WMTW

WMTW, channel 8, is an ABC-affiliated television station, licensed to Poland Spring, Maine, United States, and serving the Portland, Maine television market. WMTW is owned by the broadcasting subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation and has its studios in Westbrook, Maine (the building shared with CW affiliate WPXT and MyNetworkTV outlet WPME) and transmitter in West Baldwin, Maine. WMTW also operates a low-powered digital fill-in translator (on UHF channel 26 or virtual channel 8.1 via PSIP) from the Time and Temperature Building in downtown Portland's Monument Square. The translator serves the immediate part of Portland and some surrounding areas to serve viewers that have difficulty receiving the main signal.

WMTW shares common coverage areas with three other Hearst-owned sister stations in New England: fellow ABC affiliates WCVB-TV in Boston and WMUR-TV in Manchester, New Hampshire; and NBC affiliate WNNE in Hartford, Vermont (a semi-satellite of WPTZ in Plattsburgh, New York).

Digital channels

WLVP

WLVP (870 AM) is a radio station broadcasting oldies, news/talk, and sports programming. Licensed to Gorham, Maine, USA, it serves southern Maine, including Portland. Established in 1980, the station is currently owned by Binnie Media and is simulcast with WLAM (1470 AM).

History

The station went on the air March 3, 1980 as WDCI on 1590. In the intervening years, the station would change its call letters to WASY and then WJBQ, the latter after coming into common ownership with WLAM and WKZS (99.9 FM; now WTHT). WJBQ moved to the 870 position in 1988; on this position, the station became WKZN on November 28, 1989, and then swapped call letters with WLAM on December 26, 1990; the two stations eventually began simulcasting a standards format.

Wireless Talking Machine Company sold WLAM, 1470 (by then WZOU), and WLAM-FM (106.7 FM, which had launched in 1996 as an FM simulcast of the stations; it is now WXTP), along with 99.9 (by then WMWX) and WTHT (107.5 FM; now WFNK) to Harron Communications, then-owner of WMTW-TV, in 1999. On May 7, 2001, Harron converted 870 and 106.7 to news/talk as WMTW. The WLAM call letters were then returned to 1470, which initially retained the standards format; on November 26, the station was switched to a simulcast of WMTW; shortly afterwards, talk programming was removed from the stations in favor of an all-news format, mainly from the Associated Press's All-News Radio service.