WRLM (TV)

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WRLM
Canton, Ohio
Channels Digital: 47 (UHF)
Subchannels 47.1 Standard TCT schedule
47.2 TCT HD schedule
47.3 TCT SD 2 (variety)
47.4 TCT SD3 (spanish)
Affiliations TCT
Owner Radiant Life Ministries, Inc.
(Radiant Life Ministries, Inc.)
First air date 1982
Call letters' meaning Radiant Life Ministries
Former callsigns WOAC (1982-2009)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
67 (1982-2009)
Digital:
47 (67 PSIP) (2006-2009)
Former affiliations independent (1982-1995)
inTV (1995-1997)
Shop at Home (1997-2007)
independent (2007-2009)
Transmitter power 1000 kW
Height 134 m
Facility ID 43870
Transmitter coordinates 41°6′33″N 81°20′10″W / 41.10917°N 81.33611°W / 41.10917; -81.33611

WRLM is a full-powered television station licensed to Canton, Ohio, serving the Canton area as part of the Cleveland/Akron/Canton market. The station is owned by Radiant Life Ministries, Inc..

WRLM's tower is located in Brimfield, near Interstate 76.

Contents

[edit] History

WRLM began its broadcasting operation on UHF channel 67 as WOAC on April 23, 1982. Initially, the station operated as an independent station, serving mainly the Canton area. It featured syndicated reruns, movies, and local news updates. The station was later sold to Whitehead Media, who signed a local marketing agreement with Paxson Communications (now Ion Media Networks). Paxson dropped WOAC's entertainment programming in late 1995, and the station adopted an infomercial format provided by Paxson's inTV network (a predecessor to today's Ion Television). Shortly afterwards, Paxson purchased WAKC-TV (now WVPX-TV) from ValueVision, and as a result, both stations broadcast inTV from December 31, 1996, when WAKC's affiliation contract with ABC expired, until early 1997, when WOAC was sold to the Shop at Home Network, who replaced inTV with its own home shopping programming.

It is thought that Paxson sold WOAC because WAKC-TV had a stronger signal that better covered all of Northeast Ohio; WOAC's signal at the time was essentially limited to Canton and Stark County. However, WOAC's antenna was subsequently moved to the Brimfield site, and the power was boosted to five million watts — the maximum allowed for analog UHF broadcasting. This allowed the station to have a much stronger signal that rivaled that of other local stations. In early 2006, WOAC-DT began operating on channel 47, with a power of one million watts; this is the highest power that a digital television station can operate, and provides an equivalent coverage area to the analog signal.

On May 16, 2006, The E.W. Scripps Company announced that Shop at Home would be suspending operations, effective June 22, 2006. [1] However, Jewelry Television took over the Shop at Home network operations around the time of the planned closure, and WOAC and other Shop at Home affiliates then ran a combination of programming from the two networks.

On September 26, 2006, Scripps announced that it was selling its Shop at Home stations, including WOAC, to Multicultural Television of New York City for $170 million. [2] The sale of WOAC and sister stations in San Francisco and Raleigh closed on December 20, 2006. Shortly after Multicultural closed on the deal, all home shopping programming ceased in favor of infomercials, along with locally generated programming (such as Dining With Steve, which profiled restaurants in the station's area of service, and The Art of Living, which interviewed influential people in the same area), 24 hours a day.

WOAC ceased its analog broadcast on February 17, 2009, the original date for the United States digital transition, unlike most other Cleveland-area stations.[1] Digital broadcasts remained on the pre-transition channel.

After Multicultural ran into financial problems and defaulted on its loans, the station was placed into a trust; the station would soon be sold to Radiant Life Ministries, Inc.. On June 25, the station's call letters were changed to WRLM, and the station began broadcasting TCT Network programming.[2] In addition, the PSIP virtual channel of 67 was discontinued in favor of identifying with its actual channel, 47.1. The station's call letters are named after Radiant Life Ministries.

[edit] Digital TV

Digital channels
Virtual
Channel
Video Aspect Programming
47.1 480i 4:3 TCT programming in SD
47.2 1080i 16:9 TCT programming in HD, featuring an all-HD programming schedule different from TCT's main grid
47.3 480i 4:3 TCT variety programming in SD (TCT programming, public domain entertainment shows, TCT Kids)
47.4 480i 4:3 TCT spanish language religious programming in SD (TCT programming, spanish language religious programming)

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-221A5.pdf
  2. ^ http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com/2009/06/quick-hits-for-monday.html

[edit] External links

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