoria-Bloomington television market. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 from a transmitter on Pinecrest Drive in East Peoria. The station can also be seen on Peoria-area Comcast cable on channel 7 and in high definition on digital channel 912. Owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, WMBD-TV also operates Fox affiliate WYZZ-TV (owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group) through a local marketing agreement (LMA). The two share studios at 3131 North University Street in Peoria. Syndicated programming on this station includes: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Inside Edition, and The Dr. Oz Show.

History

Channel 31 first went on the air on January 1, 1958. It was owned by John Fetzer along with WMBD radio (AM 1470 and sister station FM 93.3, now WPBG).

WMBD-TV had studios on the second level of a downtown building, along with its radio sisters. The stations were sold to Midwest Television Incorporated of Champaign, owner of fellow CBS affiliate WCIA, in 1960 for $1.85 million. In addition to sharing resources with WCIA, WMBD has also carried some original programming from the former.

In the early 1960s, WMBD-TV was the first Peoria station to broadcast color television.

WMBD-TV had a television television relay station, W71AE, on UHF channel 71 in LaSalle, Illinois in the 1960s and 1970s. The transponder license was granted on 15 November 1962.^[1] A picture of channel 71's 485-foot (148 m) Rohn tower and its 16-bay antenna is shown in a Rohn advertisement in the 1 July 1963 issue of Broadcasting.^[2] Started around 1964.^[3] The channel 71 license was renewed November 1971.^[4] WMBD-TV was still shown as having "1 trans." in the 1975 Broadcasting Yearbook,^{[page needed]} but it was gone by the 1980s.

WMBD moved to its current location on North University Street in June 1977 and still remains Peoria's only commercial television station with its studios in the city itself. WMBD became the area's first television station to broadcast in stereo in September 1988. In 1999, Midwest Television sold controlling interest in its Illinois television stations to Nexstar. In 2001, Midwest sold its remaining interest in WMBD-TV, WCIA and WCFN to Nexstar while AM 1470 and FM 93.3 were sold to Triad Broadcasting.

In 2002, Nexstar and the Sinclair Broadcast Group entered into a local marketing agreement that called for Sinclair's WYZZ to be a subordinate entity allowing WMBD to control programming for the former. In August 2005, a similar agreement would be established between Nexstar's WROC-TV and Sinclair's WUHF in Rochester, New York.

WMBD-TV was the last station in the market to sign-on a digital signal. WMBD has been digital-only since February 17, 2009.^[5] It continues digital broadcasts on UHF channel 30 but retained the WMBD-TV call sign instead of using the temporary WMBD-DT assigned to the digital channel during the digital transition.

News operation

Nightly news open at 6.

WMBD has been market leader in the local Nielsen ratings for many years.^{[citation needed]} Since then, this channel has remained the most watched in the area because it is now the only other local news operation.^{[improper synthesis?]}

In addition to its main studios, WMBD-TV operates^{[clarification needed]} a Twin Cities Bureau on East Lincoln Street in Bloomington that were WYZZ-TV's original studios. WMBD-TV produces a nightly half-hour prime time newscast for WYZZ called Fox 43 News at 9 that competes with a broadcast on MyNetworkTV affiliate WAOE (produced weeknights-only by WEEK-TV). As of 2011, local news programs on WMBD and WYZZ remain in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition.

Newscast titles

• Harrison and the News/Home Edition (1950s-1960s)
• Action News 31 (1970s)
• 31 News Alive (1970s-1980s)
• NewsCenter 31 (1980s-1990s)
• News 31 (early-mid 1990s)
• WMBD News (mid-1990s-1997)
• CBS 31 News (1997–2003)
• NewsChannel 31 News (2003–2007)
• WMBD 31 News (2007–present)

Station slogans

• The Supercolor Station (1960s)
• The Best News of All (1980s-1990s)
• Your News Authority (1990s)
• Bottom Line, Better News (2001–2003)
• Making a Difference For You (2003–2007)
• Taking Action For You (2007–present)

News team

Anchors

• Donnie Tillman - weekday mornings and noon
  • heard on WZPN-FM 96.5
• Lisa Miller - weekday mornings and noon
  • reporter
• Meg Marshall - weeknights
• Bob Larson - weeknights at 5, 6, and 10
• Jacob Long - weekends
  • Twin Cities bureau reporter

Weathermen

• Marcus Bailey - Chief seen weeknights
• Jeff Desnoyers - weekday mornings and noon
• Brandon Arnold - weekends and "I Challenge Brandon" segment producer

Sports

(both seen on Sports Extra)

• Kurt Pegler - Director seen weeknights at 6, 9, and 10
• Kyle Dierking - weekends and sports reporter

Reporters

• Marianne Miller - "Lifestyle Empowerment" segment producer
• Allen Smith - "Greenthumb Gardener" segment producer
• Andrew Morgan - "Kids' Kare" segment producer

• Maria Chandler
• Kim Behrens

Notable former personnel

• Cheryl Burton (1990) — later co-anchor on WLS-TV 7 Chicago
• Dave Freeman (1984–1986) — later KSNW-TV 3 Wichita, Kansas
• Bob Jamieson — from Peoria; later at ABC News; Jamieson School in Peoria is named for his father^[6]
• Jim Jensen — later at WBZ (AM)/FM/TV Boston then main anchor at WCBS-TV 2 New York City
• Paul Moyer — later anchor at KNBC-TV 4 Los Angeles
• Randy Salerno — also worked at WHOI 19 Peoria; later at WGN-TV 9 then WBBM-TV 2 Chicago
• Dave Snell — from Pekin; still on WMBD (AM) as Bradley Braves men's basketball announcer
• Bob Starr (1960s) — later a sports announcer in Boston, St. Louis, and Los Angeles
• Lisa Sylvester — later ABC News and CNN correspondent

References

External links

• ciproud.com — WMBD-TV and WYZZ-TV website
  • ciproud to go — mobile website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WMBD-TV