| ATSC 3.0 station | |
|---|---|
| City | Florence, South Carolina |
| Channels | |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
|
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| Operator | Sinclair Broadcast Group viaSSA(outright sale pending[1]) |
| WPDE-TV | |
| History | |
| Founded | June 17, 1989 |
First air date | September 21, 1994 (31 years ago) (1994-09-21) |
Former call signs |
|
Former channel numbers |
|
| |
Call sign meaning | "We're Myrtle Beach"[2] |
| Technical information[3] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 3133 |
| ERP | 655kW |
| HAAT | 581 m (1,906 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 34°22′3″N79°19′48″W / 34.36750°N 79.33000°W /34.36750; -79.33000 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
WWMB (channel 21) is atelevision station licensed toFlorence, South Carolina, United States, serving thePee Dee andGrand Strand regions of South Carolina as ade factoowned-and-operated station of the digital multicast networkRoar. It is owned byHoward Stirk Holdings, which maintains ashared services agreement (SSA) withSinclair Broadcast Group, owner of dualABC/CW affiliateWPDE-TV (channel 15, also licensed to Florence), for the provision of certain services. The two stations share studios on University Boulevard inConway; WWMB'stransmitter is located on Pee Dee Church Road inFloydale, South Carolina.
WWMB went on the air September 21, 1994, as anindependent station. It was owned by Atlantic Media Group, but operated byDiversified Communications, then-owner of WPDE, under anLMA. It joinedUPN as a charter affiliate on January 16, 1995. By 1999, WWMB was airingAccess Hollywood starring Myrtle Beach nativeNancy O'Dell.[4]Barrington Broadcasting bought WPDE in 2006. At the same time, Atlantic Media Group sold WWMB toSagamoreHill Broadcasting, which continued the LMA with WPDE.
On January 24, 2006,Time Warner andCBS Corporation announced that the two networks they owned,The WB and UPN, would cease operations, and that those companies would combine their resources to createThe CW. Just hours after the announcement, WPDE released a notice on its website indicating WWMB would become an affiliate of the new network.[5] This notice was a little premature, as over the next two months, many announcements of network affiliation changes including station deals with The CW were made.
The existence of a cable-only WB affiliate, "WFWB", which was carried by area cable systems as part ofThe WB 100+ national cable service, made a CW affiliation for WWMB seem less of a sure thing. Nevertheless, WWMB made public on April 10 it had joined The CW.[6]
At some point in 2006, the station signed on its original digital signal on UHF channel 20. WWMB's broadcasts became digital-only, effective June 12, 2009.
Even though WWMB aired CW programming on its individually-programmed main channel, it also operated adigital subchannel that carried the programming ofThe CW Plus, a similar national operation to The WB 100+. This resulted in the prime time schedules being identical. Despite this, the 21.2 subchannel did not inherit the cable channel slots of "WFWB", which were instead dropped.
On February 28, 2013, Barrington Broadcasting announced the sale of its entire group, including WWMB's LMA partner WPDE-TV, toSinclair Broadcast Group.[7] Since the LMA is included in the group deal, SagamoreHill would be selling the license assets of WWMB to Howard Stirk Holdings (owned by conservative commentatorArmstrong Williams), with WPDE continuing to operate WWMB. The sale was finalized on November 22.[8]
In 1996, WWMB began airing the market's first prime time news on weeknights. Produced by WPDE, the show aired for thirty minutes and was originally calledNewsChannel 15 at 10 on TV 21. It was initially anchored by Steve Hawley until late-1996 when he left the station. The program was then alternately hosted by Dave Gilbert and Tiffany Cochran. After the latter personality departed WPDE and Gilbert died in 1997, the show was renamedUPN 21 News at 10 and anchored by Leo Stallworth (later Audra Grant) until its cancellation in 2000.
In 2003, WPDE introduced another prime time newscast on WWMB under the titleWPDE NewsChannel 15 at 10 on UPN. Now airing every night, it was anchored on weeknights by Jim Heath. The second generation of the show featured interactive segments such as "Say What?" and "Quick Hits" in a more fast-paced format. WWMB first got competition in 2004, whenFox affiliateWFXB entered into a news share agreement with WBTW. This partnership resulted in the area's second prime time broadcast at 10 seen weeknights for a half-hour. On September 18, 2006, with the launch of The CW, WPDE's production on WWMB changed its name toNewsChannel 15 at 10 on CW 21 and featured an updated graphics theme.
There was a further expansion of local newscasts in 2007 when WPDE added a third hour of its weekdayGood Morning Carolinas broadcast to WWMB. This was seen from 7 to 8 a.m. and was the first local show to debut in the time slot and partially air against the national weekday morning show seen on thebig three networks. For an unknown reason, the production was ultimately dropped.
On January 26, 2009, days after anchor Jim Heath left WPDE, WWMB's nightly 10 o'clock show was canceled. A repeat ofNewsChannel 15 at 7 was subsequently added in its place on weeknights with live weather updates. Eventually, this program was dropped as well. WWMB airs a rebroadcast of WPDE'sCarolina & Company Live in the weeknight 10:30 p.m. time slot. On August 19, 2013, WPDE revived the prime time newscast on WWMB calledABC 15 News on CW21 at 10pm.[9] As of 2020, WWMB no longer airs a newscast, opting to air syndicated programming in its place.
The station'sATSC 1.0 channels are carried on themultiplexed signals of other Florence–Myrtle Beach television stations:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming | ATSC 1.0 host[10] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21.1 | 720p | 16:9 | DABL | Roar | WBTW |
| 21.2 | 480i | Charge! | Charge! | WPDE-TV | |
| 21.3 | TheNest | The Nest | |||
| 21.4 | Charge! | Dabl | WHMC |
| Channel | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|
| 13.1 | WBTW | CBS (WBTW) |
| 15.1 | WPDE | ABC (WPDE-TV) |
| 15.10 | T2 | T2 (from Tennis Channel) |
| 15.11 | PBTV | Pickleballtv |
| 15.20 | GMLOOP | GameLoop |
| 21.1 | WWMB | Roar |
| 23.1 | WHMC | PBS (WHMC) |
| 23.4 | PBSKIDS | PBS Kids (WJPM-TV) |
At 1:30 p.m. on September 20, 2021, WWMB switched toDabl. The CW affiliation was moved to WPDE's second subchannel, but retained the "CW 21" branding. The nationalCW Plus feed on the second subchannel was dropped entirely.[13]
On August 4, 2025, the station flipped toRoar.[14]
We will emphasize three of our call letters in all of our promotional efforts," McCaskill said. "WMB means, 'We're Myrtle Beach.'
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofSouth Carolina | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of South Carolina | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
| ||
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofNorth Carolina | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of North Carolina | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
| ||
| Stations |
|  | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Networks |
| |||||||||||||||||
| Programming | ||||||||||||||||||
| Acquisitions |
| |||||||||||||||||
** Owned by third parties and operated by Sinclair through various operating agreements. *** Owned by Sinclair and operated byMarquee Broadcasting. JV Joint venture. | ||||||||||||||||||
