WMNT-CD

WMNT-CD
Toledo, Ohio
United States
Branding My 58, The Spirit of Toledo
Channels Digital: 48 (UHF/PSIP)
Subchannels 48.1 MyNetworkTV
48.2 Antenna TV
48.3 This TV
48.4 Cozi TV
Owner Community Broadcast Group, Inc.
(sale to Novia Communications, LLC pending)
Founded March 23, 1987
Call letters' meaning MyNetworkTV (affiliation)
Former callsigns W48AP (1987–1996)
WNGT-LP (1996–2006)
WMNT-CA (2006–2015)
Former channel number(s) 48 (UHF analog, 1987–2013)
Former affiliations
Transmitter power 11 kW
Height 131 m
Class Class A
Transmitter coordinates 41°39′13.0″N 83°31′49.0″W / 41.653611°N 83.530278°W / 41.653611; -83.530278
Website wmnttv.com

WMNT-CD 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 the branding of "My 58". It carries no other pay-TV carriage in the Toledo market, nor are its subchannels carried by any pay-TV system.

WMNT is owned by Community Broadcast Group, Inc. Its studios are located at a shopping center in Maumee at the corner of Reynolds Road and Dussel Drive. Its tower is located on top of the Fifth Third Building (the old OI Building), Downtown Toledo, at Summit and Cherry Streets.

Digital channels

Channel Video Aspect PSIP short name Programming
48.1 480i 4:3 WMNT Main WMNT-CD programming / MyNetworkTV
48.2 FOXMUND Antenna TV
48.3 THIS This TV [1]
48.4 WEATHER COZI TV

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 and hosted by Bob DuParis; a children's series called "Abracadabra" featuring games, activities, and ventriloquism; a variety show hosted by long-time actor and singer Johnny Ginger; 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), 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. Exacerbating 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.[2] Buckeye Cablesystem then responded by turning their local programming channel on 5A into a unique format where it would be programmed as an independent station solely on cable, launching ToledoVision 5, which took programming inventory which would have usually ended up by default on W48AP.

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 in 1990 to 1991 (featuring classic TV shows from the 1940s), using the moniker "TV Heaven",[2] 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, along with Denny Long, managed the station from its beginning until 1995. W48AP was then sold to Marty and Linda Miller through their company L&M Video Productions Inc.,[3] 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. L&M reached a deal with Cornerstone Church, a local Pentecostal congregation, to invest in the station to provide funding.[3]

WMNT-CA would enter receivership in February 2005. Ralph DeNune III, who was appointed by the Lucas County Common Pleas Court to oversee the station when it was in receivership, discovered during a series of unannounced visits that the station's studio at the National City Bank Building in downtown Toledo was often left unlocked and unattended, theoretically allowing members of the public to enter the facility and disrupt the station's programming. Miller defended the operational state of the studio, arguing that the station's equipment was too complex for an uneducated person to operate, and that most people were unaware of the studio's location to begin with. DeNune also discovered that the station had received airtime payments for infomercials that never ended up airing. As a result, he reached a deal with the Cornerstone Church, through subsidiary Matrix Broadcasting Communications, to purchase the station.[4] Following the September 2006 shutdown of UPN, WNGT switched to MyNetworkTV, and changed its call letters to WMNT-CA.[4]

The Millers attempted to oppose the sale of the station, but it was ultimately approved by the FCC in May 2007.[5] In 2008, the Millers made several attempts to re-gain the station's license, including an attempt to sue Matrix for discrimination. All of these tactics failed.[3]

In Summer 2010, Cornerstone Church announced plans to sell WMNT-CA.[6] The buyer would be Community Broadcasting Co., a firm headed by Atlanta-based media consultant Jesse Weatherby and Toledo-area minister and former Toledo Blade sales executive Rev. Jerry Jones, who would complete the sale by January 2011 at a reported price of $1.00.[7][8] Community Broadcast Group had been operating WMNT under a time brokerage agreement after the sale was announced, and restored the station's analog channel 48 signal in August 2010, this after Cornerstone Church filed a notification in June of ceasing the station's operations due to technical reasons.[9]

On March 3, 2013, WMNT-CA flash-cut to digital operations, continuing on UHF channel 48.[10]

In October 2014, Community Broadcast Group announced that WMNT-CA would be sold to Novia Communications, LLC at a price of $400,000.[11]

WMNT-CD is operated by Matrix Communications, a subsidiary of Cornerstone Church, in the same complex as the studios. The station was granted a change of call-sign to WMNT-CD on May 7, 2015. Under Matrix ownership, technical issues with basic operations of the station have remained, as local viewers have reported that advertising is mistimed and often interrupts programming, and may violate the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act due to loud and unbalanced volume control, or no volume at all with some paid programming. Closed captioning is also not being transmitted in any form in violation of FCC requirements. Programming information is also not being transmitted digitally, and viewers have had issues finding an engineering contact with Matrix to correct any technical issues. Currently the station is not even selling any local advertising, depending solely on barter revenue from direct marketing advertisers advertising nationally on their networks' programming.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://toledo.thistv.com/
  2. 1 2 Vintage Toledo TV: W48AP & WNGT-TV 48 Print Ads
  3. 1 2 3 "Ex-owner of Channel 48 loses 2 rulings". Toledo Blade. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Legal entaglements hamper WNGT-TV's future". Toledo Blade. March 26, 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  5. ↑ "FCC approves Ch. 48 transfer to Cornerstone". Toledo Blade. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  6. ↑ "Church sells its hard-won TV station to Atlanta firm," from Toledo Blade, 7/26/2010
  7. ↑ "Church sells long-disputed TV station WMNT," from Toledo Blade, 1/3/2011
  8. ↑ "New owners grab the wheel at Toledo Class A TV," from Radio & Television Business Report, 1/3/2011
  9. ↑ https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101392343&formid=910&fac_num=51913
  10. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20130430001944/http://journaltimes.kaango.com/ad-notice-tv-station-wmnt-ca-is-in-process-of-converting-to-digital-broadcast-operations-within-the-next-few/21768039
  11. ↑ Station Trading Roundup from TVNewsCheck, 10/14/2014

External links

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