FOX 47 News - WSYM

FOX 47 News - WSYM FOX 47 News "In Your Neighborhood" showcases mid-Michigan through the lens of a lifelong local.

High Caliber Karting and Entertainment in Okemos is making fun more accessible with monthly sensory friendly hours for t...
07/07/2025

High Caliber Karting and Entertainment in Okemos is making fun more accessible with monthly sensory friendly hours for those with sensory sensitivities.

Get your FOX 47 Storm Shield Weather Forecast here. We'll be drying out tonight but still have a chance for isolated sho...
07/07/2025

Get your FOX 47 Storm Shield Weather Forecast here. We'll be drying out tonight but still have a chance for isolated showers to pop up.

ICYMI:  Grand Ledge police will have extra patrols throughout the holiday weekend to ensure road safety as celebrations ...
07/07/2025

ICYMI: Grand Ledge police will have extra patrols throughout the holiday weekend to ensure road safety as celebrations get underway

Grand Ledge police will have extra patrols throughout the holiday weekend to ensure road safety as celebrations get underway

ICYMI:  Lisa Martin has been found and is safe, Michigan State Police posted on social media Saturday night.
07/07/2025

ICYMI: Lisa Martin has been found and is safe, Michigan State Police posted on social media Saturday night.

Lisa Martin has been found and is safe, Michigan State Police posted on social media Saturday night.

ICYMI:  Families lined the streets of downtown Lansing today for the Independence Day parade!
07/06/2025

ICYMI: Families lined the streets of downtown Lansing today for the Independence Day parade!

Families lined the streets of downtown Lansing today for the Independence Day parade!

With Florida's so-called Alligator Alcatraz now open, another migrant detention facility roughly 400 miles north of the ...
07/06/2025

With Florida's so-called Alligator Alcatraz now open, another migrant detention facility roughly 400 miles north of the original is already planned in the Everglades.

Tropical Storm Chantal is bringing heavy rains to northeastern South Carolina as it moves north and officials warn of is...
07/06/2025

Tropical Storm Chantal is bringing heavy rains to northeastern South Carolina as it moves north and officials warn of isolated tornadoes.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has made his first public appearance since the 12-day war between Israel an...
07/06/2025

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has made his first public appearance since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran began, attending a mourning ceremony on the eve of Ashoura.

Devastating flash floods from a storm that pounded central Texas have killed at least 51 people as rescuers scour a deva...
07/06/2025

Devastating flash floods from a storm that pounded central Texas have killed at least 51 people as rescuers scour a devastated landscape of mangled trees, overturned cars and muck-filled debris.

Get your FOX 47 Storm Shield Weather Forecast here. Scattered thunderstorms today with hot and muggy conditions.
07/06/2025

Get your FOX 47 Storm Shield Weather Forecast here. Scattered thunderstorms today with hot and muggy conditions.

Get your FOX 47 Storm Shield Weather Forecast here. Scattered thunderstorms with hot and muggy conditions Sunday
07/06/2025

Get your FOX 47 Storm Shield Weather Forecast here. Scattered thunderstorms with hot and muggy conditions Sunday

Market on the Grand demonstrates how low-barrier entry points for entrepreneurs can stimulate local economic growth and ...
07/06/2025

Market on the Grand demonstrates how low-barrier entry points for entrepreneurs can stimulate local economic growth and community development.

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600 W. Saint Joseph Street
Lansing, MI
48933

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

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The story of FOX 47 News

WSYM signed on for the first time on December 1, 1982, as WFSL-TV. It was owned by Lansing businessman Joel Ferguson and his company, F&S Development Company, and aired an analog signal on channel 47. WFSL was the first new commercial station in the area since WILX-TV signed-on 23 years earlier. Conventional wisdom suggested it should have debuted as an ABC affiliate. Lansing was one of the largest markets in the nation that still didn't have full service from all three major networks. Indeed, Lansing had been large enough to support three full network affiliates since the 1960s. However, after all attempts to land an ABC affiliation failed, it signed on as an independent. Flint's WJRT-TV (channel 12) had long been the default ABC affiliate in Lansing, since it covered the immediate area with an adequate signal.

During its pre-sign-on test pattern, an on-screen crawl thanked numerous people and companies for their help including "All the people who said 'No way will that station get on-the-air by December 1st.'" WFSL was a typical UHF independent airing syndicated cartoons, game shows, movies, and off-network sitcoms. For a time, the station also simulcasted the ABC game show Family Feud and soap opera The Edge of Night from eventual sister station WXYZ-TV in Detroit in hopes of eventually landing a full-time ABC affiliation.

Ferguson sold the station to the Journal Company, then the broadcast arm of the Milwaukee Journal, in 1985, as the second broadcast asset for that company outside of Milwaukee. The new owners changed the call sign to WSYM-TV—an acronym meaning We Say Yes to Michigan, in reference to the "Yes Michigan!" tourism campaign of the 1980s from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (the station still uses that phrase as part of its on-air imaging today). The call letters once belonged to a ship but that registration was cancelled by the United States Coast Guard to allow channel 47 to use them. Five years later, Ferguson used the proceeds from the sale of this station to start Lansing's first ABC affiliate, WLAJ.

WSYM affiliated with Fox in 1990. Previously, Detroit's WKBD served as the "fourth" network's default affiliate in Lansing; it had been available on cable in Lansing for decades. Some parts of the market could also receive Fox from WXMI in Grand Rapids and WSMH in Flint. WSYM is also part of the Detroit Lions Television Network which airs Detroit Lions pre-season games and the syndicated Ford Lions Report during the regular season. It airs Lions games during the regular season as part of the NFL on Fox contract. Since portions of the Lansing area are within 75 miles (121 km) of Ford Field (home of the Lions).