WILM-LD

WILM-LD

Wilmington, North Carolina United States
Channels	Digital:15 (UHF) Virtual:10
Branding	WILM-TV 10 (general) WRAL News(newscasts)
Programming
Affiliations	10.1:Independent/MeTV(secondary) 10.2:fullMeTVschedule 10.3:Heroes & Icons
Ownership
Owner	Capitol Broadcasting Company (WILM, Inc.)
Sister stations	WRAL-TV,WRAZ
History
First air date	April 3, 1989(1989-04-03)
Former call signs	W10BZ (1989–1995) WSSN-LP (1995–2000) WILM-LP (2000–2008)
Former channel number(s)	Analog:10 (VHF,1989–2008) Digital:40 (UHF, 2008–2018)
Former affiliations	Independent (1989–1995) UPN(primary 1995–2000, secondary 2000–2006) CBS(2000–2016)
Call signmeaning	Wilmington
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	167819
Class	LD
ERP	15kW
HAAT	250.3 m (821 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	34°19′16.6″N78°13′42″W
Translator(s)	WILT-LD 24 Wilmington W30ER-D Wilmington
Links
Public license information	LMS
Website	www.wilm-tv.com

WILM-LD(channel 10) is alow-powerIndependent/MeTVaffiliate station inWilmington, North Carolina,United States, owned by theCapitol Broadcasting Company.The station's studios are located on Wrightsville Avenue (US 76) in Wilmington, and its transmitter is located inDelco, North Carolina.Master controland some internal operations are based at the facilities ofsister station,NBCaffiliate and companyflagshipWRAL-TVinRaleigh.

OnDecember 31,2016, WILM lost itsCBSaffiliation to adigital subchannelofABCaffiliateWWAY(channel 3) and became an independent station.

History

The current station is actually the second TV outlet to have the WILM calls. WILM-TV (proposed forWilmington, Delaware) was granted a construction permit in 1953, but never made it to the air, surrendering its license in 1955. WILM would have broadcast on channel 83, the only U.S. TV station in history to be allocated the very top of the UHF spectrum.

The station began on April 3, 1989, as independent outlet W10BZ. It aired ananalogsignal onVHFchannel 10 from a transmitter near the studios. W10BZ changed its call sign to WSSN-LP in 1995 when it joined the United Paramount Network (UPN). In 1999, Capitol Broadcasting acquired the station.

WILM studios

On March 23, 2000, it became a CBS affiliate, filling a void created when previous CBS affiliate WJKA changed its calls toWSFX-TVand dropped the network to joinFox.WSSN changed its call sign to WILM-LP on that date as well. Before WILM gained the CBS affiliation, programming from that network was seen in Wilmington on cable fromWNCT-TVinGreenville,WBTWinFlorence, South Carolina,or WRAL.

WILM retained its UPN affiliation on a secondary basis until the network shut down and merged withThe WB.After UPN and The WB merged to formThe CWon September 18, 2006, cable-onlyWB 100+affiliate "WBW" joined the new network through theCW Pluscable group. Fox's sister programming serviceMyNetworkTVwas formed around the same time and aligned with new sign-onW47CK,leaving WILM as a full-time CBS station.

The station's low-power digital signal began broadcasting on UHF channel 40 in August 2008. This increased the station'seffective radiated powerfrom its former 75watts(analog VHF) to 15kW(digital UHF) which is the highest power available forU.S. low-powerdigital television.WILM's new transmitter was no longer centrally located in Wilmington itself but located alongside other local broadcast sites in Delco.

WILM is one of five Wilmington commercial television stations that agreed to end analog transmissions early and became digital-only on September 8, 2008. This move was intended to make the area the first all-digitalmarketin the United States.On that date, WILM shut down its analog signal along with four other Wilmington television stations as part of the voluntary early digital transition. If this agreement had not happened, the decision to shut off analog transmission at any time would have been voluntary for WILM becauseFederal Communications Commission(FCC) regulations exempted low-power television stations from the2009 analog shutdown.Its analog channel 10 identification is still used as itsvirtual channel.

In 2015, WILM signed on atranslatoron channel 24, WILT-LD, to better serve areas such asMonkey Junction,Carolina Beach,andWrightsville Beachsouth toSouthportandOak Island.

In January 2016, sister station and Capitol Broadcasting flagship WRAL announced it would drop its CBS affiliation due to a contract impasse, effective February 29, 2016. Immediately, WRAL struck a pending affiliation agreement to switch to NBC.On March 30, 2016, CBS announced it would pull its affiliation from WILM and transfer it to the second subchannel ofWWAYon January 1, 2017.WILM subsequently became an independent station, adding additional syndicated programming, and promising increased coverage of local college sports.

Newscasts

WILM-LD simulcasts WRAL's newscasts weekdays from 6 to 7 a.m. and at 6 p.m., with local weather inserts for the Wilmington area. This practice dates to its tenure with CBS; its studios were not large enough for a full-fledged news department.

From March 10, 2008, until February 27, 2009, through a news share agreement, WWAY produced a prime time newscast weeknights at 7 p.m.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal ismultiplexed:

Subchannels of WILM-LD and WILT-LD

Channel		Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming
WILM-LD	WILT-LD
10.1	24.1	720p	16:9	WILM HD	Main WILM-LD programming
10.2	24.2	480i		WILM ME	MeTV
10.3	24.3			WILM 3	Heroes & Icons

Translators

• WILT-LD33 Wilmington
• W30ER-DWilmington

External links

• WILM-LD
• WRAL-TV