WMNT-CD


WMNT-CD, virtual channel 48, is a low-powered, Class A television station licensed to Toledo, Ohio, United States, which primarily airs paid programming. The station is owned by Community Broadcast Group, Inc. WMNT-CD's studios are located in a shopping center at the corner of Reynolds Road and Dussel Drive in Maumee, and its transmitter is located on top of the One SeaGate tower in downtown Toledo. On cable, the station is available on Toledo's Buckeye CableSystem on channel 58. It claims no other pay TV carriage in the Toledo market, nor are its subchannels carried by any pay TV provider.

History

The station was licensed as W48AP on March 23, 1987, with broadcasts commencing on March 6, 1989 from studios and transmitters located at 716 North Westwood Avenue, in west Toledo. Launched as "HomeTown TV 48", it carried a wide variety of locally produced programming including a trivia quiz game show ; a current affairs and political program ; Neighbor Talk, an interview-driven talk show hosted by general manager Bob Moore, and featuring local guests talking about topics ranging from political issues to hobbies; a nightly auction program featuring products from local merchants and hosted by Douglas Goff; broadcasts of entertainment acts from local fairs and festivals; a weekly auto and boat sale program called Wheels, Keels, and Deals and a spin-off called Homes for Sale, featuring local real property and hosted by Bob DuParis; a children's series called Abracadabra featuring games, activities, and ventriloquism; a variety show hosted by long-time actor and singer Johnny Ginger; local high school football and basketball games ; as well as other specials and series. Programming during non-prime hours was provided by FamilyNet, which featured classic movies and religious programs.
Although W48AP was widely recognized as a pioneer of community-oriented low-power television, it suffered initially in its bid for cable TV carriage, as the local cable systems did not generally grant LPTV stations space on their networks. This effectively relegated their signal to being viewed on "second TVs" in the minority of households that did not subscribe to cable—which meant that getting advertising support was difficult. Exacerbating the difficulties posed by lack of cable carriage, the local newspaper, away from the other local channels. Buckeye Cablesystem responded by turning its local programming channel on 5A into a unique format, where it would be programmed as an independent station solely on cable, launching ToledoVision 5, which took programming inventory which would have usually ended up by default on W48AP.
This marginalization of TV48 led to it not being able to survive the expense of producing dozens of hours of local programming each week. By 1990, TV48 had dropped the "HomeTown TV48" moniker and resorted to full-time satellite-fed programming from the short-lived Star Television Network in the 1990–1991 period, using the moniker "TV Heaven", and then Channel America.
As a last-ditch effort to keep the TV48 signal on the air and producing a revenue stream, in 1992, it began airing pay-per-view music videos from The Box full-time, which lasted until 1995. Station co-founder Robert S. "Bob" Moore, along with Denny Long, managed the station from its beginning until 1995. W48AP was then sold to Marty and Linda Miller through their company L&M Video Productions Inc. It affiliated the station with the then-new UPN network in 1995, and changed its call letters to WNGT-LP in 1996. L&M reached a deal with Cornerstone Church, a local Pentecostal congregation, to invest in the station to provide funding.
WNGT-LP went into receivership in February 2005. Ralph DeNune III, who was appointed by the Lucas County Common Pleas Court to oversee the station when it was in receivership, discovered during a series of unannounced visits that the station's studio at the National City Bank Building in downtown Toledo was often left unlocked and unattended, which would allow members of the public to enter the facility and disrupt the station's programming. Miller defended the operational state of the studio, arguing that the station's equipment was too complex for an uneducated person to operate, and that most people were unaware of the studio's location to begin with. DeNune also discovered that the station had received airtime payments for infomercials that never ended up airing. As a result, he reached a deal with the Cornerstone Church, through subsidiary Matrix Broadcasting Communications, to purchase the station. Following the September 2006 shutdown of UPN, WNGT switched to MyNetworkTV, and changed its call letters to WMNT-CA.
The Millers attempted to oppose the sale of the station, but it was approved by the FCC in May 2007. In 2008, the Millers made several attempts to regain the station's license, including an attempt to sue Matrix for discrimination. All of these tactics failed.
In summer 2010, Cornerstone Church announced plans to sell WMNT-CA. The buyer was Community Broadcasting Co., a firm headed by Atlanta-based media consultant Jesse Weatherby and Toledo-area minister and former Toledo Blade sales executive Rev. Jerry Jones. They completed the sale by January 2011 at a reported price of $1.00. Community Broadcast Group had been operating WMNT under a time brokerage agreement after the sale was announced. It restored the station's analog channel 48 signal in August 2010, after Cornerstone Church filed a notification in June of ceasing the station's operations due to technical reasons.
On March 3, 2013, WMNT-CA flash-cut to digital operations, continuing on UHF channel 48.
In October 2014, Community Broadcast Group announced that WMNT-CA would be sold to Novia Communications, LLC at a price of $400,000.
In January 2020, WMNT-CD dropped MyNetworkTV programming and began airing infomercials on its main channel, making Toledo one of the few markets with no remaining MyNetworkTV affiliate.

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP short nameProgramming
48.1480iMy TVInfomercials
48.2480iAntenTVAntenna TV
48.3480i
48.4480i