When I first moved to Atlantic County, NJ in the fall of 1993, I took note that I had six choices for local news. From Philadelphia, there was KYW-TV Channel 3 (was the NBC affiliate), WPVI-TV Channel 6 (ABC affiliate), WCAU-TV Channel 10 (was the CBS affiliate), WPHL-TV Channel 17, and WTXF-TV Channel 29 (FOX affiliate). There was also WMGM-TV Channel 40 (NBC affiliate) which is in Atlantic City/Wildwood. The five Philadelphia stations cover news from the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. They cover some stories in Atlantic County. WMGM-TV Channel 40 on the other hand covers the tri-county area of Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland Counties. Since I never lived in Philadelphia, I don’t know Bridesburg from Manayunk, so it did not make sense for me to watch the local news on any of the Philadelphia channels. For the last twenty-one years, WMGM-TV Channel 40 was my favorite source for local news.
In 2013, Access.1 Communications sold WMGM-TV to LocusPoint Networks. LocusPoint Networks buys UHF stations across the country. According to http://www.rabbitears.info, in addition to WMGM, LocusPoint Communications has acquired:
New York City, New York market:
Channel 23 WDVB-CD (Edison, NJ): 23-1 ZUUS Country ; 23-2 Soul of the South ; 23-3 Swagat TV (Free South-Asian TV programming); 23-4 SAB TV (India's family comedy entertainment channel)
Channel 49 WEDW (Bridgeport, CT): 49-1 PBS "CPTV"; 49-2 CPTV4U; 49-3 CPTV Sports
Chicago, Illinois market:
Channel 30 WLPD-CD (Plano, IL): 30-1 America One
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania market:
Channel 24 WPHA-CD: 24-1, 24-2, 24-3, and 24.4 Infomercials
San Francisco, California market:
Channel 28 KFTL-CD: 28-01 Religious (Chinese) "Creation TV"; 28-02 HSN; 28-03 ZUUS Latino; 28-04 Vietnamese "ViewStar TV"; 28-10 SAB TV; 28-15 ZUUS Country
Channel 60 KCSM-TV (San Mateo, CA): 60-1 Educational; 60-2 France24; 60-3 Jazz-TV (Audio program only; no picture)
Detroit, Michigan market:
Channel 18 WDWO-CD: 18-1 TCT; 18-2 TCT HD; 18-3 TCT Family; 18-4 ABN Aramaic Broadcasting Network
Channel 33 W33BY: 33-1 Launch TV
Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida market:
Channel 20 WARP-CD: 20-1, 20-2, 20-3, and 20-4 Infomercials
Miami, Florida market:
Channel 9 (broadcast on Channel 44) WLPH-CD: 09-1 Retro TV
Orlando, Florida market:
Channel 29 WRCF-CD: 29-1 Retro TV; 29-2 Local "Orange TV"; 29-3 Local "Vision TV"; 29-4 ZUUS Latino
Baltimore, Maryland market:
Channel 39 WMJF-CD (Towson, MD): 39-1 Classic Arts Showcase ; 39-2 Local
Milwaukee, Wisconsin market:
Channel 8 (broadcast on Channel 21) WMKE-CA: (unknown)
Buffalo, New York market:
Channel 15 WBNF-CD: 15-1 TCT; 15-2 TCT HD; 15-3 TCT Family; 15-4 ABN
Erie, Pennsylvania market:
Channel 9 (broadcast on Channel 43) WLEP-LD: 09-1 Retro TV; 09-2 PBJ; 09-3 Tuff TV
LocusPoint has the intention to sell the bandwidth associated with these stations at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auctions that were scheduled for June of 2015. These auctions have since been postponed until early 2016.[1] Stations sold at the auction will cease to exist. The bandwidth will then be repurposed for mobile telephone or other wireless services.
Locus Point allowed Access.1 to operate WMGM, but this ends on December 31, 2014. On January 1, 2015, WMGM will cease operating as we know it. The viewers of South Jersey will no longer have the local news that we had grown accustomed to. Since WMGM will no longer be an NBC affiliate, it is not known to the public what programming will be on WMGM as a placeholder until the auction. There is an effort for the employees of the station to broadcast local news on another channel in the area. Specific plans have not been made public. All that is being said is that we can expect expanded local news coverage in the spring or early summer of 2015.
[1] Suzanne, Marino. "WMGM-TV Plans to Expand News, Sports Coverage despite Losing NBC Affiliate." The Current of Galloway Township, Port Republic [Northfield, NJ] 11 Dec. 2014: 11. Print.
When someone moves to a new area, they need to get acclimated.