WHOI (TV)
|
Peoria/Bloomington/ Normal, Illinois United States |
|
|---|---|
| Channels |
Digital: 19 (UHF) Virtual: 19 () |
| Subchannels | 19.1 Comet |
| Owner |
Sinclair Broadcast Group (WHOI Licensee, LLC) |
| First air date | October 20, 1953 |
| Call letters' meaning | We're the Heart Of Illinois |
| Sister station(s) |
Hannibal, MO/Quincy, IL: KHQA-TV Springfield/Decatur/ Champaign, IL: WICS/WICD, WRSP/WCCU, WBUI |
| Former callsigns |
WTVH (1953–1965) WIRL-TV (1965–1971) WRAU-TV (1971–1985) |
| Former channel number(s) | 8 (VHF analog, 1953–1963) 19 (UHF analog, 1963–2009) 40 (UHF digital, 2003–2009) |
| Former affiliations |
CBS (1953–1957) ABC (1953–2016; secondary until 1957) DuMont (secondary, 1953–1955) UPN (secondary, 1995–1999) CW+ (DT2, 2006–2016) |
| Transmitter power | 195 kW |
| Height | 178.7 m (586 feet) |
| Class | DT |
| Facility ID | 6866 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°39′11.1″N 89°35′14.4″W / 40.653083°N 89.587333°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
WHOI is a Comet TV Owned television station licensed for Peoria, Illinois. It broadcasts a digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter on North Stewart Street in Creve Coeur, a village in Groveland Township, Tazewell County. The station was the ABC-affiliated television station for North-Central Illinois until 2016. As of October 2016[update], WHOI only carries the Comet network owned by their parent company, Sinclair Broadcast Group.
WHOI was Peoria's second television station, signing-on as WTVH on October 20, 1953. The station was founded by Hugh Norman and Edward Schoede. Hilltop Broadcasting, which co-owned the Peoria Journal Star bought the station in 1954. Its first studios were on Main Street in Peoria. Originally broadcasting an analog signal on VHF channel 8, it was a primary CBS affiliate but also carried shows from ABC and DuMont. WTVH lost DuMont when the network ceased operations in 1955, and lost CBS when WMBD-TV began broadcasting.
The Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation, later known as Metromedia, purchased the station in 1959. In 1963, WTVH was bumped down to UHF channel 19 so that a third commercial VHF station could sign-on in the Quad Cities using that channel (the new station, WQAD-TV, is also an ABC affiliate). In 1965, Metromedia sold the station to Mid-America Media, owners of WIRL radio (1290 AM) who, on September 12 of that year, changed the call sign to WIRL-TV. It became WRAU-TV in 1971 and adopted its present calls of WHOI on March 17, 1985. The WTVH call sign was picked up by a station in Syracuse, New York in 1976.
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