LPTV station in Milwaukee
WWMW-LD
(channel 29) is a
low-power television station
in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
, United States. The station is owned by
SagamoreHill Broadcasting
. It had been licensed to
Sheboygan
until 2011.
History
[
edit
]
In Sheboygan
[
edit
]
For seventeen years, the station acted as the local translator station for
TBN
, first transmitting from the downtown Firstar Building on channel 20 as W20AG in 1990.
[3]
The station then moved to a new transmitting facility around 1999 on Sheboygan's south side along Weeden Creek Road (County Trunk Highway EE), in an
industrial park
just west of a
WisDOT
emissions testing
station on land leased from
Lakeshore Technical College
(which formerly broadcast their college bulletin board on
SCOLA
affiliate W08BW (channel 8) from the site until the early 2000s). The next year, the station would move to channel 16 as W16BS, continuing to transmit the TBN schedule without local deviation.
Several factors influenced the sale of the station, including a declining audience via antenna for TBN's translator stations, and the signals of religious stations
WTLJ
(channel 54) and
WLLA
(channel 64) from Western Michigan being easily receivable during the summer months in the Sheboygan area.
The launch by TBN of
WWRS
(channel 52) from
Mayville
did not affect W16BS as that station's signal was blocked by the
Kettle Moraine
range east of Fond du Lac, blocking any signal from entering Sheboygan and leaving TBN to continue to operate W16BS. However, TBN and its other digital subchannels later launched on local cable provider
Charter Communications
in late August 2007, with reception via satellite.
[4]
Time Warner Cable
systems in the county also carried the network via WWRS via
must-carry
election. These carriage agreements, associated costs of the digital transition, and universal coverage by the major satellite broadcasters were likely the impetus for TBN's sale of the station to another party.
The station was taken
silent
after TBN sold the station to
Sarasota, Florida
?based Sheboygan Community Broadcasting, LLC in August 2007, which was likely a
holding company
designed solely to profit from a sale of the station's license without a commitment to broadcast (notably, the
FCC
application misspelled the city of license in the above LLC as "Sheboygen").
FCC records indicate that the station returned to the air on channel 29 as W29DJ on March 6, 2008, but from a different transmitter located south of
Random Lake
east of
Highway 57
, which had no Sheboygan coverage and served a small scattering of communities in southeast Sheboygan County and northeast Ozaukee County. Service from Random Lake was intermittent, as SCB's transmitter equipment was leased from another party and seized several times for non-payment before the sale to Polnet. As of May 2011 the station's FCC coverage maps showed its broadcast range was an area of 4 square miles (10 km
2
) southeast of Random Lake only covering several farms
[5]
to maintain service and the license.
A return to Sheboygan became unlikely around July 2008, when the tower, transmitter, and TBN's satellite equipment was removed from the Weeden Creek Road site after LTC ended their lease with the city of Sheboygan for the land within the industrial park, leaving only the transmitter shed remaining for storage; it was eventually sold off for new development to a local commercial bakery.
The station previously covered the eastern part of
Sheboygan County
, with the original footprint of the digital signal from Sheboygan expected to fully cover the county, southern
Manitowoc County
and northern
Ozaukee County
.
In Milwaukee
[
edit
]
According to FCC records, Sheboygan Community Broadcasting sold the station on November 23, 2009, to Polnet Communications, which provides ethnic programming in
Polish
and other languages and owns several ethnic radio stations in the
Chicago
area, and formerly had a time-lease arrangement for Polish language television programming on
WCIU-DT6
in Chicago before launching their own station in the area in 2010,
WPVN-CA
(channel 24). Polnet planned to air "quality ethnic programming", according to their FCC statements, but never actually broadcast any programming as its entire twelve-year ownership period had them struggle to build out the station's permanent digital facilities.
A construction permit for channel 36 from the
Milwaukee PBS Tower
in Milwaukee was contested by Milwaukee PBS (then branded as MPTV) itself, which asserted their existing analog rights from
WMVT
being on analog channel 36 to place a digital translator station for
WMVS
there to address inefficiencies with WMVS's digital channel 8 signal in Milwaukee proper. Polnet subsequently withdrew the application for 36 and petitioned for a digital application on channel 30 in early December 2009, also from the Milwaukee PBS Tower. The placement of the station's transmitter in Milwaukee likely meant that Polnet did not intend to keep any kind of service to Sheboygan, and the placement of the analog tower in Random Lake was solely intended to "skip" the station down to Milwaukee, a move allowed under FCC regulations.
On April 9, 2010, the station was reclassified as a low-power station, and took the lettered calls WPVS-LP. On January 3, 2011, the FCC authorized the change of city of license from Sheboygan to Milwaukee
[6]
with a license expiration of December 2013. The station's license was to expire on December 1, 2021; it has continued to operate under 'silent and licensed' authority from the FCC, with occasional operation from the rented Random Lake site to maintain the license while it looks to permanently operate from the Milwaukee PBS Tower.
On July 31, 2018,
HC2 Holdings
announced it would purchase WPVS-LP for $400,000, and in the interim a new construction permit for
VHF
channel 9 from the Milwaukee PBS tower has been filed (HC2 had filed a purchase agreement for WPVN in Chicago two months before
[7]
). This would have had WPVS-LP become a sister station to
WTSJ-LP
(channel 38).
[8]
[9]
However, the sale never closed and it remained owned by Polvision past the July 13, 2021, deadline to build permanent digital facilities, and the station was under a perpetual cycling of
tolling
and
special temporary authority
requests to remain silent throughout the late 2010s into 2021.
On November 3, 2021, it was announced that
SagamoreHill Broadcasting
would purchase WPVS-LP for $100,000 under subsidiary Roseland Broadcasting;
[1]
the sale was completed on June 29, 2022.
[10]
The station was licensed for digital operation on channel 9 effective January 14, 2022. As of October 2023, the station broadcasts four subchannels, with the main channel carrying a network of unknown origin called SportStak. Before the end of 2023, when it began to map channels by its originally intended physical channel of 29, it had mapped its channels from channel 9.2 for its physical channel, presumably to avoid any confusion with Chicago's
WGN-TV
. Its
station identification
also erroneously identifies WXON-LD, a low-power television station in
Flint, Michigan
, which is also on RF channel 9, but is not owned by SagamoreHill itself. Its other three subchannels are affiliated with
NOST
,
OnTV4U
,
Jewelry Television
and
Sonlife
, the latter of which owns
WIWN
(channel 68).
The station changed its callsign to WWMW-LD as of April 29, 2024.
[11]
Subchannels
[
edit
]
The station's signal is
multiplexed
:
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Assignments"
.
Licensing and Management System
.
Federal Communications Commission
. November 3, 2021
. Retrieved
November 4,
2021
.
- ^
"Facility Technical Data for WWMW-LD"
.
Licensing and Management System
.
Federal Communications Commission
.
- ^
"Broadcasting News-April 2007"
.
- ^
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/index.php?ntid=202840&ntpid=1
[
dead link
]
- ^
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TX1335451.html
[
dead link
]
- ^
"Station Search Details"
.
- ^
Jacobson, Adam (June 5, 2018).
"Windy City LPTV Secured For Azteca Owner"
.
Radio & Television Business Report
. Retrieved
September 12,
2018
.
- ^
"ASSET PURCHASE AGREEMENT by and between HC2 STATION GROUP, INC., as Buyer, and POLNET COMMUNICATIONS, LTD., as Seller"
.
Federal Communications Commission
. July 31, 2018
. Retrieved
August 24,
2018
.
- ^
"Displacement for LPTV Station Application"
. Federal Communications Commission. August 21, 2018
. Retrieved
August 24,
2018
.
- ^
"Notification of Consummation"
.
Licensing and Management System
.
Federal Communications Commission
. June 29, 2022
. Retrieved
July 4,
2022
.
- ^
Ellis, Jon (April 29, 2024).
"FCC Monitor: Des Moines LPFM Application Dismissed"
. Northpine
. Retrieved
April 29,
2024
.
- ^
"Digital TV Listing for WWMW"
.
RabbitEars.Info
. Retrieved
October 7,
2023
.
|
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|
Full power
|
- WTMJ-TV
(4.1
NBC
, 4.2
Bounce
, 4.3
Grit
, 4.4
Court
, 4.5
Mystery
, 4.6
Laff
, 4.7
Shop LC
)
- WITI
(6.1
Fox
, 6.2
ANT
, 6.3
HSN
, 6.4
Fox WX
)
- WMVS
(10.1
PBS
, 10.2
Create
, 10.3
PBS Kids
)
- WISN-TV
(12.1
ABC
, 12.2
Crime
, 12.4
Story
, 12.5
Grio
, 12.6
Get
)
- WVTV
(18.1
CW
, 24.1
MNTV
, 24.2
Comet
, 24.3
Charge
)
- WVCY-TV
(30.1
Religious ind.
)
- WMVT
(36.1
PBS
, 36.2
World
, 36.3
Local WX
/
traffic
w/
KEC60
audio)
- WMLW-TV
(49.1
Ind.
, 49.2
Movies!
, 49.3
H&I
, 49.4
Catchy
)
- WWRS-TV
(52.1
TBN
, 52.2
Merit
, 52.3
Inspire
, 52.4
Smile
, 52.5
Positiv
)
- WPXE-TV
(55.1
Ion
, 55.2
Bounce
, 55.3
Court
, 55.4
Grit
, 55.5
Defy
, 55.6
JTV
, 55.7
Scripps News
, 55.8
QVC
)
- WDJT-TV
(58.1
CBS
,
58.2
MeTV
in SD,
58.3
WMLW/
Ind.
in SD,
58.4
TMD
in SD,
58.5
Start
)
- WIWN
(68.1
Cozi
, 68.2
This
, 68.3
Quest
, 68.4/.10 Infomercials, 68.5
Oxygen
, 68.6
TBD
, 68.7
Dabl
, 68.8
Sonlife
, 68.9 TBA, 68.11
RVTV
, 68.12
RCTV
;
Fond du Lac
)
(station in Green Bay market but transmits from and
de facto
serves Milwaukee)
|
---|
Low power
|
- WMKE-CD
(21.1
JTV
, 21.2 Lone Star, 21.3 Majestad TV, 21.4
LC
, 21.5 JTV SD, 21.6
QVC
2, 21.7
LATV
. 21.8
QVC
)
- WWMW-LD
(29.1 SportStak, 29.2
OnTV4U
, 29.3
JTV
)
- WTSJ-LD
(38.1 Vision Latina, 38.2
Buzzr
, 38.3
JTV
, 38.4
QVC
2, 38.5
LX
, 38.6
ShopHQ
, 38.7
beIN Xtra n
)
- WBME-CD
(41.1
MeTV
in HD)
- WTAS-LD 47.1 (
Ind.
)
- WYTU-LD
63.1 (
TMD
in HD, 63.2
Start
, 63.3
Movies!
, 63.12
OnTV4U
)
- WDMW-LD
(65.1
Daystar
, 65.2 DS Spanish)
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Outlying areas
| |
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Cable
| |
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Defunct
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