History
The Lansing–Jackson television market was dominated by two major commercial VHF stations, WJIM-TV (now WLNS-TV) on channel 6 and WILX-TV (channel 10), since the latter station began in 1959. In the late 1970s, interest emerged in activating a third local station on a UHF channel: channel 36, then allocated to Lansing. Three applicants had already filed for the channel by 1979. Benko Broadcasting was owned by two brothers, one of whom was a judge in Sanilac County; F&S Comm/News, primarily owned by former Lansing city councilman Joel Ferguson and business partner Sol Steadman; and Kare-Kim Broadcasting Corporation, whose primary stakeholder, Donald Haney, was a television personality in Detroit.[4]
On August 4, 1980, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a ruling that complicated the picture for the channel 36 applicants. It changed the channel allocation from 36 to 47 as part of changes in five Michigan and Ohio cities, necessary to conform with a new Canadian table of allocations for UHF channels. This was not a trivial change for the Lansing applicants, as channel 47 was short-spaced with location restrictions. These restrictions, to channel 62 in Detroit, had led the FCC in 1967 to allot channel 36 instead of 47 at Lansing.[5] In restoring channel 47 to Lansing, the FCC gave the existing applicants from the channel 36 case the opportunity to keep the short-spaced channel or specify Lansing's other UHF channel, channel 53.[6] F&S Comm/News was the only applicant who chose channel 47 and received a construction permit in December 1981.[7] The firm began broadcasting December 1, 1982, as WFSL, an independent station.[8]
Benko and Kare-Kim opted for channel 53, and the FCC declared a comparative hearing for their applications in May 1981.[9] In lieu of a hearing proceeding, the parties settled: Benko reimbursed Kare-Kim for $29,900 in expenses pursuing its application and came away with the permit in an agreement approved that December.[10] Though Benko Broadcasting proposed in 1983 to build WLAJ as a second independent, owner Robert Benko fretted that competition with channel 47 would drive up prices for programming.[11] Later, Charles McLravy, former owner of Lansing radio station WILS, became a stakeholder in Benko Broadcasting and built a transmitter building and 100 ft of tower.
One of the reasons channel 36 had initially attracted interest was that at the time, Lansing was the largest market without an in-market ABC affiliate. At the time, WJRT-TV in Flint was reckoned as the default ABC affiliate in the capital; other parts of the market could watch the network over-the-air on WUHQ in Battle Creek or WXYZ-TV in Detroit.[12] However, cable was often necessary to get a good ABC signal, particularly in Jackson. Ferguson had sought an ABC affiliation for WFSL when it launched, but ABC balked, principally due to significant signal overlaps with WXYZ-TV (which ABC owned at the time), WJRT,[13] and particularly WUHQ. When the construction permit for channel 47 was awarded, the FCC dismissed a protest by WUHQ-TV, which sought to establish translators in Jackson and Lansing.[14]
Construction, early years, and 53 Newsbeat
On March 10, 1989, Benko Broadcasting filed to sell the WLAJ construction permit to Lansing 53, Inc., a company owned by Joel Ferguson.[15] Ferguson and Steadman had sold WFSL less than five years earlier to The Journal Company, who changed the call letters to WSYM-TV.[16][17] The sale came after McLravy decided he was not the right person to build the TV station.[18] The reactivation of plans for channel 53 immediately started to unblock the ABC logjam. Neither ABC nor the newer Fox network had an affiliate in the Lansing market, and ABC was seen to be in the driver's seat with a choice of possible affiliates (WSYM or WLAJ).[19]
