WGMU-CA

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WGMU-CA / WBVT-CA
station_
station_slogan = My 39 Burlington: Serving the Greater Green Mountain Area
station_branding = My 39
analog =
WGMU: 39 (UHF)
WBVT: 30 (UHF)
digital = none
other_chs = see article
affiliations = MyNetworkTV
owner = Equity Media Holdings
licensee = Newmont Broadcasting Corporation
founded = 1994
location = Burlington, Vermont /
Plattsburgh, New York
callsign_meaning = WGMU: We're Green Mountain UPN (refers to previous affiliation)
WBVT: Burlington, VermonT
former_affiliations = The WB (1995-1999)
UPN (1999-2006)
A1 (2003, secondary)
former_callsigns = WGMU: W39IN "WWIN" (1994-1999)
WBVT (1999-2005)
effective_radiated_power = WGMU:
60.09 kW (analog)
15 kw (digital)
WBVT: 0.07 kW
HAAT = WGMU: 230.1 m (both)
WBVT: 218 m
coordinates = WGMU: coord|44|18|46|N|73|11|10|W|type:landmark
WBVT: coord|44|27|2|N|72|58|37|W|type:landmark
homepage = [http://www.mytv-burlington.com/ mytv-burlington.com]

WGMU-CA is a Class A television station that is licensed to Burlington. The station broadcasts an analog signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter located in Charlotte. WBVT-CA is another Class A station that is also licensed to Burlington. It broadcasts and analog signal on UHF channel 30 from a transmitter located in Nashville. Neither station has a digital signal. Together, the two stations serve as the MyNetworkTV affiliates for the Burlington / Plattsburgh television market. WGMU is the main station that is simulcasted full-time on WBVT. The two stations are owned by Equity Media Holdings and is operated via satellite from Equity's headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Its studios are located on Pine Haven Shores Road in Shelburne. WGMU is known on-air as "My 39". On cable, WGMU can be seen in Burlington on Comcast channel 7 and in Plattsburgh on Charter channel 18. However, the station is not seen on Vidéotron cable systems in Montreal, Quebec. The nearest WGMU outlying translator to Montreal, W52CD in St. Albans, barely reaches the city. Syndicated programming on the station includes: "Montel", "Jerry Springer", "Frasier", "Still Standing", and "South Park". It does not air any news or sports programs.

Repeaters

WGMU operates the largest network of repeaters of any Burlington / Plattsburgh station. With Equity operating the station from Little Rock and no one watching the transmitters back in Vermont, WGMU is very vulnerable to technical difficulties. As a result, Equity has a special hotline to report transmitter failures and other technical difficulties involving its equipment. Viewers experiencing technical trouble on any of its transmitters should call 1-866-823-8828.

History

WGMU originally signed on the air in 1994 as W39IN and identified themselves on-air as having the WWIN call letters. On January 11, 1995, the station joined The WB. In 1999, WWIN changed its call letters to WBVT. In May of that year, WB programming began airing on Fox affiliate WFFF-TV in a secondary nature and WBVT picked up UPN from WWBI-LP. During a period in 2003, WBVT aired America One programing during the day while showing a "UPN 39" logo in the top-right corner of the screen. The station broadcasted UPN programming during primetime but would not air UPN's kid shows. In 2004, WBVT's previous owners (NYN LLC) were experiencing financial problems which led them to cede control of the station to current owner Equity Media Holdings (then known as Equity Broadcasting). That company would buy the station outright in February of 2005. During times of financial trouble and the transition to Equity ownership, there were plenty of technical problems on the station.

There was a point where the station would be off-air for days at a time. During this dark period, some area cable systems (including Adelphia in Burlington) temporarily replaced WBVT with Boston's WSBK-TV. In 2005, once the station was in Equity's hands and back in shape, it changed its call letters again to the current WGMU. This was done in order to distinguish itself as a UPN station and no longer a WB affiliate. On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that they would end broadcasting and merge. The newly combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. On February 22 News Corporation announced that they would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This service, which would be sister to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division, Twentieth Television.

MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming independent. It was also created to compete against The CW. Soon after that, WGMU was announced as becoming the Burlington / Plattsburgh MyNetworkTV affiliate. The network began broadcasting on September 5, and on that date the station's branding became "My 39". On September 18, WFFF replaced its secondary affiliation with The CW. Before MyNetworkTV affiliation, WGMU did not have a website of its own. The station formerly had a website (as WBVT) through previous ownership. When it was bought by Equity and changed to WGMU, it got a web address located at "gmupn.com" that later disappeared. With the network switch, Equity created a site and MyNetworkTV logo for WGMU. The website has been in operation since late-August 2006. As of mid-December 2006, however, it is out of date. For the upcoming February 19, 2009 analog to digital transition, WGMU holds an FCC-issued construction permit to build a low-powered digital station on the same channel that the analog signal currently broadcasts on. It will have the call sign WGMU-LD (LD standing for low-powered digital). Most likely, this will mean on the switch over date, WGMU will turn off its analog and turn on its digital signal in a an action called a "flash-cut".

Logos

External links

* [http://www.mytv-burlington.com WGMU-CA / WBVT-CA "My 39"] (out-of-date)
*TVQ|WGMU-CA
*TVQ|WBVT-CA
*TVQ|W17CI
*TVQ|W19BR
*TVQ|W36CP
*TVQ|W49BI
*TVQ|W52CD
*TVQ|W54CV
*TVQ|W61CE