 | |
| |
|---|---|
| City | West Milford, New Jersey |
| Channels | |
| Branding | WNYJ Worldview |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | see§ Subchannels |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WFME,WFME-FM | |
| History | |
| Founded | March 30, 1987 (1987-03-30) |
First air date | March 1, 1996 (1996-03-01)[1] |
Last air date | October 25, 2017 (2017-10-25) (21 years, 238 days) |
Former call signs | WFME-TV (1996–2013) |
Former channel number(s) | Analog: 66 (UHF, 1996–2009) |
| |
Call sign meaning | New York/New Jersey |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 20818 |
| ERP | 200kW |
| HAAT | 167 m (548 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°47′17.5″N74°15′18.2″W / 40.788194°N 74.255056°W /40.788194; -74.255056 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
WNYJ-TV (channel 66) was anindependentnon-commercial television station licensed toWest Milford, New Jersey, United States. The station's transmitter was located inWest Orange, New Jersey. Itsbroadcast license was owned by theOakland, California–based Christian broadcast ministryFamily Stations, who from 1996 through 2013 operated it asWFME-TV, areligious television station.
WNYJ-TV carried programming fromCNC World, an English-language news channel based inBeijing, on its main channel, 66.1. On WNYJ'sdigital subchannel 66.2 it airedMHz WorldView, a non-commercial television network owned byVirginia-basedCommonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation.[3] An additional subchannel carried the audio fromWFME-FM inMount Kisco, New York, which broadcasts theFamily Radio religious network. One WNYJ subchannel had carriedFrance 24, an English-language news channel fromParis, although that service was discontinued by the station.
In April 2017, it was announced that WNYJ had sold its spectrum in theFederal Communications Commission's (FCC)incentive auction and would be going off the air.[4] WNYJ-TV ceased operations October 25, 2017.
The channel 66 allocation in theNew York City area originally began operation in 1970 as W66AA, which served as a repeater forWABC-TV (channel 7). Originally, most of the upper UHF band stations were used as a compromise to work around the "reflection" problem brought about by the then-newWorld Trade Center. The issue was that TV signals transmitted from theEmpire State Building (about three miles north of the WTC) would bounce off the WTC skins, leading to viewers on that north/south direction getting excessive ghosting.
The use of UHF translators and repeaters that were mounted on the WTC with a northward transmission pattern allowed viewers in that zone the option of tuning in to the new, and clearer, signal.
Most of the TV stations moved their primary transmitters to the WTC's North Tower in 1975, thus leaving channel 66 at the Empire State Building as a backup.
WABC-TV ceased operating its channel 66 translator at some point in the late 1970s. Channel 66 was allocated in 1984 by theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) as a non-commercial educational station and was assigned to West Milford, New Jersey, northwest of New York City.[5]
WFME-TV was an outgrowth of radio station WFME (94.7 FM, nowWXBK), which began broadcasting Family Radio programming in 1963 and was purchased outright by the ministry in 1966. Family Stations filed an application in 1986 for the non-commercial allocation for channel 66 and went on the air March 1, 1996.
The station's schedule consisted of repeated airings ofFamily Bible Reading Fellowship (a video broadcast of a Family Radio Bible study program),The Joy of Music andHymn Sing. On weekend mornings, the station carried some localpublic affairs programs, and several shows inMandarin aimed atChinese Americans. WFME-TV also broadcast a video version ofOpen Forum, hosted by Family Radio co-founderHarold Camping (WFME-TV's general manager); that program ended in June 2011 afterCamping's prediction of the world ending proved incorrect. Initially, in 1996, WFME-TV carried theLutheran Church–Missouri Synod-produced drama seriesThis is the Life, localBaptist andChristian Reformed church services and a few national televangelists. In 2002, after Camping declared that "the church age is over" and that Christians should no longer participate in organized churches,[6] these outside ministries disappeared.This is the Life was dropped in 2007.
In late October 2013, it was announced that WFME-TV would become an affiliate of theMHz Worldview public broadcasting network, effective November 1, 2013. On that date, WFME-TV's callsign was changed to WNYJ-TV;[7] WFME-TV later confirmed this on its own website.[8]
Since then, WNYJ-TV has changed programming on its station. On February 1, 2014, WNYJ began carryingBlue Ocean Network from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. and then aired MHz Worldview programming from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. On May 1, 2014, programming was changed again with MHz Worldview programming changed toFrance 24 in the nighttime hours. MHz Worldview programming was moved to the third subchannel while France 24 was added full-time to the second subchannel. In mid-September 2014, Blue Ocean Network programming was dropped and France 24 went full-time, with the second subchannel reserved for future programming. On December 1, 2014, programming was changed again withCNC World programming placed on the primary channel and France 24 programming moved back to the second sub-channel. In 2015, France 24 programming was discontinued, leaving CNC World on channel 66.1, MHz Worldview on channel 66.2 and audio from WFME-FM on another subchannel.
In the FCC'sincentive auction, WNYJ-TV elected to sell its spectrum and go off the air;[4] it sold its spectrum for $120,974,061 and indicated that it would not enter into any channel sharing agreements.[9] WNYJ-TV ceased operations October 25, 2017;[10] the station's license was cancelled the next day at Family Stations' request.[11] CNC World was later moved toWZME on subchannel .2 until 2019 while MHz Worldview would not have an affiliate in the New York metropolitan area until November 2018 whenWNDT-CD andWMBQ-CD (both owned byWNET) returned on the air as an MHz Worldview affiliate.
The station's digital channel wasmultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 66.1 | 480i | 4:3 | WNYJ | CNC World |
| 66.2 | MHz Worldview | |||
| 66.6 | Audio only | WFME-FM audio | ||
When the station was previously controlled by Family Stations, WFME-TV also carried a simulcast ofWYBE, UHF digital channel 35, a non-commercial educational independent station located inPhiladelphia. In addition, WFME-TV aired the audio feeds of Family Radio outletKEAR (AM)San Francisco, as well as Family Radio's foreign language service,Radio Taiwan International, andNOAA Weather Radio fromKWO35. These feeds were dropped after the station's changeover to WNYJ-TV. The audio ofWFME-FM, which stayed on after the change to WNYJ-TV, was also removed by May 1, 2014. WFME-FM returned in 2015.
WFME-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, overUHF channel 66, on February 17, 2009, to conclude thefederally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[13] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 29.[14] WFME-TV had been one of the few stations that identified itself with its digital channel number (UHF 29) rather than its analog channel number (UHF 66). During the spring of 2009, the station returned to displaying itsvirtual channel as 66 on digital television receivers. WNYJ still identified with virtual channel 66 after the format swap on November 1, 2013.