WMBC-TV
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2011) |
File:WMBC logo 2013.png | |
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Channels | |
Branding | WMBC TV 63 (general) WMBC News (newscasts) |
Programming | |
Affiliations | 63.1: Independent 63.2: Quest 63.3: SinoVision 63.5: NTDTV 63.7: Aliento Vision |
Ownership | |
Owner | Mountain Broadcasting Corporation |
History | |
Founded | August 1987 |
First air date | April 26, 1993 |
Former channel number(s) |
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FamilyNet/Main Street TV (1993–1996) | |
Call sign meaning | Mountain Broadcasting Corporation |
Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 43952 |
Class | DT |
ERP | DTS1: 1,000 kW DTS2: 90 kW 700 kW (application) |
HAAT | DTS1: 250 m (820 ft) DTS2: 309 m (1,014 ft) 477 m (1,565 ft) (application) |
Transmitter coordinates | DTS1: 40°51′53″N 74°12′2″W / 40.86472°N 74.20056°W DTS2: 40°44′54″N 73°59′9″W / 40.74833°N 73.98583°W 40°42′46.8″N 74°0′47.3″W / 40.713000°N 74.013139°W (application) |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
WMBC-TV, virtual channel 63 (UHF digital channel 18), is an independent television station licensed to Newton, New Jersey, United States and serving the New York metropolitan area. The station is owned by the Mountain Broadcasting Corporation. WMBC-TV's studios are located in West Caldwell, New Jersey. Its primary transmitter is located on the campus of Montclair State University, with a secondary transmitter atop the Empire State Building in midtown Manhattan.
The station's lineup consists of brokered ethnic and religious programs, a half-hour weekday newscast, infomercials and children's programs to satisfy the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s "educational/informational" requirements.
History
Mountain Broadcasting was founded in 1985 by a group of Korean Americans, led by the Reverend Sun Young Joo of Wayne, New Jersey. The group secured a construction permit from the FCC to build channel 63 in 1987,[2] and the station began operations on April 26, 1993, with a Christian religious format, running mostly programs from FamilyNet. Later in 1993, the station also began running public domain movies and film shorts from Main Street TV, along with FamilyNet programs.
In 1996, when New York City-owned WNYC-TV (channel 31, now Ion Television owned-and-operated station WPXN-TV) dropped its ethnic, foreign-language television programming following its sale to private interests, many of these programs were picked up by WMBC-TV. WMBC also dropped FamilyNet and Main Street TV programming and began to air more infomercials and religious shows directly from ministries. By 1997, it ran a blend of religion and infomercials during the day and ethnic shows at night and on Saturdays. It was also running several hours a week of educational kids' shows, and began producing a local newscast.
In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the station temporarily simulcast NBC's flagship station WNBC (channel 4).[3]
WMBC had an extremely weak over-the-air signal in New York City, but with a new antenna on the Empire State Building, it can be seen more clearly. The station is also carried on most of the cable providers in that market, including Charter Spectrum and Optimum. Its signal was dropped from DirecTV's New York City local stations package on December 31, 2005; however, DirecTV resumed carriage of WMBC in early 2009.
Digital television
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP short name | Programming[4] |
---|---|---|---|---|
63.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WMBC-HD | Main WMBC-TV programming |
63.2 | 480i | QUEST | Quest (English) | |
63.3 | 4:3 | SinoVSN | SinoVision (Chinese) | |
63.5 | NTDTV | New Tang Dynasty Television (Chinese) | ||
63.7 | ALIENTO | Aliento Vision (Spanish) | ||
63.8 | Audio only | WDNJ | WDNJ 88.1 FM (Spanish Christian) | |
63.9 | KCBN | Korean Christian Broadcasting Network | ||
63.11 | WWGB | WWGB 1030 AM (Spanish Christian) | ||
63.12 | WBTK | WBTK 1380 AM (Spanish Christian) |
WMBC-TV also operates a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 63.1, broadcasting at 0.92 Mbit/s. This is the lowest bitrate of any New York City television station's mobile feed.[5][6]
Analog-to-digital conversion
WMBC-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 63, on February 17, 2009, to conclude the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[7] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 18,[8] using PSIP to display WMBC-TV's virtual channel as 63 on digital television receivers, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.
See also
- List of independent television stations in the United States
- List of television stations in New Jersey
- List of United States over-the-air television networks
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WMBC-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "Koreans Win TV Franchise." Associated Press, August 22, 1987.
- ^ Dempsey, John (September 20, 2001). "TV beams back into N.Y." Retrieved January 19, 2017.
- ^ "RabbitEars.Info". Retrieved December 21, 2019.
- ^ "RabbitEars.Info". RabbitEars.Info. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
- ^ "Mobile DTV Station Guide | www.omvcsignalmap.com". Mdtvsignalmap.com. Archived from the original on October 17, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
- ^ List of Digital Full-Power Stations
- ^ "CDBS Print". Fjallfoss.fcc.gov. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
External links
- Companies based in Sussex County, New Jersey
- Independent television stations in the United States
- Television channels and stations established in 1993
- Television stations in New Jersey
- Television stations in New York City
- ATSC-M/H stations
- 1993 establishments in New Jersey
- Quest (American TV network) affiliates