TV stations in the United States that signed off permanently or temporarily

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

These are TV stations that signed off permanently or temporarily for various reasons

WMGM-TV (NBC) 40, Wildwood, New Jersey - A decision made by its then owners, Locuspoint Networks to discontinue its NBC license, after NBCUniversal forced them to, instead focusing the NBC affiliation on WCAU 10, Philadelphia, since that part of New Jersey is technically part of the (much stronger) Philadelphia market. Channel 10 was losing money to channel 40, and this was NBCU's way to stop it. (the station is now affiliated with the Justice Network):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRq6iApp5dA

WXGZ-TV (FOX) 32, Appleton, Wisconsin - The station's owners, Appleton Midwestern Television filed for bankruptcy on Valentines Day 1992 with the intent to return in the near future (the station was sold to Ace Communications, Inc. and came back on the air in 1994 as WACY-TV and became a UPN affiliate in 1995, then a MyNetworkTV affiliate in 2006. The station is now owned by E.W. Scripps Broadcasting):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX6eTCmtkLU

XETV-TDT (The CW) 6, San Diego, California (broadcasting from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico) - XETV was historically an English language station broadcasting in Mexico with a newsroom on the U.S. side of the border. The station was established in 1953 and disestablished in 2017. With the announcement of The CW affiliate moving to one of KFMB-TV CBS 8's subchannels, XETV was permanently transitioning from an English station, which they were for 64 years, to that of a Mexican Spanish TV station, in this case, Canal 5*, owned by Grupo Televisa. Here are a few videos from CW 6 San Diego's final days:
The history of XETV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItIoOTZfhdM
Final 10PM News sign-off with end credits:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFLu1ZzOqsw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB0ZEys5NOk
Final CW 6 sign-off with the Mexican National Anthem and transition to Canal 5*: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfWYwDlzfGw

[giantsfan2016]

These are TV stations that signed off permanently or temporarily for various reasons

WMGM-TV (NBC) 40, Wildwood, New Jersey - A decision made by its then owners, Locuspoint Networks to discontinue its NBC license (the station is now affiliated with the Justice Network)

Nope. They had no choice in the matter regarding NBC. Comcast NBC Universal owner of WCAU Channel 10 the NBC station in Philly forced them to end NBC programming. While located in Jersery, Wildwood is part of the Philadelphia Market. Comcast NBC Universal maintained that Channel 10 was losing viewers to WMGM and thus revenue. (Advertising dollars).

They pulled this same b u l l s h i t with WHAG Channel 25 in Hagerstown, Maryland. Technically part of the DC Market and hurting WRC channel 4 the Comcast NBC Universal Owened NBC station in DC. WHAG is now WDVM and runs the Hereos and Icons network on their main channel.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

These are TV stations that signed off permanently or temporarily for various reasons

WMGM-TV (NBC) 40, Wildwood, New Jersey - A decision made by its then owners, Locuspoint Networks to discontinue its NBC license (the station is now affiliated with the Justice Network)

Nope. They had no choice in the matter regarding NBC. Comcast NBC Universal owner of WCAU Channel 10 the NBC station in Philly forced them to end NBC programming. While located in Jersery, Wildwood is part of the Philadelphia Market. Comcast NBC Universal maintained that Channel 10 was losing viewers to WMGM and thus revenue. (Advertising dollars).

They pulled this same b u l l s h i t with WHAG Channel 25 in Hagerstown, Maryland. Technically part of the DC Market and hurting WRC channel 4 the Comcast NBC Universal Owened NBC station in DC. WHAG is now WDVM and runs the Hereos and Icons network on their main channel.

I updated it with more accurate info.

It just makes you wonder why they did not become a semi-satellite to channel 10 early on, like WCSH/WLBZ or WFRV/WJMN or KELO/KCLO/KDLO did...

[giantsfan2016]

Here's the article about WMGM-TV re: NBC forcing them to drop the affiiation.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/communities/northfield_linwood_somers-point/nbc-wmgm-tv-affiliation-to-end/article_e6555ddc-c679-11e3-ab2e-001a4bcf887a.html

And here's the one about WHAG.

https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/news/local/official-nbc-affiliation-ending-with-whag-tv/article_77461d4a-d6a9-11e5-88eb-0fedba025d11.html

[mixedday]

I know this is an old thread, but WMGM exists as a Justice TV affiliate, as mentioned. It relays Univision WUVP on a subchannel.

There was no option for WMGM to become a satellite of WCAU because it was under a different ownership, and NBC had no need for a second affiliate in the market.

On the other hand, Hearst owns WCVB (Boston) and WMUR (Manchester, New Hampshire) and if one lives in Manchester,New Hampshire, they get both channels. But Hearst is in a good situation. Apparently, it gets a lot of political ad revenue during New Hampshire's primaries, so it likes to keep a New Hampshire focused ABC. In southern NJ, NBC is fine having one NBC affiliate that it owns, WCAU. It should be noted that NBC now has a ownership duopoly with WCAU and WWSI, the Telemundo station in the market.

But not all is lost from WMGM.

The lead anchor of NBC40's newscast, Michelle Dawn Mooney, is now the anchor of SNJ Today:
http://www.snjtoday.com/

The newscast has a focus on all of South Jersey but covers small stories in Atlantic, Cumberland and Cape May counties like NBC 40 used to. However, it is only a 1/2 hour show. It airs at 7pm and 11pm but I think the 11pm is a re-broadcast of the 7pm, but I'm not sure. NBC 40 had at least a 6pm and a separate 11pm newscast. I think it ventured towards a 5pm newscast at one point too.

That newscast is seen on WACP TV and WMGM TV and is available through most cable systems, satellite and Fios in the Philly market. WACP is another station but mostly airs infomercials.

In the Philly market, WYBE is one channel that has truly signed off permanently. However Lehigh Valley's PBS 39 has obtained the license and has started a new channel.
Read here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPPT_(TV)

I think Univision's plan for WMGM is for it to obtain must-carry status eventually through the Philly market. And after that, it might change the primary channel from Justice to be relay of UniMas, WFPA, but that is my speculation. Cable companies and Fios already carry WFPA, but not in HD, AFAIK. Univision could get must-carry from a HD signal using a full power station.

Also a little odd in the Philly market, after all the digital changes, is TBN is not really accessible with a basic over the air antenna. TBN which owns WGTW agreed to a change of city of license to Millville, NJ, and a transmitter relocation down there.

But essentially the spread of God's Word can't be accessed by all the cord cutters anymore! There is a low power station in the Philly market that is more accessible, and it carries Daystar though.

Ch.48 WKBS is one station that signed off at one point from Philly airwaves. It was a popular independent station in the Philly market back in the day. It came back as WGTW about a decade later. Then the owner sold it to TBN. It's one station that is now just another marginal station but at one point, it was a popular station.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

KFIZ-TV 34, an independent station out of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin signed on in 1968 and signed off in 1972. It was the first TV station in the Green Bay area that carried PBS programming, such as Sesame Street. Other notable programs included Milwaukee Brewers baseball games, The Merv Griffin Show, Uncle Doug's Cartoon Show and classic Star Trek when it was in second-run syndication.
The TV station is off the air, however, 1450 KFIZ AM radio is still on the air.

WOSH-TV 48, an ABC affiliate out of Oshkosh, Wisconsin only lasted from March 1953 to March 1954.
1490 WOSH AM radio is still on the air.

[retailisking]

Here in Maine we had two UHF stations in the early 1950s that came on the air during the VHF freeze. WPMT was Channel 53 and was based in Portland, and WLAM-TV was based in Lewiston on Channel 17. The stations had a mixture of ABC, CBS, NBC and DuMont (their primary affiliation) programming. Neither lasted more than a year or so as the VHF freeze was lifted and WCSH, WGAN-TV (now WGME) and WMTW came on the air. Looking back, I wonder why they bothered, as the start-up costs for TV stations back then were enormous compared to the predicted advertising revenue, and they should have foreseen VHF stations coming on the air and picking off their network affiliations.

[retailisking]

Nope. They had no choice in the matter regarding NBC. Comcast NBC Universal owner of WCAU Channel 10 the NBC station in Philly forced them to end NBC programming. While located in Jersery, Wildwood is part of the Philadelphia Market. Comcast NBC Universal maintained that Channel 10 was losing viewers to WMGM and thus revenue. (Advertising dollars).

It's easy to see how people could get confused, as Locus Point was a speculator hoping to strike it rich in the spectrum auction. They got left holding the bag more often than not.

[mixedday]

It's easy to see how people could get confused, as Locus Point was a speculator hoping to strike it rich in the spectrum auction. They got left holding the bag more often than not.

Locust Point bought it for $6 million in the end of 2013 and sold it to Univision for $6 million as well in middle of 2017. No increase in value.

However, other stations made a lot of money from the auction:
https://auctiondata.fcc.gov/public/projects/1000/reports/reverse-winning_bids

Purchasing a station for the intent of auction sale with a city of license and tower in Wildwood, Cape May County NJ was a risky investment. It's a remote county with low population. It should have applied to move the city of license of the station further inland after purchasing the station, even if it would have meant ceasing the NBC affiliation in late 2013 before NBC chose to discontinue the affiliation on them in 2014.