A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's surface to any number of tuned receivers simultaneously.
72-658: WLMT (channel 30) is a television station in Memphis, Tennessee , United States, affiliated with The CW and MyNetworkTV . It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside ABC affiliate WATN-TV (channel 24). The two stations share studios at the Shelby Oaks Corporate Park on Shelby Oaks Drive in northeast Memphis; WLMT's transmitter is located in the Brunswick section of unincorporated northeast Shelby County . Channel 30 began broadcasting as WMKW-TV on April 18, 1983. Owned by
144-659: A barter in some cases. Taft Broadcasting Taft Broadcasting Company (also known as Taft Television and Radio Company, Incorporated ) was an American media conglomerate based in Cincinnati , Ohio . The company was rooted in the family of William Howard Taft , the 27th President of the United States . In 1879, William Howard's brother, Charles Phelps Taft , purchased two afternoon newspapers in Cincinnati, The Times and The Cincinnati Daily Star , merging them into
216-460: A TV station in Jackson and renamed it WMTU ; it simulcast most of channel 30's programming, though in later years this was limited to local newscasts. Clear Channel Communications, the then-owner of WPTY-TV, began leasing channel 30 in 1993, leading to a merger of operations. In 1995, the station became an affiliate of UPN and added a local 9 p.m. newscast in conjunction with WPTY-TV's switch to ABC;
288-528: A UPN affiliate, was slowly split off of WLMT in 2001 when the station changed its call sign to WJKT. WJKT began simulcasting WLMT's Memphis newscast in 2003. WLMT debuted an in-studio wrestling program from Memphis Wrestling in 2003, two years after WMC-TV canceled its long-running wrestling show. In 2006, UPN and The WB were shut down and replaced with The CW , with which WLMT affiliated. (WJKT in Jackson instead rejoined Fox.) WPTY-TV and WLMT were included in
360-530: A condition of the merger, Jacor sold WKRQ and the original WDAF-FM (by then KYYS, now KCKC) to American Radio Systems , which would become acquired by Infinity Broadcasting (later renamed CBS Radio ) in 1998. Also in 1997, Jacor sold WDAF (AM) (now KCSP) to Entercom . In 1997, the Worldvision properties that had previously been under Taft and Great American (with the exception of the Hanna-Barbera and most of
432-484: A consortium of TVX Broadcast Group and local investors including Kemmons Wilson , it was the second independent station in the market behind channel 24, then WPTY-TV. It was the original Memphis affiliate of Fox from 1986 to 1990. However, after TVX sold the station to MT Communications (who changed its call sign to WLMT) in 1989, it lost the Fox affiliation to the higher-rated WPTY-TV in 1990. MT Communications also purchased
504-438: A hostile takeover and renamed the company Great American Broadcasting (also known as Great American Communications ) following a major restructuring of its operations. The new name came from Linder's insurance company, Great American Insurance . The FCC considered this restructuring to be an ownership change, and told Lindner he could not keep both WTVN-TV and WKRC-TV. As a result, Great American spun off WTVN-TV to Anchor Media,
576-500: A long reorganization period starting in 1987 with its acquisition by Carl Lindner, Jr. and renamed Great American Broadcasting . Shortly after filing for bankruptcy in 1993, it became Citicasters and was, in 1999, acquired by Clear Channel Communications, which was renamed iHeartMedia in 2014. Taft — as Citicasters — remained incorporated as a holding company within iHeartMedia until 2020. The Taft family's involvement in broadcasting began in 1939 as Radio Cincinnati, Inc. , when
648-415: A much shorter wavelength, and thus requires a shorter antenna, but also higher power. North American stations can go up to 5000 kW ERP for video and 500 kW audio, or 1000 kW digital. Low channels travel further than high ones at the same power, but UHF does not suffer from as much electromagnetic interference and background "noise" as VHF, making it much more desirable for TV. Despite this, in
720-749: A new firm composed of former Taft Broadcasting board members led by Robert Bass. (The two stations have since been reunited under the Sinclair Broadcast Group , with cross-ownership rules having since been relaxed.) Another new company, led by former Taft Broadcasting president Dudley S. Taft Sr., took the Taft Broadcasting name. This new company retained WGHP and later purchases another Philadelphia station, WPHL-TV . In 1988, Great American Broadcasting sold Worldvision to Aaron Spelling Productions . Included with Worldvision were outright ownership of all of Great American's programming assets (including
792-426: A partnership with Keith Barish to start out a joint venture, with a worldwide distribution alliance at 20th Century Fox to distribute the films. During that year, Taft decided to rename the former QM Productions unit as Taft Entertainment Television, with The Lucie Arnaz Show being the first show to be produced under that name. On August 20, 1986, Taft/Barish Productions, the feature film joint venture between
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#1732869161990864-538: A refinancing plan, it began selling off smaller-market properties to help finance its debt. An initial deal was reached with Bain Capital in December 1988—the same month that the station doubled its effective radiated power —a deal that fell apart a month later. In March 1989, TVX announced it would sell WMKW-TV to MT Communications, owned by Michael Thompson, for $ 7 million—a purchase price lower than executives had hoped
936-494: A result of call letter changes elsewhere—but held off because the university feared it would impact their decision. The rights went to WPTY-TV, which paid the university three times more per game than WMKW-TV had in its previous contract. The next year, the Fox affiliation came up for renewal, and WPTY-TV intensively lobbied the Fox network; it had stronger ratings than channel 30, drawing a 7.4 percent share of total-day ratings to WLMT's 4.1. On WLMT, some Fox shows had less than half
1008-587: A result, Taft sold several radio stations to CBS to comply with FCC rules. KESQ-TV was spun off to former Gulf Broadcasting executive E. Grant Fitts. In October 1986, WTAF-TV in Philadelphia and WCIX in Miami became charter affiliates of the Fox Broadcasting Company . One month later, Taft announced the sale of both of those stations along with its three independent stations (WDCA-TV, KTXA, and KTXH) to
1080-460: A second theme park based on Kings Island, Kings Dominion , opened outside of Richmond . Rhodes Productions was renamed to Taft, H-B Program Sales while Taft, H-B International was established as the new overseas television distribution arm for the company. Rhodes was eventually revived two weeks later under Filmways . Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina was acquired by the company in 1975 from
1152-520: A struggling Fox affiliate in Jackson , and converted it to a semi-satellite of WLMT with local advertising that December; it became WMTU in January 1990. MT's ownership of the station would see it lose its two principal programming draws to WPTY-TV. Rights to Memphis State basketball were put up for bid in 1989, with WMKW-TV competing against WPTY-TV and syndicator Creative Sports . WMKW-TV almost changed its call letters to WMSU—which had become available as
1224-563: A teletext service operated as a joint venture between Taft, Zenith , and Turner Broadcasting's WTBS (now WPCH-TV ) in Atlanta . In 1994, Citicasters sold most of its TV stations, including WDAF-TV and KSAZ-TV to New World Communications , and WBRC and WGHP to the News Corporation 's Fox Television Stations unit, which would later acquire the New World chain. Around the same time, when two of
1296-646: A third minority owner, Television Corporation Stations Inc. (TVX, later renamed the TVX Broadcast Group ), to form Memphis Area Telecasters, which won the construction permit in 1981. The next year, TVX became the 51-percent owner of the station, which adopted the call letters WMKW-TV (Memphis/Kemmons Wilson). The antenna was mounted on the tower of WKNO , while studios were set up in an industrial park. After several days of delays due to bad weather impeding completion, WMKW-TV began broadcasting on April 18, 1983. Competing with existing independent WPTY-TV (channel 24),
1368-425: A variety of ways to generate revenue from television commercials . They may be an independent station or part of a broadcasting network , or some other structure. They can produce some or all of their programs or buy some broadcast syndication programming for or all of it from other stations or independent production companies. Many stations have some sort of television studio , which on major-network stations
1440-496: Is non-commercial educational (NCE) and considered public broadcasting . To avoid concentration of media ownership of television stations, government regulations in most countries generally limit the ownership of television stations by television networks or other media operators, but these regulations vary considerably. Some countries have set up nationwide television networks, in which individual television stations act as mere repeaters of nationwide programs . In those countries,
1512-470: Is broadcast via terrestrial radio waves. A group of television stations with common ownership or affiliation are known as a TV network and an individual station within the network is referred to as O&O or affiliate , respectively. Because television station signals use the electromagnetic spectrum, which in the past has been a common, scarce resource, governments often claim authority to regulate them. Broadcast television systems standards vary around
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#17328691619901584-792: Is often used for newscasts or other local programming . There is usually a news department , where journalists gather information. There is also a section where electronic news-gathering (ENG) operations are based, receiving remote broadcasts via remote pickup unit or satellite TV . Outside broadcasting vans, production trucks , or SUVs with electronic field production (EFP) equipment are sent out with reporters , who may also bring back news stories on video tape rather than sending them back live . To keep pace with technology United States television stations have been replacing operators with broadcast automation systems to increase profits in recent years. Some stations (known as repeaters or translators ) only simulcast another, usually
1656-841: Is renamed WTVN . In August 1956 WBIR-TV in Knoxville began broadcasting, under the same ownership structure as the WBIR radio stations. In 1957, Radio Cincinnati purchased WBRC- AM - FM - TV in Birmingham, Alabama , from Storer Broadcasting . In 1958, the Cincinnati Times-Star was merged into the Cincinnati Post , published by the E.W. Scripps Company . Radio Cincinnati also purchased WKXP-TV in Lexington, Kentucky , from local interests and changed its call letters to WKYT-TV . In 1959,
1728-705: The Cincinnati Times-Star in 1880. It was during the tenure of the merged paper's second publisher, Hulbert Taft Sr. , son of Charles and William Howard's half-brother, Peter Rawson Taft II, that the newspaper also became involved in broadcasting. The company was the owner of such major media and entertainment properties as Hanna-Barbera Productions , Hanna-Barbera Pty, Ltd. /Taft-Hardie Group Pty. Ltd., Worldvision Enterprises , Ruby-Spears Productions , KECO Entertainment and many television and radio stations . It also owned 50% of CIC Video 's Australian operations, CIC-Taft Home Video. The company went through
1800-581: The Cincinnati Times-Star purchased WKRC radio from CBS . In April 1949, Taft's first TV station, WKRC-TV in Cincinnati, began broadcasting. In 1951, in its first expansion outside Ohio, Radio Cincinnati acquired a 20 percent interest in WBIR- AM - FM in Knoxville, Tennessee from father-and-son owners J. Lindsay and Gilmore Nunn. A year-and-a-half later, the Taft family increased its stake to 30 percent when
1872-510: The Hanna-Barbera cartoon studio from its founders, Joseph Barbera , William Hanna and George Sidney . Several months later in April 1967, the firm sold WKYT-TV to a subsidiary of Kentucky Central Life Insurance Company. On November 10, 1967, Taft Broadcasting president and chairman Hulbert Taft Jr. died in liquid propane gas-related explosion in a bomb shelter he had built on his property in
1944-504: The TVX Broadcast Group ; the sale was completed in April 1987. Taft also sold WGR radio and WRLT-FM (the former WGR-FM) in Buffalo to Rich Communications, a subsidiary of Buffalo-based Rich Products . In 1987, Taft, wanting to purchase more network-affiliated television stations, is looking to sell Taft Entertainment Group, the entertainment subsidiary of the Taft Broadcasting company to a different buyer, with estimates cost $ 300 million, and
2016-405: The broadcast range , or geographic area, that the station is limited to, allocates the broadcast frequency of the radio spectrum for that station's transmissions, sets limits on what types of television programs can be programmed for broadcast and requires a station to broadcast a minimum amount of certain programs types, such as public affairs messages . Another form of television station
2088-534: The electricity bill and emergency backup generators . In North America , full-power stations on band I (channels 2 to 6) are generally limited to 100 kW analog video ( VSB ) and 10 kW analog audio ( FM ), or 45 kW digital ( 8VSB ) ERP. Stations on band III (channels 7 to 13) can go up by 5 dB to 316 kW video, 31.6 kW audio, or 160 kW digital. Low-VHF stations are often subject to long-distance reception just as with FM. There are no stations on Channel 1 . UHF , by comparison, has
2160-500: The 10 p.m. news on WPTY-TV. WLMT's news has mostly been affected by changes at channel 24, long the fourth-rated news outlet in Memphis. The news product was overhauled in 2003 under the brand Eyewitness News and with new news talent. Even despite the move to a more general-market product, which included 45 minutes of news and an expanded 15-minute sportscast, WLMT's 9 p.m. news continued to beat WPTY's 10 p.m. broadcast and approach WHBQ in
2232-693: The Carowinds Corporation. In 1979, Taft purchased WDCA-TV in Washington, D.C. from the Superior Tube Company. Around this same period, Taft also acquired independent distributor Worldvision Enterprises (formerly a division of ABC) and production company QM Productions . In 1980, Taft acquired Sunn Classic Pictures and two additional Schick divisions. Sunn Classic was reincorporated as Taft International Pictures . In 1981, two Taft executives launched Jensen Farley Pictures to purchase
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2304-470: The Cincinnati suburb of Indian Hill. Days after his death, his son Dudley S. Taft replaced him on the firm's board of directors, and he eventually became head of the company. In 1969, Taft purchased WIBF-TV in Philadelphia and changed its call letters to WTAF-TV . The FCC initially granted Taft a waiver to keep both WTAF-TV and WNEP-TV, but later reversed itself in 1973 (four years later), and Taft sold
2376-605: The Nunns sold additional shares in that station to Martha and Robert Ashe, John P. Hart, and Radio Cincinnati. In 1953, Radio Cincinnati purchased WTVN-TV (now WSYX ) in Columbus, Ohio , from Picture-Waves, Inc., controlled by Toledo attorney and broadcaster Edward Lamb . In 1954, the company bought WHKC radio in Columbus from United Broadcasting, then-owners of WHK in Cleveland ; WHKC
2448-1051: The Scranton outlet to the station's management, who formed NEP Communications. Also that year, the broadcasting group formed The Sy Fischer Company to produce television programming. In 1970, Taft formed Rhodes Productions , a television syndication arm for various independent TV programs, including those of Hanna-Barbera. In 1972, Taft opened its first theme park, Kings Island , outside of Cincinnati. Taft owned five other theme parks through its KECO Entertainment division. WBRC radio and WBRC-FM in Birmingham are sold to Mooney Broadcasting. Taft's Rhodes Productions subsidiary has hired John Pearson International as international backer of its programming. In 1973, Taft sold WNEP-TV in Scranton to its management, called NEP Communications. In 1974, Taft acquired Top 40 station KQV and rock outlet WDVE , both in Pittsburgh , from ABC Radio . In 1975,
2520-627: The U.S., the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is taking another large portion of this band (channels 52 to 69) away, in contrast to the rest of the world, which has been taking VHF instead. This means that some stations left on VHF are harder to receive after the analog shutdown . Since at least 1974, there are no stations on channel 37 in North America for radio astronomy purposes. Most television stations are commercial broadcasting enterprises which are structured in
2592-409: The audience they did in other cities. Fox chose to move its affiliation to channel 24 effective July 1, 1990. However, WMTU continued to hold the Fox affiliation in the Jackson market, breaking away from channel 30 to air the network's programs. This continued until March 1992, when the local operation in Jackson was closed: local commercials no longer aired on WMTU, and five jobs were eliminated. Memphis
2664-793: The broadcasting group and Keith Barish Productions had inked a ten-picture distribution deal with Tri-Star Pictures for $ 200 million, to handle domestic distribution of the films at a rate of four to six films per year. In 1985, Taft purchased Gulf Broadcasting, which included KTXA in Fort Worth ; KTXH in Houston ; WTSP in St. Petersburg, Florida ; KTSP-TV (now KSAZ-TV ) in Phoenix ; KESQ-TV in Palm Springs, California ; and WGHP in High Point, North Carolina . As
2736-682: The channel in March 1966. A construction permit for WMTU-TV was awarded in June to the firm, which consisted half of Memphians and half of doctors from Charlotte, North Carolina , and Washington, D.C. , who were operating WCTU-TV in Charlotte. Memphis Telecasters never built the channel and assigned the still-active construction permit in 1975 to the Christian Broadcasting Network . CBN proposed to air family-friendly and religious programs. The station
2808-482: The company acquired the remaining 70 percent of WBIR-AM-FM-TV in Knoxville. Also in 1959, the Taft family merged its broadcasting subsidiaries into one, using the Taft Broadcasting Company name. Subsidiaries WBRC, Inc. (WBRC-AM-FM-TV), WTVN, Inc. (WTVN-TV), Radio Cincinnati, Inc. (WKRC-AM-FM-TV and WKYT-TV), and Radio Columbus, Inc. (WTVN-AM-FM) were merged on June 23, 1959 and WBIR, Inc. (WBIR-AM-FM-TV)
2880-448: The company's distribution assets, while in 1982, the company name was reverted back to Sunn Classic Pictures. In 1981, Taft acquired Ruby-Spears Productions from Filmways . Around this time, in the early 1980s, Taft split its operation into two "subdivisions": the " Taft Entertainment Company " (which included Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears, Worldvision, the theme parks, Taft International Pictures, and Taft Entertainment Television), which
2952-423: The deal's completion, consummation took place on March 14, 2008. In 2009, an agreement was signed to air programs supplied by MyNetworkTV . As part of a liquidation of Newport Television's assets, Nexstar Broadcasting Group purchased WPTY-TV and WATN-TV in a 12-station deal worth $ 285.5 million (equivalent to $ 379 million in 2023) on July 19, 2012. Nearly immediately, Nexstar announced that it would move
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3024-436: The financing for the acquisition and in return held more than 60 percent of the company. The company was to pay Salomon Brothers $ 200 million on January 1, 1988, and missed the first payment deadline, having been unable to lure investors to its junk bonds even before Black Monday . TVX initially announced it would sell some stations, including possibly WMKW-TV, and though it backed off the plan months later after announcing
3096-472: The group had a record production year in 1986 out of 334 animated half hours and 63 live-action half hour programs, to the three networks, to the cable networks, to first-run syndication. Taft Broadcasting Company was purchased by TFBA Limited Partnership, which included Robert M. Bass as a partner, in April 1987 for $ 1.43 billion, taking the company private. Later in 1987, Cincinnati-based businessman Carl Lindner, Jr. became Taft's majority stockholder in
3168-420: The highest point available in the transmission area, such as on a summit , the top of a high skyscraper , or on a tall radio tower . To get a signal from the master control room to the transmitter, a studio/transmitter link (STL) is used. The link can be either by radio or T1 / E1 . A transmitter/studio link (TSL) may also send telemetry back to the station, but this may be embedded in subcarriers of
3240-412: The libraries were passed to Turner Program Services (via Turner Entertainment Co. ) prior to Time Warner's purchase of Turner. Eventually, TPS was folded into Warner Bros. Television Distribution . The Ruby-Spears studio was spun off and bought back by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, and operated as an independent operation from then forward. In 1992, KECO Entertainment, Great American's theme park division,
3312-438: The local newscast has been competitive in the market, sometimes beating channel 24's own late news. The station became an affiliate of The CW in 2006; it was already airing programming from its predecessors, UPN and The WB . It was acquired by Newport Television in 2007, Nexstar Broadcasting Group in 2012, and Tegna in 2019. The first attempt to build channel 30 in Memphis was made by Memphis Telecasters, Inc., which applied for
3384-400: The local television station has no station identification and, from a consumer's point of view, there is no practical distinction between a network and a station, with only small regional changes in programming, such as local television news . To broadcast its programs, a television station requires operators to operate equipment, a transmitter or radio antenna , which is often located at
3456-419: The main broadcast. Stations which retransmit or simulcast another may simply pick-up that station over-the-air , or via STL or satellite. The license usually specifies which other station it is allowed to carry. VHF stations often have very tall antennas due to their long wavelength , but require much less effective radiated power (ERP), and therefore use much less transmitter power output , also saving on
3528-467: The market, Memphis State University men's basketball , with all home and away games being shown live. The Memphis State telecasts raised the station's profile in the market. While channel 30 was making headway, TVX's financial picture changed significantly after its 1986 acquisition of five large-market independents from Taft Broadcasting . The Taft stations purchase left TVX highly leveraged and highly vulnerable. TVX's bankers, Salomon Brothers , provided
3600-531: The markets switched to ABC via Scripps, Citicasters agreed to a two-station deal with CBS to affiliate with WTSP and WKRC . In 1996, Citicasters, by then the owner of two television stations, five AM radio stations and 14 FM radio stations, merged with Jacor, which became a subsidiary of Citicasters. Three months after the merger was completed, Jacor exchanged WTSP to Gannett in return for Gannett's radio stations in Los Angeles , San Diego and Tampa. In 1997, as
3672-471: The network and began airing its prime time programs in late night slots, and it moved to a slightly earlier time slot at WLMT in 2003. However, UPN's programming lineup, targeted at Black audiences, resonated in Memphis, where they represented about 40 percent of TV households; in 2004, WLMT was one of the highest-rated UPN affiliates in the United States, and the station was fourth in revenue, ahead of one major network affiliate. WMTU in Jackson, while remaining
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#17328691619903744-595: The network. This came after that network's founder Leonard Goldenson persuaded Taft president Hulbert Taft Jr., a longtime friend, to switch several of the company's stations to ABC. In 1963, Taft purchased several stations from Transcontinent Television Corporation: WDAF-AM - FM - TV in Kansas City, Missouri , WGR-AM - FM - TV in Buffalo, New York , and WNEP-TV in Scranton, Pennsylvania . In October 1966, Taft purchased
3816-418: The new station offered Metro Conference basketball, as well as children's programs, movies, and classic sitcoms and dramas. The new station found itself running behind WPTY-TV in the ratings. WMKW-TV became a charter affiliate of Fox at the network's launch on October 9, 1986, as part of a group agreement involving all eight TVX-owned stations. That year, it also obtained rights to a major sports attraction in
3888-508: The new studios. In 2019, Nexstar acquired Tribune Media , owner of Memphis CBS affiliate WREG-TV . Nexstar opted to retain WREG-TV (as well as WJKT in Jackson) and sold WATN-TV and WLMT to Tegna Inc. WPTY-TV established a news department on December 1, 1995, coinciding with its affiliation switch to ABC. As part of the rollout of news, WLMT debuted a 9 p.m. newscast, News Watch 30 . The newscast
3960-476: The programmes seen on its owner's flagship station, and have no television studio or production facilities of their own. This is common in developing countries . Low-power stations typically also fall into this category worldwide. Most stations which are not simulcast produce their own station identifications . TV stations may also advertise on or provide weather (or news) services to local radio stations , particularly co-owned sister stations . This may be
4032-689: The ratings. By the major relaunch of channel 24 in 2013, the station was airing a 7 a.m. hour of WATN-TV's morning newscast. The station's signal is multiplexed : WPTY-TV and WLMT began digital broadcasting on May 1, 2002. WLMT ended regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 30, on February 17, 2009; it was the only Memphis station to transition earlier than the delayed June 12 shutoff date . The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 31, using virtual channel 30. Television station The Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow ( TV Station Paul Nipkow ) in Berlin , Germany ,
4104-515: The remnants of Taft International Pictures and Taft Entertainment Television), except for the Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears libraries, which remained owned by Great American for the time being. However, Worldvision continued to hold syndication rights until the two animation studios found new owners. In 1991, Hanna-Barbera, along with much of the original Ruby-Spears library, was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System , which became part of Time Warner in 1996. As part of this deal, syndication rights to
4176-502: The sale of Clear Channel's television station portfolio to Newport Television , controlled by Providence Equity Partners , for $ 1.2 billion on April 20, 2007 (equivalent to $ 1.76 billion in 2023). The sale was made so Clear Channel could refocus around its radio, outdoor advertising and live event units. The sale received FCC approval on December 1, 2007; after settlement of a lawsuit filed by Clear Channel owners Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital against Providence to force
4248-406: The same building with WPTY-TV in 1995 when that station moved to new studios as part of its affiliation switch to ABC and startup of a news department. The WB never scored a full-time affiliate in Memphis in its eleven-year history; the then-superstation feed of Chicago station WGN-TV served as the de facto Memphis home of WB programming until 1999, when WPTY-TV took on a secondary affiliation with
4320-569: The station would fetch. MT Communications also owned two other Fox affiliates in Tennessee: WCAY-TV in Nashville , which like WMKW-TV had been built by TVX, and WETO-TV in Greeneville . On October 4, 1989, MT Communications changed the call letters of its stations to designations incorporating the letters MT, Thompson's initials, with WMKW-TV becoming WLMT. MT Communications also acquired WJWT,
4392-425: The stations for Davis. Morrie Beitch, who had been general manager of WMKW-TV under TVX from 1987 to 1989 and had stayed with the company after it sold channel 30, returned to lead the station, telling The Commercial Appeal , "I worked for [TVX executive] John Trinder for 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 years and I jumped at the chance to go to work for him in this city again." Max Media's involvement with WLMT–WMTU operations
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#17328691619904464-457: The stations from their aging five-story building in midtown Memphis into a former MCI call center in the Shelby Oaks Corporate Park on the city's northeast side. The relocation, in addition to providing more up-to-date facilities for the stations, was done because the impending replacement of the adjacent Poplar Viaduct would create vibrations and noise making the building unsuitable for television production. WPTY-TV became WATN-TV after moving into
4536-399: The world. Television stations broadcasting over an analog system were typically limited to one television channel , but digital television enables broadcasting via subchannels as well. Television stations usually require a broadcast license from a government agency which sets the requirements and limitations on the station. In the United States, for example, a television license defines
4608-705: Was anchored by Robb Harleston and Ken Houston—the first time two Black men had co-anchored a newscast in Memphis. The program was aimed at Black audiences and sought to provide more in-depth coverage of minority communities in the area. Houston became the lone anchor when WPTY-TV opted not to renew Harleston's contract in January 1997. The news focus fit well with the Black-oriented programs on UPN's lineup. This drew considerable viewership to WLMT's newscast, even against Fox affiliate WHBQ-TV 's 9 p.m. news hour; in November 1997, it only barely trailed WHBQ and had better ratings than
4680-935: Was comparatively brief, as in August 1993, the two stations were leased to WPTY-TV owner Clear Channel Communications , which also purchased their physical assets. Five WLMT employees, including general manager Beitch, were laid off, as all three stations now shared a general manager. The deal was seen to give the unprofitable WLMT the resources it needed to adequately promote itself. (Clear Channel would move to acquire WLMT and WMTU in 1999, when duopolies were legalized.) Even though WPTY had renewed its rights to Memphis State basketball in 1992, University of Memphis basketball moved to WLMT by 1994. With two new networks starting in 1995, both— UPN and The WB —wooed WLMT as an affiliate. Clear Channel affiliated WLMT and another station it managed in Tulsa , with UPN. The station's operations were consolidated in
4752-533: Was headed by Sy Fischer. The other was the " Taft Television & Radio Co, Inc. ". Also in 1981, Taft, in partnership with The Great-West Life Assurance Company of Winnipeg , opened Canada's Wonderland , a theme park near Toronto . Taft also bought television producer Titus Productions, run by Herbert Brodkin later that year as part of the Taft Entertainment Company. In 1982, KQV in Pittsburgh
4824-429: Was merged on February 1, 1960. In 1960, Taft launched WTVN-FM in Columbus (it is now WLVQ ). A year later the company sold the WBIR stations in Knoxville to Multimedia Inc. of Greenville, South Carolina . In 1961, Taft signed a group affiliation deal with ABC , converting all of the stations Taft had owned at that time, to the network. With WTVN-TV already an ABC affiliate, WBRC-TV, WKYT, and WKRC-TV switched to
4896-590: Was one of four markets, all in the South, where Fox moved its affiliation during 1990; of the other three, two ( Little Rock, Arkansas , and Nashville) involved ex-TVX stations, with the Nashville station losing its Fox affiliation also owned by MT. In December 1991, MT Communications moved to sell three of its four stations—WMTU, WLMT, and WEMT—to former Virginia lieutenant governor Dick Davis . Max Media—a Virginia company founded by three former officers of TVX—then would manage
4968-490: Was sold to Paramount Communications (the parent of Paramount Pictures ; the parent company was formerly known as Gulf+Western ) and became Paramount Parks , later to be acquired by Viacom . (These parks were sold to Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. by CBS in 2006.) Great American also reacquired WGHP from Dudley Taft. In 1993, Great American filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and renamed to Citicasters Communications . It also sold WKRC radio to Jacor and shut down Electra ,
5040-509: Was sold to its general manager Robert W. Dickey and newspaper publisher Richard Mellon Scaife , under the "Calvary, Inc." banner. In 1983, Taft exchanged WGR-TV in Buffalo to General Cinema Corporation's Coral Television subsidiary in return for WCIX in Miami . In 1984, the Taft Entertainment Company was reorganized, in order to set up various theatrical projects that was made by the studio, such as On Wings with Eagles . Also that year, it formed
5112-568: Was still not built by 1977, and CBN intended to sell the permit to Evans Broadcasting Corporation, whose holdings included another channel 30: KDNL-TV in St. Louis . As the WMTU-TV permit vanished, interest began again when Memphis 30, Inc., applied for the channel in February 1979. Among the members of this ownership group were Kemmons Wilson , the founder of Holiday Inn , and George S. Flinn Jr. Memphis 30 merged with another applicant, TV 30, Inc., and
5184-674: Was the first regular television service in the world. It was on the air from 22 March 1935, until it was shut down in 1944. The station was named after Paul Gottlieb Nipkow , the inventor of the Nipkow disk . Most often the term "television station" refers to a station which broadcasts structured content to an audience or it refers to the organization that operates the station. A terrestrial television transmission can occur via analog television signals or, more recently, via digital television signals. Television stations are differentiated from cable television or other video providers as their content
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