WMFD-TV

For the television station in Wilmington, North Carolina formerly known as WMFD-TV, see WECT.
WMFD-TV
Mansfield, Ohio
United States
Branding WMFD Television (general)
WMFD NewsWatch HD (newscasts)
Slogan Serving All Of North Central Ohio (primary slogan)
Your Local News Source (secondary general)
Channels Digital: 12 (VHF)
Virtual: 68 (PSIP)
Subchannels 68.1 WMFD-DT
68.2 WOHZ-CD
Affiliations Independent
Owner Mid-State Television, Inc.
First air date January 10, 1986 (1986-01-10)
Call letters' meaning MansFielD
Sister station(s) WOHZ-CD, WVNO-FM, WRGM, W257CV
Former callsigns WCEO-TV (1986–1987)
WCOM-TV (1987–1989)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
68 (UHF, 1986–1989 and 1992–2008)
Former affiliations Silent (1989–1992)
Transmitter power 4.8 kW
Height 161 m
Facility ID 41893
Transmitter coordinates 40°45′39″N 82°37′0″W / 40.76083°N 82.61667°W / 40.76083; -82.61667
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.wmfd.com

WMFD-TV, virtual channel 68 (VHF digital channel 12), is an independent television station located in Mansfield, Ohio, United States. The station is owned by Mid-State Television, Inc. (headed by Gunther Meisse), which also owns WOHZ-CD (channel 41) and radio stations WVNO-FM (106.1) and ESPN Radio affiliate WRGM (1440 AM and 97.3 FM). WMFD maintains studio and transmitter facilities located on Park Avenue West in Ontario. The station is available in both high definition and standard definition on The digital cable systems in North-Central Ohio area and throughout the Cleveland market on DirecTV and Dish Network.

History

Mid-State Multimedia Group, Mansfield's only locally owned media outlet. WMFD-TV, WOHZ-CD, WRGM AM-FM, WVNO FM, WMFD.com.

The station first signed on the air on January 10, 1986 as WCEO-TV, originally broadcasting on UHF channel 68.[1] It changed its call letters to WCOM on July 24, 1987. The station attempted to enter the Columbus market by construction with a tall transmitter tower (the tallest ever erected in Ohio) south of Mansfield in Butler, but it never achieved cable carriage in the market and shut down in 1989.

Channel 68 returned to the air under the current WMFD-TV call letters on June 1, 1992; this time, targeting viewers in north-central Ohio (the WMFD call letters were previously used on what is now WECT-TV in Wilmington, North Carolina from that station's sign-on in 1954 until 1958).

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[1]
68.1 1080p 16:9 WMFD-DT Main WMFD-TV programming
68.2 480p 4:3 WMFD-DT-2 Simulcast of WOHZ-CD

Analog-to-digital conversion

WMFD-TV signed on its digital signal on VHF channel 12 in 1998, claiming to be the first independent station in the United States to begin digital television broadcasts. WMFD-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 68, on June 16, 2008, eight months before the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (February 17, 2009, before the transition date was moved to June 12); the early conversion was done as part of final upgrades to its digital transmitter facilities.. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 12.[2] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 68, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

Programming

As the only television station serving the North Central Ohio area, the station concentrates on local programming such as Bon Appetit The Dining Show, Focus on North Central Ohio. WMFD produces local newscasts, branded as NewsWatch HD, which air weekdays at 6 a.m. & Noon for a half-hour, and for an hour each weeknight at 5, 6, 10 and 11 p.m. Outside of local programs, the station fills out the remainder of its schedule with syndicated programming and infomercials. Syndicated programs broadcast on WMFD include Access Hollywood, Laura McKenzie's Traveler, Bob Vila's Home Again and 30 Rock, Business Sense with Catherine Cullen

References

  1. 1 2 "WMFD-TV MANSFIELD, OH". WMFD.com. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  2. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved March 24, 2012.

External links

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