A subsidiary of Weigel Broadcasting wants to build four TV stations in West Michigan

[MWmetalhead]

TV-49, Inc., which is a subsidiary of Weigel Broadcasting (of MeTV fame), has applied to build TV stations in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon and Holland.

https://www.rabbitears.info/map.php?typ ... &filedate=

[Jason Kragt]

499' 10 kW from Jamestown isn't too shabby.

[MWmetalhead]

It's going to have a deep null toward GR, though, for some reason.

The Grand Rapids transmitter will undoubtedly have some difficulty reaching the southern strand of townships in Kent County, the panhandle portion of Wyoming, and probably Cascade Twp, too. The Jamestown Twp site has good LOS of some of those areas. I hope they amend their application to loosen the null of the Jamestown Twp antenna pattern.

[Jason Kragt]

I think there is a CP for a LP TBN religious station also on channel 20 at Gun Lake with a null to the west.

[DefendTheDen]

Weigel should just buy WLLA as they already air most of their diginets be way better than godsters that own it now.

[MWmetalhead]

Depends if WLLA ownership is willing to sell.

There are some deep nulls in WLLA's antenna pattern. Indoor antenna reception is likely difficult in some major cities in the region.

WLLA owns its tower. Wouldn't surprise me if they are collecting some decent rental revenue from leasing space.

[MWmetalhead]

The number of pending or approved construction applications for new 15 kW (or less) TV stations in West Michigan is completely insane:

https://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProFacLookup ... ometers=80

[edj]

Are they trying to fill the entire band? Why would you want RF 2, 3 or 4?

[statmanmi]

499' 10 kW from Jamestown isn't too shabby.

Of note though is that the RF20 application isn't yet granted, definitely because it has conflicts on that frequency with at least one other LPTV application filed on the freeze lift date of 3/19/2026. The 499' height would have been on the WMAX FM 96.1 tower.

However, Weigel saw through another filing for Holland, MI on 3/31/2026. That one has been granted. It'll utilize RF26 from the same tower along I-196 that has the WOOD LP "repeater" WOGC-CD and WXMI "repeater" WOHO-CD on it.

Thus, I'm kind of expecting the RF20 application will be cancelled before it goes to auction amongst the conflicting filers.

Cheers! ~~ Statmanmi

[statmanmi]

The number of pending or approved construction applications for new 15 kW (or less) TV stations in West Michigan is completely insane:

https://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProFacLookup ... ometers=80

Indeed, it was unexpected that the number of nationwide FCC filings was going to exceed one thousand when the freeze lifted, per Trip, an FCC employee that also has the rabbitears.info website as his hobby. I saw him note that in a post on AVSForum. There was indeed pent up demand, as it's the first time ever that digital LPTV applications could be filed without any constraints. Previous instances that offered limited filing were based upon having an analog LPTV operating or granted construction permit, or only in rural areas for a small window of time ~15 years ago.

On his site, not only did Trip add the mapping page that MW linked in the initial post of this thread, but he also has this page that tracks all these LPTV filings:

https://www.rabbitears.info/oddsandends ... _lift_apps

Setting the Status filter to Granted, and the Operator to Weigel Broadcasting, shows that of their Michigan filings in March, 3 have had their construction permits granted:

RF26 Holland, MI
RF15 Kalamazoo, MI
RF28 Muskegon, MI

The 2 that haven't been are:

RF20 Holland, MI--which I'm guessing will be cancelled, as explained in my previous post.

RF36 Grand Rapids, MI: This frequency had a conflicting application also filed on the same 3/19/2026 date. Digital Networks requested a move via Major Modification of their existing W36FK-D station from Altoona, Pennsylvania to a tower northwest of the Standale Meijer. Perhaps some resolution will get worked out between the filing parties. Otherwise the FCC will see through some decision. I think this would go to auction, although possibly the Major Modification has higher standing than an entirely new station--even if the existing station is going to be moving in from out-of-state.


Per thoughts I've seen in the various AVSForum threads for other markets, the Weigel diginet MeTV+ is broadcast exclusively by Weigel-owned stations. So WLLA nor any other existing station in West Michigan would be able to provide us with MeTV+ OTA.

Enjoy! ~~ Statmanmi

[MWmetalhead]

Excellent stuff! Thanks for that info.