WISH bears “All Indiana” branding, and holds true to the motto in its mission to spread its news product statewide. The station seeks affiliates to run WISH news, and has WRJK Chicago and WHME South Bend on board.
DuJuan McCoy, president and CEO of WISH parent Circle City Broadcasting, focuses on border residents — Indiana people based in the DMAs of other states. He estimates that 1.2 million Indiana residents get local news from non-Indiana stations. Gary, Indiana residents, for one, get Chicago news.
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“We’re working on Cincinnati, Louisville and Evansville,” said McCoy. “Once we get those, we’ll have full statewide coverage.”
In September, WRJK began airing 80-plus hours of WISH news weekly. Last April, WHME started airing more than 60 hours of WISH news each week.
Circle City acquired low-power stations in Fort Wayne and Terre Haute and plans to put WISH news product on in those markets. “My news can go anywhere I want it to, because I own it,” said McCoy.
WISH will also offer All Indiana Bets, a weekly sports betting show it aims to launch in the fall, to affiliate partners.
The syndicated news strategy drives traffic and on demand viewing on WISHTV.com. “It’s a brand extension for WISH-TV and my news brand,” McCoy said. “It’s not a moneymaker at this point, but it will be.”
