branding whmb tv 40 slogan whmb 40 is life affirming channels digital 20 uhf virtual 40 psip affiliations .1 lesea .2 world harvest television owner lesea broadcasting corporation lesea broadcasting of indianapolis inc. first air date 1971 ; 45 years ago 1971 call letters meaning world harvest missionary broadcasting former callsigns wurd 1971 1972 former channel number s analog 40 uhf 1971 2009 digital 16 uhf 200 2012 former affiliations religious independent 1971 1972 transmitter power 163 kw height 302 m facility id 37102 transmitter coordinates 39 53 39.6 n 86 12 21.3 w 39.894333 n 86.205917 w 39.894333 ; 86.205917 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.whmbtv.com whmb tv virtual channel 40 uhf digital channel 20 is a lesea owned and operated television station located in indianapolis indiana united states . the station is owned by the lesea broadcasting corporation also known as world harvest broadcasting . whmb maintains studio facilities located on greenfield avenue in noblesville and its transmitter is located on walnut drive in northwestern indianapolis . on cable whmb is available on comcast xfinity channel 9 bright house networks channel 22 and at & t u verse channel 40 in standard definition and in high definition on xfinity digital channel 1009 and bright house networks digital channel 1022 . contents 1 history 1.1 prior history of uhf channel 40 in indianapolis 1.2 whmb station history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 sports programming 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit prior history of uhf channel 40 in indianapolis edit the uhf channel 40 allocation in indianapolis was originally occupied by wurd which was founded by local minister dr. wendell hansen . when it signed on as an independent station in 1971 wurd was one of the earliest religious television stations to sign on in the united states ; the station broadcast only for a few hours during the evening hours carrying a modest selection of local and syndicated religious programs . the station was run on a very tight operational budget ; its most crowning achievement was the installation of a microwave receiver which allowed the station to carry live telecasts of chicago white sox baseball games from independent station wfld now a fox owned and operated station in chicago ; dr. hansen was so proud of this that he broadcast the receiver s installation live on the station . the success was short lived as wurd ceased operations within a few months of its sign on . whmb station history edit shortly after wurd ceased operations assembly of god minister lester sumrall acquired the channel 40 license and changed its call letters to whmb tv . 1 the station first signed on the air in 1972 ; originally signing on in the early afternoon and signing off nightly at midnight the station primarily ran religious programs . in 1974 the station expanded its broadcasting hours signing on in the late morning ; it also acquired the local rights to the 700 club which whmb ran twice each weekday it eventually ran a 90 minute edition of the program live at 10 00 a.m. along twice daily repeats of the hour long version of the program by the latter part of the decade . by that point the station also began carrying additional secular programming with a mix of children s programs and westerns airing from about 3 00 to 6 00 p.m. the station began broadcasting 18 hours a day in 1975 ; at that time whmb began airing the ptl club which it aired in its two hour broadcast which was reduced to one hour in 1982 as well as one hour versions that aired twice a day ; the station also aired religious programs from televangelists such as jimmy swaggart and richard roberts . in addition the station also aired a few locally produced shows ; von saum hosted a weekday afternoon children s program from 1972 until shortly before his death from heart failure in 1993 titled pirate adventures with captain hook in which saum whose left leg and arm were amputated after he was hit by a car while riding his motorcycle at age 17 in 1960 and other cast members playing hook s pirates used music and object lessons to teach children about jesus christ . saum who originated the captain hook character after a preacher encouraged him to a develop the character for saum s children s ministry tours by acquiring a hook for his prosthetic arm and costume was approached by sumrall to bring his character to television . whmb which later syndicated the series to several countries dropped the program when it returned recordings of the episodes to the now deceased saum years later . channel 40 also ran twice a day airings of a locally produced weekday bible study program hosted by lester sumrall as well as a christian oriented music and variety program hosted by the sumrall family that aired three times a day . the station began broadcasting on a 24 hour schedule by 1977 ; around this time whmb ran christian programs from 9 00 a.m. to 2 00 p.m. and 7 00 p.m. to 7 00 a.m. ; cartoons including the live action children s program bozo from 7 00 to 9 00 a.m. and 3 00 to 5 00 p.m. ; classic sitcoms such as little rascals shorts my three sons dennis the menace green acres batman and gomer pyle u.s.m.c. from 2 00 to 3 00 p.m. ; and a mix of sitcoms and occasional westerns such as the lone ranger from 3 00 to 7 00 p.m. on saturdays the station ran children s and family oriented secular programming including cartoons such as tom and jerry and looney tunes shorts the rocky and bullwinkle show tennessee tuxedo and his tales underdog the banana splits the great space coaster the new adventures of huckleberry finn jonny quest and the flintstones from 7 00 a.m. to 6 00 p.m. and religious programming during the nighttime hours and a schedule consisting entirely of christian oriented religious programs on sundays . by 1984 whmb carried christian programming for much of the broadcast day with breakaway windows for secular programming including sitcoms westerns and public domain movies each weekday from 3 00 to 6 00 p.m. and saturdays from 11 00 a.m. to 6 00 p.m. by the 1990s the station began acquiring somewhat more recent sitcoms from the 1970s and 1980s including the brady bunch happy days family ties and the odd couple . whmb eventually reduced its secular programming consisting of sitcoms drama series and lifestyle programs to 2 00 to 7 00 p.m. each weekday and a scattered amount for a few hours a day on saturdays along with carrying children s programs complying with the federal communications commission s educational programming guidelines for two hours on saturday mornings and an hour on sunday afternoons . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 2 40.1 720p 16 9 whmb dt main whmb programming 40.2 480i 4 3 wht world harvest television whmb tv was the only lesea owned station that was not included in a groupwide affiliation agreement with cozi tv that was announced on june 17 2014 ; 3 the network which primarily airs classic television series including some that are currently or have previously aired on whmb has been carried locally on the second digital subchannel of nbc affiliate wthr channel 13 and its low power sister station walv cd channel 46 since march 2013 due to an existing agreement with the owners of both stations the dispatch broadcast group . analog to digital conversion edit whmb tv shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 40 on january 16 2009 . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 16 . 4 in may 2012 the federal communications commission issued a report & order approving a request by lesea to move the station s digital signal from channel 16 to its former analog era uhf channel 20 . through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 40 . programming edit syndicated religious programs broadcast by whmb tv include the 700 club the believer s voice of victory life today jack van impe presents and in touch with dr. charles stanley . syndicated secular programs seen on the station include highway to heaven little house on the prairie a different world marty stouffer s wild america the filling station and cosby . during the mid 1990s whmb aired a rebroadcast of then cbs affiliate wish tv channel 8 now a cw affiliate s 6 00 p.m. newscast on a one hour delay at 7 00 p.m. sports programming edit in 1997 the indiana high school athletics association awarded whmb the local television rights to the statewide boys and girls high school basketball tournament finals and high school football championship games after upn affiliate wttv channel 4 now a cbs affiliate chose not to renew its contract to carry the games citing ratings declines ; that year the ishaa converted its basketball tournament from a single class to a multi class format . whmb opted against renewing the contract in 2004 ; the station continues to air high school football and basketball games on friday nights during the ishaa athletic season . the station also maintains rights to broadcast a handful of minor league baseball games annually from the indianapolis indians ; during instances in which the station carries an away game featuring the team whmb instead transmits the home team s broadcast feed . since september 2012 whmb tv is the indianapolis home to the syndicated package of atlantic coast conference football and men s basketball games originating from the acc network an ad hoc syndicated sports network operated by raycom sports . the package includes some men s basketball games involving the university of notre dame fighting irish as that college s sports programs except football joined the acc in july 2012 . 5 6 see also edit lesea whme tv references edit http www.radio info.com mods board.php post 573452 & board tv classic rabbitears tv query for whmb cozi tv diginet adds eight markets tvnewscheck june 17 2014 . dtv tentative channel designations for the first and second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . acc network has expanded national reach pdf . raycom sports via press release . july 1 2014 . retrieved july 1 2014 . haygood daniel spring 2013 . through part of seven decades from c.d. chesley to raycom sports acc basketball has gaines exposure through partnerships distribution innovation pdf . acc sports journal . retrieved june 23 2013 . external links edit www.whmbtv.com whmb official website query the fcc s tv station database for whmb tv biafn s media web database information on whmb tv program information for whmb at titantv.com v t e television stations in central indiana including indianapolis english stations wttv wttk 4.1 29.1 cbs 4.2 29.2 independent 4.3 29.3 comet wrtv 6.1 abc 6.2 htsn 6.3 laff 6.4 escape wish tv wiih cd 8.1 the cw 8.2 get tv 8.3 justice network wthr 13.1 nbc 13.2 cozi tv 13.3 metv wfyi 20.1 pbs 20.3 create indiana channel classic arts showcase wndy tv 23.1 mntv 23.2 bounce tv 23.3 wish tv walv cd 46.1 metv wbxi cd 47.1 local wx wipx lp 51 silent wxin 59.1 fox 59.2 antenna tv 59.3 this tv wipx tv 63.1 ion 63.2 qubo 63.3 ion life 63.4 ion shop 63.5 qvc 63.6 hsn spanish stations wdni cd 19.1 telemundo wfyi 20.2 v me wclj tv 42.4 enlace religious whmb tv 40.1 lesea 40.2 wht wclj tv 42.1 tbn 42.2 tcc 42.3 juce tv 42.5 soac wdti 69.1 ds outlying