branding wicu 12 general erie news now me tv on dt2 wsee on dt3 slogan coverage you can count on your news . now . tv to talk about on dt2 channels digital 12 vhf & wsee dt3 16.3 uhf virtual 12 psip & wsee dt3 35.3 psip subchannels 12.1 nbc 12.2 metv 12.3 cbs affiliations nbc owner sjl broadcasting sjl of pennsylvania license subsidiary llc operator lilly broadcasting founded march 1948 1 first air date march 15 1949 ; 67 years ago 1949 03 15 call letters meaning icu sounds like i see you sister station s wsee tv former channel number s 12 vhf analog 1949 2009 52 uhf digital 1995 2009 former affiliations cbs 1949 1954 dumont 1949 1955 abc 1949 1966 all secondary transmitter power 5.4 kw height 306.7 m class dt facility id 24970 transmitter coordinates 42 3 50 n 80 0 21 w 42.06389 n 80.00583 w 42.06389 ; 80.00583 website www.erienewsnow.com wicu tv channel 12 is an nbc affiliated television station located in erie pennsylvania usa . wicu tv is owned by sjl broadcasting and operated by lilly broadcasting which also owns and operates cbs affiliate wsee tv channel 35 and its cw subchannel . the two stations both share studios on state street in downtown erie and a transmitter located in greene township pennsylvania . 2 3 contents 1 digital channels 2 history 3 news operation 4 references 5 external links digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 4 12.1 1080i 16 9 wicu hd main wicu tv programming nbc 12.2 480i 4 3 me tv metv 12.3 wsee sd simulcast of wsee tv history edit wicu tv began broadcasting in erie on march 15 1949 5 as an affiliate of all four networks of the time nbc cbs abc and dumont . it was one of the last stations to be granted a construction permit before the federal communications commission fcc froze new applications . channel 12 was founded by edward lamb an attorney from toledo ohio who also owned the now defunct erie dispatch herald and other broadcast properties including wtvn tv now wsyx in columbus ohio which went on the air six months later . in 1952 lamb purchased wikk radio 1330 am later wicu and now wfnn giving channel 12 a sister station on radio . the station was a major beneficiary of a quirk in the fcc s plan for allocating stations . in the early days of broadcast television there were twelve vhf channels available and 69 uhf channels later reduced to 55 in 1983 . the vhf bands were more desirable because they carried longer distances . since there were only twelve vhf channels available there were limitations as to how closely the stations could be spaced . after the fcc s sixth report and order ended the license freeze and opened the uhf band in 1952 it devised a plan for allocating vhf licenses . under this plan almost all of the country would be able to receive two commercial vhf channels plus one noncommercial channel . most of the rest of the country 1 2 would be able to receive a third vhf channel . other areas would be designated as uhf islands since they were too close to larger cities for vhf service . the 2 networks became cbs and nbc 1 represented non commercial educational stations and 1 2 became abc which was the weakest network usually winding up with the uhf allocation where no vhf was available . however erie was sandwiched between pittsburgh channels 2 4 11 and 13 and wheeling steubenville channels 7 and 9 to the south cleveland channels 3 5 and 8 to the west buffalo channels 2 4 and 7 to the east and london ontario channel 10 to the north . this created a large doughnut in northwestern pennsylvania where there could only be one vhf license . wicu tv was fortunate to gain that license and as a result has been the market leader in erie for most of its history . channel 12 held a monopoly on erie television until wsee tv signed on in 1954 as a cbs affiliate . the two stations then separately owned shared abc programs until wjet tv channel 24 signed on in 1966 . edward lamb nearly lost wikk renamed wicu am in 1957 and wicu tv in 1954 due to allegations that he associated with communists but was exonerated in 1957 . a decade later in august 1967 lamb reorganized his business interests selling off all non broadcast holdings as well as wicu radio . lamb s company later renamed great lakes communications continued to hold channel 12 . after lamb s death in 1987 his family continued to own the station until 1996 when it was sold to sjl communications a subsidiary of sjl broadcast management and alta management . sjl purchased alta s interest in 2005 . 6 7 8 9 a consummation notice was filed with the fcc in february 2007 to voluntarily transfer control of the station from sjl communications to sjl broadcast management corporation . 10 11 this transaction was then authorized by the fcc . 12 in 2002 the station became the senior partner in a local marketing agreement with wsee tv . 6 13 from that point until june 1 2009 wsee tv continued to operate from its own studios on peach street in downtown erie . on that date that station along with its cw subchannel merged into wicu tv s facilities . wicu s broadcasts became digital only effective june 12 2009 . it was the last analog station serving the erie region to make the switch . 14 its broadcast signal reaches the city of erie surrounding communities and across lake erie in parts of ontario canada . it is available on all cable systems in erie warren and crawford counties in pennsylvania and in selected cable networks in venango county pennsylvania southwestern new york state and northeastern ohio which are part of the pittsburgh buffalo and youngstown markets respectively . 15 as recently as the 1990s it was available on cable as far east as olean new york well out of wicu tv s broadcast range and in competition with buffalo nbc affiliate wgrz tv . 16 wicu tv and wsee tv merged their web sites in june 2011 . wicu tv has aired an annual telethon for the kanzius cancer research foundation since 2008 . news operation edit although the shared services agreement between wicu tv and wsee tv was established in 2002 the actual beginning of newscast consolidation between the two did not start until wsee tv actually moved into wicu tv s studios . wsee tv aired the final newscast from its separate peach street studios on may 28 2009 . wsee tv s weeknight show at 11 moved to its cw affiliated subchannel so it would no longer directly compete with wicu tv s newscast . the program in its new time slot now began to air against another prime time newscast seen for an hour on wfxp . in november 2012 lilly broadcasting invested close to a million dollars to build the first hd local news studios with wicu tv and wsee tv . both wicu tv and wsee tv gather news in the field in full hd and present the news in the same high definition format . wicu tv airs a midday show during the week at 12 30 as opposed to noon in order for wsee to offer a live newscast in the traditional time slot . on weekends the two television stations jointly produce local news at 11 while wicu tv only provides an early evening broadcast at 6 on saturdays and sundays . these shows are known as weekends now and can be delayed or preempted on one station due to network obligations . during the week wicu tv and wsee tv maintain primary personnel such as news and sports anchors that only appear on one station . most video footage and content is shared however . in cases of breaking news severe weather or election coverage the two simulcast newscasts and occasionally include the cw subchannel as well . on weekday mornings wsee dt2 provides a simulcast of the first hour of 12 news today at 5 and wicu tv s midday show at 12 30 . citation needed in september 2015 lilly broadcasting announced that wicu tv and wsee tv would no longer produce separate morning and evening newscasts as of october 12 ; the two stations will instead simulcast newscasts in these time periods under the joint brand erie news now . the stations executive vice president john christianson said that the wicu and wsee newscasts were seen by viewers to have been essentially the same newscast with different anchors . 17 references edit fcc grants three commercial video . broadcasting telecasting march 22 1948 pg . 93 . tv query results video division fcc usa . fcc.gov . retrieved 2015 12 02 . call sign history . svartifoss2.fcc.gov . retrieved 2015 12 02 . http www.rabbitears.info market.php request station search & callsign wicu station wicu tv opens ; is nbc tv s 34th affiliate . broadcasting telecasting march 21 1949 pg . 42 . a b free business profile for sjlbroadcast.com provided by network solutions . sjlbroadcast.com . retrieved 2015 12 02 . 1 archived june 5 2008 at the wayback machine . emmis announces sale of four additional television stations re indianapolis sept. 29 prnewswire firstcall . prnewswire.com . retrieved 2015 12 02 . note that sjl has obvious links to montecito broadcast group but urls for montecito no longer function . see sjl host to see linkage and lack of function of montecito url . federal communications commission media bureau cdbs account login . svartifoss2.fcc.giv . retrieved 2015 12 02 . public notice comment . svartifoss2.fcc.gov . retrieved 2015 12 02 . 2 dead link free business profile for sjlbroadcast.com provided by network solutions . sjlbroadcast.com . retrieved 2015 12 02 . attachment i dtv tentative channel designations for the first and second rounds pdf . hraunfoss.fcc.gov . retrieved 2015 12 02 . 3 archived january 6 2007 at the wayback machine . 4 archived june 4 2007 at the wayback machine . weiss gerry september 21 2015 . changes come to erie tv news lineups . erie times news . retrieved september 21 2015 . external links edit official website cw erie website query the fcc s tv station database for wicu tv biafn s media web database information on wicu tv v t e broadcast television in northwestern pennsylvania including erie reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television local stations wlep ld 9.1 sonlife wicu tv 12.1 nbc 12.2 metv 12.3 cbs wjet tv 24.1 abc 24.2 laff 24.3 escape w32dh d 32.1 3abn 32.2 3abn proclaim 32.3 dare to dream 32.4 3abn latnio 32.5 3abn radio 32.6 3abn radio latino 32.7 radio 74 wsee tv 35.1 cbs 35.2 the cw 35.3 nbc w45ec d 45.1 silent future station wqln 54.1 pbs 54.2 create 54.3 world wfxp 66.1 fox 66.2 grit 66.3 bounce tv pennsylvania broadcast television binghamton new york buffalo new york elmira new york erie johnstown altoona state college new york city philadelphia pittsburgh scranton wilkes barre susquehanna valley harrisburg washington dc youngstown ohio see also cleveland buffalo ontario tv v t e nbc network affiliates in the state of pennsylvania wjac 6 johnstown wgal 8 lancaster wcau 10 philadelphia wpxi 11 pittsburgh wicu 12 erie wbre 28 wilkes barre see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in pennsylvania retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wicu tv & oldid 738642771 categories nbc network affiliatestelevision stations in erie pennsylvaniatelevision stations in pennsylvaniatelevision stations in new yorktelevision stations in ohiome tv affiliatestelevision channels and stations established in 1949hidden categories