WADL (TV)
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| WADL | |
|---|---|
| Detroit, Michigan / Windsor, Ontario | |
| City of license | Mount Clemens |
| Branding | WADL Detroit |
| Slogan | The Most Powerful Station in Michigan |
| Channels | 38 (UHF) analog, 39 (UHF) digital |
| Affiliations | Independent Jewelry TV The Word Network on DT.2 Infomercials |
| Owner | Adell Broadcasting (Adell Broadcasting Corporation) |
| Founded | September 25, 1985 (On-air since 1986) |
| Call letters meaning | W ADeLl Broadcasting |
| Former affiliations | CBS (Alternate, 1992-1994) Fox Kids (1998-2002) FoxBox (2002-2003) HSN* HSN Spree/America's Store* Shop at Home* Network One* (*Exact dates unknown, but all of these networks had been seen on the station during the 1990s and 2000s. All of the above networks were carried as secondaries.) |
| Transmitter Power | 5,000 kW Analog 1,000 kW Digital |
| Height | 192 m (629.92 ft) Analog 170 m (557.74 ft) Digital |
| Class | Full Service TV Station (-TV) Full Service Digital Station (-DT) |
| Facility ID | 455 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 42° 33' 15.00" N LAT 82° 53' 15.00" W LON (Site in Canadian Border Zone) |
WADL Detroit is a full-power, commercially licensed broadcast television station in the Midwestern United States. As an independent television station licensed to the town of Mount Clemens, Michigan, the station serves the entire Detroit, Michigan metropolitan area. The station also serves most of the Windsor, Ontario area. Its broadcasts consists primarily of infomercials, home retail programs, religious shows and some low-rated or low-budget syndicated programs.
[edit] Technical Information
WADL broadcasts on UHF channel 38, operating with an Effective Radiated Power of 5,000 kilowatts and its digital signal on channel 39, also on the UHF dial, operates with an ERP of 1,000 kilowatts -- all as authorized by the Federal Communications Commission. WADL's transmitter -- which is directionally aligned, is in the vicinity of its studios and offices on Adell Drive near the area of 15 Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue in Clinton Township. The transmitter is directional, perhaps to minimize signal interference with other stations nearby which may be close on the dial. The station's singal reaches across Genesee, Lapeer, Livingston, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, St. Clair, Washtenaw and Wayne counties -- all in Michigan and only Essex and Lambton counties in Ontario. However even then, the signal is weak in Genesee, Lambton, Livingston, Monroe and Washtenaw counties.
On cable, WADL can be seen on Comcast Detroit channel 4 and Bright House Livonia channel 19. It is not seen on Cogeco Windsor. It is however available on Cogeco Cable in some rural areas of Southwestern Ontario. These systems were likely purchased by Cogeco in recent years and this station simply remained on the line-up in these areas.
[edit] History
WADL began operation in 1986 despite filing for the license on September 25, 1985 with mostly Home Shopping Network programs, religious shows, paid programming, classic B&W movies and hourly blocks of the syndicated music video show Hit Video USA. In 1990, it began running several hours of syndicated shows, pro-wrestling programs and repeats of newscasts from (what is now) crosstown Fox O&O WJBK -- which was the CBS affiliate at the time.
WADL was originally nicknamed "The 5 Million Watt Powerhouse" because its very strong signal at that time. But by 1992, it became known as "Detroit's Alternate CBS Station", because of its relationship with WJBK. In 1994, WJBK would defect to Fox after that network struck a deal with its then-owner New World Communications. When it did, WADL was the top choice to become the new CBS station. However, Adell made unreasonable demands of CBS that caused the deal to quickly breakdown and talks to abruptly discontinue. As a result CBS was sent to make a deal with WGPR-TV (now WWJ-TV). They would eventually purchase that station in 1995.
But for some reason no matter what it did, the station never grew through the years. Eventually, Home Shopping Network programs disappeared in favor of more infomercials and religious shows. A vast majority within the broadcast range of the station have never heard of it or ironically mistake the station's call letters for a radio station, a rather serious sign of overwhelming problems with an already negligible ratings and viewership demographic in existence -- this according to Nielsen Media Research.
Most viewers think of it as the "hand-me-down" station airing shows that the rest of the Detroit market stations either don't have room for, or don't want. In more basic terms, the station was subjected to pick up "leftover" programs from the other Detroit area stations while they took in better programs -- almost similar to a NBA or NFL draft.
Up until roughly 1995, the station had also rebroadcasted the 6:00 pm newscast from WJBK when it was the CBS affiliate for Detroit, seen at a later time -- typically at 8:00 pm on the same night. WADL has since stopped this practice shortly there after.
On August 31, 1998, WADL would pick up Fox Kids on the weekdays and weekends. The programming was inhereted from crosstown UPN affiliate WKBD (now with The CW). As Fox Kids ended its weekday airings 2002, WADL continued running the revamped Fox Box until the fall of 2003, when Fox's 4Kids TV Saturday Morning lineup moved to another crosstown station, then WB affiliate WDWB (now MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYD). At this time, WADL is the only other station besides WKBD and WMYD to continuously air children's programming. Today, the station airs programs produced by DiC Entertainment. They are as follows:
- Archie's Weird Mysteries - Thursdays & Fridays at 7:00 AM
- Inspector Gadget's Field Trip - Tuesdays at 7:30 AM and Wednesdays at 7:00 AM
- Sabrina's Secret Life - Mondays & Tuesdays at 7:00 AM
Meanwhile, WKBD is under natural obligation to air the Kids' WB lineup on Saturday mornings as part of its CW affiliation.
WADL at one point also broadcasted the NBC daytime soap opera "Passions" (that was not carried on its crosstown affiliate WDIV-TV) from its premiere in 1999 until 2002 when WDIV finally start to broadcast the soap opera to replace the syndicated talk show hosted by Sally Jesse Raphael which was cancelled that year and is now a semi-affiliate of Adell's own religiously-based Word Network, mixed with infomercials and programming from Jewelry Television. WADL still occasionally (but rarely) picks up network shows not cleared in Detroit, but only if they are bumped on the main station for local sports or specials.
WADL and The Word Network are co-owned by Frank Adell and his son Kevin.
Over the years, the station had also aired programs from Network One and HSN's twin channel, HSN Spree (now known as America's Store) and Shop at Home.
[edit] External links
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WADL
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WADL-TV
- WADL-TV and WADL-DT information at fccinfo.com
- WADL-TV schedule from Yahoo.com
- WADL TV Lineup and Demographic Data
| DMA 11: Detroit | WDWO-CA 18 / W27CJ 27* (TCT) • WUDT-CA 23 (UNI) • WLPC-LP 26 (FN) • WPXD 31* / W48AV 48 (ION) • W33BY 33 (IND) • WADL 38* (IND / JTV / WORD) • W66BV 66 (TBN) |
|---|---|
| DMA 39: Grand Rapids - Battle Creek - Kalamazoo | WUHQ-LP 29 (A1 / MTV3) • WUHO-LP 36 (IND) • WMKG-LP 38* (FN) • WZPX 43 (ION) • WTLJ 54* (TBN) • WLLA 64 (FN) |
| DMA 66: Flint - Saginaw - Bay City - Midland | WHNE-LP 32 (A1) • W46CR 46 (3ABN) • WAQP 49 (TBN / TCT) • WXON-LP 54 / W09CK 9 (IND) |
| DMA 112: Lansing - Jackson | W27CN 27 (TBN / TCT) |
| DMA 113: Traverse City - Cadillac - Sault Ste. Marie | WLLZ-LP 12 (A1) |
| DMA 178: Marquette - Escanaba | WDHS 8* (EWTN) |
| DMA 39: Alpena | W18BT 18 (TBN) |
| Footnotes | *These stations are licensed outside of the core cities. |
| Check these other Michigan Stations | ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC and PBS |
| Check these other Ontario Stations | CBC, CTV, Global, SRC and Other |
