branding metv milwaukee slogan milwaukee s home for classic tv channels digital 24 uhf wdjt dt 46.2 uhf virtual 41.1 psip wdjt dt 58.2 psip affiliations metv o & o owner weigel broadcasting channel 41 63 limited partnership founded 1999 in previous incarnations since 1983 call letters meaning w be memorable entertainment 1 sister station s wdjt tv wmlw tv wytu ld former callsigns w55as 1983 1989 w65bt 1989 2000 w46ar 1989 2000 now wytu ld w41ci 2000 2001 wmlw lp 2001 2003 wmlw ca 2003 2012 wbme ca 2012 2013 former channel number s analog 55 uhf 1983 1989 65 uhf 1989 2000 41 uhf 2000 2011 digital 13 vhf 2007 2012 former affiliations wciu tv simulcast 1980s 1990s univision 1980s 1990 webfn 2000 2002 independent 2002 2012 america one secondary until 2002 4kids tv 2004 2008 transmitter power 15 kw height 317 m class cd facility id 71422 transmitter coordinates 42 51 21.6 n 87 50 44.2 w 42.856000 n 87.845611 w 42.856000 ; 87.845611 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.metv.com wbme cd virtual channel 41 uhf digital channel 24 is a metv owned and operated television station located in milwaukee wisconsin united states . the station is owned by chicago based weigel broadcasting and is sister to cbs affiliate wdjt tv channel 58 independent station wmlw tv channel 49 and telemundo affiliate wytu ld channel 63 . all four stations share studio facilities located on south 60th street near west allis ; wbme s transmitter is located in milwaukee s lincoln park . even though wbme has a digital signal of its own the low powered broadcasting radius does not reach all of southeastern wisconsin . therefore the station can also be seen through a simulcast on wdjt s second digital subchannel in order to reach the entire market . this relay signal can be seen on uhf channel 46.2 or virtual channel 58.2 via psip from the lincoln park transmitter . the station is also available on time warner cable and at & t u verse channel 19 charter communications channel 191 and dish network and directv channel 41 . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 as an independent station 1.3 station swap with wmlw 2 digital television 2.1 digital channel 3 references 4 external links history edit early history edit the station that is currently wbme cd had existed in one way or another since the early 1980s on low power translator stations first on uhf channel 55 as w55as then by 1989 moving to channel 65 as w65bt . the station has been owned by weigel broadcasting since it signed on the air . until the late 1990s the station would air the stock market observer business news block which was produced by chicago sister station wciu tv from 7 a.m. 5 p.m. ; in fact the station launched as a full translator of wciu receiving that station via a microwave link between wciu s transmitter on the sears tower and a receiver dish atop the first wisconsin firstar center and was weigel s first successful attempt since trying to acquire the channel 49 license in racine in 1965 to establish a station in milwaukee . at night the station ran a mix of home shopping programs infomercials religious shows spanish language programming from univision before the launch of w46ar in 1990 and low cost programming including plenty of public domain and low cost films . the station was watched by few because of insufficient cable carriage and better television choices in the milwaukee market along with weigel trying to establish wdjt s presence in the market especially after acquiring the market s cbs affiliation from witi channel 6 in december 1994 . a harbinger of the station s future happened that month when some of wdjt s syndicated programming that would have aired during cbs timeslots moved over to w65bt after the switch to fulfill existing contracts for those programs . 2 in 1999 weigel obtained construction permits for new channel positions in the wake of having to move its milwaukee low power operations which included then univision station w46ar channel 46 ; now telemundo affiliate wytu ld channel 63 to accommodate wdjt s digital signal on channel 46 along with the inauguration of weigel s new lincoln park transmitter for wdjt and the low power stations which united the company s transmitter operations into one facility . towards the end of september 2000 the programming from channel 65 moved to the new channel 41 under the callsign w41ci with the station s on air brand becoming tv 41 . in its first year the station improved its programming airing weigel bridge information systems webfn financial news service during the day and entertainment programs at night . the america one network aired during the overnight and morning hours also to fulfill educational programming requirements along with local news updates produced by wdjt that aired throughout the day . then in mid november 2001 channel 41 would acquire low power status allowing it to have a lettered call sign which would end up being wmlw lp the wmlw call letters were previously used from 1982 to august 1989 by watertown radio station wjjo 94.1 fm with the calls standing for mellow as part of that station s then soft rock format . as an independent station edit wmlw s tv 41 logo in use from the station s calling in september 2001 until september 2003 when the station found time warner basic cable carriage . in 2002 the station began transitioning to become more of a true independent station with the webfn venture folding in the wake of the dot com crash freeing up the 7 a.m. 5 p.m. timeslot for other programming . weigel acquired more syndicated programs for the station and found itself in a unique position as milwaukee s only true independent television station . sinclair broadcast group owned wvtv channel 18 and wcgv tv channel 24 decided to focus more on their wb and upn programming which were later replaced by the cw and mynetworktv in september 2006 instead of running occasional sports coverage which often preempted the network schedules much to the annoyance of the local fanbases of each of the two network s shows ; wcgv retained broadcast rights for the milwaukee bucks until the end of the 2006 07 season and took themselves out of the race for local college and high school sports rights ; there was also a lack of interest on the part of fsn north which wanted to focus on teams with statewide interest not just within the milwaukee metro area . therefore weigel decided to use channel 41 in order to take the rights for these sporting events and use the lure of the teams to gain carriage on local cable providers knowing that it would be the only way to make channel 41 a viable player in milwaukee broadcasting . time warner cable was strongly opposed to adding channel 41 to its southeastern wisconsin systems arguing that the station was not a full power signal and the sports were only a lure to add another unneeded station to their lineups . this came after must carry rules pushed them to air religious station wwrs tv channel 52 and move madison s pbs member station wha tv to digital cable to free up a basic channel . weigel then encouraged viewers to call and write twc and charter communications to add the station to their lineups in the wake of being the milwaukee station that would air the wiaa high school basketball championships using promotions on wdjt and in local newspapers to send the message . after much campaigning charter decided to add wmlw to its basic cable service channel 8 in most cities channel 21 in sheboygan with time warner cable carrying the station only over digital cable at first allowing the wiaa coverage to be seen on cable at some level . a compromise would later be reached between weigel and twc as a part of retransmission consent negotiations for wdjt and the station would become a part of the basic package throughout twc s service area moving from digital channel 741 to basic channel 7 in the fall of 2003 . after securing cable carriage the station began to identify only by the wmlw call letters and rarely mentioned its over the air channel number except in a few promotions and visually in fcc required identifications . wmlw would drop america one programming in 2002 and began programming the entire day shortly thereafter . in mid september 2003 wmlw became a class a television station and added the ca suffix to their call letters . in september 2004 fox s 4kids tv block moved to the station from wcgv after that station decided to stop carrying fox children s programming the block aired on wmlw in lieu of witi which had no interest in airing the fox supplied children s programming . after the block was discontinued in december 2008 wmlw and witi refused to carry the replacement weekend marketplace paid programming block which is unseen in the market . local musical artist pat mccurdy is the songwriter and singer of the station s former jingle and theme song as an independent station wmlw means milwaukee . the station had a minor logo change in december 2010 keeping the same general theme but utilizing a different font . station swap with wmlw edit on august 7 2012 wbme and wmlw each swapped channel allocations . wbme s callsign whose tv suffix was changed to a ca suffix with the swap and metv affiliation moved from full power channel 49 to low power channel 41 while the wmlw call letters and the syndicated and brokered programming inventory seen on channel 41 were moved to channel 49 as wmlw tv . the move to the full power channel 49 license allowed wmlw to broadcast in high definition for the first time . since the channel 41 signal is a low power allocation metv programming is relayed on the 58.2 subchannel of wdjt tv that relayed wmlw s programming prior to the swap . 3 sometime in early 2013 a late night rebroadcast of wdjt s 10 p.m. newscast began airing on wbme cd at 12 30 a.m. 1 00 a.m. on sunday evenings replacing metv s national broadcast of night gallery . this is likely to meet the station s class a license requirements and a glut of programming on wdjt and wmlw making the rebroadcast unattainable on those stations . digital television edit digital channel edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 4 41.1 480i 16 9 wbme ca metv the station launched its digital signal under the callsign wmlw ld on vhf channel 13 in mid december 2007 . the simulcast on wdjt tv s second digital subchannel remained due to channel 13 s poor signal coverage to protect grand rapids abc affiliate wzzm tv which is receivable across lake michigan and has a transmitter closer to the michigan lakeshore than the other grand rapids area stations . as wzzm moved its digital signal from uhf channel 39 back to channel 13 in june 2009 these reception issues remained and wdjt dt2 for all intents and purposes is the signal that takes priority in station identification sequences and is utilized as the signal source for cable and satellite providers within the milwaukee market . at the beginning of 2009 weigel proposed to move wmlw s analog signal to uhf channel 24 in order to reduce interference from green bay nbc affiliate wgba tv channel 26 which operates its digital signal on channel 41 5 along with rockford illinois cbs affiliate wifr channel 23 whose digital signal also operates on channel 41 . the move was possible since wcgv which formerly held the channel 24 allocation in the milwaukee market for its analog signal