Early years
The Fetzer Broadcasting Company filed an application on May 12, 1948, seeking to build a television station in Kalamazoo, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted a construction permit to Fetzer on July 29.[1] WKZO-TV began broadcasting its first test signals on April 6, 1950,[2] and by May it was telecasting slide and film programs on a test basis.[3] The station began airing regular programs on June 1, 1950,[4] and network programming on July 9 as the 20th primary affiliate of CBS; network programs were received from WJBK-TV in Detroit and microwaved across the state.[5] The CBS affiliation matched Fetzer's WKZO radio station in Kalamazoo. In addition to CBS, the station aired some programming from NBC[6] and the DuMont Television Network.[7] In 1953, the station upgraded its effective radiated power to 80,000 watts after WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee moved from channel 3 to channel 4,[8] followed by a second increase to 100,000 watts in 1954.[9] WKZO-TV was the second television station in West Michigan and the fifth in the state, coming on the air less than a year after WLAV-TV (channel 7, now WOOD-TV on channel 8) began in August 1949. The owner of Fetzer Broadcasting Company, John Fetzer, later recalled, "I was broke when I decided to get into television" and that his attorney and wife were skeptical of the new medium's prospects. To help finance the station, Fetzer bartered for the use of equipment from manufacturer Federal Telephone and Radio Corporation in exchange for being used in Federal promotional materials. Early local programs included agricultural and women's programs as well as sponsored soapbox derby races.[10] Another long-running program was the children's show Channel 3 Clubhouse, which debuted in 1956 and ran as a daily feature before moving to weekends in 1984.[11]
Originally sharing studios with WKZO radio in the Burdick Hotel, which was billed as "Block Long Radio City",[12] in 1956, Fetzer announced the acquisition of land and a building at Maple Street and Crosstown Parkway to build new studios for WKZO-TV.[13] The facility, known as Broadcast House, was completed in June 1958. It featured two television studios and a studio designed for simulcast radio and television programs.[14] In 1961, transmission of WKZO-TV moved to a more northerly site in Barry County, near Gun Lake, where that station and co-owned WBCT were installed on a 1130 ft tower.[15][16] The next year, the station—which had carried selected ABC programs—dropped them when WZZM-TV (channel 13) began in Grand Rapids.[17]
WWMT debuted its first newscast on April 5, 1953, with Hugh Harper as the first anchorman. The WKZO radio and television news operations were combined; for instance, Karl Guenther was the farm director for radio and produced an agricultural TV show, Michigan Reports.[22] However, its record in local news coverage was lacking. In 1973, WKZO-TV ranked in the bottom ten among 140 stations in the top 50 television markets in the percentage of airtime devoted to news and public affairs programming[23][24] and at the bottom in employing minorities, according to a report produced by Nicholas Johnson.[25] In 1981, WKZO established facilities to provide live transmission of news material from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo, where previously tapes had to be driven an hour for broadcast.[26] WKZO found itself in third place in overall market ratings,[27] including in second place in Kalamazoo and Calhoun counties (losing to WOTV), and its image lagged in the community, where people often joked about channel 3's news.
Gillett and Busse ownership
After 35 years of ownership, in August 1985, Fetzer announced the sale of WKZO-TV—as well as KOLN and KGIN-TV in central Nebraska and KMEG in Sioux City, Iowa—to Gillett Communications of Nashville, Tennessee.[29] WKZO radio remained with Fetzer, and as a result, the call sign for WKZO-TV changed to WWMT when Gillett took over on December 5, 1985.[30] Gillett canceled Channel 3 Clubhouse, whose tapings interfered with the production of local newscasts,[31] and Accent, the long-running news and features program descended from the station's Feminine Fancies of the 1950s.[32] The new owner set out to bolster the news department. It hired John Lansing from WAVE in Louisville, Kentucky
Granite/Freedom ownership
In January 1995, Granite Broadcasting agreed to acquire WWMT from Busse for $95 million.[42] The company took over in June, and in March 1996, it fired manager Gil Buettner and replaced him with Dick Appleton, who had owned WZZM under the aegis of Northstar Television Group until 1995. At the time, channel 3 was close to tied with WZZM for second in news ratings.[43] Later that year, Granite was contracted by Joel Ferguson to run WLAJ, the ABC affiliate in Lansing, with management duties for WLAJ moving to Kalamazoo.[44] Granite did not immediately buy WLAJ, valued at $19.4 million, outright because of the signal overlap between the Lansing and Kalamazoo stations.[45] Several staff, including anchor Joe Parker, were transferred from Kalamazoo to Lansing to reinitiate a news department there.[46]
Sinclair ownership
Freedom Communications announced on November 2, 2011, that it would exit from television and sell its stations, including WWMT, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group.[54] Sinclair operated the stations beginning on December 1, 2011, and the deal formally closed in April 2012.[55] Ties with the Lansing station were cut, as Sinclair sold WLAJ to Shield Media; Shield entered into an agreement with Lansing's WLNS-TV, and in 2013, WLAJ began airing that station's news programming.[56][57]
Sinclair provided a cash infusion to WWMT, whose news operation had languished during Freedom's bankruptcy. Less than a month after Sinclair closed on ownership, the morning newscast was extended to a 4:30 a.m. start.[58]
- Lee Cowan – anchor, 1990s[70]
- Kraig Kann – sportscaster, 1991–1995[71][72]
- Kyung Lah – reporter, 1994–1995[73]
- Joe Parker – anchor, 1990s
- Jeff Varner – morning and evening news anchor, 2007–2012[74]
