WGMB-TV

WGMB-TV
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
United States
City Baton Rouge
Branding Fox 44 (general)
Fox 44 News (news)
Slogan So Fox 44
Channels Digital: 45 (UHF)
Virtual: 44 (PSIP)
Subchannels 44.1 Fox
44.2 The CW
Affiliations Fox
Owner Nexstar Broadcasting Group
(Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.)
First air date August 11, 1991 (1991-08-11)
Call letters' meaning Galloway Media Broadcasting (former owner) or GuMBo
Sister station(s) WVLA-TV, WBRL-CD, KZUP-CD
Former channel number(s) Analog:
44 (UHF, 1991–2009)
Former affiliations PTEN (secondary, 1993–1996)
Transmitter power 1000 kW
Height 424 m
Facility ID 12520
Transmitter coordinates 30°19′35.4″N 91°16′36.4″W / 30.326500°N 91.276778°W / 30.326500; -91.276778
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.brproud.com

WGMB-TV ("Fox 44") is the local Fox affiliate for Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, and is sister station to the area's The CW affiliate, WBRL-CD. WGMB also shares facilities and staff with WVLA-TV (channel 33) and KZUP-CD (channel 19). WGMB's transmitter is located near Addis, Louisiana, while broadcasting from shared studios at Perkins Rowe Town Center in Baton Rouge. The station transmits its digital signal on UHF channel 45. The station is seen via satellite through DirecTV, Dish Network and AT&T U-verse and on cable Cox Communications.

History

The station first signed on August 11, 1991, making Baton Rouge the last of the Top 100 Nielsen Designated Market Areas to receive a Fox affiliate. The station was originally owned by the Galloway family, whose broadcast holdings operated under the Communications Corporation of America banner. It took five years to bring Fox to Baton Rouge, as the FCC licensed channel 44 to Baton Rouge in 1983 and several potential buyers sought a license. One company, Parish Family Television expressed an interest in broadcasting an independent station affiliated with the network in 1986 with the call letters WPFT. Delays occurred as Southwest Multimedia of Houston expressed an ownership interest in Parish Family Television and rival company Louisiana Super Communications objected to this sale. After Southwest Multimedia bowed out of the ownership stake, Thomas Galloway of Lafayette purchased the license from PFTV in November 1990. The station installed an antenna on WVLA's tower, bought from future sister station WNTZ's parent company at the time, Delta Media Corporation. From April 1990 to February 1991, local NBC affiliate WVLA aired week-delayed episodes of Fox shows such as The Simpsons, Married... with Children, and In Living Color.

In addition to its Fox affiliation, WGMB also carried several syndicated movie packs including Columbia Pictures' Night at the Movies and Universal Television's Action Pack and was a secondary affiliate of PTEN in its early years of operation. In 1996, WGMB became a sister station of WVLA when Thomas Galloway's son, Sheldon, purchased the NBC affiliate from businessman Cyril Vetter. Sheldon had previously held a stake in WGMB but sold it to his father to make it easier for him to buy WVLA.[1]

The station originally broadcast from Florida Blvd, until the Galloways purchased WVLA. In 1999, WGMB, along with WVLA, WBBR (now WBRL), and WZUP (now KZUP), moved to their current studios on Perkins Road in Baton Rouge.

In June 2006, owner ComCorp filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. ComCorp said in a press release viewers and staff would see no changes at the station.[2][3][4][5]

On April 24, 2013, ComCorp announced the sale of its entire group, including WGMB-TV, to the Nexstar Broadcasting Group.[6] The local marketing agreement for WVLA-TV (which was to be sold to Mission Broadcasting, but it was later withdrawn) is included in the deal. The sale was completed on January 1, 2015.[7]

The station did not produce a local newscast until 2007; however, it usually broadcast children's events and programming from around the Baton Rouge area in the 1990s as part of its Fox 44 Kids Club. One locally-produced show was Fox Rox Saturday, which aired in the late 1990s on Saturday mornings. WGMB also aired one high school football game each week during the fall from the Baton Rouge area in the early 2000s.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[8]
44.1 720p 16:9 WGMB-DT Main WGMB-TV programming / Fox
44.2 480i 4:3 WBRL-CW Simulcast of WBRL-CD

Analog-to-digital conversion

WGMB-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 44, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 45.[9][10] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 44.

As part of the SAFER Act,[11] WGMB-TV kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.

Programming

WGMB currently airs all of FOX network programming in high definition and most of its syndicated programming such as Are We There Yet, The Middle, The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, Two and a Half Men, The Closer and first run syndicated programs The Wendy Williams Show, The Queen Latifah Show, Judge Judy, The People's Court, Judge Mathis, The Real, Divorce Court, Judge Faith and Hot Bench in HD.

Newscasts

Original Fox 44 News logo for WGMB

On March 12, 2007, WGMB debuted a local newscast entitled Fox News Louisiana airing weeknights at 9 p.m. In the summer of 2008, the newscast was rebranded as Fox News Baton Rouge. WGMB also produces and pre-records the 9 p.m. newscast for sister station KADN-TV in Lafayette, and formerly did so for KMSS-TV in Shreveport. The KMSS-TV evening newscast is now handled by sister station KTAL. The newscast was expanded to an hour in February 2013.

On August 20, 2007, WGMB debuted Fox News Louisiana AM to counter the national morning shows; the newscast, anchored by Rachel Slavik and Lauren Unger, featured eight weather updates an hour from meteorologist Jesse Gunkel. It also was simulcast on sister station WNTZ in Alexandria, although news from that area rarely made it to the program. On December 2, 2008, WGMB cancelled the AM newscast due to cost cuts; at the same time the station also laid off an undisclosed number of employees. WGMB’s sister station, NBC affiliate WVLA, would continue to air its 6 a.m. local newscast, which precedes Today.

On April 28, 2009, WGMB announced the discontinuation of all locally produced newscasts.[12] Production of the 9 p.m. newscast was then moved to sister station KETK-TV in Tyler, Texas. WGMB also aired a 30-minute sports program called The Show on Sunday nights at 9 p.m., which was also produced by KETK. On January 3, 2011, WGMB returned to producing its 9 p.m. newscast locally from Baton Rouge.

On September 21, 2015, WGMB debuted a new set and graphics, in line with other Nexstar Fox affiliates KMSS and KARD in Shreveport and Monroe, respectively. The station also adopted the news themes "Inergy" and "Extreme" (the latter also being used simultaneously on rival station WBRZ) in place of the Fox Affiliate News Theme.

On April 12, 2016, WGMB debuted a 5:30pm newscast.

References

  1. ↑ Deal struck to sell TV Channel 33, The Advocate, February 10, 1996
  2. ↑ TV station parents told to file reorganization
  3. ↑ Tvnewsday - Comcorp Ready For Its Next Chapter
  4. ↑ TheInd.com - News | Business | Culture - Weekly - Lafayette LA
  5. ↑ :: Baton Rouge Business Report :: WVLA, WGMB getting new owners
  6. ↑ https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=101552312&qnum=5040&copynum=1&exhcnum=1
  7. ↑ Consummation Notice, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved 6 January, 2015.
  8. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WGMB
  9. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  10. ↑ CDBS Print
  11. ↑ "UPDATED List of Participants in the Analog Nightlight Program" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. June 12, 2009. Retrieved June 4, 2012.
  12. ↑ Baton Rouge Business Report - WVLA, WGMB eliminating production of local news

External links

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