WMTW


WMTW, virtual and VHF digital channel 8, is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Poland Spring, Maine, United States and serving the Portland, Maine television market, including southern Maine and eastern and northern New Hampshire. The station is owned by the Hearst Television subsidiary of Hearst Communications, as part of a duopoly with Portland-licensed CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate WPXT. The two stations share studios on Ledgeview Drive in Westbrook and transmitter facilities in West Baldwin, Maine.
WMTW also operates a low-powered digital fill-in translator from the Time and Temperature Building in downtown Portland's Monument Square. The translator serves the immediate part of Portland and some surrounding areas to serve viewers that have difficulty receiving the main signal.
In addition to WPXT, WMTW shares common coverage areas with four other Hearst-owned sister stations in New England: fellow ABC affiliates WCVB-TV in Boston and WMUR-TV in Manchester, New Hampshire; and its duopoly of NBC affiliate WPTZ and CW affiliate WNNE in Vermont.

History

WMTW signed on September 25, 1954 as the third television station in the Portland market and under the ownership of Mount Washington Television, a group that included former Maine Governor Horace Hildreth. It has always been an ABC affiliate although it aired some DuMont programming in its first year. The station's sign-on made Portland one of the smallest markets in the United States with three network affiliates on the analog VHF band. WMTW is also the longest-tenured primary ABC affiliate in New England.citation needed span|date=January 2019|citation needed span|date=January 2019|citation needed span|date=January 2019|citation needed|date=January 2019As of|2015|3

Sister radio stations

Several radio stations have been co-owned with WMTW. The first, WMTW-FM, was co-owned with the television station from the radio station's launch in 1958 until 1971. 94.9 FM, which became WHOM in 1976 and is now owned by Townsquare Media, continues to transmit from Mount Washington. The other two, WMTW in Gorham and WMTW-FM in North Windham, held those call signs from 2001 to 2004, serving first as news-talk stations and later as all-news stations; WMTW and WMTW-FM were also simulcast on WLAM in Lewiston. The three stations, branded as "Newsradio WMTW", aired and produced local news and talk programs as well as simulcasts of WMTW-TV's newscasts and the now-defunct news radio service of the Associated Press.
The "Newsradio WMTW" stations were sold by Harron Communications to Nassau Broadcasting Partners in 2003. Soon after taking over, Nassau discontinued the format. The 870 frequency is now WLVP and simulcasts an oldies format with WLAM while 106.7 FM is now WXTP, a non-commercial Catholic radio station. An earlier WMTW-FM was not connected to WMTW-TV apart from also transmitting from Mount Washington.

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP short nameProgramming
8.11080iWMTW-HDMain WMTW programming / ABC
8.2480iMETVMeTV
8.3480iLAFFLaff

WMTW's broadcasts became digital-only, effective June 12, 2009.

Repeaters

In 2005, WMTW activated two analog repeaters. This included W26CQ channel 26 in Colebrook, New Hampshire and W27CP channel 27 in White River Junction, Vermont to make up for lost coverage when it signed-off from Mount Washington. Under normal conditions, these translators should have been built before WMTW moved off the mountain in order to comply with FCC regulations. However, construction was delayed almost four years because the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission had to agree to the proposed tower locations for the translators.
Colebrook is part of the Portland market but White River Junction is considered to be part of the Burlington–Plattsburgh market. The latter location was within the former coverage area of WNNE. Although that station's transmitter was located on Mount Ascutney, it formerly operated a repeater of its own from Lebanon. FCC regulations do not usually allow two or more stations from two or more different markets have coverage of the same location. This rule, however, does not apply to repeaters. Incidentally, White River Junction is within the fringe area of another Hearst sister station, WMUR-TV.
Both WMTW repeaters were sold to New Hampshire Public Television in 2009. W27CP went silent on July 15 after losing the lease on its tower while W26CQ was shut down by Hearst on September 2 in preparation for the sale. The latter transmitter returned as an NHPTV relay on November 4. W27CP never returned to the air and its broadcasting license was canceled by the FCC on September 14, 2011. More recently, WMTW obtained a construction permit for a translator in Portland on UHF channel 26. On April 26, 2010, the station filed a license to cover for the new translator which was granted by the FCC on June 1. This essentially allowed it to officially sign-on.

News operation

For most of its history, WMTW's newscasts ranked third in the ratings behind longtime dominant WCSH and runner-up WGME-TV. However, in more recent years, the station has waged a spirited battle with WGME for second place and has beaten WGME in several key sweeps periods.
In an attempt to take on WCSH and WGME in order to become more competitive, WMTW adapted its news department to appeal to change in viewer habits. It added a weekend morning show on January 2, 2010, offering an alternative to WCSH. Prior to this addition, the station only aired local weather cut-ins during the weekend edition of Good Morning America. WMTW starts its weekend morning news at 5 a.m., while WCSH begins its weekend morning news at 5 a.m. on Saturdays and 6 a.m. on Sundays; WGME has no local morning newscast on weekends except for during severe winter weather.
On September 18, 2012, WMTW upgraded local news production to enhanced definition widescreen. On September 9, 2013, WMTW launched a 60-minute newscast weeknights at 5. To coincide with the news expansion, WMTW moved Dr. Phil from 5 o'clock to the 3 p.m. time slot replacing The Ricki Lake Show. It also debuted a new logo and introduced an updated corporate graphics package from Hearst Television.
Through an exclusive partnership with Charter Communications, WMTW operates a 24-hour cable news station throughout the market. This service replays local newscasts seen on the main broadcast channel in a continuous loop. It does not simulcast live shows that air on the main station; instead, the cable channel displays a slide directing viewers to the main station. "WMTW All News Channel" was originally on analog cable channel 9 but, on May 5, 2009, it became available exclusively on the provider's digital tier.
On April 16, 2014, it was announced that WMTW would be moving its news operation from the Time and Temperature Building in Portland to a broadcast-ready facility in Westbrook. The studio space was formerly used by WPXT for its own in house news operation that folded in the early-2000s. The rest of its operations will relocate from Auburn to Westbrook at a later date. WMTW began originating its newscasts from the renovated facility on October 4, 2014.
WMTW's broadcasts began being presented in full high-definition in 2016. Studio cameras and video pieces are all presented in high definition.
On August 8, 2016, WMTW announced that it would add a 4 p.m. weekday newscast which launched on September 6. On September 11, 2017, WMTW started airing a 12 p.m. newscast on weekdays; previously the time slot was occupied by talk shows including Access Hollywood Live, Steve Harvey and The Wendy Williams Show. Following Hearst's acquisition of WPXT on September 21, 2018, WMTW announced that it would begin producing a prime time newscast for that station on September 24.
On January 5, 2020, WMTW's weekday noon newscast expanded to one hour; it is the first regularly-scheduled hour-long newscast in the time period in the Portland–Auburn television market.