WSIL-TV

WSIL-TV

Harrisburg–Marion–Carbondale, Illinois Cape Girardeau, Missouri Paducah, Kentucky United States
City	Harrisburg, Illinois
Channels	Digital: 34 (UHF) Virtual: 3
Branding	WSIL-TV 3; News 3 WSIL
Programming
Affiliations	3.1: ABC for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Allen Media Broadcasting (Harrisburg TV License Company, LLC)
History
First air date	December 6, 1953 (70 years ago) (1953-12-06)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 22 (UHF, 1953–1959); 3 (VHF, 1959–2009)
Former affiliations	Independent (1953–1954) NBC (1954–1959)
Call sign meaning	Southern Illinois
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	73999
ERP	1,000 kW
HAAT	291 m (955 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	37°36′50″N 88°52′20″W / 37.61389°N 88.87222°W / 37.61389; -88.87222
Translator(s)	K10KM-D 10 Cape Girardeau, MO
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.wsiltv.com
Satellite station
KPOB-TV
Poplar Bluff, Missouri
Channels	Digital: 15 (UHF) Virtual: 15
Branding	KPOB-TV 15
Programming
Affiliations	15.1: ABC for others, see § Subchannels
History
First air date	September 1, 1961 (63 years ago) (1961-09-01)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 15 (UHF, 1961–2009) Digital: 18 (UHF, until 2009)
Call sign meaning	Poplar Bluff
Technical information[2]
Facility ID	73998
ERP	34.5 kW
HAAT	184 m (604 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	36°48′4″N 90°27′6″W / 36.80111°N 90.45167°W / 36.80111; -90.45167 (KPOB-TV)
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS

WSIL-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Harrisburg, Illinois, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for Southern Illinois, Southeast Missouri, the Purchase area of Western Kentucky, and Northwest Tennessee. Owned by Allen Media Broadcasting, the station maintains studios on Country Aire Drive (near the IL 13–Wolf Creek Road interchange) in Carterville and a transmitter near Creal Springs, Illinois. It is rebroadcast on KPOB-TV (channel 15) in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, covering the Missouri Bootheel and northeastern Arkansas, and translator K10KM-D (channel 10) in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

WSIL-TV was the first television station in southern Illinois, debuting on ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 22 on December 6, 1953. It soon affiliated with ABC and NBC before moving to channel 3 in 1959 and becoming a sole ABC affiliate. KPOB-TV went on the air in 1961; aside from a brief period in the 1980s, it has simulcast WSIL with separate legal identifications for the better part of its history. The station has focused its news coverage almost exclusively on Southern Illinois since the 1980s, since its coverage area is not as large as those of the other major stations in the market. It has traditionally fallen behind its two rivals in the market in news ratings and resources, though less so than in decades past. After having two ownership groups almost all of its first 65 years on air, it was sold first to Quincy Media in 2018 and to Allen in 2021.