WHME-TV

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WHME-TV
Image:WHME logo.png
South Bend, Indiana
Branding WHME TV 46
Slogan WHME 46 is Life Affirming
Channels Analog: 46 (UHF)

Digital: 48 (UHF)

Translators WHNW-LP 18 Gary
WHVI-LP 24 Valparaiso
WHCH-LP 54 Chesterton
Affiliations LeSEA
Owner LeSEA Broadcasting Corporation
(LeSEA Broadcasting of South Bend, Inc.)
First air date September 10, 1977
Call letters’ meaning World
Harvest
Michiana
Entertainment
Transmitter Power 1120 kW (analog)
300 kW (digital)
Height 305 m (analog)
295 m (digital)
Facility ID 36117
Transmitter Coordinates 41°35′41.9″N, 86°9′38″W
Website www.whme.com

WHME-TV is a full-service Christian and general entertainment television station serving the South Bend market. The station is owned by LeSEA Broadcasting, also known as World Harvest Broadcasting, an organization founded by Assembly of God minister Lester Sumrall (1913-1996), whose sons are still active with the ministry. The first two letters of its callsign stand for "World Harvest" and it is the flagship station for the World Harvest network. WHME-TV broadcasts in analog on UHF channel 46 and in digital on UHF channel 48. It also has three repeater stations serving the Chicago market: WHNW-LP channel 18 in Gary, WHVI-LP channel 24 in Valparaiso and WHCH-LP channel 54 in Chesterton, all in Indiana.

Contents

[edit] History

WHME signed on on September 10, 1977, running mostly religious shows and, in the late afternoons, black-and-white dramas and Little Rascals shorts. In the 1980s, it started running children's cartoons like The Disney Afternoon on weekdays, and Kids' WB on Saturday mornings. Weekday mornings often have a cartoon or two, as well. Overall, it runs secular shows from about 2-7 p.m. weekdays. The secular shows include sitcoms, westerns, public domain movies, and talk shows. On Sunday, it runs religious programming the entire day.

Channel 46 in South Bend was previously home to independent station WMSH-TV, which was on briefly from July 1974 to April 6, 1976. The station at the time was co-owned with WMSH AM 960 and WMSH-FM 99.3 in Sturgis, Michigan.

Channel 46 was also the original home of WNDU-TV, which signed on July 15, 1955, but moved to its present channel 16 in 1957.

[edit] Sports

WHME-TV 46 used to carry many regional college football and basketball games shown through ESPN Plus. But since the Big Ten Network debuted, ESPN Plus no longer has the rights to show Big Ten games. Now WHME shows SEC games from Raycom. The station also has their own sports division that broadcasts many high school football and basketball games in the Michiana area, usually one per week, along with local NAIA college games, such as Bethel and Goshen. The sports director of WHME is Chuck Freeby, who has worked as a sports anchor at WNDU-TV.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links