WMOR-TV, virtual channel 32 (UHF digital channel 19), is an independent television station serving Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida, United States that is licensed to Lakeland. The station is owned by the Hearst Television subsidiary of Hearst Communications. WMOR's studios are located on Hillsborough Avenue in east Tampa, and its transmitter is located in Riverview. Master control and some internal operations are based at the studios of Orlando NBC affiliate WESH (channel 2) on North Wymore Road in Winter Park. WMOR is the only television station owned by Hearst that is not affiliated with any major broadcast network, as well as the only Hearst station that does not maintain a news department.
On cable, WMOR is available on channel 12 on Charter Spectrum, Verizon FiOS, and Comcast Xfinity in Venice, and on Xfinity channel 4 in Sarasota. WMOR is also available locally on satellite provider DirecTV on channel 32 and 32-1 in standard and high definition, respectively.
History
The station first signed on the air on April 24, 1986 as WTMV; branded as "V-32", it originally maintained an all-music video format. The station's owner and general manager was Dan Johnson, former mayor of St. Petersburg Beach. The station originally operated from studio facilities located on South Florida Avenue/SR 37 on the south side of Lakeland, with its transmitter near Mulberry in southwestern Polk County. Before the move to The WB, V-32 used to carry NBC programming as its local affiliate for Lakeland and Polk County, alongside WFLA-TV (channel 8) in Tampa and WESH (channel 2) in Orlando.
After a brief period of broadcasting from the transmitter in Mulberry, WTMV relocated its studio operations to its present-day studios in Tampa in 1988. The facility had been a former headend office for Group W Cable's Hillsborough County system. Around this time, it transitioned to a conventional general entertainment format, filling a void left by WFTS-TV's switch to Fox. It aired a schedule of off-network and syndicated sitcoms and dramas, game shows, movies and cartoons. It also picked up several network programs from ABC, NBC and CBS that Tampa Bay's Big Three affiliates (WTSP channel 10, now with CBS; WFLA-TV channel 8; and WTVT channel 13, now with Fox) as well as those from Orlando (WFTV channel 9; WESH channel 2; WCPX, now WKMG-TV, channel 6) chose to preempt.
WTMV became Tampa Bay's WB affiliate when that network launched on January 11, 1995, branding itself as "WB 32". By that point, it ran cartoons (such as Scooby-Doo, Biker Mice from Mars, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, The Jetsons and The Flintstones), sitcoms (such as Doogie Howser, M.D., Blossom, The Wonder Years and Too Close for Comfort), talk shows (such as The Richard Bey Show), reality shows (such as Check It Out!) and movies. Johnson sold the station to Hearst Television in 1996, with the station's callsign being changed to WWWB-TV (in reference to its affiliation with The WB) following the finalization of the purchase on September 18.
In September 1999, WWWB lost its WB affiliation to WTTA (channel 38), as a result of a larger nationwide deal between The WB and the Sinclair Broadcast Group's UPN affiliates and independent stations (Kansas City sister station KCWB also lost its WB affiliation to a Sinclair station, KSMO-TV, now owned by the Meredith Corporation) one year earlier. WWWB changed its call letters to WMOR-TV on September 1st that year and rebranded itself as "More TV 32"—a moniker also adopted by its Kansas City sister (now known as KCWE). In August 2008, the "More TV 32" branding was dropped for the simplified "TV 32". On April 4, 2011, the station's on-air brand was changed to "MOR". To distance itself from the earlier "More TV" branding, the station spells out "MOR", instead of saying it as a word; however, it's still inferred as "more", through its slogan, "Just Can't Get Enough? Get MOR!".
On July 9, 2012, WMOR's parent company Hearst Television became involved in a dispute with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, leading to WMOR being pulled from Bright House and temporarily replaced with HBO Family on the main WMOR channel and This TV, with InfoMás in Estrella TV's slot. The substitutions lasted until July 19, 2012, when a new carriage deal was reached between Hearst and Time Warner Cable.
| TV stations in Florida | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami – Fort Lauderdale | Tampa – St. Petersburg | Jacksonville | Orlando – Daytona Beach – Melbourne | Gainesville | West Palm Beach – Fort Pierce | Panama City | Fort Myers – Naples | Pensacola / Mobile |
| WCAY-CD, Key West | WPDS-LD, Largo | WJXT, Jacksonville | WDSC, Daytona Beach | WRUF-LD, Gainesville | WWCI-CD, Vero Beach | WPCT, Panama City Beach | WGPS-LP, Fort Myers | WRBD-LP, Pensacola |
| WURH-CD, Miami | WARP-CD, Tampa | WQXT-CD, St. Augustine | WOTF, Daytona Beach | WBXG-CA, Gainesville | WHDT, Stuart | WBQP-CD, Pensacola | ||
| WBEC, Ft. Lauderdale | WTAM-LD, Tampa | WBXJ-CD, Jacksonville | WRDQ, Orlando | WYME-CD, Gainesville | WBEC, Boca Raton | WJTC, Pensacola | ||
| WMOR, Lakeland | W39DF-D, Jacksonville | WFEF-LD, Orlando | WXOD-LD, Wabasso | WFBD, Destin | ||||
| WZRA-CA, Oldsmar | WEFS, Cocoa | W05DH-D, Jupiter | WPAN, Fort Walton Beach | |||||
| WHDO-CD, Orlando | WAWD, Fort Walton Beach | |||||||
| WZXZ-CD, Orlando | ||||||||
| TV stations in Florida | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami – Fort Lauderdale | Tampa – St. Petersburg | Orlando – Daytona Beach – Melbourne | West Palm Beach – Fort Pierce | Fort Myers – Naples | Jacksonville |
| WGEN/WVFW-LD, Key West/Miami | WXAX-CD, Clearwater | WKCF-DT3, Clermont | WWHB-CA, Stuart | WUVF-LP/WLZE-LP, Naples/Fort Myers | WUJX-LD, Jacksonville |
| WSBS, Key West | WMOR-DT3, Lakeland | W21AU-D, Orlando | WBWP-LD, West Palm Beach | WANA-LD, Naples | |
| WLTV, Miami | WSPF-CD, St. Petersburg | WRCF-CD, Orlando | WWDT-CD, Naples | ||
| WBEH-CD, Miami | WRMD-CD, Tampa | WTMO-CD, Orlando | WXCW-DT2, Naples | ||
| WJAN-CD, Miami | WVEA, Tampa | WVEN, Melbourne | |||
| WFUN-LD, Miami | WFTT, Venice | ||||
| WSCV, Fort Lauderdale | |||||
| WAMI, Hollywood | |||||
| TV stations in the Tampa Bay Area |
|---|
| WEDU 3 (PBS) WFLA 8 (NBC) WTSP 10 (CBS) WTVT 13 (Fox) WPDS-LD 14 (ETV) W15CM-D 15 (HSN) WEDQ 16 (PBS) WSVT-LD 18 (Daystar) WARP-CD 20 (Info) WCLF 22 (CTN) WXAX-CD 26 (AZA) WFTS 28 (ABC) WTAM-LD 30 (MEGA) WMOR 32 (Ind) W40CU-D 33 (HSN) WSPF-CD 35 (ATeVe) WTTA 38 (MNTV) WSNN-LD 39 (Ind) WWSB 40 (ABC) W16DQ-D 43 (SBN) WTOG 44 (CW) WZRA-CD 48 (ETH) WRMD-CD 49 (TLM) WVEA 50 (UNI) WFTT 62 (UMas) WXPX 66 (Ion) |