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WMGT-TV

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WMGT-TV, virtual channel 41 (UHF digital channel 30), is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Macon, Georgia, United States. The station is owned by Savannah-based Morris Multimedia. WMGT's studios are located on Poplar Street in downtown Macon, and its transmitter is located on SR 87/US 23/US 129 ALT (Golden Isles Highway) along the Bibb–Twiggs county line.

History

The station first signed on the air on September 30, 1968, as WCWB-TV. It was the first commercial television station to start up in the Macon market since CBS affiliate WMAZ-TV (channel 13) debuted on September 27, 1953, fifteen years and three days earlier. The station was founded by Dothan, Alabama broadcaster and perennial Alabama political candidate Charles Woods, who owned the station for about six years. WCWB's original studio facilities were located at its transmitter site, located 15 miles (24 km) east of Macon, on what local residents refer to as the "Cochran Short Route". Channel 41 has been an NBC affiliate since its debut; however, unlike many stations in (then) two-station markets, WCWB did not assume a secondary affiliation with ABC. During the 1970s and early 1980s, select ABC programs continued to air on WMAZ instead, during time periods when the station was not carrying CBS programming; Macon would not receive a full-time ABC affiliate of its own until WGXA (channel 24, now a Fox affiliate) signed on in April 1982. Woods sold channel 41 to a local group known as Bibb Television, Inc., led by his then-station manager, F. E. Busby, in 1974. [1] The local group proved no more successful at making WCWB profitable than Woods had been, and current owner Morris Multimedia bought the station from Bibb four years later, in 1978.

Channel 41's early years of struggle were caused in large part because the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had implemented the All-Channel Receiver Act only four years before the station signed on the air. Macon is a fairly large market geographically, and UHF stations are usually not received well across wide areas, even though much of Middle Georgia's terrain is fairly level. Many area households probably did not upgrade their sets to newer UHF-compatible models (or purchase expensive converters) until well into the early 1970s, meaning that, in WCWB's first years of operation, some viewers could not watch the station even had they wanted to, a situation greatly handicapping the young station's promotional efforts. Further complicating matters, WSB-TV in Atlanta—then an NBC affiliate—put out at least a grade B signal into much of the northern portion of the market, while WALB-TV in Albany and WSAV-TV in Savannah, both on the VHF band, could be picked up in the respective portions of the southwestern and southeastern portions of the market. As a result, many (if not most) viewers in Middle Georgia did not get a clear picture from the station until cable arrived in the area in the late 1970s. Even so, most Middle Georgia viewers instinctively turned to WMAZ out of long-standing habits for years, ignoring WCWB even after UHF compatibility became universal on sets (the only other UHF station available then was WDCO-TV, a satellite of Georgia Public Television).

The station changed its call letters to WMGT (for "Middle Georgia Television") on December 1, 1983, to reflect the area of Georgia that it serves (the old WCWB call letters would later be used by a Pittsburgh TV station from 1998 to 2006). In 2000, the station moved its operations into a renovated two-story warehouse in Downtown Macon, which promised to add to the revitalization of the historic area and signify future growth for the station. Morris maintains its corporate headquarters on the second floor of WMGT's studio facility. The station's legal call sign was modified in 2003 to include a "-TV" suffix to disambiguate itself from a Minnesota radio station that also held the WMGT calls. On April 3, 2006, WMGT retired its "41" logo (which resembled the 1993 to 2001 logo used by fellow NBC affiliate and former sister station KARK-TV in Little Rock) and "41 NBC" branding, introducing a new logo and rebranding as "Today's MGT"; the "41 NBC" brand was restored on March 23, 2009 with the introduction of a new logo.

WMGT-DT2

WMGT-DT2, branded as My 41.2, is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated second digital subchannel of WMGT-TV, broadcasting in standard definition on UHF digital channel 30.2 (or virtual channel 41.2 via PSIP). On cable, the subchannel is available on Cox Communications digital channel 111, Charter Spectrum digital channel 123 and Comcast Xfinity digital channel 235.

The subchannel first signed on the air on July 6, 2009. Prior to its launch, MyNetworkTV programming was previously carried as a secondary affiliation on Fox affiliate WGXA (channel 24) beginning with the service's launch on September 5, 2006. In the summer of 2011, WMGT-DT2 was rebranded as "My41.2".

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP short name Programming [2]
41.1 1080i 16:9 NBC Main WMGT-TV programming / NBC
41.2 480i 4:3 My41 WMGT-DT2 / MyNetworkTV
41.3 Bounce TV HDTV Bounce TV / HDTV
41.4 Escape Escape
41.5 Laff Laff

WMGT has been digital-only since February 17, 2009.[3]

On July 6, 2009, the station began carrying MyNetworkTV on a new second digital subchannel. The programming service had previously been carried in the Macon market as a secondary affiliation on Fox affiliate WGXA beginning with MyNetworkTV's launch on September 5, 2006.

On July 2, 2015, Bounce TV was moved from WPGA-TV to WMGT-DT3, while ThisTV network took its place on WPGA-DT3 which was previously on WPGA-LP channel 50.

In mid-March 2016, WMGT-TV began carrying Escape on digital subchannel 41.4.

In mid-October 2016, WMGT-TV began carrying Laff on digital subchannel 41.5.

Programming

Syndicated programs broadcast on WMGT include Inside Edition, Judge Judy, Steve, Access and Maury. Syndicated programs on WMGT-DT2 include Friends, Jerry Springer, Everybody Loves Raymond, Castle and Family Guy.

News operation

WMGT-TV presently broadcasts 18 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 3½ hours on weekdays and a half hour on Sundays); unlike most NBC affiliates, the station does not broadcast any newscasts in the 5:00 p.m. timeslot on weekdays, Saturday evenings, and by association to the latter, early evening newscasts on weekends. In addition, the station produces an additional five hours of newscasts each week (with one hour each on weekdays) for WMGT-DT2.

The station began producing newscasts at its 1968 inception. However, due to the problems mentioned above caused by WMAZ's dominance of the market, WCWB's newscasts struggled in the ratings for years, and were mostly discontinued by the early 1970s. It made a modest attempt at newscasts again later in the decade. However, within a few months following its start in 1982, WGXA's newscasts surged to second place in the market (behind WMAZ), because its news product was perceived as far more modern than that of the newscasts seen on WCWB. Once again, due to low viewership, channel 41 shut down its news department in 1992. For the next 12 years, it was one of the few Big Three affiliates that did not air any newscasts at all.

The station relaunched its news operation on September 6, 2004, as Tropical Storm Frances moved through the Southeastern United States. At that time, WMGT began producing three half-hour newscasts that aired at 6:30 a.m., 5:30 and 11:00 p.m. When the news department was re-established, WMGT was among the first stations in the country to maintain a completely digital newsgathering operation.

With cable now having leveled the playing field somewhat by rendering the UHF reception issue largely moot, WMGT gradually expanded its newscasts over the next few years. The station eventually expanded its weekday morning newscast to its current two-hour length, running from 5:00 to 7:00 a.m., in October 2012. The early evening newscast was later moved to 6:00 p.m. On July 6, 2009, the station began producing a half-hour primetime newscast each weeknight at 10:00 p.m. for WMGT-DT2, and also began airing a rebroadcast of its 6:00 p.m. newscast at 7:00 p.m. In October 2012, the station expanded its 11:00 p.m. newscast to Sunday evenings. Around this time, the station began airing a rebroadcast of its morning newscast on WMGT-DT2 from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. On September 16, 2013, the station debuted a half-hour midday newscast at 11 a.m. called "41 Today", a non-traditional news program that places a heavy emphasis on community events, consumer and lifestyle features and weather forecast. On February 18, 2014, WMGT became the third station in the Macon market (after WRWR-LD (channel 38) and WMAZ-TV) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition; however the newscasts on WMGT-DT2 were not included in the upgrade, instead broadcasting them in widescreen enhanced definition in the subchannel's native 480p resolution format.

Notable current on–air staff

Notable former on-air staff

References

  1. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1975
  2. ^ http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WMGT#station
  3. ^ WMGT-TV Goes Digital, Brandon Long, WMGT-TV, February 17, 2009
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