WAMS-LD,

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 ...

35 (

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 29), is a low-powered

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 to both Minster and

New Bremen, Ohio New Bremen () is a village in Auglaize County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,978 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Wapakoneta, Ohio Micropolitan Statistical Area. The village is adjacent to Minster to the south. The village ...

, United States. It is 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 ...

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

-licensed Class A dual

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

/ CBS affiliate WOHL-CD (channel 35) which is owned by Block Communications, and is also sister to Lima-licensed, full-powered dual NBC/

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

affiliate WLIO (channel 8). All of the stations share studios on Rice Avenue northwest of downtown; WAMS-LD's transmitter is located off SR 119 east of Minster.

History

The station signed on September 22, 1998 with the calls W65DP. It aired an analog signal on UHF channel 65 and was a full-time

of WOHL-LP (now WOHL-CD). The channel was spun off in 2002 and became a CBS affiliate with the calls WLMO-LP while moving to UHF channel 38. This aired from a transmitter west of Cridersville in

Auglaize County Auglaize County () is a county in Northwestern Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,442. Its county seat is Wapakoneta. Auglaize County comprises the Wapakoneta Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also includ ...

. Before the station affiliated with CBS,

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

affiliate WHIO-TV served as the CBS affiliate of record for the Lima market, while

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

affiliate WBNS-TV and

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

affiliate WTOL served the eastern and northern portions of the market; some areas of the western portion of the market were also served by

Fort Wayne Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

affiliate

WANE-TV WANE-TV (channel 15) is a television station in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios and transmitter are located on West State Boulevard in the Tower Heights section of th ...

. After picking up CBS, WLMO fought an uphill battle with

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...

(now Charter Spectrum). The company initially refused to carry the station on its Lima system due to the presence of both WHIO-TV and WBNS-TV, the latter of which would replace WTOL-TV on most cable providers in the area. With WLMO being a low-powered station with no support from any full-powered channels, Time Warner was not obligated to carry the station. Must-carry regulations do not apply to low-powered stations regardless of affiliation. However on March 29, 2006, Time Warner added the station to its systems in Lima, Cridersville, and

Wapakoneta Wapakoneta may refer to: ;Places *Wapakoneta, Ohio *The Lima- Van Wert-Wapakoneta, Ohio Combined Statistical Area ;Ships *, United States Navy ships ;Other *The Treaty of Wapakoneta *The Wapakoneta City School District The Wapakoneta City Schoo ...

. At one point, this station carried America One on a secondary basis that was shared with WLQP-LP. WLMO had applied to the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

(FCC) to perform a "

flash-cut A flash cut, also called a flash cutover, is an immediate change in a complex system, with no phase-in period. In the United States, some telephone area codes were split or overlaid immediately, rather than being phased in with a permissive dia ...

" of its signal to digital in 2006. This application was dismissed as of July 1, 2009 because the station decided instead to apply for a low-power digital companion channel on UHF channel 47 with the calls WLMO-LD. On September 28, 2009, WLMO terminated its analog operations and programming was shifted to WOHL-CD's second digital subchannel. On November 29, 2008, it was announced that Metro Video Productions would sell its stations (including WLMO) to West Central Ohio Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Block Communications (owner of WLIO). While Block assumed control of the station's operations after the sale's completion, it was initially stated that the company would not consolidate WLMO's facilities on South Central Avenue with WLIO. It has since been stated that some consolidation would take place with the station moving to WLIO's studios on Rice Avenue. On June 8, 2010, WLMO-LD was granted 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 ...

. On June 10, to avoid automatic license termination, the FCC granted WLMO

special temporary authority Special Temporary Authority (STA) in U.S. broadcast law is a type of broadcast license which temporarily allows a broadcast station to operate outside of its normal technical or legal parameters. In the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) stat ...

to restore analog service on channel 38. WLMO-LP's analog signal was restored on September 13. On November 15, 2018, WLMO-LP's call sign was changed to WAMS-LP. By 2019, Block Communications had filed with the FCC to convert WAMS-LP into a digital translator of WOHL-CD for the southern part of the market, licensed to both Minster and

, offering ABC and CBS programming over digital channels 29.5 and 29.6, virtually mapped to channels 35.1 and 35.2, respectively, in likely anticipation of the new July 13, 2021 low-power analog television shutdown date announced by the FCC on May 17, 2017. By March 2020, Block Communications commenced digital operations of this low-powered television station. WAMS-LP was obligated to convert to digital by July 13, 2021 as part of the Digital TV transition for low-powered TV stations.Incentive Auction Closing and Channel Reassignment Public Notice (see page 20)
/ref> On March 2, 2020, the translator's call sign was changed to WAMS-LD.

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

References

External links

HometownStations.com
- Official Website {{West Central Ohio Broadcasting CBS network affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1998 1998 establishments in Ohio AMS-LP