MAUMEE, OHIO: WMNT-CA, a once-beleaguered low-power TV station serving Toledo, has new owners, the Toledo Blade reports. The Rev. Jerry Jones, a local minister, and media consultant Jesse Weatherby of Atlanta have purchased the station from Cornerstone Church for an undisclosed sum, the media outlet said. Jones and Weatherby have been running the station for a subsidiary of the church, which bought WMNT out of receivership nearly five years ago.
The Blade says the pair have started upgrading the programming for the station, a UPN affiliate which broadcasts on Ch. 48 at 11 kW ERP.
WMNT went up as W48AP in 1989 with a schedule of local programming, including coverage of high school sports. The station received only marginal cable carriage and struggled. It changed hands in 1995 and again in 2006 after having been put into receivership the year before. Cornerstone then bought it at auction for $914,000, igniting a legal battle with the former owners.
Technical problems forced Cornerstone to take WMNT off the air last June; it resumed broadcasting two months later. The Blade reports that WMNT now employs 11 people and its website indicates it’s recruiting sales executives.
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