WYIN

WYIN

Gary, Indiana
Branding	Lakeshore Public Television
Slogan	Keeping You Connected.
Channels	Digital: 17 (UHF) Virtual: 56 (PSIP)
Subchannels	56.1 PBS
Affiliations	PBS
Owner	Northwest Indiana Public Broadcasting, Inc.
First air date	November 15, 1987
Call letters' meaning	We're Your Indiana Neighbor
Sister station(s)	WLPR-FM
Former callsigns	Digital: WYIN-DT (2003–2009)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 56 (1987–2009)
Transmitter power	300 kW
Height	290 m
Facility ID	49803
Transmitter coordinates	41°20′56″N 87°24′2″W / 41.34889°N 87.40056°W / 41.34889; -87.40056
Website	http://www.lakeshoreptv.com

WYIN, virtual channel 56, is a public television station in Gary, Indiana, serving the Indiana side of the Chicago, Illinois market on channel 17 as a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station. Transmitting from Cedar Lake, Indiana, and with studios and offices in Merrillville, Indiana, the station offers educational programs, sports and local news. The station's main competition in the market are WTTW and WYCC, public broadcasters in the city of Chicago.

History

WYIN evolved from non-commercial station WCAE, originally licensed to the Lake Central School Corporation in St. John and airing on channel 50. That station made its debut in 1967. The school system was unable to maintain broadcast operations and the station went dark in 1984. The station's license was swapped with Metrowest Corporation's WGMI, a construction permit on channel 56 licensed to Gary that had never been built. Metrowest eventually took the channel 50 signal to air as commercial station WPWR-TV.

WYIN's old logo, used from 1987 until 2006.

The non-commercial license (now reassigned to channel 56) was secured by the founding group of WYIN, who took it on the air on November 15, 1987. One of the first shows to be produced was a show called "Limelight", hosted by Mark Edward Wilows. The show was a local/celebrity type of program. It boasted such Hollywood greats like Loretta Swit, Cloris Leachman, and Ann Jillian to name a few. The show lasted a year and a half and then Mark Edward Wilows was hired by Fox-TV in Chicago to appear on the new "Nine-Thirty show along with Dan Dobrolowski and Bruce Wolf.

In June 2010, WYIN laid off 30 percent of their staff due funding cuts that have affected the Public Broadcasting Service nationwide.

Programming

Aside from airing PBS shows, the station produces Lakeshore News Tonight, a nightly newscast that debuted on September 14, 1990^[1], that focuses on local issues. The newscast was previously titled 56 Nightly News. WYIN also produces Lakeshore News in Review, a newscast focusing on recalling the local news stories for each week on Sunday.

Digital programming

This station's digital signal is multiplexed.

Channel	Video Resolution	Aspect Ratio	Name	Programming
56.1	720p	16:9	WYIN-D1	Main WYIN Programming /PBS HD
56.2	720p	16:9	WYIN-D2	Duplicate of 56.1
56.3	480i	16:9	WYIN-D3	PBS Kids
56.4	480i	16:9	WYIN-D4	SD simulcast of 56.1 in 16:9

In 2010, WYIN began airing children's programming on digital subchannel 56.3 under the name "Lakeshore Kids". The programming primarily comes from PBS Kids GO!.

As of September 2010, digital subchannels 56.2 and 56.4 duplicate the main programming on 56.1. Digital subchannel 56.2 broadcasts in high definition and subchannel 56.4 is broadcast in standard definition. 56.3 and 56.4, despite being SD, are in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen and may require a TV to be put in fullscreen or widescreen mode to be viewed properly.

Analog-to-digital transition

The "WYIN" callsign was legally transferred from the former analog channel 56 to digital channel 17 upon completion of the DTV transition on June 12, 2009, with the "WYIN-DT" callsign being officially retired.

WYIN continued to broadcast on its pre-transition digital channel 17. However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display its virtual channel as 56.

Transmitter

For many years, WYIN fought to move its transmitter to the Sears Tower or John Hancock Center, where most of the major Chicago stations have their transmitters. This was opposed by WTTW and WYCC, as it would have made WYIN a full competitor in the Chicago market while allowing them to pay less for PBS programming. WTTW also claimed this would take pledges from the station. WYIN eventually dropped its attempt to move, but did purchase a new transmitter.

In 2003, WYIN began broadcasting a digital signal on channel 17. A lightning strike to a power transformer feeding WYIN's transmitter temporarily knocked the station off the air on June 18, 2007.^[2] There have been several instances in which the WYIN transmitter has been affected by lightning. A direct lightning strike to the analog antenna in December 2002 left the station off the air for nearly a month while a new antenna was installed atop the 1000' tower, which also houses antennas for several cellular phone suppliers including NEXTEL, wireless internet, and other clients.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• Indiana Nightly Report (1990-199?)
• 56 News
• 56 Nightly News (?-2006)
• Lakeshore News Tonight (2006–present)

Station slogans

• Reaching You! (1987-2006)
• Keeping You Connected (2006–present)

References

1. ^ "WYIN to Launch Local News Hour Sept. 4."], Post-Tribune, August 28, 1990. Retrieved March 7, 2011 from HighBeam Research.
2. ^ [1]

External links

• Official website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WYIN
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WYIN-TV