the fox affiliate in flint michigan . wshm ld semi satellite of wfsb hartford new haven connecticut springfield holyoke northampton massachusetts united states city springfield branding cbs 3 general western mass news newscasts slogan coverage you can count on channels digital 21 uhf virtual 3.5 psip subchannels 3.5 cbs 3.6 cozi tv affiliations cbs 2003 present owner meredith corporation first air date 1988 ; 28 years ago 1988 call letters meaning w springfield holyoke massachusetts sister station s wfsb wggb tv former callsigns w42au 1988 1994 w67df 1994 2003 wshm lp 2003 2011 former channel number s analog 42 uhf 1988 1994 67 uhf 1994 2010 former affiliations tbn 1988 2003 transmitter power 6 kw height 155 m class ld facility id 67980 transmitter coordinates 42 7 11.3 n 72 24 39.0 w 42.119806 n 72.410833 w 42.119806 ; 72.410833 licensing authority fcc public license information semi satellite of wfsb hartford new haven connecticut profile semi satellite of wfsb hartford new haven connecticut cdbs website westernmassnews.com wshm ld is the low powered cbs affiliated television station for the pioneer valley of western massachusetts . licensed to springfield it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 21 or virtual channel 3.5 via psip from a transmitter on ridge road in wilbraham . owned by the meredith corporation the station is sister to abc fox mynetworktv affiliate wggb tv . the two outlets share studios together on liberty street in springfield . although considered a separate station in its own right wshm is actually operated as a semi satellite of wfsb in hartford new haven connecticut . wshm airs separate commercials inserts and its own legal identifications . master control and some internal operations are based within wfsb s studios on capital boulevard in rocky hill connecticut . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 wshm ld2 2.3 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 5 references 6 external links history edit the station signed on as w42au in 1988 airing a low powered analog signal on uhf channel 42 from a transmitter on mount tom in holyoke . the station served as the pioneer valley s over the air repeater of the trinity broadcasting network without any local deviation outside of station identification . in 1994 it moved to uhf channel 67 and became w67df . originally cbs was seen in the pioneer valley on whyn tv now wggb tv from 1953 until 1959 . the end of whyn s cbs affiliation came several months after wfsb then known as wtic tv with no relation to the current station except for the same call sign became the network s connecticut affiliate . due to its strong analog signal on analog vhf channel 3 the station also became cbs affiliate of record in springfield . later on wtic wfsb would begin to purchase the syndicated territorial rights to programming for both the hartford new haven and springfield holyoke markets in bulk . it also blocked several attempts by wggb to switch from abc back to cbs . in 2003 the meredith corporation having acquired wfsb in june 1997 purchased w67df in order to set up a separate operation in the pioneer valley . reasons for such a launch ranged from local advertising opportunities along with being able to assert the pioneer valley as a secondary new england patriots market allowing meredith to avert from pre empting patriots games in a market such as hartford new haven where split allegiances to the afc east s new york jets or buffalo bills along with the nfc east s new york giants in selected weeks are maintained . in november of that year the station joined cbs and adopted the call sign wshm lp after officially upgrading to low powered status . tbn remains available easily through all cable and satellite providers in the area . it immediately replaced wfsb on pioneer valley cable systems . the station became known on air as cbs 3 based on the cable channel location in order to encourage longtime wfsb viewers to stay with wshm after the switch . right from the start of its cbs affiliation it was a semi satellite of wfsb it even operated out of that outlet s studios known as broadcast house at constitution plaza in downtown hartford and cleared its syndicated programming except for those shows already seen on the other two commercial stations based in springfield . in august 2006 wshm changed its logo from one resembling sister station kpho tv to a logo resembling but unrelated to cbs owned and operated kyw tv in philadelphia . on may 25 2007 wfsb s studios were flooded by a water main break . the flooding knocked out power and phone service to the building which in turn caused wfsb to go dark . wshm s master control was also affected and the station went black for about an hour mid afternoon and intermittently throughout the evening . there were some points during the weekend that its cbs 3 springfield ids were seen on wfsb while that outlet s ids were seen on wshm . on june 27 the master control and internal operations of wshm and wfsb moved to a newly constructed facility south of hartford in rocky hill . since it is a low powered station wshm was exempt from the federal communication commission fcc mandated switch to digital only broadcasting on or before june 12 2009 . back on february 28 2008 a high definition feed of this station was added to comcast replacing wfsb which moved to digital channel 291 and became a standard definition feed . charter would follow suit two years later . on june 18 2014 meredith announced that it would acquire wggb from gormally broadcasting creating a duopoly with wshm . although fcc broadcast ownership rules normally forbid same market ownership of two of the four highest rated television stations based on monthly total day ratings which often constitute stations affiliated with the four major broadcast networks the springfield market has only three full power television stations too few to allow a duopoly in any normal circumstance the deal is permissible under fcc rules which allow common ownership of full power and low power television stations the respective class designations of wggb and wshm in all markets . 1 this sale was completed on october 31 2014 . 2 although wshm and wggb initially maintained separate facilities wshm was eventually consolidated into wggb s studios in may 2015 . on september 8 2015 media general announced that it would acquire meredith for 2.4 billion with the combined group to be renamed meredith media general once the sale was finalized . because media general already owns wwlp and the springfield holyoke market does not have enough full power television stations to legally allow a duopoly in any event wggb wwlp and pbs station wgby are the only full power licenses assigned to the market the companies would have been required to sell either wggb or wwlp to comply with fcc ownership rules as well as recent changes to those rules regarding same market television stations that restrict sharing agreements had the sale gone through . wshm ld was the only one of the three stations affected by the proposed merger that could legally be acquired by meredith media general as fcc rules permit common ownership of full power and low power stations regardless of the number of stations within a single market and it was possible the station would be paired with either wggb or wwlp after the sales were completed . 3 4 5 however on january 27 2016 nexstar broadcasting group announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire media general resulting in the termination of meredith s acquisition by media general . digital television edit digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 6 3.5 1080i 16 9 wshm hd main wshm programming cbs 3.6 480i 4 3 wshm 3 cozi tv wshm ld2 edit in september 2010 wshm began to carry select live umass minutemen sports programming on its own second subchannel in addition to airing as a 24 hour local news and weather station . 7 8 at some point in time it joined cozi tv . wshm ld2 can also be seen on comcast digital channel 293 and charter digital channel 183 . analog to digital conversion edit an application filed with the fcc calling for wshm to launch its own low powered digital station on channel 49 was dismissed in june 2006 . another application to move the existing analog signal to channel 45 was dismissed in 2004 at the station s request . more recently wshm had a construction permit to air a low powered digital signal on uhf channel 21 . 9 on november 22 2010 this became active after wshm finally gained a license to cover allowing it to turn off its analog signal on channel 67 and activate its own digital signal for the first time . prior to this transition wshm was carried through a standard definition simulcast on wfsb s second digital subchannel . through psip its digital broadcast channel appears as 3.5 10 which is based on wfsb s virtual channel identification . normally it would be 67.1 taken from wshm s defunct analog signal . 11 on january 7 2011 to reflect the change to digital exclusive transmission its calls were officially changed to wshm ld . 12 wfsb s current digital signal can be reached in southern areas of the pioneer valley giving the area access to two cbs affiliates . programming edit the most notable network programming differences between wshm and wfsb include its airing of cbs this morning saturday while wfsb does not showing face the nation in its entirety and broadcasting the late late show with james corden in its regular time slot as opposed to wfsb which airs the program on a thirty minute tape delay . wshm ld airs some wfsb syndicated programming at different times such as dr. oz an hour later than wfsb along with live with kelly wendy williams inside edition and entertainment tonight . 13 14 news operation edit initially as a semi satellite of wfsb wshm did not operate a news department of its own nor did it simulcast any local newscasts from its parent . in october 2005 wshm finally established a news operation and began producing local news from studios in the monarch tower at monarch place in downtown springfield s metro center section . it was the first station in the united states to use grass valley s ignite control room system . 15 originally cbs 3 springfield news was only seen monday through saturday nights at 6 sundays at 6 30 and every night at 11 . initially after entering the news race in the pioneer valley it struggled to make a dent in the ratings of longtime market leader nbc affiliate wwlp and established runner up abc outlet wggb . eventually this station grew substantially across the board during the may 2009 sweeps period to within decimal points of wggb in several key demographics . compared with the area s two other commercial television stations wshm tended to have a flashier format in its newscasts featuring more fast paced coverage . fending off a challenge by wggb wshm debuted the area s first prime time newscast on august 18 2008 . known as cbs 3 springfield non stop news at 10 the twenty minute program aired in a commercial free format on its then cable exclusive local weather channel seven nights a week the program was also streamed live on its website . the launch beat fox affiliate wggb dt2 which started its own nightly prime time show at 10 on september 8 . at some point in time for an unknown reason wshm s 10 p.m. broadcast was dropped . on august 24 2009