branding tv 6 general tv 6 news newscasts fox up on dt2 slogan upper michigan s source channels digital 35 uhf virtual 6 psip subchannels 6.1 nbc 6.2 fox 6.3 grit translators 14 uhf virtual 6 psip w14em d marquette owner gray television gray television licensee llc first air date april 28 1956 ; 60 years ago 1956 04 28 call letters meaning lucky 6 former sister station to green bay s wluk tv former callsigns wdmj tv 1956 1964 former channel number s analog 6 vhf 1956 2009 former affiliations dt1 primary cbs 1956 1992 abc 1992 1995 dt1 secondary abc 1956 1983 nbc 1956 1969 1983 1995 fox 1992 1995 dt2 universal sports transmitter power 63 kw height 257 m facility id 21259 transmitter coordinates 46 20 12.6 n 87 50 56.7 w 46.336833 n 87.849083 w 46.336833 ; 87.849083 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.uppermichiganssource.com wluc tv is the nbc affiliated television station for michigan s central upper peninsula licensed to marquette . it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 35 psip virtual channel 6.1 from a transmitter on south helen lake road southeast of republic in rural marquette county . the station can also be seen on charter channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 785 . owned by gray television wluc has studios on us 41 m 28 in negaunee township . contents 1 history 1.1 finland calling 1.2 previous logo 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 translators 4 programming 5 news operation 6 references 7 external links history edit on april 28 1956 channel 6 signed in as wdmj tv the upper peninsula s first television station . the station carried programming from all three networks offered at that time but was a primary cbs affiliate . wdmj was owned by the daily mining journal along with wdmj radio 1320 am . its studios were on the top floor of the mining journal building on washington street in downtown marquette . the station quickly outgrew its facilities . in 1959 the station moved into its current studios in negaunee . in 1964 it was sold to post corporation owners of wluk tv in green bay wisconsin who changed the calls to wluc tv to match its moniker at the time lucky 6 . some locals would say it actually meant with luck you c tv . wluc first aired network programs in color in 1963 and with the purchase of color video tape equipment it began broadcasting all locally produced programs in color in 1969 . the station moved its transmitter to southeast of republic in 1980 and dismantled the original one near its current studios in negaunee . wluc has been affected several times by television shakeups in green bay since rival station wjmn tv in escanaba is a semi satellite of green bay based wfrv tv . for example it dropped nbc programming in 1969 when wjmn signed on . in 1983 when wjmn tv along with parent station wfrv tv switched from nbc to abc wluc took a secondary nbc affiliation . when cbs bought wfrv in 1992 and switched it from abc wluc became a primary abc station with secondary nbc affiliation . it became solely nbc in 1995 when wluk and wgba tv exchanged affiliations . as a result it is one of the few stations in the country to have been with all of the big three networks . wluc also carried some fox programs in the early 1990s before wluk switched to the network . wluc dt2 signed on at some point in late 2005 under raycom media ownership carrying the tube music network . after that network shut down on october 1 2007 due to a lack of advertising nbc weather plus was added . later weather plus was dropped in favor of universal sports . throughout its association with those three services wluc dt2 was carried on charter digital channel 306 . in late 2005 following raycom s purchase of the liberty corporation the company announced wluc would be sold along with fellow nbc station wpbn tv and full time satellite wtom tv serving the northern lower and eastern upper peninsula . the sale was necessary to help meet federal communications commission fcc restrictions on station ownership . on march 27 2006 raycom sold 12 of its stations including wluc to barrington broadcasting . the fcc approved the deal in june 2006 and the purchase closed august 11 . wluc joined wpbn wtom saginaw s weyi tv and toledo s wnwo tv as part of barrington s family of stations in and around michigan . like many other barrington owned stations including wtom wluc operates a rather low powered 83 kw uhf signal which has a much smaller coverage footprint than its former analog station . its over the air digital signal covers less than half of the designated market area dma . therefore wluc relies on cable as well as satellite carriers directv and dish network to distribute programming to the entire area . in july of that year wluc announced it would begin carrying fox on its second digital subchannel starting august 17 . it replaced universal sports which was relegated to late night hours while programming from america one was added in a secondary nature . the subchannel replaced wzmq formerly wmqf as the area s fox affiliate after it temporarily suspended programming when its previous owner equity media holdings declared chapter 11 bankruptcy . wzmq is now back on the air after it was sold to new owners switching to this tv and moving mynetworktv to a new second digital subchannel . although subject to blackout restrictions wluc dt2 was scheduled to carry 12 green bay packers and eight detroit lions football games during the 2009 season . in addition to the fox subchannel from wluc the network is available in the upper peninsula over the air from wluk in menominee county and via a low powered digital translator of that station in escanaba . wluk is carried by charter in the west and central upper peninsula along with wluc dt2 except in gogebic county which is covered by kqds tv from duluth minnesota . the eastern upper peninsula is covered by wwup dt 10.2 a standard definition digital simulcast of wfqx tv in cadillac . in august 2012 wluc and fox up became the official affiliates of the green bay packers television network for the marquette escanaba market taking over for wjmn which lost the rights to team programming as the last contract ended which was included as a part of wfrv s official station status in the green bay market . the station carries preseason games on the state network as the packers television network has been traditionally called along with the team s tuesday night coach s show and other official team programming . 1 on february 28 2013 barrington broadcasting announced the sale of its entire group including wluc to sinclair broadcast group . 2 the sale was completed on november 25 . 3 after 30 years of separate ownership wluc and wluk in green bay were briefly reunited as sister stations on december 19 2014 when sinclair purchased wluk and wcwf as part of required sales of stations by lin media in order to merge with media general which already owned green bay s wbay tv . on october 1 2015 gray television announced that it would acquire wluc tv from sinclair ; in return sinclair would receive wsbt tv in south bend indiana from gray . the swap part of gray s acquisition of the broadcasting assets of schurz communications owner of wsbt was necessary as gray already owns wndu tv in south bend . 4 the sale was completed on february 16 2016 . 5 a few months later gray acquired green bay station wbay tv and should that deal close that will result in a new sister station in that market for wluc . 6 finland calling edit with 16 % of the area s population of finnish descent down from about 25 % in the 1960s wluc produced the only finnish language program in the united states finland calling finnish suomi kutsuu . the station started the show on march 27 1962 at the suggestion of a local travel agent who sought to boost travel to scandinavian countries . since its beginning the show was hosted by carl pellonpaa then a newsman at the station . pellonpaa retired from news operations but continued to host the show . early editions of the show were produced live and featured books photographs and finnish music . camera operators had to learn a few words of finnish just to be able to follow the show . the one hour weekly sunday morning program regularly featured finnish visitors to the region including two presidents of finland the prime minister a number of ambassadors consuls general of finland members of the country s parliament numerous entertainers choirs teachers and students among others . pellonpaa hosted 22 tours to finland and dozens of dances featuring finnish music . in 1988 he was awarded the order of the white rose from then president mauno koivisto for hosting the program and for the number of tourists that the program inspired to visit finland . in march 2015 it was announced that the 84 year old pellonpaa would retire and the program would air its series finale on march 29 2015 marking the end of a 53 year run . 7 8 previous logo edit previous logo . wluc used the same multicolored 6 logo for many years from as early as the early 1990s until september 2008 . from about 1989 until 1992 a similar metallic looking 6 was used with a rainbow slash underneath . the rainbow while used with on air promos and the news open was never used on mic flags during this time . from the time wluc went on the air in 1956 network logos were always separate from the channel logo . that changed in 1992 when the abc ball was lodged inside the 6 . when the station switched to primary nbc in 1995 it simply replaced the abc logo with the letters nbc rather than place the network s peacock alongside the 6 as many nbc affiliates do . the logo design however became somewhat dated at that point and as the years went on . from this point until abandoning the rainbow 6 one may have accidentally thought wluc was an abc affiliate . on september 8 2008 it phased out its multicolored 6 logo and went with the letters tv 6 inside an oval tilted to the right . it also changed its longtime slogan from someplace special used since 1992 to upper michigan s source . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 9 6.1 1080i 16 9 wlucnbc main wluc tv programming nbc 6.2 480i wlucfox fox up 6.3 wlucgrt grit analog to digital conversion edit wluc tv discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over vhf channel 6 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 35 10 using psip to display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 6 . translators edit wluc is rebroadcast on w14em d formerly w07db channel 7 in marquette in order to extend its primary signal ; the translator is used for areas of marquette that get a poor reception from the station s main transmitter . programming edit syndicated programming on the station includes friends dr. phil the ellen degeneres show and judge judy among others .