WVMA-CD,

virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...

17 (

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...

channel 22), is a low-powered, Class A

Antenna TV Antenna TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operati ...

- affiliated

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Winchendon, Massachusetts Winchendon is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 10,364 at the 2020 census. The town includes the villages of Waterville and Winchendon Springs (also known as Spring Village). A census-designated place, ...

, United States (which is technically part of the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

television market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

), but primarily serving western

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. The station is owned by Woodland Communications, a company controlled by Bill and Paige Christian, partners in

Waypoint Media Waypoint Media is a confederation of holding companies that own and operate radio and television stations mostly in small cities in the United States. Primary owners of the various companies include Mike Reed, William Christian and Paige Christian ...

. WVMA-CD's studios are located on Pleasant Street in

Claremont, New Hampshire Claremont is the only city in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 12,949 at the 2020 census. History Pre-colonial native populations Before colonial settlement, the Upper Connecticut River Valley was home to the Pe ...

, and its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

is located near Scovill Road in

Walpole, New Hampshire Walpole is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,633 at the 2020 census. The town's central village, where 573 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined as the Walpole census-designated place (CDP) and ...

. Despite Winchendon being technically part of the Boston television market, the station's signal is unable to reach Boston due to its low-power status, along with the transmitters being located in rural New Hampshire, far away from the other Boston market stations' transmitters. To circumvent this, the station is simulcast on the sixth digital subchannel of Boston-licensed low-power station WCRN-LD (channel 31).

History

WVMA-CD was formerly a

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

WGMU-LP WGMU-LP, UHF analog channel 39, was a low-powered television station licensed to Burlington, Vermont, United States. It was a satellite of Retro TV affiliate WNMN in Saranac Lake, New York. The station was owned by CEC Media Group. The station ...

, which was itself a translator of WNMN (now

WYCI WYCI (channel 40) is a television station licensed to Saranac Lake, New York, United States, serving the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Burlington-lice ...

) in

Saranac Lake, New York Saranac Lake is a village in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,406, making it the largest community by population in the Adirondack Park. The village is named after Upper, Middle and Lower Saran ...

, which at the time was a

Retro Television Network Retro TV (stylized as retrotv), formerly known as Retro Television Network, is an American broadcast television network owned by Get After It Media. The network mainly airs classic television sitcoms and drama series from the 1950s through th ...

affiliate (vowing that

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...

became a programming service in 2009 instead of a full TV network). As a separate station, WGMU had studios on Pine Haven Shores Road in Shelburne which are still being used. On cable, the station was seen in Burlington on

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

channel 7 and in Plattsburgh on

Charter Spectrum Spectrum is a trade name of Charter Communications, used to market consumer and commercial cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the company. The brand was first introduced in 2014; prior to that, these serv ...

channel 18. It was not seen on

Vidéotron Vidéotron is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Owned by Quebecor, it primarily s ...

systems in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. The nearest WGMU-CA outlying translator to Montreal, W52CD channel 52 in

St. Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ro ...

, barely reached the city. Syndicated programming on the station included ''

Montel Montel is a given name and surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Montel Vontavious Porter (born 1973), American professional wrestler *Montel Williams (born 1956), American television personality and television/radio talk show ...

'', ''

Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician. He hosted the tabloid talk show ''Jerry Springer'' between September 30, 1991 and July 26, 2018, an ...

'', ''

Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons. It premiered on September 16, 1993, and ended on May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Case ...

'', and '' Still Standing''. It did not air any news or sports programs. Prior to December 2010, WGMU-CA experienced long term outages (i.e. dead air; static/snow), lasting several weeks or months, and only broadcast sporadically. The station formerly had a

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

for a digital transmitter on channel 49. However, the permit no longer appears in the FCC database as of early 2012. WGMU-CA and repeater W19BR were downgraded from Class A status and reverted to standard low-power stations on October 24, 2012 due to failure to file children's television reports. WGMU-LP had been a class A station since 2002, when the station was still WBVT-LP. The FCC canceled the licenses of WGMU-LP and repeaters W19BR and WBVT-LP on March 12, 2015 for failure to broadcast for a year; WGMU-LP and W19BR had gone off the air on November 18, 2013, while WBVT shut down four days later. WVMA-CD, with a new status of WGMU's former Claremont repeater, was sold to Sound Communications in 2013 and transferred to Novia Communications (a company partially co-owned with Sound) a year later. WVMA-CD was the company's only media holding outside of its usual territory of

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

before it allied itself with

in the late 2010s. As of 2020, is a full-time affiliate of

. Said station has since been re-licensed to

, with its transmitter remaining in New Hampshire.

References

{{Boston TV VMA-CD Antenna TV affiliates Television channels and stations established in 2020 2020 establishments in Massachusetts