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WMBD-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for North-Central Illinois that is licensed to Peoria. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 (or virtual channel 31.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter on Pinecrest Drive in East Peoria, a section of Groveland Township. Owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, WMBD operates Fox affiliate WYZZ-TV (owned by Cunningham Broadcasting) through a local marketing agreement (LMA). The two outlets share studios together on North University Street in Peoria. ==History== The station signed on January 1, 1958 as the third television outlet in the Peoria market after WEEK-TV (channel 25) and WTVH (channel 19, now WHOI). Airing an analog signal on UHF channel 31, it was originally owned by John Fetzer along with WMBD radio (AM 1470 and FM 93.3, now WPBG). All three stations took their calls from a local legend that President Theodore Roosevelt once described Grandview Drive (original home of WMBD radio) as "the World's Most Beautiful Drive." 〔Szoke, Anita. (A Great View on Grandview Drive ). Peoria Journal-Star, 2008-06-05.〕 WMBD radio had long been a CBS affiliate, so naturally channel 31 took over the CBS affiliation from WTVH. WMBD-TV shared it studios along with its radio sisters on the second level of what was then the Majestic Theatre. Fetzer had previously won a construction permit for VHF channel 6 as early as 1949, but those plans were shelved when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made Peoria/Bloomington an all-UHF market.〔(List of U.S. television stations in 1949 )〕 The WMBD stations were sold to Midwest Television Incorporated of Champaign, owner of fellow CBS affiliate WCIA) in 1960 for $1.85 million. In addition to sharing resources with WCIA, WMBD has also carried some original programming from the former. In the early-1960s, WMBD was the first Peoria station to broadcast color television. Along with WEEK-TV, it maintained a repeater, W71AE channel 71, in LaSalle in the 1960s and 1970s in order to expand its signal reach. The broadcast license for this low-powered outlet was granted on . A picture of W71AE's Rohn tower and its sixteen bay antenna is shown in a Rohn advertisement in the issue of ''Broadcasting''. WMBD moved to its current location on North University Street in June 1977 and still remains Peoria's only commercial television station with studios in the city itself. It became the area's first outlet to broadcast in stereo in September 1988. In 1999, Midwest Television sold controlling interest in its Illinois television stations to Nexstar. In 2001, Midwest sold its remaining interest in WMBD, WCIA and WCFN to Nexstar while the WMBD radio stations were sold to Triad Broadcasting. In 2002, Nexstar and the Sinclair Broadcast Group entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) in which WMBD took over WYZZ's operations. As part of the deal, WYZZ moved into WMBD's studios in Peoria. In August 2005, a similar agreement would be established between Nexstar's WROC-TV and Sinclair's WUHF in Rochester, New York. WMBD was the last station in the market to sign-on a digital signal and has been broadcasting digital-only since February 17, 2009.〔(FCC list of full-service US TV stations ), February 16, 2009〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「WMBD-TV」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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