WMFP

For the WMFP software sizing model, see Weighted Micro Function Points.
WMFP
Lawrence, Massachusetts / Boston, Massachusetts
United States
City Lawrence, Massachusetts
Channels Digital: 18 (UHF)
Virtual: 62 (PSIP)
Affiliations
Owner NRJ TV, LLC
(Operated by Titan TV Broadcast Group)
(NRJ TV Boston License Co, LLC)
First air date October 16, 1987 (1987-10-16)
Call letters' meaning We're
Media
For the
People
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 62 (UHF, 1987–2009)
Former affiliations
Transmitter power 1 megawatt
Height 289.2 m
Facility ID 41436
Transmitter coordinates 42°18′27″N 71°13′27″W / 42.30750°N 71.22417°W / 42.30750; -71.22417Coordinates: 42°18′27″N 71°13′27″W / 42.30750°N 71.22417°W / 42.30750; -71.22417
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.wmfp-tv.com

WMFP, virtual channel 62 (UHF digital channel 18), is a television station serving Boston, Massachusetts, United States that is licensed to Lawrence. The station is owned by NRJ TV, LLC. WMFP maintains studio facilities located on Lakeland Park Drive in Peabody, and its transmitter is located in Needham (at the "FM-128" site, shared with radio stations). The station is available on Metrocast channel 20, Comcast channel 20, Verizon FiOS channel 23, Charter Communications channel 25, and DirecTV and Dish Network channel 62.

History

1987 - 1993

The station first signed on the air on October 16, 1987. Initially, the station broadcast approximately eight hours per day of programming, operating its transmitter from a hill behind the Baldpate Hospital in Georgetown, Massachusetts.

In September 1992, a new broadcast antenna was mounted, via a Sikorsky sky-crane helicopter, on top of One Beacon Street in Boston. WMFP installed its new transmitter on an upper floor of the building, and started broadcasting from Boston in November 1992. The station's president at that time was Boston-area political commentator Avi Nelson. Bill Mockbee, well known in Boston radio and television broadcasting, was the general manager; composer/conductor/actor David Morrow was the operations manager; and Jim Capillo served as production manager, producing several local programs for the station. WMFP began to carry several NBC programs in early 1993, including the soap opera Another World.

1995 - 2005

Avi Nelson sold channel 62 to the Shop at Home Network in 1995,[1][2] with WMFP beginning to air the network's home shopping programming soon afterward.

2006 - 2014

On May 16, 2006 Shop at Home's parent, the E. W. Scripps Company, announced that the network would suspend operations, effective June 22.[3] However, Shop at Home temporarily ceased operations one day early than said target date on June 21, WMFP then switched to Jewelry Television (and, on June 23, to a mixture of both networks). On September 26, 2006, Scripps announced that it would sell its Shop at Home stations, including WMFP, to New York City-based Multicultural Television for $170 million.[4] The sale of WMFP was finalized on April 24, 2007. Before the sale announcement, the station entered into discussions to affiliate with MyNetworkTV (a broadcast network created by News Corporation as a competitor to The CW, both of which launched in September 2006).[5] MyNetworkTV instead chose to affiliate with WZMY-TV (channel 50, now WBIN-TV).

In May 2007, Multicultural took over WMFP, and switched the station to a mix of infomercials and home shopping network Gems TV; the Gems TV affiliation was dropped a year later. On May 12, 2009, it was announced that WMFP would affiliate with Retro Television Network (RTN).[6] RTN programming was added to the station's second digital subchannel on May 20, though with its station identification showing the channel as 18.1. The next day, WMFP began showing RTN content on the main channel as well (RTN was subsequently rebranded as RTV).

After Multicultural ran into financial problems and defaulted on its loans, WMFP was placed into a trust;[7] in 2011, the station, along with KCNS in San Francisco, was sold to NRJ TV (a company unrelated to European broadcaster NRJ Radio).[8] The sale was consummated on May 13, 2011.[9] NRJ TV affiliated the station with Me-TV on December 15, 2011,[10] moving RTV to the second subchannel exclusively.

On October 1, 2012, WMFP switched its primary channel affiliation to lifestyle network Plum TV; WCVB-TV (channel 5) assumed the Me-TV affiliation for the Boston market on that date as part of a group affiliation deal with that station's owner Hearst Television.[11] On or around May 13, 2013, WMFP became affiliated with Cozi TV on its main channel. In June 2013, the station briefly added a secondary feed of Cozi TV on digital subchannel 62.3 (which airs Cozi TV programming without the infomercial pre-emptions seen on digital channel 62.1, but presented in a horizontally compressed picture format).

By November 2014, WMFP's lineup placed Cozi TV on both 62.1 and 62.2 (with 62.2 airing Cozi TV without interruption), VIETV on 62.3, and MGM-owned The Works on 62.4. In January 2015 VIETV was dropped and The Works was moved to subchannel 62.3.

Since 2016

On June 1, 2016, 62.1 changed over to programming from the Sonlife Broadcasting Network, the religious network owned by television minister Jimmy Swaggart. On June 8, 2016, subchannel 62.2 (Cozi TV) was dropped when NBC, parent company of Cozi TV, moved its programming to a new third subchannel of Telemundo O&O WNEU.[12][13]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[14]
62.1 720p 16:9 WMFP Sonlife Broadcasting Network
62.2 480i 4:3 Silent → TBD
62.3 WMFPDT3 The Works (Movies from the MGM libraries)
62.4 WMFPDT4 Comet TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

WMFP shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 62, on February 17, 2009, the original date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 18.[15] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 62, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

References

  1. ↑ "Application Search Details". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved May 25, 2009.
  2. ↑ "Public Notice Comment". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved May 25, 2009.
  3. ↑ http://pressreleases.scripps.com/release/854
  4. ↑ http://pressreleases.scripps.com/release/877
  5. ↑ http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=140847
  6. ↑ http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2009/05/12/daily.10/
  7. ↑ Jessell, Harry A. (December 28, 2010). "Multicultural Handing Over WSAH To Trustee". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
  8. ↑ "Multicultural clears out a TV on each coast". Television Business Report. January 31, 2011. Retrieved February 1, 2011.
  9. ↑ https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101427577&formid=905&fac_num=41436
  10. ↑ "Me-TV Lands Primary Affiliation On WMFP". TVNewsCheck. November 15, 2011. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  11. ↑ http://www.metvnetwork.com/files/Me-TV%20Hearst%20July%202012%20PR.pdf
  12. ↑ http://www.wmfp-tv.com/channel-schedule.html
  13. ↑ http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WNEU
  14. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WMFP
  15. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.

External links

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