| Danville / Roanoke / Lynchburg, Virginia | |
|---|---|
| City of license | Danville, Virginia |
| Channels | Digital: 24 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | independent |
| Owner | MNE Broadcasting, LLC (Millard S. Younts, Receiver) |
| First air date | August 18, 1994 |
| Call letters' meaning | Danville Roanoke Lynchburg |
| Former callsigns | WDRG (1994-1997) WDRL-TV (1997-2011) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 24 (UHF, 1994-2008) Digital: 41 (UHF, 2001-2008) |
| Former affiliations | independent (1994-1995) The WB (1995-1997) UPN (1997-2006) |
| Transmitter power | 63 kW |
| Height | 378 m |
| Facility ID | 15507 |
| Website | wdrltv.com |
WEFC-TV, is an independent television station licensed to Danville, Virginia and serving the Roanoke/Lynchburg, Virginia market.
WEFC-TV broadcasts its digital signal on channel 24 from a tower on Smith Mountain, giving predicted city grade coverage of Lynchburg and Roanoke, New River Valley and all of the south side of Virginia. Digital coverage is predicted to extend into the northern North Carolina counties of Caswell, Rockingham, Person, and Stokes. The station moved its digital from channel 41 in mid December 2008.
From 1994 until 2008 WDRL-TV's analog broadcast was originated from Pelham, North Carolina within 2 miles. Danville, VA coverage was limited due to the location of its tower.
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The channel 24 dial position was once occupied by WBTM-TV, which operated in the mid-to-late 1950s. The station only lasted a few years before attempting to become a hybrid commercial and educational station. This request to the FCC was denied, and the station went off the air not long after.
WDRL signed on the air August 18, 1994 as WDRG, (for Danville-Roanoke-Greensboro, and gained the WB affiliation for Roanoke DMA in November 1994.
When the FCC switched from using Arbitron's ADI to Neilsen's DMA system of determining which remained to the market of Roanoke-Lynchburg (market #67). In 1997, WDRG changed its call letters to WDRL-TV (for Danville-Roanoke-Lynchburg) and became the UPN affiliate for southwestern Virginia. Shortly after this change, WDRL put a translator on the air in Roanoke, W54BT on channel 54, to bring WDRL's signal and UPN programming into Roanoke, Lynchburg, and the New River Valley.
On March 31, 2005, the FCC ordered the Roanoke translator off the air to make way for cellular phones. The transmitter was soon returned to broadcast on channel 24 with the same amount of power, but with a more directional antenna to protect WDRL's primary analog transmitter in Pelham.
On May 1, 2006, it was announced that WDRL would become an independent station as a result of UPN's pending shutdown.
On March 11, 2007, Jerry Falwell's Liberty University agreed to purchase WDRL; the station would initially continue to operate out its current studios with Eleazer serving as general manager, but would eventually move to Lynchburg, where it would be based along with WTLU-CA. In May 2008, Liberty University and MNE Broadcasting dissolved the agreement, for unknown reasons.
It was announced on October 30, 2008 that Living Faith Television, whose flagship station is WLFG, would buy WDRL, pending FCC approval, for $5.25 million.[1] On August 7, 2009 Living Faith Television failed to close due to the expiration date of it contract between the parties.[2]
On July 28, 2010, a United States district court placed the station into the receivership of Charter Communications. Millard S. Younts, representing Charter, shut down the station's over-the-air transmitter on Smith Mountain. The transmitter closedown was in response to a six-year copyright and financial dispute with Charter, which serves portions of the Roanoke/Lynchburg market. The station's owner is appealing the decision. The station is still broadcasting on selected cable systems in the market, such as in Wytheville, New River Valley and areas north of Lynchburg, but is currently no longer available on Cox or Comcast in the core cities of Roanoke and Lynchburg.[3]
On December 1, 2011 WDRL-TV changed its call letters to WEFC-TV. The WEFC call letters were previously used by channel 38 in Roanoke (now WPXR-TV) from 1986 until 1998.
Most of the shows aired by WDRL is syndicated programming. Daytime programming includes:
Sunday morning programming is dominated by evangelical Christian programs, including shows hosted by Joyce Meyer, James Robison, Perry Stone, Mike Murdock, and Arnold Murray. The station also airs the religious Harvest Show talk program produced by World Harvest Television and TCT Network Programming.
WDRL is currently the regional free-to-air home of the Charlotte Bobcats NBA team, Baltimore Orioles baseball, and SEC, Big South, Mid-American, Big East, and CIAA collegiate sports, with other local sporting events (including high school basketball and football).
WDRL-DT began broadcasting digital in 2001 at its Pelham site, at low power. In 2004, the station won permission to move the digital transmitter to Smith Mountain. This location was chosen as it is the highest point east of Poor Mountain, where most of Roanoke's other television stations transmit from. WDRL-DT's Smith Mountain transmitter went on the air in May 2006.[4] In December 2008, WDRL-DT moved from channel 41 to Channel 24 with a higher transmitter output of 63 kW.
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