WSIL-TV: Difference between revisions – Wikipedia
Turner-Farrar continued in the television business until 1980, when it announced it would sell WSIL-TV and KPOB in what amounted to a partial trade. As part of the transaction, O. L. Turner acquired radio stations [[WEBQ (AM)|WEBQ]] and [[WOOZ-FM|WEBQ-FM]] in Harrisburg from Macauley “Mackie” Nicholes, the radio voice of [[Southern Illinois Salukis men’s basketball]], who became one of several stockholders in the new ownership of the television stations.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/southern-illinoisan-saluki-basketball-po/128305337/|date=December 5, 1980|page=3|first=Ed|last=Bean|title=Saluki basketball possible: Sale of WSIL-TV could bring changes|newspaper=Southern Illinoisan|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=July 23, 2023|archive-date=July 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230723080735/https://www.newspapers.com/article/southern-illinoisan-saluki-basketball-po/128305337/|url-status=live}} FCC approval was granted in May 1981, allowing the $3 million TV station transaction and $700,000 radio station sale to go forward.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/southern-illinoisan-fcc-grants-approval/128305522/|date=May 3, 1981|page=3|title=FCC grants approval to sale of WSIL-TV|newspaper=Southern Illinoisan|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=July 23, 2023|archive-date=July 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230723080735/https://www.newspapers.com/article/southern-illinoisan-fcc-grants-approval/128305522/|url-status=live}}
Turner-Farrar continued in the television business until 1980, when it announced it would sell WSIL-TV and KPOB in what amounted to a partial trade. As part of the transaction, O. L. Turner acquired radio stations [[WEBQ (AM)|WEBQ]] and [[WOOZ-FM|WEBQ-FM]] in Harrisburg from Macauley “Mackie” Nicholes, the radio voice of [[Southern Illinois Salukis men’s basketball]], who became one of several stockholders in the new ownership of the television stations.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/southern-illinoisan-saluki-basketball-po/128305337/|date=December 5, 1980|page=3|first=Ed|last=Bean|title=Saluki basketball possible: Sale of WSIL-TV could bring changes|newspaper=Southern Illinoisan|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=July 23, 2023|archive-date=July 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230723080735/https://www.newspapers.com/article/southern-illinoisan-saluki-basketball-po/128305337/|url-status=live}} FCC approval was granted in May 1981, allowing the $3 million TV station transaction and $700,000 radio station sale to go forward.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/southern-illinoisan-fcc-grants-approval/128305522/|date=May 3, 1981|page=3|title=FCC grants approval to sale of WSIL-TV|newspaper=Southern Illinoisan|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=July 23, 2023|archive-date=July 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230723080735/https://www.newspapers.com/article/southern-illinoisan-fcc-grants-approval/128305522/|url-status=live}}
Nicholes, along with cable television system operator John Kirby, faced a monumental task in trying to improve WSIL-TV. A feature in ”[[The Southern Illinoisan]]” noted that under Turner-Farrar’s stewardship, channel 3 had equipment dating back to the 1950s and operated on a very low budget, resulting in an on-air look that was primitive even by small-market standards. For example, the station was not above “illustrat[ing] a flood by showing its audience a hand-drawn picture of a lake in the corner of the screen, rather than sending a film crew to the scene”. When Nicholes and Kirby took over, they inherited a station with only had 30 total employees, including only five news staffers; its principal competitors in the region—NBC affiliate [[WPSD-TV]] in [[Paducah, Kentucky]], and [[CBS]] affiliate [[KFVS-TV]] in [[Cape Girardeau, Missouri]]—each had more than 20 people in their news departments and employed over 90 people total. WSIL’s newscasts attracted just five percent of the audience compared to 38 and 42 percent for the other stations, respectively. Further, channel 3’s {{convert|807|ft|m|adj=on}} tower in Creal Springs was dwarfed by the {{convert|2000|ft|m|adj=on}} structures of its rivals, significantly limiting WSIL’s reach. However, FCC-imposed restrictions on the channel 3 allotment denied the new owners any hope of increasing WSIL’s over-the-air footprint to a size comparable to those of KFVS and WPSD. When WSIL moved to channel 3 in 1959, it was short-spaced to [[WCIA]] in [[Champaign, Illinois|Champaign]], also on channel 3. WSIL had to conform its signal to protect WCIA; according to ”The Southern Illinoisan,” the FCC was “unlikely to ever remove that restriction” in the foreseeable future. With this in mind, Nicholes decided to focus channel 3’s news department almost exclusively on Southern Illinois. While he realized the…
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