Hagerstown: WHAG loses NBC affiliation

[mvcg66b3r]

Comcast Frostburg (which also serves Keyser, WV) added WRC this week on channel 19 in SD and channel 814 in HD.

Yet it isn't reflected on Zap2it or xfinity.com.

No word on Atlantic Broadband yet.

Per Zap2it, Atlantic has WJAC Johnstown on 17/717. No sign of WRC, while 4 has ION's national feed (apparently they can't get WPXW/WWPX either - too far west?).
http://tvschedule.zap2it.com/tvlist...MD19403:X&isDescriptionOn=true&aid=tvschedule

 

[Mr Tony]

Atlantic in Keyser has WWPX for Ion per their listings (listed is limited)

2 TBN††
3 WDCA (MY) Washington††
4 WWPX (ION) Martinsburg††
5 WTTG (FOX) Washington††
6 WNPB (PBS) Morgantown††
7 WJLA (ABC) Washington††
8 Photo Classifieds††
9 WUSA (CBS) Washington††
10 WDCW (CW) Washington††
11 WWPB (PBS) Hagerstown††
12 WHAG (NBC) Hagerstown††
13 WJZ (CBS) Baltimore††
14 QVC††
15 WJAL (IND) Hagerstown††
17 WJAC (NBC) Johnstown††
18 C-SPAN2*††
19 C-SPAN*††
20 Message Channel*††
21 Inspiration Network††
22 HSN††
23 EWTN††
97 Allegany County Educational Access*††
98 WWCP (Fox) 8 Johnstown††
99 Jewelry TV††
149 HSN 2*††
150 QVC Plus*††
151 WDCW Antenna TV*††
152 WDCW This TV*††
153 WJLA Me-TV*††
154 WUSA The Justice Network*††
155 WJLA CometTV*††

 

[mvcg66b3r]

Atlantic in Keyser has WWPX for Ion per their listings (listed is limited)

That's Atlantic Cumberland. Keyser has Comcast.

 

[Mr Tony]

Putting in zip 26726 on the Atlantic broadband site says 'keyser' and it shows WWPX as Ion

 

[tripinva]

Do they really think many viewers will give up watching the Washington DC newscasts in favor of them ? Here is the quick answer...NO !!

As someone who lives in northern Virginia, I don't watch any of the local news. I listen to WTOP radio and online prefer WTOP's website. WTOP rakes in so much money that I can't be the only one.

I can't imagine WHAG making any inroads on WTOP.

- Trip

 

[Mr Tony]

Reading some posts over at WHAG's facebook site it sounds like they basically dropped any national coverage of things. Folks are complaining and saw comments about that WHAG only talked about what local police is doing in the wake of Dallas shootings...but didnt talk about the Dallas shootings. And this was on their "main" 6PM news

I know they are technically an Independent but I thought there was some news source out there they could at least get video from for things like this.

 

[Mr Tony]

Someone asked when they will be on Directv and WHAG mentions Directv has the green light to carry it but doesnt right now
http://static.lakana.com/nxsglobal/.../DirectTV-Agreement-Letter_8789304_ver1.0.pdf

I know when they were NBC Directv didnt have to carry it due to the "satellite only needs to carry one affiliate of a network if there are more than one...unless they are licensed to different states".

With them being Independent they now could carry it

 

[hamster]

As someone who lives in northern Virginia, I don't watch any of the local news. I listen to WTOP radio and online prefer WTOP's website. WTOP rakes in so much money that I can't be the only one.

I can't imagine WHAG making any inroads on WTOP.

- Trip

WTOP is safe...no way WHAG will make as much a dent to them. Very similar to Winchester's 92.5 WINC-FM when they gave serious thought about relocating 92.5 to Leesburg some years back to better serve NOVA even though their signal already does.. I think WINC even went as far as planning on purchasing an office in that town as I seem recall reading about it on their website however I believe that station has since gave up on the idea. I guess WINC remembers the days when NOVA had several radio stations at one time but the audience there more/less didn't give them a second thought and would always listen to the DC stations like WTOP & WBIG instead. Even the big NOVA FM stations of that era like 107.7 and WAVA would promote themselves as being a "Washington" station and not really Northern Virginia's plus NOVA isn't a rated radio market either which doesn't help. When 107.7 was oldies and later country even they with their signal couldn't compete with DC's WBIG and WMZQ for that audience. WHAG will probably learn sooner or later ( odds are "sooner" ) that they won't be able to compete as an outsider being a Hagerstown station to get very many DC area viewers including those in Northern Virginia.

 

[Mr Tony]

Wonder how crazy people there will flip out in 2 weeks when H&I changes the schedule

Their (WHAG) 2 hour "prime time" (8-10) block goes from Hunter & Hill Street Blues to Xena and Hercules on the 25th

 

[Mr Tony]

Boy they just cant catch a break. This past weekend they had transmitter issues until yesterday when they got the part to fix it

 

[Mr Tony]

apparently WHAG has added Escape and Grit as part of the big Katz/Nexstar agreement

Someone posted it on the WHAG facebook page

Hi WHAG ! We like that you are offering TWO MORE entertainment broadcast channels, "Escape" and "Grit" seem pretty good

I guess 25-2 is Escape and 25-3 is Grit

 

[Mr Tony]

new month...new transmitter issue

Our over-the-air transmitter experienced a small fire causing an equipment failure. Our engineers are working around the clock to remedy the situation

 

[Oscar Madison]

Now WHAG wants to be a regional superstation, a la WFMZ.

WFMZ is not and never was a "superstation." WFMZ is an independent station in the Philadelphia Market Area, which under "must-carry" is able to have its signal on cable systems throughout the market (even beyond its normal coverage area. It is not fed by satellite. There are no more "superstations." Former superstations have converted to cable channels, and no longer relay programming from an OTA station.

 

[ftballfan]

WFMZ is not and never was a "superstation." WFMZ is an independent station in the Philadelphia Market Area, which under "must-carry" is able to have its signal on cable systems throughout the market (even beyond its normal coverage area. It is not fed by satellite. There are no more "superstations." Former superstations have converted to cable channels, and no longer relay programming from an OTA station.

Maybe the term "regional superstation" in this case means a station based in an outer part of a market (WFMZ and WHAG both qualify) that targets nearby communities that are (mostly) ignored by the Big Four stations in those markets.

 

[Oscar Madison]

Maybe the term "regional superstation" in this case means a station based in an outer part of a market (WFMZ and WHAG both qualify) that targets nearby communities that are (mostly) ignored by the Big Four stations in those markets.

Sorry, no. The term "superstation" has a specific meaning as defined in FCC rules: Not a network affiliate transmitting by satellite over a wide area outside its home market. The term was coined by Turner Broadcasting when it put its independent Atlanta station on satellite. No superstations are currently operating. WFMZ is carried in the Philadelphia, and in some adjacent areas of the New York and Scranton-Wilkes Barre market where it's signal can be received by cable companies. A station in an outer part of a market is usually called a "rim-shot."

 

[davideduardo]

Sorry, no. The term "superstation" has a specific meaning as defined in FCC rules: Not a network affiliate transmitting by satellite over a wide area outside its home market. The term was coined by Turner Broadcasting when it put its independent Atlanta station on satellite. No superstations are currently operating. WFMZ is carried in the Philadelphia, and in some adjacent areas of the New York and Scranton-Wilkes Barre market where it's signal can be received by cable companies. A station in an outer part of a market is usually called a "rim-shot."

I believe that the "superstation" designation fits the WKAQ and WAPA operations. KWGN, WPIX and KTLA are regional superstations without full US coverage. In any case, these all fit "television broadcast station, other than a network station, licensed by the FCC that is secondarily transmitted by a satellite carrier" which is the FCC definition.

 

[Mr Tony]

No superstations are currently operating.

sure there is
KTLA
WSBK
WWOR
WPIX
KWGN

are still classified as Superstations (by the FCC). WTBS lost that a while ago and WGN lost it years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstation#The_remaining_.22true.22_superstations

There were also regional Superstations. KMSP 9 (Minneapolis) was one when they were Independent and even when they were UPN. They were on cable in MN, ND, SD and parts of WI and IA. When they swapped UPN for FOX (with co-owned WFTC) there went the Superstation

 

[mvcg66b3r]

Comcast Frostburg (which also serves Keyser, WV) added WRC this week on channel 19 in SD and channel 814 in HD.

Yet it isn't reflected on Zap2it or xfinity.com.

Now it shows up on both.
http://tvschedule.zap2it.com/tvlist...1532&setMyPreference=false&lineupId=MD47466:X

 

[mvcg66b3r]

Saying goodbye to the old HAG

WHAG in Hagerstown, Maryland is sick of the old HAG and is changing their call letters. The station is going from WHAG to WDVM.

WDVM was previously the former call letters for WUSA (Washington, DC) during the late 1970s to the late 1980s.

Here's the video that WHAG posted about the change of the name:
https://www.facebook.com/wdvmtv/videos/10154654534587011/

http://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2017/6/30/saying-goodbye-to-the-old-hag

WHAG to become WDVM

There’s going to be a change for the region’s local television news station.

After nearly 50 years WHAG in Hagerstown will be changing its call letters to WDVM.

The change goes into effect Saturday.

WHAG News Director Mark Kraham made the announcement during Panhandle Live with Hans Fogle on Thursday.

The decision was made to reflect an expansion of their coverage area that has added roughly 1.2 million households to their viewership.

“The company felt that with this expanded area, we wanted to make it clear that we’re not just a Hagerstown station.”

Kraham said it doesn’t mean they are leaving Hagerstown physically or will stop news coverage there.

“What we do day in and day out as far as covering the (Eastern) Panhandle, covering Northern Virginia, Southern Pennsylvania, and Western Maryland doesn’t change,” Kraham said.

Kraham called the larger coverage area a challenge, but said it was exciting to be growing.

WHAG had been an affiliate of NBC until a year ago and has since been adding other counties around the four-state region.

http://wepm.com/whag-to-become-wdvm/

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/105877/whag-changes-call-letters-to-wdvm. Update