WILDWOOD – The Philadelphia TV market will have one fewer NBC affiliate when WMGM, licensed to Wildwood, loses its affiliation at the end of 2014. Comcast/NBC owns WCAU in Philadelphia, which has a Jersey Shore bureau and a reporter dedicated to South Jersey, according to a report on The Business of Television Broadcasting & Cable.
Last fall, LocusPoint Networks acquired WMGM, known as “NBC 40,” from Access. 1, which owns 13 radio stations. The station has been an NBC affiliate for 48 years, according to Ron Smith, former general manager. An NBC rep said WMGM’s affiliation agreement expired at the end of 2012 but the station was given a two-year extension that runs through 2014.
Ravi Potharlanka and Bill deKay are cofounders of LocusPoint. The two have been acquiring smaller stations in larger markets, such as WDVB in the New York DMA, in what is presumed to be spectrum stockpiling. LocusPoint is owned by Blackstone Group and defines itself as “an early stage wireless communications company” on its website.
Having two NBC affiliates in a major market is rare, though the situation also exists in Washington, where NBC owns WRC while Nexstar’s WHAG too is affiliated with the network.
Smith says WMGM had a staff of 60 when he retired as GM last year. The station will have trouble surviving, he believes, without NBC programming. “You hate to see a station that’s been so vital and been a lifeline to the community disappear,” he told B&C.
