1959 World Series blackouts
WLUC became a victim in a string of incidents between October 1 and 4, 1959, after its original Lathrop microwave station was blacked out by a disgruntled former station employee, which hijacked the first three broadcasts of the 1959 World Series.[8] Then-manager John Borgen replied to Michigan outlets that the former employee, 36-year-old Harold William Lindgren of Marquette, suffered mental health issues and had originally planned his own revenge to the station by swiping a steel wool scouring pad from his wife's sink and drove 35 mi south to Lathrop on the evening of September 30, before climbing a fence around the transmitter and used a ball-point pen before stuffing the pad into a pipe of the relay equipment the following evening, which blocked the video portions only, leaving the audio portion intact. Borgen called the interruption "a diabolical plot".[9] The hijacks immediately led engineers from Chicago and Green Bay to investigate for four days before Lindgren was quickly arrested by Michigan State Police and immediately facing a possible four-year jail sentence. Lindgren told court officials that he wanted to "jam the signal" over his frustration at Borgen after firing Lindgren the previous month.[10]
Finland Calling
For 53 years and more than 2,650 weekly episodes straight, WLUC produced an hour-long show called Finland Calling, the only Finnish language program in the United States. The show debuted on March 27, 1962, initially created to boost tourism to Nordic countries, and featured Finnish culture, music, and discussions with wide-ranging guests including taxi drivers, out-of-town visitors to the area, and several presidents of Finland.
The host of every episode was Carl Pellonpaa, a former figure on Finnish radio who wore a signature powder blue sport coat. Camera operators had to learn a few words of Finnish just to be able to follow the show.[11]
Pellonpaa never missed an episode despite having open-heart surgery, two hip replacements, and cancer throughout his tenure. In the 1960s he once hosted the show via telephone because he had mumps. Over the decades, Pellonpaa switched from a live broadcast to pre-taping the program on Wednesdays, and he began to incorporate more English translations. In the show's early years, about 25% of the Marquette area had Norwegian ancestry.[12]
Pellonpaa became a beloved figure among Yoopers. In the Marquette area, his Nielsen ratings beat Fox News Sunday and NBC's Meet the Press. When 84-year-old Pellonpaa announced his retirement, with the Finland Calling series finale on March 29, 2015, The Wall Street Journal wrote that Pellonpaa's career "far outpaces David Letterman, Johnny Carson and Saturday Night Live. Some might say he is Finnished."[13]
Pellonpaa hosted 22 tours to Finland and dozens of dances to Finnish music. In 1988, he was awarded the Order of the White Rose from then President Mauno Koivisto for hosting the program and for inspiring tourism to Finland. Carl Pellonpaa died on September 1, 2018.[14]
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 as computer graphics improved and the years went on. From this point until abandoning the rainbow "6", a viewer unfamiliar to the market could accidentally discern that 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 the early 1980s) to "Upper Michigan's Source".
