WMGM-TV pulling the plug on analog

[Soon Yi CIV.V]

KYW NewsRadio's website is reporting that WMGM-TV, the NBC affiliate in Atlantic City, is not waiting until the new June 12 deadline to switch off their analog transmitter. Citing operation costs of $15,000 a month, they say they'll pull the plug on the original deadline: February 17.

Their engineering director says they've been running crawls and PSA's but have received "[n]ot one call."

So, does that mean...

• Everyone in Atlantic City has their digital sets or converter boxes ready?
• No one there watches TV with an antenna?
• No one watches channel 40?

 

[csp-1]

Re: WMGM-TV pulling the plug on analog ....

do not want to take away attention to soon yi civ.v ' s posting ...please read soon's posting too ... i have opinions , not answers on soon's questions , and a question , myself .

there are spoiled money people on absecon island (a.c. , ventnor , margate , longport ) that have not used antannae for a long time .... not all are spoiled , okay ? now , since the barrier island can no longer offer affordable full time housing to the casino workers that came there , they live off shore ... many way way off shore .... homes were affordable from '78 to roughly '91 , but that's it ...

all of my margate neighbors (not many full time left) have cable...i'm one of the only ones that uses analog ...i bought boxes for all t v ' s ... digital antennas , cannot get wmgm tv 40 at all

in my experience with friends and neighbors in margate , truthfully , i genuinely am the only one i know that uses 300 ohm vhf , 300 ohm uhf rabbit ears

ONCE WMGM TV - 40 GOES ALL DIGITAL , ON FEBRUARY 17TH , WILL THEIR SIGNAL IMPROVE , ON THE DIGITAL WAVE LENGTH STRENGTH ? I CANNOT GET IN TV 40 AT ALL WITH MY SET TOP BOXES AT ALL , BUT AM HOPING THAT THE RUMORS I HAVE HEARD THAT ONCE ANALOG TRANSMISSION GETS OFF , PIGGY-BACKING" WILL END , AND ALL POWER CAN GO TO DIGITAL ? TRUE ? FALSE ? SOMEWHAT TRUE ?

 

[Soon Yi CIV.V]

Interesting question. You should call them and ask. WHYY-TV (channel 12 in/near Philadelphia) is also dumping analog on February 17. They have a whole "FAQ-type" section about it on their website and the very last question (IIRC) was about how the signal strength on their digital transmission is pretty shitty but it will get better at some point after the analog's gone.

 

[csp-1]

so very true , "soon" , and thanks for the posting and yes i had read that .... but from what i know , whyy will not cut off analog until june 12th ... perhaps their website is not updated ? but , anyhow , it is true in whyy's case , that the digital signal will become stronger after analog transmission is cut off ... i'll try calling wmgm to find out , but usually it is SOOOOO TOUGH to get in touch with an engineer-type whom knows something ..

 

[JerseyShor]

1) The vast majority of Atlantic & Cape May Counties have cable or satellite
2) WMGM will still be operating WMGM-LP on analog channel 7 from Pleasantville

 

[Bill_W]

Michael Klein's column in tody's Inky reported on channel 40's decision. Also, I checked channel 12's website. They're staying analog on channel 12 until June. WHYY-DT stays low power on channel 50 until June. When 12 analog goes of the air in June, WHYY-DT will move to channel 12 and finally go full power.

 

[csp-1]

1) The vast majority of Atlantic & Cape May Counties have cable or satellite
2) WMGM will still be operating WMGM-LP on analog channel 7 from Pleasantville

THANK YOU !! but , unless something has changed , analog channel 7 , is not a simulcast of most nbc-40's affiliated nbc broadcasts

 

[rch66]

In addition to being on Comcast cable in three counties, WMGM is on DirecTV. According to the station engineer, WMGM TV will be on Dish Network on March 18, 2008. They were ready on Jan 1, but Dish delayed carriage. I wonder if they'll be on Verizon Fios, which already services Cumberland County, part of WMGM TV's natural viewing area. Fios isn't carrying WTVE 51 (infomercials) yet either.

As far as small stations that are cost sensitive, I'm surprised WWSI 62 hasn't dropped analog, though there maybe a few viewers on the Jersey side who watch Telemundo over the air without cable/sat and are not digitally ready.

I think the station while useful for news in those counties, probably cuts into NBC10 though NBC can't do anything about them since they are the only Jersey network station, though with Univision and Telemundo, I wonder if NBC could cut the cord.

 

[csp-1]

i am still trying to get in wmgm channel 40 in margate city utilizing my digital converter box...tried a regular new digital antenna....the strongest i can get is "signal too weak" message on my screen....now i'm going to buy an amplified antenna .... but i just read on anteena web dot org , that the actual channel to get it on is channel 36 !!!! is this true ? i was just down in margate yesterday , trying again to get in channel 40 , but to no avail . wjhen i go to my jersey home again , next week , should i try channel 36 on my digital converter box ? will the amplified set top antenna i'm going to buy help any ? the one i am using now is non-amplified . , but then again , my digital box was programmed before february 17th... , when wmgm pulled the analog plug ...

no i am not going to get cable , nor fios , nor a dish..

 

[HGN2001]

"Scan" is your friend.

Find the option in your menus of your converter box. Point the antenna toward WMGM's signal and "scan". If it's strong enough, it will find the digital broadcast on channel 36 and REMAP IT to channel 40.1.

 

[csp-1]

thank you , hgn2001 !!! do not know how to re-map , only on electronic cross-connect circuits in the telecom industry do i know ....but , regardless , i am going to buy a few amplified didgital set-top antennaes in pennsylvania , and will bring down to the jersey home sunday , to try to re-scan , and also try to manually utilizing the remote , put in channel 36 .

 

[KTN Corp]

• No one watches channel 40?

Perhaps they watched KYW-TV or now watch WCAU for their NBC programs.

(Why does WMGM have an NBC affiliation?)

 

[NeilRattigan]

I worked at NBC40 for 13 years. Trust me, the station has a loyal following.

As for the NBC affiliation, credit the bad blood between the network and Westinghouse, which owned KYW-TV.
Channel 40, then WCMC-TV, first signed on in 1966...one year after NBC was forced to reverse the swap of the Cleveland & Philadelphia stations with Group W. Westinghouse had a reputation for pre-empting network programs. NBC got better clearance from 40... and at the same time, got revenge.

 

[rch66]

Also, the station is licensed to Wildwood, NJ. Since that was over 70 miles from Philly, it helped in their cause of getting affiliation at the time. And, now I can't see NBC doing away with them, because while it may confuse with NBC 10, it helps the NBC network.

A Delaware oriented network channel (with Salisbury DMA/Cecil MD Eastern MD focus too also) would make sense and be profitable (like WMUR 9 for New Hampshire), if Hearst and NBC could work something out to get it done, though its a missed opportunity. Hearst has WBAL-Baltimore that is the defacto NBC for that Salisbury market, though its a station from over 100 miles away, but Hearst it seems has rights to block WMDT or WBOC from picking up NBC on a subchannel.

A number of interests tried starting up network TV service in Allentown, PA (with Ch.60) and even Vineland, NJ (with Ch.65), but were DENIED because of Philadelphia proximity. Allentown also touches the New York and Wilkes Barre/Scranton markets, which the first one is a big time NO.

On another note, over at DBSTalk, its reported that WMGM-TV has been uplinked to Dish Network's satellite. WMGM's engineer said Dish told them that they'll make it available to customers on 3.18. Looking forward to it; though Dish dropped WYBE-35. Though nobody at Independence Media seems to care (no notice on website).

WMGM needs a morning newscast to be more on the map. Right now its just evening newscasts (e.g. nightly recap of days events, like NJN and WWOR 9 as far as Jersey related news).

 

[azumanga]

Westinghouse [and KYW-TV] had a reputation for pre-empting network programs. NBC got better clearance from 40... and at the same time, got revenge.

Didn't 40 get their NBC programming off KYW's signal at one point? What happened if KYW pre-empted an NBC program, but 40 wanted to show it?

 

[rch66]

That's what some ppl have said - that WMGM got signal from KYW (but I'm assuming that was a long long time ago). I just know that in the '90s, KYW stopped airing a number of NBC shows like Santa Barbara, NBC game shows (Concentration), and some Sat morning kids oriented shows, but WNBC-New York, WMGM and WRC-Washington would air these programs. The Philly and Baltimore NBC and ABC were unpredictable whether they'd clear daytime shows from the network.

Verizon Fios just started carrying WTVE 51 (Reading).
Now, the only full power channels Fios doesn't carry in the market are WBPH 60 and WMGM 40. They don't carry WFPA-28 low power Telefutura yet either. If Fios were to carry WMGM on the FIOS South Jersey lineup and makes it available to all of South Jersey (similar to what Fios did with WWSB 40 in Sarasota making it avail to all Tampa customers...don't know how WFTS 28 allowed that), I think NBC 10 might take notice. South Jersey is a growth area in the market (one of the reasons Philadelphia stays at DMA#4), and it'd be too overlapping and confusing for two South Jersey NBC signals, on Verizon Fios, Dish and DirecTV. At the same time, I think it helps the network which is struggling with keeping audiences... I've seen NBC25 Hagerstown and its on Dish for all of DC. Hagerstown where it transmits from seems to cover a more rural area and the newscast and station likely isn't at all a threat to WRC 4.

 

[pabsungenis]

Westinghouse [and KYW-TV] had a reputation for pre-empting network programs. NBC got better clearance from 40... and at the same time, got revenge.

Didn't 40 get their NBC programming off KYW's signal at one point? What happened if KYW pre-empted an NBC program, but 40 wanted to show it?

Yes, most of WCMC-TV 40's NBC programming was fed via coax from KYW. In fact, if the master control operator was slow on the uptake you could even see KYW promos and commercials instead of 40's You'd often see the ends of KYW programming or ID's when they'd switch back to network at the end of breaks.

I don't know how WCMC cleared NBC programs pre-empted by KYW. Maybe by tape delay? That all ended when Howard Green bought WCMC-TV in the 1980's and started picking up NBC via satellite instead of via KYW coax.

Funny thing is that while NBC gave the affiliation to WCMC in response to KYW's clearance issues, WCMC wasn't all that great about clearance, either. For example, until well into the 80's, WCMC refused to clear Saturday Night Live, preferring to carry Let's Talk Antiques.

 

[NeilRattigan]

WMGM also got some off-air help from WNBC New York. But if both Channels 3 & 4 pre-empted NBC programming, 40 was up the creek without a paddle.

The satellite dish was installed by the time I got there in 1986.

 

[pabsungenis]

Neil: I'm pretty sure that the satellite came in shortly after Howard bought the place in 1981, moved it to Avalon Boulevard, and renamed it WAAT-TV. He had a lot more to invest in the property than WCMC did at the time, and his experiences in Elmira to show him how to run a mid-market network affiliate.

I remember a long talk with Dan Merlo and Howard about TV 40 history one afternoon after an Ops Managers' meeting in 2001. He was surprised how much kid in his (then) early 30's remembered about the old days of WCMC-TV and it led to some fascinating discussions. I wish I'd recorded that talk.

Wasn't 1981 also when TV 40 finally went color 24 hours? I remember watching local programming and ID's from WCMC-TV in black and white growing up and found it unusual. Of course, there was a lot more vintage B&W programming on independent stations at the time, so it wasn't as shocking as it might be today.

 

[NeilRattigan]

Pab, 1981 sounds about right. I was working for WAVY-TV, NBC's Hampton Roads affiliate in 1981, and it was then switching to satellite dishes for network and syndicated programming. 1981 also marks the premiere of NewsCenter 40 with Mike Schurman running the news department, so the station upgrades presumably would have been across the board.