FOX 11's management team prepares to cut the ribbon on the new addition. From left: Mike Berrend, Internet; Tori Grant-Welhouse, Sales; Mike Nipps, Engineering; Jay Zollar, Vice President/General Manager; Juli Buehler, News; Pat Krohlow, Marketing.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2009 WLUK-TV. All Rights Reserved.
Updated: Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 2:51 PM CDT
Published : Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 12:06 PM CDT
WLUK-TV has been a part of life in Northeast Wisconsin for more than 50 years.
Today, FOX 11 - and our digital channel, DT-51 - are home to some of the area's most popular shows, including "American Idol," "House," "The Simpsons," "Jeopardy!," "Wheel of Fortune" and sports programming such as the NFL, Major League Baseball, NASCAR and the Bowl Championship Series.
The station produces six hours of local news daily, including Good Day Wisconsin, FOX 11 News at Five, and FOX 11 News at Nine.
Other local programming includes the Golden Apple Awards, FOX 11 Packers Family Night, the Training Camp Report, and the MDA Labor Day Jerry Lewis Telethon.
The station's first broadcast was September 10, 1954 - but things were a little different back then.
WMAM Radio started the station, with the call letters WMBV, standing for "Marinette-Bay-Valley." The studios were in Marinette. In the mid-1950s, television licenses were spread out among the region - one each in Green Bay, Appleton and Marinette.
Originally, WMBV was an NBC affiliate, but switched to ABC in 1959.
By 1960, WMBV would change its call letters to the now-familiar WLUK (with an image of "Lady Luck" as a promotional icon), moving its offices to Green Bay. The current studios on Highland (now Lombardi) Avenue opened in 1966.
In July, 1982, the network affiliations switched again, WLUK picking up the NBC affiliation for a second time.
In 1995, the fledgling FOX network purchased the rights to the NFL's NFC contract - and therefore most of the Green Bay Packers games. With a desire to get the games on a VHF frequency (something which mattered more before the expansion of cable and satellite), WLUK was purchased and affiliation switched from NBC to FOX.
LIN Television purchased the station in November, 2005.
In April 2009, a major building expansion was completed. The "news and content center" houses the news, sports, weather, art and web staffs. All of those departments are now in one space and out of separate offices in the basement.
There is also a new lobby - a highlight of which is the coffee table made from the tree which used to grace our front lawn.
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