| Canton/Akron/Cleveland, Ohio | |
|---|---|
| Channels | Digital: 49 (UHF) |
| Subchannels | 17.1 TBN 17.2 Church 17.3 JCTV 17.4 Enlace 17.5 Smile |
| Affiliations | TBN |
| Owner | Trinity Broadcasting Network, Inc. |
| First air date | January 1967[1] |
| Call letters' meaning | David Livingstone International(?) (previous owner, 1982-1986) |
| Former callsigns | WJAN (1967-1983) WDLI (1983-2003) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 17 (1967-2009) |
| Transmitter power | 200 kW |
| Height | 292 m |
| Facility ID | 67893 |
| Website | www.tbn.org |
WDLI-TV is a religious television station licensed to Canton, Ohio, serving the Cleveland market on channel 17 (using PSIP to relocate from digital channel 49). WDLI-TV is an owned-and-operated station of the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Contents |
WDLI signed on in 1967 as WJAN, a local independent owned by Janson Industries, offering a typical slate of local and syndicated programming. In its early years, they broadcasted in black and white only, as they couldn't afford color equipment, though most of the shows were not color anyway.
In 1971, the station began color broadcasts. At that time, the availability of religious programming was increasing. They began broadcasting such programming a few hours a day. The station was broadcasting from 1:00 p.m. to Midnight daily by 1973. The station continued to struggle.
When WKBF-TV channel 61 went dark and its owners combined assets onto newly acquired 43 WUAB, WJAN was unable to acquire any of the shows not airing on WUAB except for some religious shows. Beginning in 1974, WJAN added PTL Club and 700 Club to its daily schedule and began broadcasting religious shows nearly full-time.
In August 1977, Janson sold WJAN to televangelist Jim Bakker, founder of the PTL Club. Under Bakker, WJAN officially became a full-time 24 hour Christian station. The station dropped the 700 Club and added more PTL produced programming.
Bakker sold WJAN to the David Livingstone Missionary Foundation in December 1982; shortly afterward, its calls were changed to its current call letters, WDLI-TV. The station continued broadcasting the satellite PTL Network full-time.
Four years later, in March 1986, Livingstone sold WDLI to its present owners, the Trinity Broadcasting Network. At that point, PTL programming was dropped in favor of TBN programming full-time (though former owner David Livingstone's local non-TBN program still airs on WDLI).
This station's digital signal, like most other full-service TBN owned-and-operated stations, carries five different TBN-run networks.
| Channel | Video | Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17.1 | 480i | TBN | Main network programming |
| 17.2 | 480i | The Church Channel | Televised church services |
| 17.3 | 480i | JCTV | Christian music videos and other programs for ages 12-34 |
| 17.4 | 480i | Enlace USA | Spanish-language religious programming |
| 17.5 | 480i | Smile of a Child TV | E/I children's programming |
TBN-owned full-power stations permanently ceased analog transmissions on April 16, 2009.
The WDLI-DT digital signal is actually located in the western part of the Akron area, in order to better serve the entire Cleveland TV market. TBN constructed a new tower in the Akron suburb of Norton, near other television transmission towers in the area near Akron's Rolling Acres Mall. The digital signal is able to be seen throughout the Cleveland market, unlike its analog signal, which had poor reception away from Canton.
On January 1, 2009, WDLI became included on most Cleveland area cable systems.
Like its full-power TBN-owned sister stations, WDLI ceased analog broadcasting on April 16, 2009, shutting down the former analog Channel 17 transmitter which was located in the eastern Canton suburb of Louisville.
Though the station's operations are now all located near Akron, WDLI maintains a city of license of Canton, and promotes itself as serving Canton/Akron/Cleveland.
On November 15, 2010, WDLI moved from digital channel 39 to 49 (though via PSIP it will still appear as channel 17) to boost their power even more.
WDLI's signal was once retransmitted on W52DS in Youngstown, as well as W51BI serving Geauga, Lake, and eastern Cuyahoga counties from a site in Kirtland. Both translators have been closed by TBN due to declining support, which has been attributed to the digital transition; W51BI ceased operations on July 13, 2009[2], while W52DS left the air March 26, 2010.[3] Their licenses, along with 42 other silent TBN repeaters, were canceled on December 1, 2011 for remaining silent over a year.[4]
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||