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Flash-WMBF-DT to sign on August 8

F

fortmill

According to VARTV.com, a Virginia TV radio board, Myrtle Beach's WMBF-DT/32/NBC will at last be on the air on August 8 (a Norfolk sports anchor has taken a job at WMBF). Has anyone hard anything about this? Has a new tower risen SW of MYB?
 
Not sure about the tower, but I've heard and read some controversy about the fact that WECT Wilmington and WIS Columbia will be leaving the Myrtle Beach market.
 
Thanks to the NAB, the FCC, the advertisers, and countless others the viewers are the real losers here. Nothing against the new station, but cable-sat viewers should be able to keep the stations they've been accustomed to for so many years. However, it's flat at the beach and OTA reception is great. How is WIS's OTA signal for the average Myrtle Beach home dweller? I'm sure WECT comes in great. Obviously, from my questions I don't live at MYB but visit often.

Eric
 
WIS is usually strong and clear, often better than WECT. I guess you could say I am one of those accustomed to watching WIS for years and it will be strange to not have it anymore.
 
I think I read somewhere that WIS will still be avaliable on DirecTV in the market, but I can't be sure.

It's a shame for cable viewers losing the news coverage from WIS, but the station isn't going to put up an argument since WMBF will also be owned by Raycom.
 
^ As is WECT.

I thought is was strange that Raycomm wanted to compete against themselves for NBC in MYB, but it makes sense. More ad dollars for them.

G
 
Wow--I figured WMBF would mainly be a repeater of WIS, but from looking at their website, it is obvious Raycom is going to play hardball in MB/F. 45 people in the newsroom to produce 5 hours of local news daily, IN HIGH DEF. The MYB facility has been built from the ground up and looks impressive. This really is pretty exciting--wish I was in MYB or the PD to watch it unfold. One negative note--not a word on the website about how to tune the station in OTA. Loads of people will turn their analog tvs to channel 32 on Aug 8 and wonder why they get nothing....
 
Well, what with seven months left on the "analog deathwatch" they probably didn't bother to sign on an analog channel. But I agree, a message stressing viewing on cable or digital converter should be strongly encouraged.

A sign-on on 8/8/08? Maybe they should sign on cable channel 8? ;D
 
Fortmill...you have to dig, but when on their website click "about us" -- found in a couple of different places -- then click "about WMBF". It shows a picture of GM Ted Fortenbery. The next to the last paragraph of the article states they will be DTV-only. I do agree, though, there's no blatant declaration of this on their website. Something else I noticed in the "about WMBF" article -- a throwback to my original rant of this station's existence will prohibit carriage of WIS and WECT. Read this paragraph:

The station is owned by Raycom Media of Montgomery, AL, which owns four other television stations in North and South Carolina, WIS in Columbia, WECT in Wilmington, WCSC in Charleston and WBTV in Charlotte. Viewers in our area who have been watching those stations for decades on cable and satellite will now have the added advantage of getting local news and information from an NBC station in the Pee Dee and Grand Strand.

The last sentence gives the impression that cable/sat viewers will have an ADDITIONAL NBC outlet -- for a total of 3 NBCs.

Just my observation... ;)

Eric
 
calhoun, I understand that WMBF will broadcast digital only, and as you note, the WMBF website mentions this. However, digital TV stations are easily recieved over the air, if viewers have the correct equipment. One thing the WMBF website should have mentioned IMMEDIATELY is that OTA viewers can obtain a digital converter at almost no cost by applying for the $40 coupons. It would also be important to note that all large/medium screen TVs, even SD TVs, have been sold with digital tuners for several years. Amazingly, most people do not understand this. Also, I would bet WIS and WECT will be dropped from all Time Warner cable systems, and both sat services, within the Florence MYB DMA. I'm not so sure about other cable systems, notably HTC. Now I'm wondering if WCSC will also go from Grand Strand systems, since they are also Raycom. And what about systems in Georgetown County? WWMB and WFXB were never added to TW, but I bet WMBF will replace WIS, though of course WCBD will remain, since GT is in the Charleston DMA.
 
Im sure WCSC will say where it is as their a Charleston station. And in Pawleys Island which is Gerogetown Country they do get WWMB and WFXB on Time Warner Cable. As for the new channel WMBF it will be added to cable channel 10 it says on their website. But I am sure both WECT and WIS are gone as we don't need 4 NBC stations. As if we needed WCBD - Charleston, WIS - Columbia, and WECT - Wilmington. I always wondered why WECT was the only station from Wilmington we could get on the Grand Strand. It wasn't needed.
 
Ken said:
Im sure WCSC will say where it is as their a Charleston station. And in Pawleys Island which is Gerogetown Country they do get WWMB and WFXB on Time Warner Cable. As for the new channel WMBF it will be added to cable channel 10 it says on their website. But I am sure both WECT and WIS are gone as we don't need 4 NBC stations. As if we needed WCBD - Charleston, WIS - Columbia, and WECT - Wilmington. I always wondered why WECT was the only station from Wilmington we could get on the Grand Strand. It wasn't needed.
Click to expand...

If you're in Pawley's Island you'll continue to get WCBD (and WCSC) since that is Georgetown County and in the Charleston (not MYB-Florence) DMA. But I agree WECT/WIS are probably gone. It wasn't that long ago that Horry Co./MYB was in the Wilmington DMA and WECT/WWAY were the two dominant stations--both had news bureaus in MYB. When Horry went into the Florence DMA I believe TWC (or was it COX then?) dropped both stations, as well as WJKA. I'm sure there is an interesting story behind all of that. Eventually, WECT was returned to Grand Strand cable line-ups.
 
You do know the four Charleston stations are on Time Warner Cable in Horry Country also. But thats around Surfside Beach. I believe we should be able to get the Charleston stations, they show Myrtle Beach on the weather. LIVE 5 News has the temp. for Myrtle Beach also.
 
Has anyone seen the new billboard for NBC Myrtle Beach? The one that I have seen in on 707 heading towards the old airforce base. Thats the only one I have seen.
 
With only 5 days until WMBF-DT's debut, I wonder if anyone has seen any sign of an over the air signal? When I first went through the WMBF website, I thought it strange that there was no reference whatsoever to recieving the new station over the air. Now, with only 5 days to go, I'm thinking WMBF will be a cable only station at first (there's no reference to them being on satelite either). I think Raycom has until the end of the year to get the OTA going or lose their CP. I also notice Raycom has recently applied to the FCC to increase their very weakish power from 160kw to 530 kw, but that hasn't been approved. Since few will be able to recieve their digital signal right now, did they decide to hold off on their OTA until the more powerful transmitter is approved? BTW, according to their website, WMBF has apprarently already lost one member of their news team. I notice one reporter's picture/video and bio has already been cut from the website.
 
I know that they have been talking about it all week on WIS-TV here in Columbia all week long and evidently have been getting all sorts of comments from viewers in the area about it as well.
 
MarkL said:
I think I read somewhere that WIS will still be avaliable on DirecTV in the market, but I can't be sure.
Click to expand...

Updating this - I've heard that WIS will stay on DirecTV only for a couple more months before they get WMBF's signal up and running.

It will be interesting to see the reaction to WIS/WECT going off cable after being in the market for so long. WMBF will not have a Noon or 7pm newscast like WIS. I know they want to build their own brand, but why not keep some of the WIS newscasts on the air? It's not like there's a ton of syndicated programming avaliable to them since they're late in the market. It would help soften the blow for viewers.
 
Not sure if this has been mentioned:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=649971

According to this technical data, the OTA signal will not reach Florence, and barely penetrates the county. In fact, the tower is a stubby 670 or so ft tall.

Why build a station that doesn't cover the entire DMA? Or, is this Raycom's way of saying there's not enough ad revenue in Florence...we'll leave that for 13 & 15 to fight over? Or quite possibly..are we seeing the foundation being laid for an Horry/Georgetown DMA?

G
 
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