Channels Digital: 23 (UHF/PSIP) Sister station(s) WGBC, WMDN | First air date June 15, 2005 | |
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Branding My Fox 23
My TV 23 (DT3) Subchannels 23.1 Fox
23.2 This TV
23.3 MNTV/MeTV Owner Waypoint Media, LLC
(WHPM-TV, LLC) | ||
WHPM-LD is the low-powered Fox-affiliated television station for Southeastern Mississippi's Pine Belt that is licensed to Hattiesburg. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 23 from a transmitter on Old Highway 11/Norton Road in unincorporated Lamar County south of U.S. 98. This station can also be seen on Comcast channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 434.
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Owned by Waypoint Media, WHPM maintains studios located on Mayfair Road in Hattiesburg. Syndicated programming featured on the station includes Family Guy, Ellen, The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men among others.
History
The station signed-on June 15, 2005 as WHPM-LP carrying religious programming on analog UHF channel 30. It shut-down that signal and switched to digital channel 23 in 2009. However, the station would not switch its call sign to reflect the change until October 7, 2011, when it adopted WHPM-LD. It became the market's first locally based Fox affiliate on October 13, 2011. Until this point, the network was available off-air and on cable through WXXV-TV in Gulfport. That outlet strategically located its broadcast tower and designed a directional antenna pattern to enable the station to cover the Gulf Coast and Pine Belt regions of the state.
On September 10, 2012, WHPM took over promotional and advertising responsibilities of the area's cable-only CW affiliate "WBH". As a result, the service was added to a new second digital subchannel of WHPM in order to offer over-the-air viewers access to The CW. Except for local commercials, all programming is provided through the national CW Plus service. Initially, the station (now using the WHPM-LD2 call sign) remained on Comcast channel 59. Eventually, it began airing in 720p high definition over-the-air and on Comcast digital channel 438. It is no longer offered on the system's basic tier. As part of a long-term affiliation renewal with Media General, The CW moved to WHLT's digital subchannel on December 23, 2014.
Newscasts
On September 25, 2015, Waypoint Media announced that it would launch a half-hour prime time newscast at 9:00 p.m. for WHPM-LD – the first such program in the Meridian market – on October 5. Although WHPM's operations are largely based out of the studios of sister stations WMDN and WGBC in Meridian (the latter of which will debut a prime time newscast on that same date), it is not clear if the program will be produced out of Hattiesburg or through WGBC/WMDN's Meridian facilities.
In October 2016, WHPM (my fox 23) announced on their Facebook page that veteran broadcaster Randy Swan (formerly of nearby WDAM-TV) will join Waypoint Media as regional news director.