Big changes have happened to our ABC affiliates on the South Mississippi markets. WLOX will no longer cover the large area that it has for 50 years. A new ABC affiliate is being launched through WDAM, historically an NBC station in the Hattiesburg area. The channel will be WDAM channel 7.2 on digital television guides. Here's a quote from the WDAM site:

"WDAM ABC will replace ThisTV on Comcast channel 217 and later in the summer will move to Comcast basic cable channel 2 and HD channel 431. For all our viewers in WDAM’s outlying communities, check with your local Cable providers to see what channel they will assign to WDAM ABC. We have yet to hear from DirecTV, and Dish Networks about placement for WDAM ABC on their channel lineups, but feel sure that WDAM ABC will soon be available on these services. "

What does this mean for the viewers of the Hour? It means that we will air on WDAM ABC in the Hattiesburg area. It also means, due to new network programming at 8am, that we will air at a different time. This is the frustrating part of the change, as many of our viewers have been faithful at 8am for years, watching while getting ready for church. Our new slots will be airing at 6:30am and at 9am on the new channel.

A question and answer page is available on the WDAM site:

http://www.wdam.com/category/240229/abc-announcement-page

We will post here when we know of more changes or updates.

The Hour apologizes for these changes. As always, you can watch episodes here online at thehour.org

Blessings,

Anthony Thaxton