WHME-TV
In January 1977, rumors began to circulate that the Lester Sumrall Evangelistic Association was in negotiations to buy WMSH-TV from its trustee, Elkhart attorney Gordon MacKenzie.[9] The rumors would be confirmed in March when the $496,000 sale was announced.[10] Sumrall closed on the purchase on July 21,[11] and the newly renamed WHME-TV signed on the air on September 10, 1977; the station ran mostly religious programs, along with a blend of classic cartoons, sitcoms from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and some drama series. Cameras from the Sumrall stations in Indianapolis and Miami were brought to South Bend, as WMSH did not have any color cameras.[12]
By 1978, the station ran cartoons from 7 to 9 a.m. on weekdays. WHME ran Christian programs such as The PTL Club, The 700 Club, and locally produced Christian programs from 9 a.m. to about 1 p.m. Secular general entertainment programs ran from 1 to 7 p.m. Then after 7 p.m., WHME ran repeats of The PTL Club, The 700 Club and some of the religious shows that aired on Sundays, along with locally produced Christian programs. Saturdays consisted of Christian-themed children's programs until 9 a.m., a blend of secular cartoons and sitcoms until noon or 1 p.m., and some other family-friendly programs until 5 p.m. Christian programming continued after 6 p.m. Saturday nights and all day on Sundays (featuring televangelists such as Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart and Oral Roberts, as well as the Catholic Mass from Notre Dame). The station began broadcasting on a 24-hour schedule by 1980.
In the early 1980s, WHME cut back its secular programming hours on weekdays to 2 to 7 p.m. By the early to mid-1980s, the morning cartoons returned and at that point it started running more recent children's programs on weekdays, including The Disney Afternoon animation block by the early 1990s. WHME-TV also aired the nationally syndicated evening news program, Independent Network News. By the early 1990s, more sitcoms from the 1970s and 1980s were added onto the schedule. On May 27, 1996, WHME began carrying the Kids' WB program block within its afternoon lineup when W12BK channel 12, now WYGN-LD, switched to being a translator of ABC affiliate WBND-LP channel 58, but unlike other LeSEA-owned stations, it declined to carry prime time programming from the block's parent network, The WB (which instead affiliated with W69BT channel 69 in October 1999, now WMYS-LD, and later moved to WMWB-LP channel 25, now WCWW-LD). In the early 2000s, WHME decreased the number of cartoons on its schedule and replaced them with more sitcoms and drama series.
In August 2024, WHME and Indianapolis sister station WHMB-TV switched their primary channels to Univision.[13] Despite the switch, the station still airs religious programming on Sunday mornings during off-network hours.[14]
