| Presque Isle/Caribou, Maine (USA)- Edmundston/Fredericton, New Brunswick (CAN) |
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|---|---|
| City of license | Presque Isle |
| Branding | Fox 8 (general) NewsSource 8 |
| Slogan | Northern Maine's and Western New Brunswick's News & Entertainment Leader |
| Channels | Digital: WAGM-DT 8.1 (VHF) |
| Affiliations | Fox |
| Owner | NEPSK, Inc. |
| Founded | September 12, 2006 |
| Call letters' meaning | see WAGM |
| Transmitter power | 10 kW (digital) |
| Height | 350 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 48305 (digital) |
| Transmitter coordinates | (digital) |
WAGM-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Northern Maine, United States and Western New Brunswick, Canada. It is seen on the main channel of CBS affiliate WAGM-TV which is locally-owned by NEPSK, Inc. Over-the-air, the station broadcasts a 480i digital signal on VHF channel 8.1 from a transmitter on the northern section of Mars Hill Mountain among the wind turbines. Known on-air as Fox 8, WAGM-DT1 can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 12. Its parent station has studios on Brewer Road/SR 210 in Presque Isle. Syndicated programming on this station includes Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, Extra and The People's Court among others. WAGM-DT1 signs-off every night.
Even before the addition of Fox to this channel, WAGM had some history with the network. When Fox gained broadcasting rights to games from the NFL's National Football Conference in 1994, WAGM aired them since there was no affiliate with the network in Presque Isle. This made it the only station in the United States to air programs from all four major networks at the same time. On September 12, 2006, WAGM launched a Fox affiliate on this primary digital channel preceding the shutdown of Foxnet. The national service, comparable to The WB 100+ (also defunct), provided the area's only access to Fox on cable. The change resulted in the CBS signal moving to a new second subchannel.
Such a placement is generally uncommon as most broadcasters number a digital signal equivalent to the analog signal as minor channel 1 and number other subchannels with higher minor channel numbers. This is a similar situation as NBC affiliate WGBC in Meridian, Mississippi which moved its original NBC affiliation to a new second digital subchannel so its main channel could join Fox and the Retro Television Network (RTV). Until Time Warner Cable switched to WAGM's relocated CBS feed, it offered Fox in high definition for a short time on digital channel 508. On November 15, 2007, WAGM created a new separate website for this channel featuring the "My Fox" format and layout from Fox Interactive Media. However, the web address "myfoxaroostook.com" was eventually abandoned.
With the September 12, 2006 launch of Fox on this main channel came a new prime time weeknight newscast known as NewsSource 8 at 10. The program mirrors local shows seen on the CBS channel. On April 11, 2009 due to a decrease in sponsorship, increased pre-emptions from network sports coverage, and financial reasons, WAGM stopped airing a Saturday night newscast at 6 on its CBS channel. In late-September 2010, NewsSource 8: Saturday Edition was brought back but is now normally shown on the Fox channel.
However, it can still be seen on the CBS channel should network coverage pre-empt the program. In addition, the prime time newscast at 10 was expanded to Saturday nights. On August 23, 2010, WAGM renovated its news and weather set but kept the same music theme and graphics package. When the Fox channel first launched, it replayed WAGM's hour long NewsSource 8: Morning Edition originally at 8 on weekday mornings. This was eventually moved to 9 and then dropped altogether at some point in time.
News team
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