WHMB-TV

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WHMB-TV
Indianapolis, Indiana
Branding	WHMB TV 40
Slogan	WHMB 40 is Life Affirming
Channels	40 (UHF) analog, 16 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	LeSEA
Owner	LeSEA
Founded	1971
Website	www.whmbtv.com

WHMB-TV is a Christian and general entertainment television station serving the Indianapolis, Indiana Market on channel 40. The station is owned by LeSEA Broadcasting, also known as World Harvest Broadcasting. The organization was founded by Assembly Of God Minister Lester Sumrall (1913-1996). His sons are active with the ministry. LeSEA also owns stations in South Bend, Honolulu, Tulsa, New Orleans, Denver, and Colorado Springs as well as a few Christian radio stations.

[edit] History

Channel 40 originally existed for a few months in 1971 as WURD-TV, owned by local minister Dr. Wendell Hansen. One of the earliest religious TV stations to sign on, it was run cheaply, on the air only in evenings and featuring a modest selection of local and syndicated religious programs. Its most crowning achievement was the installation of a microwave receiver, so they could carry live telecasts of Chicago White Sox baseball; Dr. Hansen was so proud of this, he broadcast its installation live. The success was short-lived -- a few days later, WURD closed down. Shortly afterward, Sumrall acquired the station, rebranding it WHMB-TV. [1]

The present-day WHMB signed on in 1972, running mostly religious shows. By 1978, they ran cartoons from 7-9 a.m., religious programs until Noon, sitcoms until 3 p.m., cartoons until 5 p.m., more sitcoms until 7 p.m., and religious shows thereafter. On Saturdays, they ran child- and family-friendly programming until 6 p.m., and religious programming after that. On Sunday, they ran religion the entire day. They also featured one bizarre local kiddie show program titled Captain Hook, in which the Peter Pan villain and his pirates taught Christianity to children. This show disappeared when the episodes were returned to the now-deceased actor who played the title role.

By 1984, they were running Christian programming the entire day except for the 3-6 p.m. weekday period and Saturdays 11 a.m.-6 p.m.. Today, they run secular shows from about 2-7 p.m. weekdays. The secular shows include sitcoms, westerns, public domain movies, and talk shows.

In 1997, WHMB picked up the TV rights to the Indiana high school football and girls' and boys' basketball championships. The station chose not to renew those rights in 2004, but continue to air high school games on Friday nights. They also currently air a handful of games every year of the Indianapolis Indians triple-A baseball club, including some away games (in which case they pick up the home team's broadcast feed).

They run many locally-produced religious shows, along with shows like The 700 Club, Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, and others.

[edit] See also

• LeSEA
• WHME-TV

[edit] External links

• WHMB website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WHMB-TV