WJMN was originally established in 1969 by Orion Broadcasting as a semi-satellite of WFRV-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to expand its reach into Upper Michigan and far Northeastern Wisconsin. WJMN became more autonomous from WFRV in April 2014, when station owner Nexstar Media Group (who acquired WFRV and WJMN in 2011) launched Upper Peninsula-specific newscasts from a newly-built studio in Marquette.
On January 21, 2022, WJMN lost its CBS affiliation, with the network moving to WZMQ-DT2. Programming from MyNetworkTV and Nexstar-owned NewsNation, as well as a prime time newscast, were used to fill time where CBS programming formerly resided. After the sale of WJMN by Nexstar to Sullivan's Landing, it entered into agreements with Morgan Murphy Media, the operations of its ABC affiliate WBUP were merged with WJMN in September 2024. Its existing MyNetworkTV programming moved to a digital subchannel, and WBUP's ABC and CW subchannels were mirrored on WJMN.
History
Establishment as WFRV-TV satellite
As early as 1960, WFRV-TV began to analyze ways to extend its reach in the Upper Peninsula. The station had applied for channel 8 at Iron Mountain, Michigan, which was abandoned after WFRV-TV was sold that year alongside an application for channel 9 in Wausau, Wisconsin.[4] Seven years later, Orion Broadcasting renewed the push by filing for channel 3 at Escanaba on June 20, 1967.[5] A push by Northern Michigan University to use channel 3 instead of 13 for educational television use in the Upper Peninsula delayed approval until April 1969.[6] From a transmitter site and new 1,252-foot (382 m) tower near Trenary, WJMN-TV—so designated in honor of Jane Morton Norton, chairwoman of the board of Orion Broadcasting and a part of the Norton family that founded the company[7]—began broadcasting October 7, bringing a full NBC lineup and WFRV-TV's signal to a further 50,000 households.[8]
Orion Broadcasting reached a deal to merge with Cosmos Broadcasting, a subsidiary of the Liberty Corporation, in 1980. The merger would put the combined company over the limit for the number of VHF television stations it could own, prompting it to immediately announce that it would divest WFRV-WJMN.[9] In January 1981, Cosmos found a buyer: Midwest Radio-Television, owners of WCCO radio and television in Minneapolis.[10] The transaction closed in October.[11]
WJMN's connection to WFRV meant that affiliation switches in Green Bay twice affected viewers in Marquette. In 1983, the two stations switched from NBC to ABC;[12] this prompted the other established station in Marquette, WLUC-TV, to drop its ABC programming for NBC. The two stations then changed network affiliations one more time in 1992, after CBS purchased Midwest Radio-Television. This led to both stations joining CBS, but not at the same time. In Green Bay, WFRV became a CBS affiliate on March 15.[13] However, the Marquette station brought its flip forward several weeks because WLUC-TV was upset at the short notice it received that CBS was disaffiliating. WJMN thus joined CBS on February 23, which required a special feed of WFRV with CBS programming to be sent from Green Bay for transmission.[14]
On April 16, 2007, Liberty Media completed an exchange transaction with CBS Corporation pursuant to which Liberty exchanged 7.6 million shares of CBS Class B common stock valued at $239 million for a subsidiary of CBS that held WFRV and WJMN and approximately $170 million in cash.[15] WFRV and WJMN became the only two over-the-air television stations to be owned by the company.[16]
Nexstar ownership, partial separation from WFRV and loss of CBS
Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced it would acquire WFRV and WJMN from Liberty Media on April 7, 2011;[17] the $20 million deal was both approved by the FCC and completed the week of July 1, 2011.[18] Nexstar sought and received approval to continue operating WJMN-TV as a satellite station from Green Bay due to a weak regional economy.[19]
On January 23, 2012, WFRV was rebranded to "Local 5".[20] WJMN continued as "Channel 3" until 2014, when the station established its own news service and studios west of Marquette.[21]
Final logo as "Local 3," used after losing CBS to WZMQ 19.2 (2022-2024)
WJMN lost their CBS affiliation on January 21, 2022, after the network moved to the second digital subchannel of WZMQ (channel 19), owned by Lilly Broadcasting.[22] Consequently, WJMN's 11 p.m. late news was moved to 10 p.m. and expanded to an hour, and CBS programming was replaced with MyNetworkTV along with content from Nexstar-owned diginetsAntenna TV and Rewind TV.[23]
Acquisition by Sullivan's Landing and merger into WBUP
The two stations would merge their news departments in September 2024.[26] On September 16, 2024, to improve the station's coverage, WBUP's ABC and CW subchannels began to be simulcast on WJMN's digital subchannels 3.1 and 3.2 respectively (thus returning ABC to WJMN as its primary affiliation for the first time since 1992), and the existing MyNetworkTV programming moving to 3.3.[27]
News operation
Usually, most semi-satellites of another station provide some coverage of the home territory (in this case, the Central Upper Peninsula of Michigan). WJMN-TV operated a one-person bureau out of Escanaba from the time of its sign-on in 1969, which was a requirement of its license. With relaxed FCC regulations, CBS chose in late summer of 1993 to close the bureau and reallocate those resources to WFRV's Green Bay operations. However, Upper Peninsula weather forecast segments were inserted into WFRV's newscasts for broadcast on WJMN-TV.
When it announced its purchase of WJMN and WFRV in 2011, Nexstar disclosed plans to expand its local news presence in Marquette.[28] Nexstar's first tangible move toward a WJMN news operation came with a job posting in December 2013 seeking a news director/anchor for early and late weeknight newscasts.[29] The company announced on March 13, 2014, that the station would launch Local 3 News on April 21 originating from new studios west of Marquette (known as the "WJMN-TV Plaza"). At the outset, WJMN's news output consisted of weeknight newscasts at 6 and 11 which are seen in full high definition.[21]
The station retained its local newscasts after losing its CBS affiliation, with the 11 p.m. late newscast moving to 10 p.m. and expanding to an hour. The station also announced that it would simulcast Morning in America from then sister cable news channel NewsNation.[30][23][22]
Following the acquisition of WJMN by Sullivan's Landing, it was announced in August 2024 that WBUP's news department would be merged into WJMN under the new banner My UP News beginning September 9; as a result, WJMN's news output on its MyNetworkTV channel was cut to an hour-long newscast at 6 p.m. and a half-hour 10 p.m. newscast, while WBUP expanded its morning news to two hours. Weekend newscasts were temporarily suspended, but are expected to return in the future.[26]
Grade A signal contours for WJMN-TV, originating station WBUP, and associated simulcast.
WJMN 3 Escanaba MI
WBUP 10 Ishpeming MI
WBKP 5.2 Calumet MI
Analog-to-digital conversion
WJMN signed on its digital signal on UHF channel 48 in 2002; originally, this signal operated at a very low-power from a transmitter west of Downtown Escanaba and was only available in the immediate area. A construction permit in July 2009 allowed the station to increase its power to 1 megawatt and move the digital signal back to its analog transmitter site. However, according to an engineer, this would not happen until sometime in 2010.[32] Therefore, the updated digital signal of 9.8 kilowatts still could only be received in the immediate Escanaba and Gladstone areas.[33]
WJMN-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 3, on June 12, 2009, the original target date for full-power television stations in the United States to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12).[34] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 48, using virtual channel 3.[35]
^"O.K. Withdrawal of TV Request". The Capital Times. Madison, Wisconsin. Associated Press. December 29, 1960. p. 4. Retrieved January 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^"New Television Station Named". The Escanaba Daily Press. Escanaba, Michigan. September 30, 1969. p. 5. Retrieved January 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Programs Start On Channel 3". The Escanaba Daily Press. Escanaba, Michigan. October 8, 1969. p. 2. Retrieved January 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^"WFRV bought; will be resold". The Post-Crescent. Appleton, Wisconsin. June 7, 1980. p. A-10. Retrieved January 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Channel 5 sold to Minneapolis firm". Green Bay Press-Gazette. Green Bay, Wisconsin. January 17, 1981. p. B-8. Retrieved January 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^"WFRV sold". Green Bay Press-Gazette. Green Bay, Wisconsin. October 27, 1981. p. B-5. Retrieved January 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^Gerds, Warren (February 6, 1992). "Get ready to flip channels". Green Bay Press-Gazette. pp. A-1, A-2. Retrieved November 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
^Gerds, Warren (September 9, 2012). "WFRV ups ante on newscasts". Green Bay Press-Gazette. p. D10. Archived from the original on October 8, 2023. Retrieved October 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
(*) – indicates station is in one of Michigan's primary TV markets (**) – indicates station is in an out-of-state TV market, but reaches a small portion of Michigan
1WGTU's signal is rebroadcast on WGTQ; WPBN's signal is rebroadcast on WTOM; both WPBN and WTOM carry WGTU's programming on a digital subchannel.
(*) – indicates station is in one of Michigan's primary TV markets (**) – indicates station is in an out-of-state TV market, but reaches a small portion of Michigan
(*) – indicates station is in one of Michigan's primary TV markets (**) – indicates station is in an out-of-state TV market, but reaches a small portion of Michigan
1Owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting, Morgan Murphy Media operates these stations under an SSA.2Owned by Sullivan's Landing, Morgan Murphy Media operates these stations under an SSA.
