WPSD-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Western Kentucky's Jackson Purchase, Southern Illinois, and the Missouri Bootheel. Licensed to Paducah, Kentucky, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 (or virtual channel 6.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in Monkeys Eyebrow, Kentucky. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 5, Mediacom channel 6, and Charter channel 10. There is a high definition feed provided on Comcast digital channel 432, Mediacom digital channel 706, and Charter digital channel 785.

Owned by the Paxton Media Group, WPSD has studios on Television Lane in Paducah. Syndicated programming on the station includes Wheel of Fortune, Inside Edition, Jeopardy!, and Dr. Phil among others. It operates a low-powered VHF analog repeater, W10AH channel 10, in Carbondale, Illinois from a transmitter (sharing the WSIU-TV-FM tower) on the Southern Illinois University campus.

Digital television[link]

History[link]

The station signed-on as WPSD on May 28, 1957 with an analog signal on VHF channel 6. It has been an NBC affiliate and owned by the Paxton family for its entire existence alongside Western Kentucky's major newspaper, The Paducah Sun. The station would add the -TV suffix to its call sign on April 23, 1979. The "PSD" letters in the calls stands for Paducah Sun-Democrat which was the paper's name at the time the station launched in 1957.

News operation[link]

WPSD serves more than fifty counties in its large four state territory including all of Southeastern Missouri, Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky, and north Western Tennessee. Among the area's big three outlets, the station has traditionally focused more on the Western Kentucky side since it is based in Paducah. In addition to its main studios, WPSD operates a bureau on South Illinois Avenue in Downtown Carbondale.

With headquarters in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, CBS affiliate KFVS-TV primarily features coverage of Southeastern Missouri although it also maintains a bureau in Southern Illinois. Meanwhile, the market's ABC affiliate WSIL-TV focuses almost exclusively on Illinois from studios in Carterville. This is despite the presence of full-time satellite KPOB in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. In fact, WSIL does not even mention the region's other two main cities (Paducah and Cape Girardeau) in its on-air identifications.

For several years, WPSD produced a nightly prime time newscast on Fox affiliate KBSI (owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group) through a news share agreement. The thirty minute show was known as Local 6 News at 9 on Fox 23 and featured a regional summary of headlines because KBSI is based in Cape Girardeau. For awhile, the broadcast competed with KFVS' own nightly prime time news at 9 seen on the area's low-powered CW affiliates WQTV-LP/WQWQ-LP.

That newscast, however, was produced specifically for Southeastern Missouri viewers. It would eventually be cancelled on July 29, 2007. WPSD's outsourcing arrangement with KBSI expired on September 30, 2010. The next day, the latter entered into a new partnership with KFVS presumably to refocus the prime time production to the Missouri Bootheel area and expand it to sixty minutes every night. With that addition, KFVS now offers more than thirty hours of local news each week and continues to retain its market dominance as the most watched outlet. On October 3, 2010, WPSD brought back its own newscast at 9 to its RTV and 24-hour local weather subchannels. Known as The Nine and seen every night for a half-hour, this is simulcasted on those two services.

On October 6, 2010, WSIL became the first station in the region to offer local news in high definition. KFVS has made plans to complete an upgrade to HD at some point in the near future. Broadcasts on WPSD remain in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition and it is unknown when the station intends to upgrade to either 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen or full high definition level. Like all RTV affiliates in the Central Time Zone, WPSD-DT2 airs the nationally syndicated show Daytime weekday mornings at 8 for an hour.

News/station presentation[link]

Newscast titles[link]

• News Picture (1960s-1973)
• NewsBeat '74 (1974)
• NewsBeat '75 (1975)
• NewsBeat '76 (1976)
• NewsBeat (1977-1993)^[1]
• NewsChannel 6 (1993-1995)
• WPSD NewsChannel 6 (1995-2008)
• Local 6 News (2008-present)

Station slogans[link]

• "Where the News Comes First" (mid 1980s-1992)
• "We're Channel 6, Just Watch Us Now" (1982-1983; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• "TV-6 There, Be There" (1983-1984; localized version of NBC ad campaign)^[2]
• "Come Home to TV-6" (1986-1987; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• "Come on Home to Channel 6" (1987-1988; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• "WPSD Cares About You" (1992-1995)
• "Working to Make a Difference" (2003-2008)
• "Your Breaking News & Weather Authority" (2008-present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

[edit] News team^[3]

Anchors

• Julie Collins - Saturday mornings; also weekday morning reporter
• Laura Emerson - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Todd Faulkner - weekend evenings and Sundays at 9 p.m.; also weeknight reporter
• Marissa Hollowed - weekday mornings (4:30-5 a.m.); also 5-7 a.m. reporter
• Mike Mallory - weekday mornings (5-7 a.m.) and noon; also "Gourmet Minutes with Mallory" segment producer
• Scott McGee - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Gerran Thomas - weeknights at 9 p.m.; also weeknight 5 and 6 p.m. reporter
• Johnette Worak - weekday mornings (5-7 a.m.) and weekdays at noon; also medical reporter
• TBD - Saturdays at 9 p.m.

Weather Authority

• Jennifer Rukavina - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
• Kyle Mounce (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m.
• John Champion - meteorologist; weekday mornings
• Trent Okerson - meteorologist; weekdays at noon and weekend evenings

Sports team (all seen on Gridiron Glory)

• Jeff Bidwell - sports director; weeknights at 6, 9 and 10 p.m.
• Tom Annino - weekend evenings and sports reporter
• Brandon Davidow - sports reporter

Reporters

• Lauren Adams - general assignment reporter
• Robert Bradfield - 5 and 6 p.m. Southern Illinois bureau reporter
• Kelli Colwell - general assignment reporter; also "Gourmet Minutes with Mallory" segment producer
• Jason Hibbs - weeknight 10 p.m. reporter
• Jonathan Warren - multimedia journalist

Local program hosts

• Robert Shrader - Bluegrass & Backroads host
• Matt Hilton - Bluegrass & Backroads host
• Jason Lindsey - Hooked on Science host

Former on-air staff[link]

• Sam Champion - meteorologist (now weekday weather anchor for ABC's Good Morning America)

References[link]

External links[link]

• WPSD-TV "Local 6"
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WPSD-TV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W10AH

For the 19th-century baseball player, see Bill Allison (baseball)

William "Bill" Allison is a former casino owner and actor. Allison has appeared in many cameo roles, such as Ocean's Eleven as an old guard, but his acting experience started when he was hired as a consultant for the production of Martin Scorsese's 1995 film, Casino, due to his casino experiences. In Casino, Allison played the Latter-day Saint (Mormon) Bagman, John Nance, who was based on Jay Vandermark.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bill Allison at the Internet Movie Database
• Bill Allison at AllRovi

This article about an American film actor is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e