WMNT-CA
Encyclopedia
WMNT-CA channel 48 is a Low-power broadcasting
TV station in Toledo, Ohio
, and carries MyNetworkTV
for that market. The station is a Class-A operation. While the station broadcasts on channel 48, it is seen on Toledo's Buckeye CableSystem on channel 58, hence its moniker "My 58".
WMNT is owned by WMNT-TV, LLC. through its broadcasting arm, Community Broadcast Group, Inc. Its studios are located at a shopping center in Maumee
at the corner of Reynolds Road and Dussel Drive.
; local high school football and basketball games (several each week); as well as other specials and series. Programming during non-prime hours was initially provided by FamilyNet
(now seen in Toledo on WLMB
TV40), which featured classic movies and religious programs.
Despite the fact that TV48 was widely recognized as a pioneer of community-oriented LPTV, W48AP suffered initially in its bid for cable TV carriage as the local cablesystems did not generally grant LPTV stations space on their networks. This effectively relegated their signal to being viewed on "second TVs" and in the minority of households that did not subscribe to cable—which meant that getting advertising support was difficult. Exaccerbating the difficulties posed by lack of cable carriage, the local newspaper (The Toledo Blade, whose owners, Block Communications
, also own the local cable system) refused to publish TV listings for TV48. TV48 bought small ads in the Sunday TV listings booklet, but was not able to list their programming alongside the other stations in the main listing section. However, TV48 was able to secure a cable slot on April 24, 1989 on Buckeye Cablesystem
, though on channel 29B (or "B-29", as TV48 referred to it), away from the other local channels. This marginalization of TV48 led to not being able to survive the expense of producing dozens of hours of local programming each week, and by 1990 TV48 had dropped the "HomeTown TV48" moniker and resorted to full-time satellite-fed programming from the short-lived STAR Television Network (featuring classic TV shows from the 1940s through 1970s as well as reruns of old game shows), and then Channel America
.
As a last-ditch effort to keep the TV48 signal on the air and producing a revenue stream, in 1992 TV48 began airing pay-per-view music videos from The Box full-time (with audio simulcast from local CHR
radio station WTWR-FM during periods with no videos), which lasted until 1995. Station co-founder Robert S. "Bob" Moore managed the station from its beginning until 1995. W48AP was then sold to Marty and Linda Miller, who affiliated the station with the then-new UPN
network in 1995, and changed its call letters to WNGT-LP(New Generation Television) in 1996. After UPN ceased operations in September 2006, WNGT became a MyNetworkTV
affiliate, and changed its call letters to WMNT-CA on September 15, 2006.
pixelation
often, along with Windows
menus popping up on-screen from automation
. The main automation consistently showed "NO SIGNAL" during prime-time programming from UPN and all hours afterward, showing that nobody was watching. The problems were never fixed, since nobody answered phones, in the downtown studios.
And while the station was under control of the Millers, the station's studio at the National City Bank Building in downtown Toledo was often left unlocked and unattended; as a result, Ralph DeNune III, who was appointed by the Lucas County
Common Pleas Court to oversee the station when it was put under receivership
in February 2005, appointed the Cornerstone Church to operate the station, citing that, under the Millers, anyone could simply walk in and broadcast anything they want, with the licensee (DeNune) getting all the blame.
Also, through September 2006, the station used the former 'silver shapes' UPN logo on-air, with UPN's 'slanted circle' logo (the last before UPN's closure) appearing only on the station's website.
On May 26, 2007, the Toledo Blade
reported that the FCC approved the transfer of WMNT to the Cornerstone Church. This ruling officially reassigns the license from DeNune to Cornerstone. The Millers had 30 days to appeal, though apparently, chose not to do so. The Millers tried to regain control of the station twice during 2008, but failed each time.
On July 23, 2010, Cornerstone Church filed an notification of ceasing the operations of WMNT-CA, due to technical reasons. The station's analog channel 48 signal temporarily went silent on June 22 of that year.
On June 21, 2010, WMNT-CA was sold for $1.00 to Community Broadcast Group, who signed back on WMNT-CA's analog channel 48 signal on August 27, 2010 when that group took over control of the station through a time brokerage agreement. The sale was completed on September 28 of that year.
As of August 31st, 2011... WMNT "My 48/58" appears to be disappearing in the Low Power DTV Switch, on Sept 1st, 2011. There is no current DTV application for the station , nor for the new company that purchased the station (Community Broadcast Group). However, plans for WMNT-CA to be on Buckeye Cablesystem, are still in place. This means "My 58" will be on cable only. It is the only Toledo market low power TV station to not submit an FCC application to acquire a DTV frequency. As a result, when WMNT-CA's analog signal goes dark
for good (expected some time in 2012), Toledo will become one of the only television markets in the United States with all four of the largest networks (ABC
, CBS
, Fox
and NBC
) having primary affiliations but lacking over-the-air affiliates of both post-2006 networks (The CW and MyNetworkTV).
Low-power broadcasting
Low-power broadcasting is electronic broadcasting at very low power and low cost, to a small community area.The terms "low-power broadcasting" and "micropower broadcasting" should not be used interchangeably, because the markets are not the same...
TV station in Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
, and carries MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
for that market. The station is a Class-A operation. While the station broadcasts on channel 48, it is seen on Toledo's Buckeye CableSystem on channel 58, hence its moniker "My 58".
WMNT is owned by WMNT-TV, LLC. through its broadcasting arm, Community Broadcast Group, Inc. Its studios are located at a shopping center in Maumee
Maumee, Ohio
Maumee is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Toledo along the Maumee River. The population was 14,286 at the 2010 census. Maumee was also declared an All-America City by the National Civic League in June 2006.-Geography:...
at the corner of Reynolds Road and Dussel Drive.
History
The station was licensed as W48AP on March 23, 1987, with broadcasts commencing in March 1989 from studios and transmitters located at 716 North Westwood Avenue, in west Toledo. Initially, "HomeTown TV 48" carried a wide variety of locally-produced programming including a trivia quiz game show ("Trivia in Toledo" or "TnT", hosted by Jerry Millen); a current affairs and political program ("High Level Views" hosted by Chuck Schmitt); "Neighbor Talk", an interview-driven talk show hosted by general manager Bob Moore, and featuring local guests talking about topics ranging from political issues to hobbies; a nightly auction program featuring products from local merchants and hosted by Douglas Goff; broadcasts of entertainment acts from local fairs and festivals; a weekly autos and boats for sale program called "Wheels, Keels, and Deals" and a spin-off called "Homes for Sale" featuring local real property; a children's series called "Abracadabra" featuring games, activities, and ventriloquism; a variety show hosted by long-time actor and singer Johnny GingerJohnny Ginger
Galen Grindle , better known as Johnny Ginger, was a pioneer of Detroit television.-Biography:Grindle was born in Toledo, Ohio. His parents, Ray and Edna, were a Vaudeville family act performing at the Paramount Theater in Toledo. His brother, Kenny, was a tap dancer in the family act...
; local high school football and basketball games (several each week); as well as other specials and series. Programming during non-prime hours was initially provided by FamilyNet
FamilyNet
FamilyNet is a broadcast television network owned by ComStar Media Fund and based in Atlanta, Georgia. The network was founded in 1979 as the National Christian Network, and took the name FamilyNet in 1988 under the ownership of Jerry Falwell. The channel was acquired by InTouch Ministries in...
(now seen in Toledo on WLMB
WLMB
WLMB channel 40 is a Christian/family oriented TV station in Toledo, Ohio. The station's first call sign was issued as WXAE-TV on July 17, 1992. It adopted its current call-sign on May 17, 1994...
TV40), which featured classic movies and religious programs.
Despite the fact that TV48 was widely recognized as a pioneer of community-oriented LPTV, W48AP suffered initially in its bid for cable TV carriage as the local cablesystems did not generally grant LPTV stations space on their networks. This effectively relegated their signal to being viewed on "second TVs" and in the minority of households that did not subscribe to cable—which meant that getting advertising support was difficult. Exaccerbating the difficulties posed by lack of cable carriage, the local newspaper (The Toledo Blade, whose owners, Block Communications
Block Communications
Block Communications is a privately held holding company of various assets, mainly in the print and broadcast media, based in Toledo, Ohio. The company was founded in 1900 in New York City when Paul Block, a German immigrant who came to the United States fifteen years prior, formed an ad...
, also own the local cable system) refused to publish TV listings for TV48. TV48 bought small ads in the Sunday TV listings booklet, but was not able to list their programming alongside the other stations in the main listing section. However, TV48 was able to secure a cable slot on April 24, 1989 on Buckeye Cablesystem
Buckeye CableSystem
Buckeye CableSystem, formerly known as The CableSystem until the 1990s, is a cable company located in Toledo, Ohio and serves Northwest Ohio and parts of Southeast Michigan...
, though on channel 29B (or "B-29", as TV48 referred to it), away from the other local channels. This marginalization of TV48 led to not being able to survive the expense of producing dozens of hours of local programming each week, and by 1990 TV48 had dropped the "HomeTown TV48" moniker and resorted to full-time satellite-fed programming from the short-lived STAR Television Network (featuring classic TV shows from the 1940s through 1970s as well as reruns of old game shows), and then Channel America
Channel America
Channel America was the first United States terrestrial broadcast television network to be intentionally assembled out of LPTV, or low-power television licensees. The network was founded by David Post in 1987 and launched in 1988...
.
As a last-ditch effort to keep the TV48 signal on the air and producing a revenue stream, in 1992 TV48 began airing pay-per-view music videos from The Box full-time (with audio simulcast from local CHR
Contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...
radio station WTWR-FM during periods with no videos), which lasted until 1995. Station co-founder Robert S. "Bob" Moore managed the station from its beginning until 1995. W48AP was then sold to Marty and Linda Miller, who affiliated the station with the then-new UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
network in 1995, and changed its call letters to WNGT-LP(New Generation Television) in 1996. After UPN ceased operations in September 2006, WNGT became a MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
affiliate, and changed its call letters to WMNT-CA on September 15, 2006.
Problems
Over the years, WMNT had experienced many technical broadcast problems, with outdated equipment and signal loss when switching VTR machines. The station also has satelliteSatellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
pixelation
Pixelation
In computer graphics, pixelation is an effect caused by displaying a bitmap or a section of a bitmap at such a large size that individual pixels, small single-colored square display elements that comprise the bitmap, are visible to the eye...
often, along with Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
menus popping up on-screen from automation
Automation
Automation is the use of control systems and information technologies to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization...
. The main automation consistently showed "NO SIGNAL" during prime-time programming from UPN and all hours afterward, showing that nobody was watching. The problems were never fixed, since nobody answered phones, in the downtown studios.
And while the station was under control of the Millers, the station's studio at the National City Bank Building in downtown Toledo was often left unlocked and unattended; as a result, Ralph DeNune III, who was appointed by the Lucas County
Lucas County, Ohio
----...
Common Pleas Court to oversee the station when it was put under receivership
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
in February 2005, appointed the Cornerstone Church to operate the station, citing that, under the Millers, anyone could simply walk in and broadcast anything they want, with the licensee (DeNune) getting all the blame.
Also, through September 2006, the station used the former 'silver shapes' UPN logo on-air, with UPN's 'slanted circle' logo (the last before UPN's closure) appearing only on the station's website.
On May 26, 2007, the Toledo Blade
The Blade (newspaper)
The Blade is a daily newspaper in Toledo, Ohio, first published on December 19, 1835.- Overview :David Ross Locke gained national fame for the paper during the Civil War era by writing under the pen name Petroleum V. Nasby. Writing under the pen name, Locke wrote satires ranging on topics from...
reported that the FCC approved the transfer of WMNT to the Cornerstone Church. This ruling officially reassigns the license from DeNune to Cornerstone. The Millers had 30 days to appeal, though apparently, chose not to do so. The Millers tried to regain control of the station twice during 2008, but failed each time.
On July 23, 2010, Cornerstone Church filed an notification of ceasing the operations of WMNT-CA, due to technical reasons. The station's analog channel 48 signal temporarily went silent on June 22 of that year.
On June 21, 2010, WMNT-CA was sold for $1.00 to Community Broadcast Group, who signed back on WMNT-CA's analog channel 48 signal on August 27, 2010 when that group took over control of the station through a time brokerage agreement. The sale was completed on September 28 of that year.
As of August 31st, 2011... WMNT "My 48/58" appears to be disappearing in the Low Power DTV Switch, on Sept 1st, 2011. There is no current DTV application for the station , nor for the new company that purchased the station (Community Broadcast Group). However, plans for WMNT-CA to be on Buckeye Cablesystem, are still in place. This means "My 58" will be on cable only. It is the only Toledo market low power TV station to not submit an FCC application to acquire a DTV frequency. As a result, when WMNT-CA's analog signal goes dark
Dark (broadcasting)
In the broadcasting industry, dark is a term used to describe a radio station or television station that has gone off-the-air for an indefinite period of time, or as defined by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission , a "silent" station...
for good (expected some time in 2012), Toledo will become one of the only television markets in the United States with all four of the largest networks (ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
) having primary affiliations but lacking over-the-air affiliates of both post-2006 networks (The CW and MyNetworkTV).
See also
- WNWT 1520 (WMNT's former radio sister station, now a "K-LOVEK-LOVEK-LOVE is a Contemporary Christian music radio programming service in the United States operated by the Educational Media Foundation. As of January 2011, K-LOVE's programming is carried on over 440 FM stations and translators in 45 states. K-LOVE claims an audience of 250,000 people each week via...
" station owned by the Educational Media Foundation) - WNKL 96.9K-LOVEK-LOVE is a Contemporary Christian music radio programming service in the United States operated by the Educational Media Foundation. As of January 2011, K-LOVE's programming is carried on over 440 FM stations and translators in 45 states. K-LOVE claims an audience of 250,000 people each week via...
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?list=0&facid=78441 (WMNT's former radio sister station, also owned by Educational Media Foundation. Previously was WXQQ "Q-96-Nine", a Contemporary Hit/Dance (CHR/D) Radio station.)
External links
- WMNT's Official Website
- Michiguide's WMNT entry
- Vintage Toledo TV: W48AP
- Toledo Free Press: Battle for UPN-48 heats up (Sept. 21, 2005)
- Toledo Blade: Low-power station produces a high-stakes drama (Mar. 25, 2007)
- Toledo Blade: Legal entanglements hamper WNGT-TV's future (Mar. 26, 2007)
- Toledo Blade: FCC approves Ch. 48 transfer to Cornerstone (May 26, 2007)
- Toledo Blade: Ex owner of CH.48 loses 2 rulings (June 7, 2008)
- FCC's List of WMNT-CA's applications