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| Channels | |
| Branding | WGMB Fox 44;Louisiana First News |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WBRL-CD,WVLA-TV,KZUP-CD | |
| History | |
| Founded | September 21, 1990 |
First air date | August 11, 1991 (33 years ago) (1991-08-11) |
Former call signs |
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Former channel number(s) |
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Call sign meaning |
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| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 12520 |
| ERP | 665 kW |
| HAAT | 422.6 m (1,386 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 30°19′34.6″N91°16′36.1″W / 30.326278°N 91.276694°W /30.326278; -91.276694 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WGMB-TV (channel 44) is atelevision station inBaton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with theFox network. It is owned byNexstar Media Group alongsideCWowned-and-operated stationWBRL-CD (channel 21) andindependent stationKZUP-CD (channel 19); Nexstar also provides certain services toNBC affiliateWVLA-TV (channel 33) underjoint sales andshared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with White Knight Broadcasting. The four stations share studios on Perkins Road in Baton Rouge; WGMB-TV's transmitter is located nearAddis, Louisiana.
The station first signed on August 11, 1991, making Baton Rouge the last of the Top 100television markets to receive a Fox affiliate. The station was originally owned by the Galloway family, whose broadcast holdings originally operated under both the Associated Broadcasters and Galloway Media and eventually theCommunications Corporation of America banner. It took five years to bring Fox to Baton Rouge, as theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) assigned channel 44 to Baton Rouge in 1983, and several potential buyers sought a license. One company, Parish Family Television, expressed an interest in broadcasting an independent station affiliated with the network in 1986 with the call letters WPFT. Delays occurred as Southwest Multimedia ofHouston expressed an ownership interest in Parish Family Television and rival company Louisiana Super Communications objected to this sale. In November 1990, Thomas Galloway ofLafayette purchased the license from PFTV in November 1990 as well as the Texas stationsKVEO,KWKT, andKPEJ from Southwest Multimedia, causing Louisiana Super Communications to rescind its objections to the sale. The station installed an antenna on WVLA's tower, bought from future sister stationWNTZ's parent company at the time, Delta Media Corporation. From April 1990 to February 1991, local NBC affiliate WVLA aired week-delayed episodes of Fox shows such asThe Simpsons,Married... with Children, andIn Living Color.
In addition to its Fox affiliation, WGMB also carried several syndicatedmovie packages includingColumbia Pictures'Night at the Movies andUniversal Television'sAction Pack and was a secondary affiliate ofPTEN in its early years of operation. In 1996, WGMB became a sister station of WVLA when Thomas Galloway's son, Sheldon, purchased the NBC affiliate from businessman Cyril Vetter. Sheldon had previously held a stake in WGMB but sold it to his father to make it easier for him to buy WVLA.[2]
The station originally broadcast from Florida Boulevard, until the Galloways purchased WVLA. In 1999, WGMB, along with WVLA, WBBR (now WBRL), and WZUP (now KZUP), moved to their current studios on Perkins Road in Baton Rouge.
In June 2006, owner ComCorp filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy protection. ComCorp said in a press release viewers and staff would see no changes at the station.[3][4][5][6]
On April 24, 2013, ComCorp announced the sale of its entire group, including WGMB-TV, to theNexstar Broadcasting Group.[7] Thelocal marketing agreement for WVLA-TV (which was to be sold toMission Broadcasting, but it was later withdrawn) is included in the deal. The sale was completed on January 1, 2015.[8]
WGMB did not produce a local newscast until 2007; however, it usually broadcast children's events and programming from around the Baton Rouge area in the 1990s as part of itsFox 44 Kids Club. One locally-produced show wasFox Rox Saturday, which aired in the late 1990s on Saturday mornings. WGMB also aired onehigh school football game each week during the fall from the Baton Rouge area in the early 2000s.
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On March 12, 2007, WGMB debuted a local newscast entitledFox News Louisiana airing weeknights at 9 p.m. In the summer of 2008, the newscast was rebranded asFox News Baton Rouge. WGMB also produces and pre-records the 9 p.m. newscast for sister stationKADN-TV in Lafayette, and formerly did so forKMSS-TV inShreveport. The KMSS-TV evening newscast is now handled by sister stationKTAL. The newscast was expanded to an hour in February 2013.
On August 20, 2007, WGMB debutedFox News Louisiana AM to counter the national morning shows; the newscast, anchored by Rachel Slavik and Lauren Unger, featured eight weather updates an hour from meteorologist Jesse Gunkel. It also was simulcast on sister station WNTZ inAlexandria, although stories from that area rarely made it to the program. On December 2, 2008, WGMB canceled its morning newscast due to cost cuts; at the same time, the station alsolaid off an undisclosed number of employees. WGMB's sister station, NBC affiliate WVLA, would continue to air its 6 a.m. local newscast, which precedesToday.
On April 28, 2009, WGMB announced the discontinuation of all locally produced newscasts.[9] Production of the 9 p.m. newscast was then moved to sister stationKETK-TV inTyler, Texas. WGMB also aired a 30-minute sports program calledThe Show on Sunday nights at 9 p.m., which was also produced by KETK. On January 3, 2011, WGMB returned to producing its 9 p.m. newscast locally from Baton Rouge.
On April 12, 2016, WGMB debuted a 5:30 p.m. weekday newscast. WGMB's newscast re-airs on sister station WBRL at 10:30 p.m. WGMB also produces two weekend sports programs:Geaux Nation, which focuses onLSU athletics and also airs on sister stationKLFY in Lafayette, andInside the Jaguar Nation, which focuses onSouthern University athletics.
On January 10, 2025, WGMB and WVLA debuted new graphics and news music, uniting all the newscasts produced by the two stations under the titleLouisiana First News.[10] WGMB also updated its station logo.
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WGMBTV1 | Fox |
| 44.2 | 1080i | WBRL-CW | The CW (WBRL-CD) | |
| 44.3 | 480i | COZI | Cozi TV |
WGMB-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, overUHF channel 44, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 45, usingvirtual channel 44.[12][13]
As part of theSAFER Act,[14] WGMB-TV kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop ofpublic service announcements from theNational Association of Broadcasters.
Since the station upgraded to digital, WGMB has rebroadcast the signal of the low-power WB and CW affiliateWBRL-CD on its second subchannel, originally in standard definition and later in720p high definition in September 2021, and then1080i in April 2023. On January 25, 2018, WGMB addedCozi TV to its third subchannel.
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