WPBM-CD


WPBM-CD is a class-A low-power television station that is licensed to and located in Scottsville, Kentucky, USA. WPBM broadcasts a digital signal on UHF channel 15 from a studio and transmitter site along US Route 31E near Barren River Lake in rural northeastern Allen County not too far from the county's northeastern boundary with Barren County. WPBM upgraded to a full HD signal in March, 2018.
The station currently holds a partial affiliation with The Walk TV and GEB TV.

History

Although granted a construction permit sometime in 1982 under the callsign W07BM, WPBM did not go on the air until 1998 as W48BM. The station first broadcast on UHF analog channel 48 for the first two years on the air, then moved to channel 31 in 2001 as WPBM-LP, as part of the digital television conversion. Since then, the station was branded as TV 31, Proclaim Broadcasting. WPBM discontinued its analog signal and converted to digital broadcasting in December 2009 on channel 46, but it is displayed as channel 31.1 through the use of PSIP. The current WPBM-CD call letters were adopted on June 25, 2010. In October, 2019, WPBM began broadcasting on Channel 15, as required by the FCC.
WPBM-CD is owned by Scottsville businessman and minister Marvey B. Wood and his late wife, Frances. They are the sole owners of the station, doing business as Proclaim Broadcasting, Inc.
Currently, in terms of religious television outlets, WPBM is the only locally based religious television station for the Bowling Green media market of any part, even though Allen County, Kentucky, where the station is based in, is considered to be in the Nashville, Tennessee media market. That is due in part of Allen County's close proximity to the Kentucky-Tennessee state line. WPBM serves at least nearby portions of both the Nashville and Bowling Green media market on both sides of the state line. Hendersonville, Tennessee-based WPGD-TV, an owned-and-operated station of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, also serves parts of southern Kentucky as the default over-the-air TBN affiliate for the area, but is a second option for religious programming. Bowling Green would not be served over-the-air by another locally based religious station besides WPBM until the Sonlife Broadcasting Network became available via the fourth digital subchannel of Antenna TV/MyNetworkTV affiliate WCZU-LD in August 2016.

Digital television

Digital channels

Analog-to-digital television transition

WPBM was not obligated to transition to digital in the digital television transition of 2009 since it was a low-powered station. September 2015 was the deadline for low-powered stations to transition to digital. In spite of this, WPBM discontinued its analog signal and converted to digital broadcasting in December 2009 on UHF digital channel 46, but it is displayed as channel 31 through the use of PSIP.

Programming

Local programming

As a Christian television station, WPBM produces more than 12 hours per week of local programming, including music, interviews, preaching, teaching and family living shows. Local programming produced by the station includes From the Heart with Frances Wood, Sneed Family Music starring The Sneed Family of Glasgow, Take The Living Word to a Dying World with station owner Marvey B. Wood, and a few other locally produced programs are featured. WPBM airs Sunday worship services on a delayed basis from Shepherd's House in Glasgow, Bethlehem Baptist Church in Greensburg, Abounding Grace Ministries in Scottsville and First Baptist Church, Bowling Green.

Syndicated programming

WPBM's programming includes The 700 Club, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer, Andrew Wommack, Quick Study, John Hagee, Life Today, Joel Osteen, In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley, CBN Newswatch, the Gaither Homecoming Hour, and Your Health with Dr. Richard and Cindy Becker, among others. Children's educational programming mandated by the Federal Communications Commission is run by the station from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. C.T. every Saturday morning.
The station was an over-the-air affiliate of FamilyNet from 1998 until 2013.

Coverage area

With 8,000 watts of power and a tower, the signal covers about a radius from the tower site. WPBM is carried by 15 cable television systems, taking the signal far beyond the broadcast radius. Some of the communities where WPBM is available on cable include Glasgow, Scottsville, Morgantown, Brownsville, Hodgenville, Albany, Cave City, Park City, Munfordville, Franklin, Horse Cave, Greensburg, Kentucky, and Edmonton. In Tennessee, WPBM is carried on cable in Lafayette, Westmoreland and Red Boiling Springs. The station is not carried on cable in Bowling Green, only over the air with an antenna. Providers that distribute WPBM to these areas include Comcast, Mediacom, South Central Rural Telephone Cooperative, the Glasgow Electric Plant Board, and North Central Telephone Cooperative.