WMBB
Channels
Branding
  • WMBB News 13
  • The CW Panama City (on DT2)
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
October 4, 1973 (1973-10-04)
Former call signs
WDTB (1973-1977)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 13 (VHF, 1973–2009)
  • Digital: 19 (UHF, 2002–2009)
NBC (1973–1982)
Call sign meaning
"World's Most Beautiful Beaches"
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID66398
ERP42 kW
HAAT434 m (1,424 ft)
Transmitter coordinates30°21′8″N 85°23′28″W / 30.35222°N 85.39111°W / 30.35222; -85.39111
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.mypanhandle.com

WMBB (channel 13) is a television station in Panama City, Florida, United States, affiliated with ABC and The CW Plus. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on Harrison Avenue/US 231 in downtown Panama City, and its transmitter is located in unincorporated Youngstown along the Bay–Calhoun county line.

History

Channel 13 first began broadcast operations on October 4, 1973, as WDTB. The station was started by Panhandle Broadcasting Corporation (run by attorney Denver T. Brannen, from where the original call letters were derived from), financed by local businessman/car dealer Tommy Thomas, and attorneys Julian Bennett and Dick Arnold. When it first took to the air, the station was originally an NBC affiliate. The station was a relatively late start for a VHF frequency; most of the allocations on that band elsewhere in the U.S. had been taken by that point. On February 28, 1977, WDTB was sold to Octagon Broadcasting, an Atlanta-based outfit. Upon the change, Octagon changed the station's call sign to the current WMBB (which stands for "The World's Most Beautiful Beaches").

Originally, the station was positioned to be the NBC affiliate for Tallahassee as well since the market did not have one until April 21, 1983, when WTWC-TV signed on. At the time, WMBB's transmitter was in Frink, Calhoun County, well over fifty miles (80 km) away from Tallahassee at approximately 30°22′9″N 85°12′29″W / 30.36917°N 85.20806°W / 30.36917; -85.20806. In addition, many viewers in the capital city already received NBC from Albany, Georgia's WALB which provided a better signal to the area.

On January 4, 1982, WMBB became an ABC affiliate, swapping affiliations with crosstown rival WJHG, which had been the market's original NBC station prior to 1972. Then on December 5, 1986, Buford Television of Tyler, Texas, purchased the station and began investing in equipment and news talent in order to make the station more competitive, not only with WJHG, but also with Dothan, Alabama's WTVY, the CBS station serving the eastern part of the northwestern Florida Panhandle region. It was also around this time that this station moved from its location in Downtown Panama City to its current location on Harrison Avenue that formerly housed a Buick dealership. The new facilities offered three times the space of the previous location.

Unexpectedly at 2:03 p.m. Central Time on May 18, 1989, an Air Force F-15 fighter jet clipped a wire at WMBB's Frink tower. This caused the tower, antenna, and transmitter to be completely destroyed. Not long after this incident, channel 13 was sold once again. This time, it joined Spartan Communications of Spartanburg, South Carolina as the construction of new transmission equipment got underway. The company completed the acquisition on April 12, 1990. On August 6 of that same year, WMBB began broadcasting from a new 1,500-foot (457 m) state-of-the-art antenna and transmitter tower now in Youngstown. This allowed for better viewing of the station in the western half of the market including the rapidly growing southern Walton County area and Destin.

In 1993, WMBB became one of several ABC affiliates across the country that refused clearance to the ABC show NYPD Blue. Instead, it aired syndicated programming during the timeslot. Then-general manager Hugh Roche kept the show off the station until 1997 when the parental rating system was adopted by the networks. By the time WMBB finally allowed the program to air, it was the last station in the country to lift its ban on the show.

In March 2000, this station became one of 13 in a package acquired by Media General worth $605 million. Later that year, Media General purchased the Jackson County Floridan newspaper. WMBB then established a Jackson County Bureau and used the resources of the Floridan to cover Jackson County as well. This caught the eye of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) because of the common ownership of a newspaper and television station in the same market. With the sale of WMBB to Hoak Media, the issue became moot. By the time Media General sold the station, Media General was granted a permanent waiver by the FCC to operate both properties in the same market. Media General later divested all of their newspapers (with the exception of the Tampa Tribune) to Warren Buffett's World Media Holdings in June 2012.

On March 14, 2008, it was announced that Media General would sell the station (and then-sister KALB-TV in Alexandria, Louisiana) to Hoak Media.[2] The deal was closed on July 16.[3] At the time of the closing, WMBB was Hoak's only television station east of the Mississippi River. In July 2010, the station replaced its second digital subchannel broadcast of weather radar with This TV. That network originally aired on WBIF after that channel stopped airing content from the Retro Television Network (RTV). Its replacement was supposed to be WPGX-DT2 but this never made it to air.

On November 20, 2013, Hoak announced the sale of most of its stations, including WMBB, to Gray Television. Due to Gray's existing ownership of WJHG-TV and WECP-LD, Gray immediately placed the station, along with KREX-TV in Grand Junction, Colorado, up for sale to comply with FCC regulations.[4] On December 19, Gray announced that the overlap properties, including WMBB, would be sold to Nexstar Broadcasting Group, for $37.5 million.[5] The sale was completed on June 13, 2014.[6] The deal made WMBB a sister station to Dothan's ABC affiliate, WDHN. On January 17, 2017, Nexstar completed its purchase of Media General, which reunited WMBB with most of its former Media General sister stations.

The station was knocked off the air on October 10, 2018, by Hurricane Michael.[7]

News operation

WMBB made history during Hurricane Dennis in July 2005 when it became the first station in Panama City to broadcast live storm coverage over the internet. It was one of the first stations in the country to use Weather Services International's Titan forecasting tool (a 3D forecasting system which showed the collapse of the storm just before it struck Santa Rosa Island).

On July 21, 2011, WMBB announced on their Facebook page that they would add another newscast starting September 12, News 13 Midday, that will run from 11 a.m. until noon each day. This is actually a return to doing a news program during the midday time slot since the station used to produce a midday program until the late-1990s.

In February 2016, Tom Lewis returned to WMBB to become their news director. He was the primary anchor from the late 1980s until 2001, and left for rival station WJHG to become their primary anchor until 2014. He also served as their news director from 2005 to 2010.

On June 1, 2020, WMBB began producing an hour-long 9 p.m. weeknight newscast for Fox affiliate WPGX.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WMBB[8]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
13.1 720p16:9WMBB-DTABC
13.2 480iMETVThe CW Plus[9]
13.3 LaffLaff
13.4 EscapeIon Mystery

Analog-to-digital conversion

WMBB shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 19 to VHF channel 13.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for WMBB". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ Malone, Michael (March 14, 2008). "Media General Sells Two More Stations". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  3. ↑ Malone, Michael (July 16, 2008). "Hoak Closes Purchase of WMBB, KALB/NALB - 7/16/2008 10:59:00 AM - Broadcasting & Cable". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Gray Buying Hoak, Prime Stations For $342.5M". TVNewsCheck. November 20, 2013. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  5. ↑ Jessell, Harry A. (December 19, 2013). "Gray Sell Grand Junction Duop To Nexstar". TVNewsCheck. Archived from the original on December 19, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Nexstar Completes Purchase Of Gray Stations". TVNewsCheck. Archived from the original on July 3, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Hurricane Michael live updates: Deadly Category 4 storm pummels Florida, moves north". Washington Post. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Digital TV Market Listing for WMBB". www.rabbitears.info. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  9. ↑ Calhoun, S. Brady (December 18, 2023). "WMBB to launch CW Panama City January 1". MyPanhandle.com. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  10. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
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