Truth Publishing Company ownership
The Truth Publishing Company, publisher of The Elkhart Truth and owner of WTRC radio (1340 AM and 100.7 FM), applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a new television station on Elkhart's ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 52 in May 1953.[1] The FCC granted the company a construction permit on June 3, 1953, approving the second station in the South Bend–Elkhart area.[2][3] Construction began in late 1953; the station was located southwest of Elkhart.[4] In November, the station signed to become an affiliate of ABC.[5]
WSJV began broadcasting on March 20, 1954; a test pattern had gone out on March 15 and 16 before the new antenna suffered a fault that required emergency repairs and postponed the planned March 17 sign-on date.[6] Power was increased twelvefold in November when a new transmitter was installed.[7] The station originally aired programs from ABC, NBC, and the DuMont Television Network;[8] NBC affiliated with new WNDU-TV the next year,[9] while DuMont wound down operations.[10][11]
In 1957, the FCC approved the assignment of lower UHF channels to WSBT-TV (from channel 34 to 22) and WSJV (from channel 52 to 28); it had already allowed WNDU-TV to switch from channel 46 to 16. This required a relocation of UHF channel assignments among several localities in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan.[12] For WSJV, the change also brought a relocation of the tower site from Elkhart to a location near Mishawaka.[13] The channel switch took place on February 14, 1958; it was the last of the three stations to move to the lower channel it was assigned.[14] The station began to broadcast in color on October 7, 1963, with three ABC color programs being broadcast every week.[15]
After the station invested in purchasing color tape and film equipment, WSJV began broadcasting non-network programs in color in 1966, five years after ABC began airing some of its programs in color in 1961. In 1968, the station bought two color television cameras and began airing all of its locally produced shows in color. Local programs from the station's early years included Kidsville, U.S.A. and two shows featuring puppet DD Donovan. Truth Publishing also expanded its operation in television by buying WKJG radio and television in Fort Wayne in 1957; the Fort Wayne outlets were sold in 1971.[16][17] The station group was promoted as the Communicana Group.[18]
Quincy Newspapers ownership
In 1974, Truth Publishing sold WSJV for $3.2 million to Quincy Newspapers Inc. (QNI) of Quincy, Illinois; it retained the radio stations, which continued to operate for a time from the same building.[19] At the time, Quincy's only television property was WGEM-TV in its home city.[20] The sale earned Truth Publishing a tax certificate from the FCC because it broke up cross-ownership of the South Bend cable system, which was founded by the three major commercial stations in the market.[21] In 1976, the station debuted an 11 p.m. newscast, having previously only broadcast local news at 6 p.m.[22]
On April 3, 1988, the station's tower was partially toppled by a windstorm.[23] The station began broadcasting at reduced power the next day, but a replacement mast was not put into service until November.
Affiliation switch to Fox
In December 1993, Fox gained the broadcast rights to televise games from the NFL's National Football Conference,[28] which firmly established Fox as the fourth national network. After this acquisition, it began a campaign to upgrade its affiliate base. South Bend was the largest market in the United States without a dedicated Fox affiliate; in the 1994 NFL season, CBS affiliate WSBT-TV aired Fox football and lost the rights to air 60 Minutes as a result.[29]
Quincy signed an agreement with Fox on April 19, 1995, to become a full-time Fox affiliate on October 18 of that year and begin carrying its NFL games sooner.[30] With the other two secular commercial television stations in the market uninterested in switching affiliations, ABC faced the prospect of having cable systems import affiliates from nearby markets.[31] In August, Weigel Broadcasting, which had a South Bend translator for its flagship station, WCIU-TV
Loss of Fox affiliation
In June and July 2016, the station's general manager and news director stepped down and moved to other Quincy Media stations. The South Bend Tribune reported the possibility that Quincy was planning to shut down WSJV and consolidate its Fox affiliation onto another station in the market so it could sell WSJV in the FCC's then-forthcoming spectrum incentive auction—which would allow stations to relinquish their broadcast spectrum to the FCC in exchange for a share of the profit from its resale to wireless providers as part of a reallocation process. Spectrum was said to be particularly valuable in the South Bend market due to its proximity to several major markets such as Chicago and Indianapolis.[42][43]
On July 25, 2016, Quincy announced the transfer of the Fox affiliation rights to Sinclair Broadcast Group's WSBT-TV in exchange for the ABC and CW affiliations in Peoria, Illinois, from Sinclair-owned WHOI.[44] WSBT then announced that it would replace its two existing subchannels with Fox Michiana, beginning on August 1, 2016. For a 60-day transition period until September 30, the new service was simulcast by WSJV to allow viewers and pay television providers time to transition from the former signal.
Gray and Sinclair ownership
On February 1, 2021, Gray Television, owner of WNDU-TV, announced its intent to purchase Quincy Media for $925 million in a cash transaction.[51] As WSJV was lower-rated than the top four stations in ratings in the South Bend market (not counting Weigel's low-power stations but including WHME-TV), Gray sought a failing station waiver to permit common ownership of both WSJV and WNDU-TV. The sale was completed on August 2.[52]
Gray and Sinclair filed with the FCC in 2025 to trade WSJV for WHOI, which resulted in Sinclair owning both the WSJV and WSBT licenses.[53]
