WCIA 3 is a Champaign-based station that covers news important to Central Illinois. Our viewing area spans east to just over the Indiana border, north to Kankakee, west to Springfield and south to Effingham. From breaking news and severe weather to Fighting Illini and Capitol coverage, we are your local news leader.

A Brief History of WCIA3

With a vision of television greatness, a man named August Meyer Sr. soon saw a tower rise from Seymour, IL to begin his dreams of operating a television station in Central Illinois. WCIA/Channel 3, the only VHF station in the market, became a reality in 1953. WCIA’s first broadcast was at 10:45 am on November 14.

WCIA was originally owned by Midwest Television, Inc. until Nexstar Broadcasting Group took over July 15, 1999 with a local management agreement. The Meyer family sold WCIA/WCFN to Nexstar Broadcasting Group on January 10, 2001.

Even though there are many new faces at WCIA, the product remains the same, great television programming and the best news team in Central Illinois.

A Brief History of WCIX49

In the mid 60’s, WCIA established W49AA, a low-power translator station on Channel 49 in Springfield to help send out our signal. On July 10, 1985, it became a full-fledged 200,000-watt broadcast station with it’s own call letters: WCFN. It remained a satellite station until 2002.

In March of 2002, WCIA and WCFN became digital broadcast stations instead of analog. After switching to digital, WCIA and WCFN signals were split, and WCFN became a UPN on April 2, 2002. Now two separate television stations are being broadcast through the same building on Neil Street.

WCIA was originally owned by Midwest Television, Inc. until Nexstar Broadcasting Group took over July 15, 1999 with a local management agreement. The Meyer family sold WCIA/WCFN to Nexstar Broadcasting Group on January 10, 2001.