WSYM-TV

WSYM-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Central Michigan that is licensed to Lansing. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 38 (or virtual channel 47.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in Hamlin Township along M-50/M-99/South Clinton Trail. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, WSYM operates MyNetworkTV affiliate WHTV (owned by Venture Technologies Group, LLC) through a local marketing agreement. The two stations share studios on West Saint Joseph Street, along I-496, in downtown Lansing.

History

WSYM signed on for the first time on December 1, 1982, as WFSL-TV. It was owned by Lansing businessman Joel Ferguson and his company, F&S Development Company, and aired an analog signal on channel 47. WFSL was the first new commercial station in the area since WILX-TV signed-on 23 years earlier. Conventional wisdom suggested it should have debuted as an ABC affiliate. Lansing was one of the largest markets in the nation that still didn't have full service from all three major networks. Indeed, Lansing had been large enough to support three full network affiliates since the 1960s. However, after all attempts to land an ABC affiliation failed, it signed on as an independent. Flint's WJRT-TV (channel 12) had long been the default ABC affiliate in Lansing, since it covered the immediate area with an adequate signal.