Телеканал WMGM: Переход к True Crime Network в Нью-Джерси

True Crime Network affiliate in Wildwood, New Jersey

WMGM TV (channel 40) is a television station licensed to Wildwood, New Jersey, United States, affiliated with the True Crime Network. It is owned by TelevisaUnivision alongside Vineland, New Jersey–licensed Univision owned and operated station WUVP DT (channel 65) and Philadelphia based low power, Class A UniMás outlet WFPA CD (channel 28). The stations share studios on North Delsea Drive in Vineland, while WMGM TV's transmitter is located along Avalon Boulevard in Swainton. WMGM TV is officially considered part of the Philadelphia television market but primarily serves southeastern New Jersey, including Atlantic City. In addition to its own digital signal, WMGM TV is simulcast on WUVP's third digital subchannel (65.3) from a transmitter in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia; this makes WMGM TV's programming available over the air throughout the entire Philadelphia market. WMGM TV was previously an affiliate of NBC, and was the only major network affiliate located within New Jersey. As such, the station's coverage area overlapped with the network's owned and operated station in Philadelphia, WCAU (channel 10) as well as Philadelphia's previous NBC affiliate, KYW TV (channel 3, now a CBS owned and operated station) and the network's New York City flagship WNBC (channel 4). WMGM TV's affiliation with NBC ended on December 31, 2014. The station aired various digital multicast networks, and operated as an independent, for periods after the loss of NBC. Since its acquisition by Univision, the station has carried the multicast services Justice Network (now True Crime Network) and GetTV, as well as Univision via WUVP DT.

The station first signed on the air on January 25, 1966, known as WCMC TV (meaning Cape May County). It was owned by Jersey Cape Broadcasting, along with the WCMC radio stations (1230 AM and 100.7 FM, now WZXL). The station initially could not get a direct network feed from NBC, forcing station engineers to switch to and from the signal of KYW TV (channel 3) in Philadelphia for network programming. During the station's early years, even when NBC went to full time color programming, the station still broadcast its local programming in black and white. WCMC TV was sold to South Jersey Radio in 1977, and changed its call letters first to WAAT on April 27, 1981, and then to the current WMGM TV on April 12, 1984, to match co owned WMGM radio (103.7 FM). Under South Jersey Radio, channel 40 was able to obtain its own NBC affiliate feed. Upon the death of owner Howard Green in 2002, the stations were eventually sold to Access.1 Communications. For many years, the station operated a low powered repeater, WMGM LP on VHF channel 7, to serve Atlantic City itself. On July 3, 2006, WMGM LP fell silent when a fire struck its transmitter building. The building also housed the transmitters for Atlantic City's WMGM radio as well as Pleasantville's WOND (1400 AM) and WTKU FM (98.3). While WMGM radio began broadcasting from WPUR (107.3 FM)'s auxiliary facilities atop the Trump Taj Mahal casino, the AM stations and WMGM LP remained dark, leaving many Atlantic City residents without clear reception of NBC programs over the air. However, the on air signals were eventually brought back. Until WCAU became an NBC owned and operated station in September 1995, people in much of the New Jersey side of the Philadelphia market could watch the entire NBC schedule on WMGM TV, as KYW TV (which later became a CBS owned and operated station as a result of a 1994 affiliation deal involving two other Westinghouse owned stations) preempted many of NBC's daytime programs as well as other shows. WMGM was one of the few affiliates not to carry the Sunday edition of The Today Show.

On October 10, 2013, Access.1 Communications agreed to sell WMGM to LocusPoint Networks for $6 million; WMGM would be LocusPoint's second station in the Philadelphia market, as the company was also in the process of acquiring WPHA CD. As part of the deal, Access.1 would continue to manage WMGM. However, the deal was met with public controversy, over concerns that LocusPoint was only buying WMGM so it could auction off the station's license and spectrum during the FCC's 2015 spectrum incentive auction. Indeed, the company does not describe itself as a broadcaster, but as an "early stage wireless communications company". Stations in close proximity to major markets (in WMGM's case, Philadelphia) have been considered potentially valuable at auction, leaving the fate of WMGM in jeopardy. In response to the concerns (which also included viewers establishing a Save NBC 40 website), LocusPoint co founder Bill deKay stated that they planned to continue operating the station as an NBC affiliate. The sale was completed on January 28, 2014. (WMGM was ultimately not sold in the auction.)

On April 16, 2014, Broadcasting & Cable reported that WMGM TV would lose its NBC affiliation at the end of 2014, at the conclusion of a two year extension of the station's most recent affiliation contract (which expired at the end of 2012). The station's former general manager, Ron Smith, claimed that the move was a result of NBCUniversal and its parent company Comcast wanting to protect WCAU. Smith argued that the loss of the NBC affiliation would make it difficult for WMGM to continue operating. The loss of NBC also coincided with the end of Access.1's management agreement with LocusPoint Networks. in which viewers contribute money in return for benefits such as station merchandise, discounts, and invitations to its outings; this form of fundraising is more commonly associated with public broadcasting. According to general manager J. Roger Powe III, "The membership club allows all the folks who have been loyal and supportive to keep engaged in a more intimate fashion;" while some of the money raised goes to the station's operations, much of it is used to pay for the club's benefits. As WMGM remained a commercial, for profit station until December 31, 2014, contributions to the club were not tax deductible, unlike with public broadcasting stations. In September 2014, it was reported that the WMGM TV studio facilities had been put up for sale; at the time, a station spokesman stated that despite the action the station would remain in operation into 2015. The following month, the FCC pushed back the spectrum auction to 2016. On December 9, 2014, Access.1 made a statement on WMGM's website, indicating that it was planning to "continue and expand our news product on a new broadcast channel" in early to mid 2015, retaining and re locating the station's staff, news operation, and sales department to a new, unspecified outlet and studio. Local personality Pinky Kravitz (whose WOND radio show was aired on WMGM) disclosed that the station was seeking $3 million in funding for these planned changes. The station was also reported to be in preliminary talks with the owners of WOND to produce local programming. WMGM TV's new programming was reported to be an interim measure, assuming that LocusPoint did manage to sell the station during the 2016 spectrum incentive auction. On January 1, 2016, due to Soul of the South winding down their operations because of financial struggles, the station switched to programming from the religious Sonlife Broadcasting Network but within a few months WMGM dropped Sonlife and began broadcasting as an independent station. Local programming returned August 1, 2016, under a brokered programming arrangement with Advantage Broadcasting, they sold time to SNJ Today to air a news program featuring former WMGM staff and talent. As an independent station, WMGM TV mostly aired infomercials during the day. SNJ Today newscasts were also carried on WACP, a new Atlantic City television station that signed on in 2012.

On June 26, 2017, LocusPoint Networks agreed to sell WMGM TV to Univision Communications, through its Univision Local Media subsidiary, for $6 million. The deal made WMGM TV a sister station to WUVP DT (channel 65) and WFPA CD (channel 28). Univision took control of the station on November 14, 2017; that day, WMGM TV became an affiliate of the Justice Network (now True Crime Network).

On March 3, 2018, Access.1 Communications, which formerly owned the main WMGM TV station but retained WMGM LP and the construction permit for WMGM LD, sold the low power station to Engle Broadcasting, LLC of Cedar Brook, New Jersey. On April 16, 2018, Engle Broadcasting filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requesting the consent for Silent STA on WMGM LP which was granted until October 16, 2018. The FCC canceled the license for WMGM LP on January 7, 2021.

At the end of its NBC affiliation, WMGM TV broadcast 20 hours of locally produced newscasts each week. The station did not produce a midday newscast on weekdays or any morning or early evening newscasts on weekends. WMGM was the only remaining New Jersey licensed commercial television station that maintained its own news department; MyNetworkTV station WWOR TV upstate in Secaucus controversially shut down its news department (which was kept in operation long after its 2001 acquisition by Fox Television Stations, which created a duopoly with Fox owned and operated station WNYW in nearby New York City) in July 2013, its 10 p. m. newscast was replaced by the outsourced news program Chasing New Jersey that month. The station produced an entertainment program called Curtain Call with David Spatz (which won a 2007 Emmy Award for outstanding interview/discussion series); the program featured interviews with world class artists performing in Atlantic City. WMGM also produced two public affairs programs: WMGM Presents Pinky (Saturday nights at 7:30), and Forum 40 (Sunday mornings at 11:30). Prior to 2011, the station did not air local news programming on weekday mornings (instead running religious programming from 5 to 6 a. m. and a simulcast of the Don Williams radio talk show from WOND, from 6 to 7 a. m.). WMGM debuted its first weekday morning newscast on March 28, 2011, the hour long Today in South Jersey. Local newscasts returned to Southern New Jersey in the form of SNJ Today, which premiered in the summer of 2015. It currently airs every weeknight at 7 p. m. and 11 p. m. on WACP (channel 4). SNJ Today began to also air on WMGM beginning on August 1, airing at the same times as it does on WACP. WMGM and WACP simulcast the newscasts until the former announced its sale to Univision in 2017.

WMGM TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 40, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre transition UHF channel 36, using virtual channel 40.

WMGM TV primarily serves Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties. Its digital over the air signal also penetrates parts of southern Ocean County, southern Burlington County, eastern Camden and Gloucester counties and coastal Delaware, even though the station has no cable carriage in these areas. It is also available on cable throughout Salem County. In addition, WMGM is also on cable in Vineland and Turnersville which covers parts of eastern Camden and Gloucester counties such as Winslow Township and the Williamstown/Monroe Township area. This is the only location where WMGM is carried out of its designated area. However, it is only viewable on Comcast Xfinity digital channel 247. DirecTV and Dish Network had carried the station in the Philadelphia market until 2011, because of signal issues.

In coastal and some interior portions of Sussex County, Delaware, WMGM was carried on CATV systems during the 1970s and possibly the 1980s. At one time, WMGM TV was carried on 56 cable systems in 244 municipalities across 10 counties (including parts of Monmouth County, in the New York City market).