city madison wisconsin branding wisc tv3 general news 3 newscasts slogan family owned . wisconsin s own . informed involved and in touch newscasts channels digital 50 uhf virtual 3 psip subchannels 3.1 cbs 3.2 mynetworktv affiliations cbs owner morgan murphy media television wisconsin inc. first air date june 24 1956 ; 60 years ago 1956 06 24 call letters meaning wisconsin sister station s la crosse wkbt dt former channel number s analog 3 vhf 1956 2009 former affiliations secondary upn 1995 1999 dt2 the wb 2000 2002 upn 2002 2006 transmitter power 603 kw digital height 466 m digital facility id 65143 transmitter coordinates 43 3 21 n 89 32 6 w 43.05583 n 89.53500 w 43.05583 ; 89.53500 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.channel3000.com wisc tv digital channel 50 or psip virtual channel 3 is the cbs affiliate television station for madison wisconsin . the station is the flagship station of madison based morgan murphy media and has been affiliated with cbs since its launch on june 24 1956 . the station airs regular local and cbs programming on digital channel 3.1 and also operates tvw a mynetworktv affiliate on digital channel 3.2 which is also carried on local cable tv and directv in the madison market . the two stations share studios located on raymond road in madison and its transmitter is located on mineral point road in the city s middleton junction section . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 tvw 4 newscasts 4.1 former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit wisc tv first took to the airwaves on june 24 1956 taking over madison s cbs affiliation from wkow tv which retained abc affiliation . despite being the state s second largest market madison was a doughnut market as it was sandwiched between other markets where primary vhf signals were already assigned milwaukee to the east wausau and green bay to the north chicago and rockford to the south and la crosse eau claire to the west . having the market s only vhf signal gave channel 3 a distinct advantage and market leadership over uhf competitors wkow and wmtv a position that the station has enjoyed for much of its history even after the advent of cable television put the competitors on equal footing wisc s former slogan wisconsin s leadership station played upon that advantage . wisc tv has been affiliated with cbs since its launch though it was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network during the late 1950s . 1 from 1995 to 1999 wisc tv carried select upn programming during overnight hours before the launch of a full time upn affiliate in the market whpn . upn returned in 2002 on wisc s cable digital subchannel tvw which had been affiliated with the wb since 1998 ; tvw has been with mynetworktv since 2006 . wisc tv commemorated its 50th anniversary in june 2006 which merited a congratulatory mention by david letterman on his late show broadcast of june 22 2006 its first program he quipped was good morning cheddar . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 2 3.1 1080i 16 9 wisc dt main wisc tv programming cbs 3.2 480i 4 3 tvw tvw wisc tv mynetworktv in 2000 wisc tv launched subchannel 3.2 carrying tvw which before then was a cable only station . analog to digital conversion edit wisc tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 3 at 12 30 p.m. on february 17 2009 the original target date in which full power television stations in the united states were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate which was later pushed back to june 12 2009 . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 50 . 3 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 3 . the analog channel 3 continued to serve as a nightlight broadcasting a loop of digital transition information and instructions in addition to any local news programming and emergency information until signing off for good the final week of march 2009 . programming edit outside of the cbs network schedule syndicated programming on wisc tv includes the dr. oz show and entertainment tonight . wisc was home to espn plus broadcasts of wisconsin badger sports before the syndicator s relationship with the big ten conference ended in 2007 . tvw edit tvw found on wisc tv s secondary digital subchannel 3.2 replays of some wisc programming including replays of news 3 s morning newscast from 7 to 9 a.m. tvw does air its own content including first run syndicated shows such as divorce court and access hollywood off network reruns including the middle and law & order special victims unit and locally produced high school football under the prepmania banner . newscasts edit in addition to its normal morning noon 5 p.m. 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts wisc airs news 3 live at four a one hour newscast which is largely devoted to non headline news and features that focus on the community and the people of madison dane county and southern wisconsin . live at four originally aired at 5 p.m. but moved to 4 p.m. in october 2015 to expand to one hour . in april 2011 wisc began offering free on demand segments of their newscasts on the roku digital video player . 4 wisc tv also produces a 9 p.m. newscast for fox affiliate wmsn tv under a news share arrangement that began on january 1 2012 before then wmsn had aired a newscast from wkow since 1999 while wisc had produced a 9 p.m. newscast for tvw since 2004 . 5 on october 26 2008 wisc tv began producing all its newscasts in total high definition video becoming the first commercial tv station in wisconsin to do so . 6 the station had produced occasional news features in hd since the beginning of 2008 . former on air staff edit roger grimsby ; long time anchor on wabc tv eyewitness news in new york deceased martin kilcoyne sports ; sporstcaster with ktvi tv in st. louis missouri matt lepay sports ; play by play radio announcer for the wisconsin badger football and men s basketball teams ; part time play by play tv announcer for the milwaukee brewers curt menefee sports ; studio host of fox nfl sunday alanna rizzo sports ; sports reporter with sportsnet la in los angeles california ; 7 formerly with the mlb network references edit require prime evening time for nta films . boxoffice 13 . november 10 1956 . archived from the original on june 14 2009 rabbitears tv query for wisc dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . wisc debuts local news channel on roku digital video player retrieved april 15 2011 newman judy january 5 2012 . wisc tv now providing news services for fox 47 . wisconsin state journal . retrieved january 6 2012 . wisc tv to air newscasts in hd october 20 2008 announcement from the wisc tv website http www.truebluela.com 2013 12 8 5189478 orel hershiser alanna rizzo dodgers tv broadcasts external links edit official website query the fcc s tv station database for wisc tv biafn s media web database information on wisc tv v t e television stations in southern wisconsin including madison local stations wisc tv 3.1 cbs 3.2 tvw mntv wzck lp 8 bounce tv wmtv 15.1 nbc 15.2 the cw 15.3 antenna tv 15.4 weathernation tv wha tv 21.1 pbs wpt 21.2 wis 21.3 create w23bw d 23.13 abn wkow 27.1 abc 27.2 metv 27.3 decades wmwd ld 38.1 daystar wmsn tv 47.1 fox 47.2 comet 47.3 grit wbuw 57.1 ind. 57.2 movies 57.3 h & i outlying areas w22ci 31.1 pbs wpt 31.2 wisc 31.3 create bloomington w43br 43 fam baraboo wwrs tv 52.1 tbn 52.2 hillsong 52.3 juce tv smile 52.4 enlace 52.5 tbn salsa mayville cable only stations charter xtra fox sports wisconsin mmsd channels madison city channel oregon cable access wisconsineye wsto stoughton wyou madison wytu ld 63.1 telemundo milwaukee atsc m h mobile dtv wkow 27.1 abc defunct stations w29dc 29 tbn janesville adjacent areas chicago milwaukee rockford eau claire la crosse wausau quad cities cedar rapids green bay v t e cbs network affiliates in the state of wisconsin wisc 3 madison wfrv 5 green bay wsaw 7.1 wausau w42dh d 7 sayner wkbt 8 la crosse w57ar 57 sayner wdjt 58 milwaukee see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in wisconsin v t e morgan murphy media radio stations keze khtq kiyx kvni kxlx kxly kxly fm kzzu fm wglr wglr fm wpvl wpvl fm television stations kapp abc kvew abc kxly tv abc kxmn ld metv wisc tv cbs tvw mntv wkbt dt cbs mntv retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wisc tv & oldid 730807525 categories television stations in madison wisconsincbs network affiliatesmorgan murphy stationstelevision channels and stations established in 1956hidden categories articles with inconsistent citation formats 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 filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 21 july 2016 at 07 12 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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