On November 23, 1952, Channel 5 in Memphis has been occupied by an NBC affiliate owned by The E.W. Scripps Co. until its sale to Bert Ellis in July 1993, and in 1996 was spun to Raycom Media. That company then merged with Gray Television, and is the station’s current owner.
Gray in November 2020 sought an upgrade for WMC-TV, and FCC approval of its request was contingent on public input. That request came easily for Gray.
A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was distributed in April 2022 by the Video Division of the Media Bureau, one that sought public comments on the substitution of UHF Channel 30 for VHF Channel 5 for WMC-TV. It followed the Petition for Rulemaking filed more than two years ago by Gray.
The proceeding saw Gray file comments explaining the benefits of such a move. In the digital era, a UHF signal is more powerful than a VHF signal. No other comments were received by the Commission, which said the channel substitution serves the public interest.
An analysis using the Commission’s TVStudy software tool indicates that WMC-TV’s move from channel 5 to channel 30 is predicted to create an area where 4,072 persons may lose service. The loss area, however, is largely overlapped by the noise limited contours of other NBC affiliated stations and most viewers will continue to receive service from five or more stations.
There’s more: Gray Television acquired three LPTV stations — WANF-LD 32 in Dyersburg, Tenn; WDDY-LD 15 in Jackson, Tenn.; and W20DW-D in Clarksdale, Miss.; and constructed modified facilities to deliver NBC programming to viewers in the loss area. The result: just 64 persons would either no longer receive NBC programming or no longer receive service from five or more full-power TV services.
Those stations are identified as WTVA-11 in Tupelo, Miss.; KAIT-27 in Jonesboro, Ark.; and WNBJ-16 in Jackson, Tenn.
Signing off on the channel change approval is Video Division Chief Barbara Kreisman.
