WBDT
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| WBDT | |
|---|---|
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| Springfield/Dayton, Ohio | |
| Branding | Dayton's CW |
| Channels | Analog: 26 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | The CW |
| Owner | ACME Communications, Inc. (ACME Television Licenses of Ohio, LLC) |
| First air date | September 21, 1980 |
| Call letters’ meaning | WB DayTon (previous WB affiliation) |
| Former callsigns | WTJC (1980-1998) WDPX (1998-1999) |
| Former affiliations | independent (1980-1998) Pax TV (1998-1999) The WB (1999-2006) |
| Transmitter Power | 5000 kW (analog) 35 kW (digital) |
| Height | 349 m (analog) 290.9 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 70138 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.daytonscw.com |
WBDT is the CW-affiliated television station for the Miami Valley area of Ohio. Licensed to Springfield, the station broadcast an analog signal on UHF channel 26 and a digital signal on UHF channel 18. WBDT's transmitter is located in the Frytown section of Dayton. Owned by ACME Communications, the station has studios that are located on Corporate Place in the Miamisburg section of the city. WBDT is is known on-air as "Dayton's CW".
[edit] History
The station began operation in the summer of 1968 as WSWO-TV, owned by Southwestern Ohio Broadcasting as an independent station but suddenly went dark in 1970. It at one point during that time ran a local version of Bozo the Clown and other local shows. It briefly returned to the air in the summer of 1972 under a different ownership, but fell silent again by year's end and remained off the air until September 1980, when it returned to the air as a Christian station under the callsign WTJC, for "Witnessing Til Jesus Comes". It was owned by Miami Valley Christian Television (MVCT). During the week, the station ran religious programming most of the day, some cartoons in the late afternoon, a few family type sitcoms in the early evening, and a local newscast. On Saturdays it ran westerns, sporting and hunting shows, and Lawrence Welk, and religious programming thereafter. It only ran religious shows on Sundays. The station's religious lineup included The 700 Club, PTL, Jerry Falwell, and many others; its secular lineup featured shows like The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Leave It to Beaver, Great Space Coaster, New Zoo Revue, Porky Pig, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, Lassie, The Joy of Gardening, Wild Kingdom, and others.
MVCT decided to sell its programming inventory to WRGT Channel 45 when that station signed on in 1984, and switched WTJC to an all-religious format, with the exception of a few children's shows, as well as sporting and hunting shows on Saturday mornings. However, several ministries which bought time on the station soon became involved in scandals, and the station began to lose money as viewer donations declined. The station's primary owner, Marvin Sparks, bought out his partners' shares in 1991, and in turn sold them to Video Mall Communications. The station then began to air home shopping and paid programming 18 hours a day, relegating religious programming to the rest of the broadcast day.
In the mid-1990s, Abry (which had purchased Act III, WRGT's owners) approached MVCT with a proposal to manage WTJC for 18 hours a day. MVCT declined, and chose to sell the station to Paxson Communications in 1995 instead. Paxson kept a similar lineup for the station, airing religious programming in early mornings, informercials for most of the day, and worship music overnight. The station became a charter affiliate of the Pax TV network (now ION Media Networks) on August 31, 1998, running Pax programming from noon to midnight. It also changed its call letters to WDPX.
Paxson sold the station to Acme TV in 1999. At that point, the station dropped half of Pax's programming from its lineup, replacing them with more traditional general entertainment fare such as cartoons and classic sitcoms. The station also became an affiliate of the WB network, changing its call letters to WBDT.
In a major announcement, CBS Corporation and Time Warner announced on January 24, 2006, that they will close their respective UPN and WB networks and jointly launch the CW Network in September 2006. The network will be a 50-50 joint venture between the two companies.
On March 9, 2006, it was announced that WBDT was going to become the CW affiliate in the Dayton market. In March of 2007, in recognition of the station's prime time ratings, The CW network awarded WBDT the #1 CW affiliate in the nation designation.
[edit] Newscasts
WBDT airs the nationally syndicated morning news show The Daily Buzz on weekdays from 6 to 9 AM. The program premiered September 16, 2002, from WBDT's studios. The Daily Buzz remained at WBDT until the show's move to WKCF in Lake Mary (FL) near Orlando, in August of 2004.
The Daily Buzz
Weekday Mornings
- Anchors:
- Andy B. Campbell
- Andrea Jackson
- News Updates:
- Kia Malone
- Weather:
On August 18, 2007, Dayton NBC affiliate WDTN began to produce a nightly 10 PM newscast for WBDT.
2 News at 10 on Dayton's CW
Weeknights
- Anchors:
- Mark Allan
- Michelle Kingsfield
- Weather:
- Jamie Jarosik
- Sports:
- Jack Pohl
- Reporter / Photojournalist:
- Jim Bucher
Weekends
- Anchor:
- Kennan Oliphant
- Weathert:
- Erik Zarnitz
- Sports:
- Hutch Konerman
WBDT uses additional news personnel from WDTN. See that article for a complete listing.
[edit] External links
- WBDT "Dayton's CW"
- WDTN "Dayton's NBC"
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WBDT
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WBDT-TV
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