WMFD-TV

WMFD-TV (channel 68) is an independent television station in Mansfield, Ohio, owned by Mid-State Television, Inc., along with sister radio stations WVNO-FM (106.1) and WRGM (1440 AM/106.7 FM). The stations share studios on Park Avenue West in Ontario, Ohio (with a Mansfield mailing address), where WMFD-TV's transmitter is also located.

"Mid-State Television" redirects here. For the similarly branded television station in New South Wales, Australia, see CBN (Australian TV station). For the Australian TV network formerly known as Mid State Television, see Prime7.
For the television station in Wilmington, North Carolina that used the callsign from 1954 to 1958, see WECT.
WMFD-TV
Channels
Branding
  • WMFD Television (general)
  • WMFD NewsWatch HD (newscasts)
Programming
Affiliations68.1: Independent
68.3: TheGrio
Ownership
OwnerMid-State Television, Inc.
WVNO-FM, WRGM
History
First air date
January 10, 1986 (1986-01-10)
Former call signs
  • WCEO-TV (1986–1987)
  • WCOM-TV (1987–1989)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 68 (UHF, 1986–1989, 1992–2008)
Dark (1989–1992)
Call sign meaning
Mansfield
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID41893
ERP14 kW
HAAT180 m (591 ft)
Transmitter coordinates40°45′50″N 82°37′4″W
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.wmfd.com

WMFD-TV is available on digital cable systems in the North-Central Ohio area and seen in the Cleveland market via Spectrum cable, DirecTV and Dish Network.

History
Mid-State Multimedia Group, Mansfield's only locally owned media outlet, and home base to WMFD-TV, along with sister radio stations WRGM AM-FM and WVNO FM.

The station first signed on the air on January 10, 1986, as WCEO-TV, originally broadcasting on UHF channel 68.[2] It changed its call letters to WCOM on July 24, 1987. The station attempted to enter the Columbus market by construction with a tall transmitter tower (the tallest ever erected in Ohio) south of Mansfield in Butler, but it never achieved cable carriage in the market and shut down in 1989.

Channel 68 returned to the air under the current WMFD-TV call letters on June 1, 1992; this time, targeting viewers in north-central Ohio (the WMFD-TV callsign was previously used on what is now WECT in Wilmington, North Carolina, from that station's sign-on in 1954 until 1958).

Low-power station WOHZ-CD was co-owned with WMFD until Mid-State Television sold the station to Gray Television in 2020.

Programming

As the only full power television station specifically serving the Mid-Ohio region, WMFD concentrates on local programming such as Bon Appetit: The Dining Show and Focus on North Central Ohio. The station produces local newscasts, branded as NewsWatch, which air weekdays at 6 a.m. and noon for a half-hour, and for an hour each weeknight at 5, 6, 10 and 11 p.m.

Outside of local programs, the station fills out the remainder of its schedule with syndicated programming and infomercials.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WMFD-TV[2][3]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
68.1 1080i16:9WMFD-DTMain WMFD-TV programming
68.3 480iTheGrio

Analog-to-digital conversion

WMFD-TV signed on its digital signal on VHF channel 12 in 1998, claiming to be the first independent station in the United States to begin digital television broadcasts. The station shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 68, on June 16, 2008.[4] The station's digital signal continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition VHF channel 12.[5] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 68, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

References
  1. "Facility Technical Data for WMFD-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. "WMFD-TV MANSFIELD, OH". WMFD.com. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  3. "Digital TV Market Listing for WMFD-TV". www.rabbitears.info. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  4. "DTV Transition". wmfd.com. Mid-State Television, Inc. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008.
  5. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
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