History of WTLW TV

WTLW TV was birthed through the vision of Ron Mighell, general manager of WTGN-FM.  In 1976, WTGN listeners pledged seed money to bring Christian television to West Central Ohio. During the lengthy legal process, WTGN ended its interest in Channel 44, and Ron Mighell reorganized under American Christian Television Services, Inc.(ACTS Inc.) The new board chose the call letters, WTLW, which stands for Witnessing The Living Word. 

One of the first steps in launching a new TV station was selecting a building site. The facility WTLW now calls home is the original Allen County Airport built in 1933. Its Golden Years were 1953 – 1963 when Lake Central Airlines ran DC-3 service to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Columbus. The airport was moved to the east side of Lima in 1963 and thus began a nearly 20 year deterioration of the structure. Ron Mighell toured the large 80 ft. by 80 ft. hanger and envisioned it as the largest studio in Northwest Ohio. In 1980, scores of volunteers pooled their talents to renovate the dilapidated building into a modern television production facility. After six years of hard work and $1,000,000 in donations, Channel 44 its first signal on June 13, 1982 at 3:30 p.m.  Three General Managers have served at WTLW: Ron Mighell resigned in 1990 to launch WLMB Channel 40 in Toledo. Robert Placie served from

1990 to 1997, and led WTLW into successful programming avenues such as local news and an expansion of local sports coverage.

Placie resigned in 1997 to pursue interests in private enterprise. Kevin Bowers was named General Manager in December 1997 and continues in the position today.  WTLW celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2007.