WPME

WPME is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for Southern Maine and Northern New Hampshire licensed to Lewiston, Maine. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 35 from a transmitter in South Gray along I-95/Maine Turnpike/Gold Star Memorial Highway. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 4 and Time Warner Cable channel 17. There is a high definition feed offered on Comcast digital channel 505 and Time Warner Cable digital channel 517.

Owned by MPS Media, the station is operated by New Age Media through a joint sales agreement (JSA). This makes it sister to CW affiliate WPXT and the two share studios on Ledgeview Drive in Westbrook. Syndicated programming on WPME includes Everybody Loves Raymond, The King of Queens, New Adventures of Old Christine, and My Name Is Earl among others.

Digital TV

On WPME-DT2 is a 24-hour service geared toward visitors, tourists, and residents. Programming features include highlights about ongoing events such as yearly festivals, tours, and art exhibits. There is a local weather forecast offered as well as advertising opportunities given to area businesses. Its primary target is to viewers staying at resorts, motels, and inns. Currently, WPME-DT2 is not offered on cable systems at least to non-hospitality subscribers.

History

The station signed-on August 13, 1997 under a time brokerage agreement. It was owned by New England Television as sister to then-Fox affiliate WPXT. Pegasus Communications purchased WPME outright in February 2001. The station maintained primary affiliation with UPN and secondary affiliation with The WB. It aired WB prime time on a tape delay starting at 10. When WPXT switched its affiliation from Fox to The WB, this secondary affiliation was dropped. WPME aired Boston Celtics and Bruins games in the late-1990s and Red Sox baseball until 2002. The Red Sox, owning half of cable sports network NESN, moved the games to that network.

This station's only attempt at local news was a 7 o'clock broadcast (produced by WPXT) in 2001 which was quickly canceled due to low ratings and inconsistent viewership. The station did not an air prime time newscast at 10 like many other UPN affiliates because it would compete with WPXT's nightly broadcast. However, that station's show was simulcasted on WPME for a period of time. Pegasus declared bankruptcy in June 2004 over a dispute with DirecTV over marketing of the direct broadcast satellite service in rural areas. The Pegasus station group was sold in August 2006 to private investment firm CP Media, LLC of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania for $55.5 million. CP Media eventually formed a new broadcasting company, New Age Media.

On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced the two networks would end broadcasting and merge. The combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents "C"BS (the parent company of UPN) and the "W"arner Bros. unit of Time Warner. On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced the two networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents "C"BS (the parent company of UPN) and the "W"arner Bros. unit of Time Warner.

On February 22, News Corporation announced it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This new service, which would be a sister network 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. On March 9, it was announced WPXT would become Portland's CW affiliate. Later on May 1, it was made public WPME would affiliate with MyNetworkTV. The latter joined the News Corporation-owned service on September 5 while WPXT began airing The CW on September 18, 2006.

Until December 6, 2006, it was the only MyNetworkTV affiliate in the entire state of Maine. Since then, Bangor's low-powered Fox affiliate WFVX-LP has been a secondary MyNetworkTV affiliate. At one point, it was possible Presque Isle's CBS affiliate WAGM-TV would also add the network in a secondary arrangement. A preliminary schedule released by Time Warner Cable for the new channel indicated WAGM-DT1 would also carry the two-hour programming block from MyNetworkTV. However, this was ultimately not the case. As a result, MyNetworkTV is only seen through network flagship WWOR-TV from New York City on cable, DirecTV, and Dish Network north of the Bangor market.

On June 27, 2008, WPME signed-on a new second digital subchannel to be the "Maine Visitor's Channel". It ceased transmission in analog on September 18, 2008 ten months prior to the revised Federal Communications Commission (FCC) digital switchover deadline of June 12, 2009.

Throughout its history, the station has also produced and aired several local programs. Since 2009, this has included a simulcast of conservative weekday morning program The Ray Richardson Show produced by WLOB. This can be seen for an hour from 6:30 until 7:30 featuring short features and news stories from Fox News Radio, local weather forecasts on WPME during commercial breaks, as well as live call-ins from viewers and listeners along with in-studio guests. The broadcast originates from WLOB's facility on Warren Avenue in Portland's Riverton section.

Fellow MyNetworkTV affiliate WZMY-TV, based in Derry, New Hampshire with service to southern areas of the state and Greater Boston, laid-off several employees as part of an overall strategy change in December 2009. Although that station (now WBIN-TV) continued to be licensed to Shooting Star Broadcasting, an outsourcing agreement was established with New Age Media resulting in WZMY becoming a sister outlet to WPME. The move was designed to streamline operations and some of its programming options in order to be more hyper-local. Even though its licensee holder eventually changed hands to Carlisle One Media on May 17, 2011, WBIN continues to be operated by New Age Media. No announcement has been made about the outsourced operation arrangement status.

External links

• WPME
• WPME-DT2 "Maine Visitor's Channel"
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WPME