Viewers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan who used to get CBS on Nexstar owned WJMN now need to tune in to Lilly Broadcasting’s WZMQ.
John Christianson, chief operating officer of Lilly Broadcasting, said the station group was approached by CBS about being the CBS affiliate in the Marquette/Escanaba market (#182).
“We had some discussions with them and said that we’d love to be more involved with that community,” said Christianson, adding, “We understand the importance of local information. Hyper-local, specific to the community, while this happened pretty quickly, the local investment here is important to us,” Christianson said. “It’s about community to us.”
Nexstar-owned WJMN told Broadcasting and Cable it will be an independent station. Mike Smith, vp and general manager of both WJMN and WFRV in Green Bay, said the station will air syndicated shows, AntennaTV and MyNetworkTV in prime, “while expanding our Local 3 early news from 6-7 p.m., and moving and expanding our Local 3 late news MF 10-11 p.m.”
WJMN and WFRV were once and owned and operated CBS stations. In 1991, CBS bought Midwest Broadcasting which included WCCO in Minneapolis as well as the Green Bay and Marquette stations.