anscombe planned for wbja to be the first station in a seven-station group; however, only one other station, wepa-tv in erie, pennsylvania (now defunct; its channel 66 allocation was later used by wfxp) was started before the two stations were acquired by gerald arthur, oliver lazare, and jules hessen, a group who also owned weee in rensselaer, in 1966. pinnacle communications bought wbja in 1978 and changed the call letters to wmgc-tv on october 19, reflecting its new "magic 34" branding. it dropped the branding by the mid to late-1980s, but retained the call letters.