Technical Profile: WBXM-CD

TV Technical Profile: WBXM-CD

Channel:: 15
Programming:: 5.11 — Telemundo
5.12 — NBC // WSFA-DT Montgomery, AL
5.13 — SonLife
5.14 — The 365
5.15 — Outlaw TV
5.16 — HSN
Transmitter Location:: [map] [street view] — West of US-82 and Prattville, north of Autaugaville, on Autauga County Road 165, roughly 1.3 miles west of Booth.
Power (ERP):: 15 kW
Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT):: 1,207 feet (AGL)
Antenna:: Directional
Other Information:: 51 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC.

[FCC]
[FCCdata]
[RabbitEars.info]; [Wikipedia]

[Facebook] For Telemundo Montgomery
[Twitter]

// WTMU-LD Montgomery
Owned By:: Gray Television License, LLC
History:: This station dates back to 1991, when a construction permit was issued to VJN LPTV Corporation, for an analog television station in Montgomery on VHF channel 5. After undergoing several modifications to the permit and a license transfer to The Box Worldwide, the station signed on in early 1994 as W05BS, likely from atop the old Colonial Bank building on South Perry Street in central Montgomery. At debut, it aired music videos from The Box network, similar to another VHF low power station in Birmingham (WBXA-CA, on channel 2, and also broadcasting from atop an office building.)

The Box was notable for having an all-request format, where listeners could call in to a 900 number and request certain videos be played. MTV purchased the network in 1999, and shut it down in 2011. Former Box affiliates like this were instead fed MTV|2 for a time.

In 2004, the station got a boost in power to 700 watts while relocating the antenna to a taller structure, the building at the corner of Lee and Montgomery Streets in downtown. (As of 2019, this antenna appears to still be on the tower on the roof.) The station — along with the one in Birmingham — were sold by The Box/MTV to L4 Media Group in 2005. Starting in 2007, the station filed a series of Silent STA (Special Temporary Authority) requests with the FCC.

In 2014 the station filed for a digital companion channel on RF channel 41. That facility signed on in the summer of 2015 with 1.25 kW from a transmitter site behind the Allcom building on Mt. Meigs Road and began airing BIZ.TV. In 2019, the station was noted to be running several subchannels including CRTV, SBN, Shop LC and Evine.

As part of the FCC Digital TV repacking process, the station was displaced to channel 15; a construction permit for a facility on that channel was applied for in April 2020. A license to cover for that was filed just one month later.

It was announced that this station along with the one in Birmingham would be sold by L4 Media Group to Gray Television. Gray made some modifications, including boosting power in December 2022. Under their ownership, the station began airing Telemundo and a simulcast of WSFA in high definition.

In February 2023, the station applied for and was granted another power boost, this time to 15 kW, from the WBIH TV tower northeast of Selma. The station's PSIP was observed to be 5.— instead of 15.— in April 2023. That same month it was observed that WTMU-LD had signed on and was simulcasting the same lineup as this station, with the same PSIP mapping channels to 5.—. A license to cover for the last upgrade was filed in early May 2023. Later it was changed so that this station's subchannel numbers were 10 higher than WTMU-LD's.

As of January 2024, The 365 and Outlaw TV, two new Gray-backed digitnets, were added to the lineup, displacing Heartland and ShopLC.