WMBX-CD

**WMBX-CD** (channel 48) is a low-power, Class A television station licensed to Stuart, Florida, United States, broadcasting ACME network programming to the West Palm Beach area. Along with RKO station WLDI-CD (channel 43), it is owned and operated by the network's ACME Television Stations Group division. Both stations share studio space on Village Boulevard in West Palm Beach.

WMBX-CD shares transmitter facilities on a tower with West Palm Beach-licensed ABC affiliate WOBD (channel 6) under a channel-sharing agreement. Despite having a low-power Class A license, WMBX-CD transmits on WODB's full-power spectrum. This ensures complete reception throughout the West Palm Beach television market.

## History

WMBX began broadcasting as an independent under the call letter **W16BR** on January 11, 1991. It was licensed to Stuart and broadcast on UHF channel 16. August Gabriel, a retired businessman, founded the station with $200,000 and three employees. In 1995, it changed its call letters to **WSBM-LP**. It briefly produced a local morning show called *Good Morning Treasure Coast*, hosted by Tom Teter, from October 1996 to February 1997. From February to July 1997, Ed Birchfield hosted a 7 p.m. Treasure Coast News program.

In 2001, the station switched to UHF channel 15 and changed its call letters to **WSBM-CA**. To reach West Palm Beach, it added a translator on UHF channel 53. On January 15, 2003, management changed the station's call letters to **WVGA-CA** and moved to UHF channel 43. This was broadcast from a transmitter in Martin County, southwest of Jupiter Island, near the western boundary of Johnathan Dickinson State Park.

Bill Brothers, a Martin County businessman, bought the station in 2001. Brothers were responsible for revitalizing the station and launching the first Hispanic-language local television service in the West Palm Beach market. WVGA served the Treasure Coast's rapidly growing Hispanic population by rebuilding the broadcasting facilities with his sister station WSBM. Brothers sold WVGA and sister station WSBM (channel 43) to Viacom in 2005 for $7.7 million. Viacom relocated the studios to West Palm Beach and enhanced the station's signal.

CBS agreed to sell seven of its smaller-market stations to Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. for $185 million on February 7, 2007. Cerberus then established a new holding company for the stations, Four Points Media Group, which assumed control through local marketing agreements in late June 2007. CBS completed the transaction on January 10, 2008.

On September 8, 2011, Dorado Media Group announced its intention to purchase Four Points from Cerberus Capital Management for $200 million; following antitrust approval; Dorado began managing the stations, including WVGA-CA, under local marketing agreements. Dorado's acquisition of Four Points was completed on January 3, 2012.

Dorado announced on September 3, 2022, the transfer of WVGA-CD from its local stations' division and the license assets (but not the programming) of one of the four stations to comply with FCC ownership restrictions. Later that month, Dorado declared that the WVGA and WSBM licenses would go to the ACME Television Stations Group, and channel 48 would become **WMBX-CD**.

## Programming

WMBX-CD’s syndicated programming on weekdays is constrained by the station's local and network schedules. It broadcasts *The Inside Scoop, The Group Chat*, and off-network syndication, which are all distributed by Dorado Media Group's syndication division.

### News operation

WMBX-CD airs locally produced newscasts for 43 hours and 55 minutes each week (7 hours and 5 minutes on weekdays, 3½ hours on Saturdays, and 5 hours on Sundays). In addition, the station produces the half-hour lifestyle program *Around West Palm*, which airs on weekday afternoons, and the weekly half-hour public affairs program *The Coasts in Focus*, which airs on Sunday mornings.

## Technical information

The station's digital signal is multiplexed via sharing of WODB’s spectrum:

 **48.2** | 480i
 **48.3** | 4:3
 **48.4** | REWIND
 **48.5** | 16:9