Two longtime television stations serving Southern Illinois and the surrounding region are preparing to combine their news operations under a single brand.
KFVS-TV in Cape Girardeau and WSIL-TV in Carterville will operate under the Heartland News name, bringing their websites, news apps, streaming services and social media platforms together under one regional identity.
The change follows Gray Media’s agreement to acquire WSIL and nine other stations from Allen Media Group for $171 million. Gray already owns KFVS.
As part of the transition, the existing WSIL and KFVS websites will direct viewers to the new Heartland News website, while the stations’ primary news apps will be combined into a single Heartland News app.
WSIL also announced that its WSIL News 3 Facebook page will eventually be merged with the KFVS page, which will be renamed Heartland News.
The consolidation marks a major change in the Southern Illinois television market, where KFVS and WSIL have operated as competing news brands for decades.
WSIL has been part of the region’s broadcasting history for more than 70 years. The station began broadcasting from Harrisburg in December 1953, becoming Southern Illinois’ first television station, and became an ABC affiliate the following year.
The station was owned for decades by the Wheeler family before being sold to Quincy Media in 2019. Subsequent ownership changes ultimately brought WSIL and KFVS under the same corporate umbrella.