WGAI

WGAI (channel 53) is an independent television station licensed to South Bend, Indiana and serving the area surrounding it, also known as Michiana. Owned by BIG Media, it has its studios located in South Bend, and its transmitter is located in Granger, Indiana. 
==History==
The history of Channel 53 begins with the application of WHSO (not to be confused with the current WHSO) in 1971. The applicant, Richard A. LeMieux, wanted to launch a family-oriented general entertainment independent station. The station never aired, with LeMieux's license being surrendered in 1980.
Another applicant, Gavin Allen of Gavin Allen Independent Stations, filed an application for Channel 53 in 1984 for another independent station. The station, with the callsign WGAI, signed on to channel 53 on March 11, 1989. It mainly aired public domain films along with infomercials and select children's programing in the mornings. Later in 1989, they picked up more general programming such as sitcoms and game shows.
WGAI was very unprofitable, as Gavin Allen was operating the station on bank loans and investor backing, and pretty soon they were all asking for their money back. By the start of 1991, the station began cutting back on programming in the midday and late-night hours, replacing it with HSN programs. This culminated in the station becoming a full time HSN affiliate in July 1991. 
As an HSN affiliate, it aired the full slate of the network except in the late-night hours, when it signed off from 1 am to 6 am for "transmitter maintenance", when actually the station was attempting to save money on its power bill. At last, Gavin Allen could not wait any longer to pay back his investors, and WGAI was sold to another local businessman named Eli Thompson in 1993. Thompson was the owner of a Toyota dealership in Elkhart and had recently sold it, and then used that money to buy WGAI. He successfully convinced UPN to affiliate them as a charter member of the fledgling network in 1994.
WGAI became a charter member of the United Paramount Network on January 16, 1995. The station originally still aired most of the HSN schedule when they first affiliated, however by 1997 all HSN programming was gone and replaced with syndicated programs and infomercials. However, the station's ratings were still dismal, with Eli Thompson blaming it on the "pitiful shows" offered by UPN. He had broken even with his investments on the station, and by that point felt like it was a waste of time to continue operating it.
Thompson sold WGAI to another former car salesman, Micheal Mccoy, for $400,000 in 1999. The station's profitability suffered during this time, and UPN pulled its affiliation in 2001. The station immediately affiliated with the American Independent Network, an upstart television channel. This was dropped a year later for a schedule consisting of mostly infomercials with the occasional movie and EI program. 
The station was sold to BIG Media in 2005. The new owners reprogrammed the station as an independent station and had removed most of the infomercials, replacing them with sitcoms, movies, court shows and dramas. In 2011, WGAI moved their offices to a former Best Buy building in South Bend, who had moved across the street.
==Programming==
Syndicated programming on WGAI include House M.D., American Dad, Star Trek: The Next Generation, TMZ, America's Court with Judge Ross and Judge Mathis among others.
WGAI airs live sports from multiple high schools around Michiana, under the branding Michiana 53 Sports.
==Technical Information==
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
Channel	Video	Aspect	Short Name	Programming
53.1 	1080i	16:9 	WGAI 	Main WGAI programming
53.2 	480i 	16:9 	Movies! 	Movies!
53.3 	480i 	16:9 	MALL 	Infomercials
53.4 	480i 	16:9 	FANDUEL 	Fanduel TV
53.5 	480i 	16:9 	GET 	GET
53.6 	480i 	16:9 	BEIN 	BeIN Sports Xtra
===Analog Sign-off===
WGAI signed off their analog signal on June 12, 2009, keeping their pre-transition digital companion channel of 30
Category:South Bend, Indiana
Category:Indiana
Category:Channel 53
Category:Independent television stations
Category:Movies! affiliates
Category:GetTV subchannel-only affiliated stations
Category:Movies! subchannel-only affiliated stations
Category:Former UPN affiliates
Category:Former HSN affiliates
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1989