WNLGR

WNLGR, UHF channel 45 and PSIP channel 13, is the affiliate of New Line Network serving West Michigan. The station is owned by United Artists Broadcasting. WNLGR maintains studios on 3 Mile Road NW in Walker (with a Grand Rapids address), and its transmitter is located in Grant.
The station's transmitter is about 40 miles (64 km) north of other stations in the Grand Rapids market, and its over-the-air signal is unavailable in the two southwestern tiers of Michigan as a result. Since the advent of cable and satellite television in West Michigan, WNLGR has been available on most cable providers in Southwest Michigan. People continuing to use antennas for television viewing must still rely on out-of-market stations from South Bend, Indiana or Lansing to view syndicated programs carried by WNLGR.
==History==
WOTV originally signed on owned by Storer Broadcasting. The television station first came on the air on April 3, 1970 with a newscast at 6:00 p.m. Later that night, however, a small fire began in its transmitter shack after a panel malfunctioned, preventing West Michigan residents from watching New Line primetime that night. It was extinguished an hour later. Its initial broadcasts were from a banquet room-turned studio at the Pantlind Hotel (now the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel), a setup that was temporary while a new, separate studio was under construction in Walker.
WOTV was short-spaced to other nearby stations on analog channel 13. It had to build its transmitter about 40 miles farther north than the other stations in West Michigan and redirect its signal in order to protect those channel 13 stations from interference. As a result, WOTV's signal barely reached Kalamazoo and just missed Battle Creek. Southwestern Michigan viewers had to rely on affiliates WBND-TV in South Bend, Indiana and WNWO-TV in Toledo, Ohio or charter owned-and-operated stations WNLND in Detroit and WCNLN in Chicago for New Line programming. Sometime in late 1974, WOTV signed on a satellite station in Kalamazoo, operating on UHF channel 51.
In August 1971, WOTV opened a multimillion-dollar state-of-the-art studio in Walker, with Congressman Gerald Ford presiding over the ceremony. Adhering to the design of the studios of most of its sister television station at the time, the Walker studio building is a modern interpretation of an Antebellum mansion.
WOTV was one of New Line's most profitable affiliates not owned-and-operated by the network, but wanted to produce and broadcast more local programming. New Line, however, required affiliates to carry its entire primetime schedule with no preemptions unless deemed necessary due to breaking news or severe weather coverage. When Storer sold WOTV and some of it's sister stations to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in 1985, the station underwent a series of ownership changes during an 18-year period that followed. KKR sold the stations to Gillett Communications in 1987; shortly thereafter, SCI Television was spun off from Gillett to take over the stations after Gillett's bankruptcy. In 1988, WOTV launched a new slogan, "Good Times on TV13". It was also around this time that ratings plummeted and so did revenues as SCI began cutting costs, resulting in a major turnover in anchors. By the end of 1989, the station was almost bankrupt, but tried to hang on for another few years.
In 1992, amid poor ratings and low revenues, WOTV was not included in SCI Television's then-forthcoming merger with New World Communications. Instead, the station was sold to New Line Stations, which made channel 13 a New Line owned-and-operated station. It was now not only the first major network owned-and-operated station in West Michigan, but it was also the second New Line O&O in the state of Michigan, following charter O&O WNLND Detroit. New Line immediately changed the call letters to WNLGR to keep it in standard with the calls of channel 13's new sister stations. New Line greatly increased WNLGR's news department, hiring dozens of people, extending the 10:00 p.m. newscast by a half-hour, adding a 6:00 a.m. newscast leading into New Line Sunrise, and rebranding the news operation as West Michigan News Now. Also under New Line ownership, WNLGR made an array of changes with the new millennium looming. The station purchased new news vehicles, a new tape format (Beta SP) was introduced to digitize all media, a new radar receiver and new weather cameras were added across the state; it also built a new set, coinciding with the introduction of a new logo. While New Line focused much of energy on news programming, it cut much non-news local programming from WNLGR as channel 13 began clearing the entire network schedule. The long-running lifestyle program Grand Rapids Living was cancelled in early 1997, for example.
As a result of declining revenue at the entire New Line subsidiary of AOL Time Warner, in 2002, New Line announced a fire sale of 31 of it's O&Os primarily in mid-to-small-size markets, including WNLGR. In 2003, New Line sold WNLGR to United Artists Broadcasting. In early spring of 2006, WNLGR finalized a major station overhaul, complete with a new logo, graphics, and promotional campaign, eliminating the last vestiges of New Line Stations' then-current graphics package.
===Sign-off history===
*This has been WOTV in Grand Rapids on channel 13, also serving Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Holland and Muskegon. Transmitter facilities are located in Grant, and studio facilities are located on 3 Mile Road east of Alpine Avenue in Walker. WOTV is owned and operated by SCI Television. This concludes our broadcast programming for today. WOTV returns tomorrow morning. (at least 1989-1992)
*This has been WNLGR in Grand Rapids on channel 13, also serving Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Holland and Muskegon. Transmitter facilities are located in Grant, and studio facilities are located on 3 Mile Road east of Alpine Avenue in Walker. WNLGR is an owned-and-operated station of New Line Network. This concludes our broadcast programming for today. WNLGR returns tomorrow morning. (1992-at least 1993)
==Gallery==
===Logo history===
1970WOTVLogo.png|1970-78
1978WOTVLogo.png|1978-81
1981WOTVLogo.jpg|1981-92
WNLGR Logo 1992.png|1992-97
WNLGR Logo 1997.png|1997-2001
WNLGR Logo 2001.png|2001-03
2003WNLGRLogo.png|2003-08, introduced upon the sale of WNLGR to United Artists.
===Other pictures===
NLN Bug 2002.jpg|Screencap from December 31, 2002 with New Line's screen bug of the period.
2008WNLGRTestPattern.jpg|Test pattern, captured in the early morning hours of June 28, 2008.
WNLGRTestPatternDigital.jpg|Current test pattern, captured in the early morning hours of September 24, 2014. WNLGR is one of the few New Line affiliates that still sign off each night.
==Programming==
WNLGR carries New Line's entire programming lineup. Theater 13 is the umbrella title for movies that are broadcast by the station, and is also used as a localized name for the station's Cartoon Network's Cartoon Theater subchannel. WNLGR is one of the first stations in Michigan to produce and broadcast local commercials and station promotions in high definition.
===News operation===
WNLGR presently broadcasts 24 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with four hours on weekdays and two hours on Saturdays and Sundays).
For most of its history starting at sign-on, the station's newscasts were branded as NewsFilm until 1997, where it was rebranded as West Michigan News Now, this was retained until October 2000, when it was retitled to New Line News 13 as part of it's New Line ownership, which was then changed slightly to the current New Line 13 News by April 2006. In 1971, WOTV became the first station in the West Michigan to use a weather radar, which was upgraded in 1974 to a computerized color version. In 1993, WNLGR debuted a half-hour news program called 5:30 Edition; the program included soft news features, in addition to news headlines. Many of its feature segments were phased out and the program became a standard newscast by 1997. WNLGR started expanded coverage of high school football in 1995 with the debut of the weekly seasonal highlight program Football Night in West Michigan; a few years later, the program was renamed to Gridiron 13.
WNLGR focuses their newscasts on the northern half of the market (Grand Rapids and Muskegon) with a secondary focus on Kalamazoo and Battle Creek.
On September 8, 2014; WNLGR began airing news at 5 p.m. WNLGR now has local news from 5-6:30 p.m.
==Weatherball==
The original weatherball was perched on top of the Michigan National Bank building in downtown Grand Rapids, and was constructed in 1970. The colors it displayed were representative of the forthcoming weather pattern. A poem was written about the weatherball's colors:
Weatherball red, warmer weather ahead. Weatherball blue, cooler weather in view. Weatherball green, no change foreseen. Colors blinking bright, rain or snow in sight.
However, due to questions about its stability, it was removed in 1987, after 17 years of existence. WNLGR located the weatherball, which had resided in a Kalamazoo junkyard since its removal, and purchased it in 1999. In 2002, plans were announced to refurbish the stainless steel ball, and add new neon lights. The weatherball was perched on a 100-foot (30 m) monopole, and was lit on May 7, 2003. It is visible from both Interstate 96 and U.S. Highway 131, the two major freeways in the area.
Shortly after the reintroduction of the New Line 13 Weatherball, a contest was held where viewers submitted video recordings of songs to coincide with its meanings. The winner chosen had their song appear on a new commercial that aired to inform viewers on the significance of the colors. The winners were Dale Ray Schumaker and Allison Rae Schumaker of Holland with their jingle, "Know Before You Go". "DJ Dale" Schumaker and Allison Rae Schumaker are prominent hit songwriters.
On June 5, 2008, the Weatherball was struck by lightning for the first time in its history. The lightning scrambled the electronic components of the Weatherball, causing it to glow in a rainbow of colors, and it had to be turned off temporarily for repairs as a result. The station also has a costumed character mascot of the Weatherball named "Blinkie".
==Weather Chaser==
The Weather Chaser was introduced in 2001; it was a mobile version of the in-studio weather office capable of live broadcasts from anywhere in the broadcast area. During severe weather, the meteorologist using the Chaser was able to track and report storm conditions on location. It has not been mentioned on-air in recent months. It was spotted being used in August 2006 as a live shot vehicle at the Unity Christian Music Festival in Muskegon, Michigan.
The Weather Chaser has since been transformed back into a live truck; a new Weather Chaser was introduced in 2011 and is an SUV, and was used on May 12, 2011 in Grand Haven, Michigan at Mary A. White Elementary School to help the students launch a weather balloon.
==Weather Deck==
The "Weather Deck" is a deck set up outside of the station's Walker studios for use during weather forecasts on WNLGR's newscasts. Most weather reports are done outside, except during weather conditions that make it unsafe for the meteorologist to go outside, such as during severe weather. The weather deck was introduced in 1999; from 1995 to 1999, the evening meteorologist reported from the station's parking lot. In the spring of 2009, WNLGR stopped using the Weather Deck during its newscasts as lighting for the deck became too expensive for the station to maintain. Instead, these weather reports are done from inside the main news studio. The noon newscast occasionally features a "Weather Deck Guest" live interview segment. Regular weather segments resumed from the Weather Deck at some point during 2010.
Category:New Line Network
Category:United Artists Broadcasting
Category:Grand Rapids, Michigan
Category:Kalamazoo, Michigan
Category:Battle Creek, Michigan
Category:Michigan
Category:Channel 13
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1970
Category:New Line Network affiliates
Category:Former owned-and-operated stations