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| History | |
First air date | August 3, 1974 (1974-08-03) |
Former call signs | WMSH-TV (1974–1977) |
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| Religiousindependent (1974–2024) | |
Call sign meaning | World Harvest Missionary Evangelism[1] |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 36117 |
| ERP | 260kW |
| HAAT | 304.3 m (998 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°35′43″N86°9′38″W / 41.59528°N 86.16056°W /41.59528; -86.16056 |
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Public license information | |
| Website | whmetv46 |
WHME-TV (channel 46) is atelevision station inSouth Bend, Indiana, United States, affiliated with the Spanish-language networkUnivision. The station is owned by locally basedFamily Broadcasting Corporation (formerly known as LeSEA Broadcasting and later World Harvest Broadcasting). WHME-TV's studios are located on Ironwood Road on the south side of South Bend, and its transmitter is located on Fern Road (near Roosevelt Road) inMishawaka.
Prior to 2024, WHME-TV served as theflagship station of World Harvest Television, an organization founded byAssembly of God ministerLester Sumrall, whose sons are still active with the ministry.
The G & E Religious and Educational Broadcasting Corporation obtained a construction permit for a new television station on channel 46 in South Bend on April 10, 1973.[3] The allocation had previously been used byWNDU-TV, when that station signed on the air on July 15, 1955; WNDU moved to its present channel 16 in 1957. G & E, representing 618 churches, took the call letters WMSH-TV and broke ground on studio facilities on May 27.[4] The transmitter site would be located separately from the studios due to potential interference to WSBT radio.[5] Intended to begin on September 1, 1973, channel 46 instead began telecasting in late July or on August 3, 1974.[6][a]
Within less than a year of telecasting, financial problems developed at G & E. The station had a total of $2.5 million in debt against $1.8 million in assets. A court placed the company into receivership, after which 14 creditors sued to force channel 46 into bankruptcy.[7] Three months later, two investors who held $18,000 in station-issued bonds sued G & E for selling securities without being registered with federal or state authorities, as well as omissions in statements made by the company;[8] Secretary of StateLarry Conrad then charged G & E head George McQueen with criminal misrepresentation.[9]
Citing lack of funds, WMSH-TV went silent September 2, 1975.[10] The bankruptcy case stretched into 1976 as several buyers expressed interest.[11]
In January 1977, rumors began to circulate that the Lester Sumrall Evangelistic Association was in negotiations to buy WMSH-TV from its trustee,Elkhart attorney Gordon MacKenzie.[6] The rumors would be confirmed in March when the $496,000 sale was announced.[12]Sumrall closed on the purchase on July 21,[1] and the newly renamed WHME-TV signed on the air on September 10, 1977; the station ran mostly religious programs, along with a blend of classiccartoons,sitcoms from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and somedrama series. Cameras from the Sumrall stations inIndianapolis andMiami were brought to South Bend, as WMSH did not have any color cameras.[13]
By 1978, the station ran cartoons from 7 to 9 a.m. on weekdays. WHME ran Christian programs such asThe PTL Club,The 700 Club, and locally produced Christian programs from 9 a.m. to about 1 p.m.Secular general entertainment programs ran from 1 to 7 p.m. Then after 7 p.m., WHME ran repeats ofThe PTL Club,The 700 Club and some of the religious shows that aired on Sundays, along with locally produced Christian programs. Saturdays consisted of Christian-themed children's programs until 9 a.m., a blend of secular cartoons and sitcoms until noon or 1 p.m., and some otherfamily-friendly programs until 5 p.m. Christian programming continued after 6 p.m. Saturday nights and all day on Sundays (featuringtelevangelists such asJerry Falwell,Jimmy Swaggart andOral Roberts, as well as theCatholic Mass fromNotre Dame). The station began broadcasting on a 24-hour schedule by 1980.
In the early 1980s, WHME cut back its secular programming hours on weekdays to 2 to 7 p.m. By the early to mid-1980s, the morning cartoons returned and at that point it started running more recent children's programs on weekdays, includingThe Disney Afternoon animation block by the early 1990s. WHME-TV also aired the nationally syndicated evening news program,Independent Network News. By the early 1990s, more sitcoms from the 1970s and 1980s were added onto the schedule. On May 27, 1996, WHME began carrying theKids' WB program block within its afternoon lineup when W12BK channel 12, nowWYGN-LD, switched to being a translator of ABC affiliateWBND-LP channel 58, but unlike other LeSEA-owned stations, it declined to carry prime time programming from the block's parent network,The WB (which instead affiliated with W69BT channel 69 in October 1999, nowWMYS-LD, and later moved to WMWB-LP channel 25, nowWCWW-LD). In the early 2000s, WHME decreased the number of cartoons on its schedule and replaced them with more sitcoms and drama series.
In August 2024, WHME and Indianapolis sister stationWHMB-TV switched their primary channels to Univision.[14] Despite the switch, the station still airs religious programming on Sunday mornings during off-network hours.[15]
WHME used to carry many regionalcollege football andbasketball games shown throughESPN Plus until the 2007 launch of theBig Ten Network. WHME later served as the South Bend home toBall State University sports. It was also the South Bend affiliate of ESPN Regional Television's syndicated SEC Network (laterSEC TV) until the August 2014 launch of the pay TV-exclusiveSEC Network. The station maintained its own sports division that broadcast manyhigh school football and basketball games fromMichiana area teams, usually once weekly, along with localNAIA college games, such asBethel andGrace.
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 46.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WHME-HD | Univision |
| 46.2 | 480i | ION | Ion Television | |
| 46.3 | GRIT | Grit | ||
| 46.4 | LAFF | Laff | ||
| 46.5 | QVC | QVC | ||
| 46.6 | HSN | HSN | ||
| 46.7 | QVC2 | QVC2 | ||
| 46.8 | HSN2 | HSN2 | ||
| 28.4 | 720p | 16:9 | CourtTV | Court TV (WSJV) |
| 28.7 | 480i | THENEST | The Nest (WSJV) |
WHME-TV shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 46, 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's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 48, usingvirtual channel 46.[17]
On March 8, 2011, WHME-TV received aconstruction permit to move its digital operations to its former analog allotment on channel 46, due to interference withWMLW-TV inRacine, Wisconsin (which transmits fromMilwaukee), a station that also broadcast its digital signal on UHF channel 48, with both stations having signal conflicts on the edges of their market areas.[18] The conflict was resolved in January 2018 when WMLW cashed in their spectrum in the 2016 FCC auction and moved to a channel share with theirsister low-power station, though WHME moved to channel 36 in 2019 as a result of the spectrum repack.
Between 2012 and sometime in early 2013, digital subchannel 46.3 was leased to Aliento Vision, a family-orientedSpanish-language network. The subchannel previously carried no content besides a card listing the channel numbers, call letters and city of license, but addedLight TV to its 46.3 subchannel.
WHME-TV's signal was relayed on arepeater station serving theChicago market,WHNW-LD (channel 18) inGary, until the station's license was canceled on August 25, 2017.
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofIndiana | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Indiana | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofMichigan | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Michigan | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish |
| |
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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