City Muskegon Founded April 1, 1990 | Affiliations Family Channel | |
Channels Digital: 49 (UHF)
Virtual: 38 Owner Kelley Enterprises
(sale pending) Call letters' meaning W Muskegon
(may also be derived from the IATA airport code MKG of nearby Muskegon County Airport) | ||
WMKG-CD is a low-powered television station on channel 49 (virtual channel 38) for Muskegon, Michigan. Its studio is located on Airline Road in the suburb Norton Shores, Michigan near the junction of I-96 and US 31. Owned by Kelley Enterprises, it is affiliated with The Family Channel.
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WMKG-CD was founded by Bud Kelley and his family in 1989 as W40AK. It first went on the air on April 1, 1990, originally broadcasting on channel 40. The call letters were changed to WMKG-LP in 1995. It moved to channel 38 in 2004. In September 2006, Comcast cable dropped the station from its analog channel lineup to allocate more bandwidth for video on demand services. [1] Currently, the station is available on digital cable and broadcasting on 49, but displaying channel 38 through PSIP.
The station held LP calls until c. October 2009, when it acquired Class A television service status to become WMKG-CA. Despite the station's low-power status, its location near Lake Michigan assures amplification of their signal across the lake into the Milwaukee market within the Port Washington and Sheboygan areas (Milwaukee itself is served by analog low-power station WTSJ-LP on Channel 38). The station was issued its license for digital operation on October 10, 2014, at which point it changed its call sign to WMKG-CD.
The station has had several minor network affiliations throughout its history, and currently affiliates with The Family Channel; this is a duplicative affiliation within the Grand Rapids market, as WLLA (Channel 64) also carries that network over their 64.1 subchannel.
According to a MLive.com article dated December 25, 2016, "Channel 49.1 -- channel 397 on cable -- broadcasts family-oriented shows and Muskegon programs including churches and square dancing. Channel 49.2 broadcasts religious music. Channel 49.3 shows movies. Channel 49.4 has a western theme."
Original programming
The station has produced original programming from the start. Programs include "Dial A Bargain", a show where a viewer calls in for gift certificates, and "Muskegon Today", a local program dealing with issues involving the city. Other programs include "Table Talk", "The Doorstop Nation", and "TV BINGO"
For most of its history, the station also had a local newscast airing at 5:30 PM. However, it is no longer on the air.
Station for sale
In October 2007, Kelley Enterprises put the station up for sale, including the license and equipment, citing that the owner is retiring and has plans to move south. As of 2008, the station's license is still in Kelley's name, per FCC records. Late 2009 the station was sold to BAG LLC of New York and the sale was approved by the FCC., but BAG LCC of New York failed to show up to the closing. In 2009 the station was placed back on the market. In December 2016, the station was for sale on Craigslist; the owner was quoted by MLive.com as saying "It's past my retirement time."