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Most likely answers are coverage area and terrain, as both stations start with W they are licensed to communities on the Illinois side of the market which limits where there transmitters can be located if they are physically in Missouri. The second is also terrain, while not in the mountains, Greater St. Louis has a hilly topography that also limits how far a low power signal can travel.

About WSVN not doing as well with finances. There are several factors, such as do they pay reverse compensation to the network, what are the retains fees and does the network get a slice of that. With WFOR and WTVJ they are network O&O stations so there is.no reverse compensation and all the retrans fees go right to the network owners. Basically what WSVN has now is more inventory for local ad spots like a typical duopoly.