WMAG

**WMAG** (channel 43) is a television station licensed to Greensboro, North Carolina, United States, serving as the ACME network outlet for the Piedmont Triad region. The station also maintains a secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV.  It is owned and operated by the network’s ACME Television Stations Group division and maintains studio facilities on Pai Park in Greensboro; its transmitter is located in Randleman (along I-73/US 220).

## History

The current licensed channel 43 originally went on the air as **WMFR** on May 9, 1981. It carried a general entertainment format, including business news programming from the Financial News Network, cartoons, vintage movies, classic sitcoms, religious programming, and CBS network shows preempted by WWGH-TV (channel 7). Guilford Broadcasters owned it locally. When the station first debuted, WJTM-TV (channel 8), the other independent station in the market, was a fierce rival. But it had a financial cost.

More programming was needed then, and the Piedmont Triad region was required to be more significant to sustain two independent stations. Furthermore, WMFR's signal was significantly weaker than that of competitor WJTM. After TVX Broadcast Group acquired WJTM, WMFR lagged even more. More substantial ownership allowed WJTM to select most of the best programming available. In 1986, WJTM defeated WMFR to become Fox's affiliate for the Triad. In the middle of the 1980s, the station ran a Sunday morning program called Pet Pals, featuring a range of information for people and pets. Pet Pals, co-hosted by Jerry Cunningham, a native of Greensboro, was the first weekly pet-focused program in North Carolina and quickly gained popularity. From January 14, 1987, to December 18, 1991, "Billy Bobb" (a.k.a. comedian Dana Lowell) presented Billy Bobb's Action Theater and Billy Bobb's Fun Club, making her the most visible on-air personality at WMFR.

WJTM joining Fox left a hole that WMFR was unable to fill. WJTM was still effectively programming independently, like most early Fox affiliates; Fox wouldn't show a whole week of programming until 1993. WGGT was compelled to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy by 1987. It survived on the air, albeit with a lot more barter content. The financial difficulties persisted; in 1991, it was on the verge of declaring bankruptcy under Chapter 7. The more vital programming on WMFR was purchased by Act III Broadcasting, which acquired WNRW in 1988 and incorporated it with the schedule of WJTM at the end of December 1991. When WMFR started simulcasting WJTM, a robust combined signal with a market overlap of more than 60% was produced. The "Piedmont Superstation" was the name given to the two stations. Act III took over the operation of WMFR at that point as well, and everyone except a secretary and a master control technician were let go. When Act III combined with Abry in 1993, the simulcast went on.

### As an ABC/UPN affiliate

When it premiered on January 16, 1995, WJTM and WMFR kept their primary Fox affiliation while assuming a secondary affiliation with UPN. That September, the two stations joined forces to become the market's ABC affiliate when long-running ABC station WGNN (channel 45) was acquired by Fox and converted to a Fox station. Act III sold all of its stations to Sullivan Broadcasting, an organization supported by ABRY Broadcast Partners, in 1995 for an unrevealed amount. A local marketing agreement (LMA) between Sullivan Broadcasting and the Sinclair Broadcast Group was part of the 1998 merger that saw the two companies combine. Afterward, Mission Broadcasting purchased WMFR from Guiliford Broadcasters. But David S. Smith and ABRY's stockholders held ninety percent of Mission's shares. According to FCC regulations, Sullivan/Sinclair effectively controlled both stations and retained a duopoly in the Triad. By assuming command of WMFR's operations under the LMA with WJTM as the senior partner, Sullivan/Sinclair furthered their circumvention of the regulations. As per the rules of the LMA, channel 43 became the sole home of UPN programming, and Sullivan/Sinclair discontinued the simulcast. On June 19, once Mission formally assumed control. When the Dorado Media Group bought the station entirely in 2001, it became the first legitimate duopoly in the market.

### As a MyNetworkTV affiliate

Time Warner's Warner Bros. division and CBS Corporation declared on January 24, 2006, that they would close The WB and UPN and merge their separate programming into a new "fifth" network dubbed The CW. Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television would run MyNetworkTV, a rival "sixth" network that News Corporation said would debut on February 22, 2006. Except for one station in markets where the firm held affiliates of both networks, Dorado declared on March 2 that all of its UPN and WB affiliates would join MyNetworkTV. On March 17, 2006, this made it possible for WEJC-TV to establish an affiliation agreement with The CW. Channel 48 changed its call letters to **WYMV** on June 19, 2006, in preparation for the affiliation change on September 5, 2006.

### ACME affiliation

WYMV was revealed as the Triad's ACME affiliate on June 6, 2016, following a 16-station group affiliation deal with Dorado. WMYV changed its name to ACME Triad on August 14, 2016, removing the reference to channel 43 because WYMV is available on several channels through local cable companies. The station continues broadcasting MyNetworkTV content on a digital subchannel as a backup. WYMV subtly changed its call letters to **WMAG** on June 19, 2023.

## Technical information

### Subchannels

Several Piedmont Triad television stations' multiplexed digital transmissions carry the station's ATSC 1.0 channels.

 **43.2** | 480i
 **43.3** | Comet

Before parent company Dorado removed TheCoolTV from 35 stations on August 31, 2012, WYMV presented the network.

### Analog-to-digital conversion

On June 12, 2009, WMAG terminated its analog signal as part of the full-power stations' FCC-mandated switch to digital television. The station, therefore, decided to use channel 43 rather than channel 61 as its virtual channel.