tv . wlfi tv west lafayette indiana united states branding wlfi 18 general news 18 newscasts slogan news from where you live channels digital 11 vhf virtual 18 psip subchannels 18.1 cbs 18.2 gettv 18.3 ion television affiliations cbs secondary through 1956 owner media general sale to heartland media pending primeland television llc first air date june 15 1953 ; 63 years ago 1953 06 15 call letters meaning west lafayette indiana former callsigns wfam tv 1953 1967 former channel number s analog 59 uhf 1953 1957 18 uhf 1957 2009 former affiliations secondary dumont 1953 1956 transmitter power 30 kw height 214 m facility id 73204 transmitter coordinates 40 23 20 n 86 36 46 w 40.38889 n 86.61278 w 40.38889 ; 86.61278 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website wlfi.com wlfi tv virtual channel 18 vhf digital channel 11 is a cbs affiliated television station located in west lafayette indiana united states . the station is owned by media general . wlfi maintains studio facilities located on yeager road in west lafayette and its transmitter is located on county road 700 in rural northwestern clinton county southwest of rossville ; master control and some internal operations are housed at the studio facilities of sister station wish tv on north meridian street in northwestern indianapolis . on cable wlfi tv is available on comcast xfinity channel 8 and metronet channel 18 in standard definition and in high definition on xfinity digital channel 1018 and metronet channel 818 . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit the station first signed on the air at 6 00 p.m. on june 15 1953 as wfam tv 1 broadcasting on uhf channel 59 . it was founded by original owner sarkes tarzian a radio manufacturer based in bloomington which also owned primary nbc secondary abc and dumont affiliate wttv now a cbs affiliate in indianapolis and abc affiliate wpta in fort wayne . the station originally operated as a primary cbs and dumont affiliate . during the late 1950s the station was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 2 wfam tv s transmitter had originally broadcast at low power making it unreceivable in parts of west central indiana outside of the immediate lafayette area . out of its original 20 person staff only one person had any experience in television ; the rest were radio personalities who pulled double duty under the guidance of o.e. richardson owner of radio station wask 1450 am . wlfi tv logo used from 2000 to 2012 . the station relocated its allocation to uhf channel 18 in 1957 ; the uhf channel 59 allocation would remain dormant until the federal communications commission later reassigned the allotment to indianapolis later used by wpds tv now wxin which signed on in february 1984 . the station changed its call letters to wlfi tv in 1967 . in 1979 the station was purchased by block communications . in 2000 lin tv corporation acquired wlfi from block in exchange for a 67 % ownership interest in abc affiliate wand now an nbc affiliate in decatur illinois lin tv later sold off its remaining 33 % interest in wand to block communications . on march 21 2014 media general announced that it would merge with lin media in a 1.6 billion deal . 3 4 the merger was completed on december 19 . 5 nexstar broadcasting group announced on january 27 2016 that it would merge with media general in a 4.6 billion acquisition ; 6 it then announced on june 13 2016 that it would sell wlfi tv and four other stations to heartland media through its usa television midamerica holdings joint venture with msouth equity partners for 115 million to comply with federal communications commission fcc ownership caps following the merger . 7 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 8 18.1 1080i 16 9 wlfi hd main wlfi tv programming cbs 18.2 480i gettv gettv 18.3 ion ion television wlfi formerly carried thecooltv on digital subchannel 18.2 from 2011 to 2013 when lin media terminated its affiliation agreement with the music video network . 9 the live feed of storm team 18 live doppler radar moved from digital subchannel 18.3 to 18.2 in the fall of 2013 . sony pictures television s gettv network which features classic movies replaced the weather radar channel on wfli dt2 in early 2015 . in fall 2015 wfli dt3 was launched to serve as an ion television affiliate . analog to digital conversion edit wlfi tv discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over uhf channel 18 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 vhf channel 11 10 using psip to display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 18 . programming edit wlfi tv clears the entire cbs network schedule ; however it airs the cbs dream team lineup in two blocks with the first two hours airing on saturday mornings leading into the saturday edition of cbs this morning which itself airs two hours later than most cbs stations that carry the broadcast and the final hour airing on sunday mornings . the station also pre empts the saturday edition of the cbs evening news in favor of running an hour long 6 00 p.m. newscast . syndicated programs broadcast by wlfi tv include dr. phil the dr. oz show jeopardy wheel of fortune and the ellen degeneres show . news operation edit wlfi tv presently broadcasts 22 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with four hours on weekdays 1 hours on saturdays and one hour on sundays ; unlike most cbs affiliates in the eastern time zone the station s early evening newscast at 5 00 p.m. runs only for a half hour with the station opting to run syndicated programs during the 5 30 p.m. half hour . even after lafayette area residents became able to receive stations out of indianapolis via cable television beginning in the 1970s the station s newscasts have performed well in the ratings ; its success was largely attributed to the longevity of most of its news staff some of whom had been at the station for over 20 years including former anchors jeff smith and chris morisse sports anchor larry clisby and meteorologist steve scherer 1 . in september 2012 wlfi became the third television station in central indiana to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition ; as part of the upgrade the station unveiled a new graphics package a modified version of the package used by cbs owned and operated station wbbm tv in chicago from when it upgraded its newscasts to high definition in 2008 until 2010 and a new set for its newscasts . notable former on air staff edit jane king now new york correspondent for cnn 11 references edit http www.wlfi.com global story.asp s 6512244 require prime evening time for nta films boxoffice 13 november 10 1956 media general to buy wish tv parent in deal worth 1.6 b . indianapolis business journal . associated press . march 21 2014 . retrieved march 22 2014 . sruthi ramakrishnan 21 march 2014 . media general to buy lin media for 1.6 billion . reuters . retrieved 21 march 2014 . media general completes merger with lin media press release media general retrieved 19 december 2014 lafayette jon january 27 2016 . nexstar agrees to buy media general for 4.6 b . broadcasting & cable . retrieved june 13 2016 . prather buys 5 tvs from nexstar media gen. . tvnewscheck . june 13 2016 . retrieved june 13 2016 . rabbitears tv query for wlfi http m.thecooltv.com stations.php id 31 dtv tentative channel designations for the first and second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . jane king external links edit official website query the fcc s tv station database for wlfi biafn s media web database information on wlfi tv v t e television stations in lafayette indiana local stations wlfi 18 cbs w51du 51 ewtn wuvi ld 65 ind distant stations available in area indianapolis wttv4 wttk 29 cbs wrtv 6 abc wish 8 cw wthr 13 nbc 13.2 cozi tv 13.3 metv wfyi 20 pbs wxin 59 fox 59.2 antenna tv 59.3 thistv chicago wttw 11 pbs 11.3 pbs create 11.4 v me see also champaign urbana tv v t e cbs network affiliates in the state of indiana wttv 4 wttk 29 bloomington indianapolis kokomo wthi 10 terre haute wane 15 fort wayne wlfi 18 lafayette wsbt 22 south bend wevv 44 evansville see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in indiana v t e media general inc. corporate directors j. stewart bryan iii cob marshall n. morton o. reid ashe jr. john a. schauss diana f. cantor charles a. davis thompson l. rankin rodney a. smolla walter e. williams coleman wortham iii h. graham woodlief jr. james a. zimmerman kirk read stephen y. dickinson george l. mahoney lou anne j. nabhan john a. schauss james f. woodward abc network affiliates ktka tv 1 wate tv wbay tv 2 whtm tv wjbf wjhl dt2 wlaj 1 wkrn tv wotv wric tv wten wcdc tv wtnh wytv 1 cbs network affiliates kelo tv kclo tv kdlo tv kplo tv kimt 2 klfy tv koin krqe kbim tv krez tv wane tv wbtw whlt wiat wivb tv wjhl tv wjtv wkbn tv wkrg tv wlfi tv 2 wlns tv wncn wnct tv wpri tv wrbl wspa tv wthi tv 2 cw network affiliates khon tv knva 1 ktka tv 1 kwbq krwb tv 1 kxtu ld wbdt 1 wcbd dt2 wfna whlt wish tv wjtv wlaj dt2 1 wnct dt2 wnlo wwlp dt2 wfxq cd wycw fox network affiliates kasa tv khon tv khaw tv kaii tv ktmj cd kxrm tv wnac tv 1 wthi dt2 wvbt wxxa tv 1 wyfx ld mynetworktv affiliates kasy tv 1 kbvo kelo tv kdlo tv kplo tv kimt kron tv wbtw wctx wnac dt2 1 wndy tv wsav dt2 wthi dt2 2 wtta wxsp cd wytv dt2 1 nbc network affiliates ksnt ksnw ksnc ksng ksnk ksnl ld kwqc tv 2 kxan tv wavy tv wcbd tv wcmh tv wdtn wfla tv wood tv wsav tv wsls tv 2 wwlp wfxq cd acquisitions lin media new vision television park communications spartan communications young broadcasting other assets professional communications systems lin digital sale of company pending to nexstar broadcasting group . 1 media general operates this station through an ssa . 2 station in the process of being resold to another company due to nexstar ownership conflicts . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wlfi tv & oldid 740034316 categories cbs network affiliatesmedia generalion television affiliatestelevision channels and stations established in 1953television stations in indianahidden categories official website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload 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