WMDT

WMDT


Salisbury, Maryland
United States
Branding 47 ABC (general)
47 ABC News
Delmarva CW 3 (on DT2)
Slogan Delmarva's Trusted Source Coverage You Can Count On
Channels Digital: 47 (UHF)
Virtual: 47 (PSIP)
Subchannels (see article)
Translators WEVD-LP 27 (UHF)
Dover, DE
Affiliations ABC
Owner Marquee Broadcasting
First air date April 11, 1980 (1980-04-11)
Call letters' meaning WMDT: Maryland / Delaware Television
WEVD: TelEVision Delaware
Sister station(s) WGDV-LD
Former channel number(s) Analog:
47 (UHF, 1980–2008)
Digital:
53 (UHF, until 2008)
Former affiliations Secondary:
NBC (1980–1992)
Transmitter power 250 kW
Height 307 m
Facility ID 16455
Transmitter coordinates 38°30′6″N 75°44′8.6″W / 38.50167°N 75.735722°W / 38.50167; -75.735722
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website wmdt.com

WMDT is the ABC-affiliated television station broadcasting on the Delmarva Peninsula that is licensed to Salisbury, Maryland. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 47 from a transmitter in rural Wicomico County northeast of Mardela Springs. The tower is the second tallest structure in the state of Maryland. It can also be seen on Comcast channel 7 and in high definition on digital channel 210. Owned by Marquee Broadcasting, the station has studios on West Main Street (although its address is Downtown Plaza) in Salisbury.

Syndicated programming on WMDT includes: The Middle, Modern Family, The Queen Latifah Show, Judge Judy, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. WMDT can also be seen on low-powered analog repeater, WEVD-LP channel 27, in Dover, Delaware. This channel has a transmitter northeast of the city between DE 1 and DE 9.

History

Its logo used from 1997 until 2002.

WMDT initiated broadcast operations in the Salisbury area on April 11, 1980. It was a primary ABC station with secondary NBC affiliation. It was the brainchild of the late Jean Paul Audet, a television pioneer who spent some of his early years in the Albuquerque, New Mexico and Charleston, South Carolina markets. In its early years of operation, WMDT won AP and UPI awards for its then innovative ENG efforts. Brechner Management Company, through its Delmarva Broadcast Service subsidiary, bought the station in 1982.[1] In 1992, the station became a sole ABC affiliate carrying that network's programming as well as a mix of syndicated shows.

In 2000, WMDT launched cable-only WB affiliate "WBD" (the call letters were fictional). It was part of The WB 100+ as a result of the Salisbury market not being among the top 100 broadcast markets in the United States. The station was only available on Comcast and Mediacom channel 14 and, as a result, was known on-air as "WB 14". It replaced WPHL-TV's channel location on both systems. Several months after the launch, it was relocated to Comcast channel 3 and renamed "WB 3". On Mediacom systems, it moved to channel 2. WBD frequently aired cross-promotions for WMDT's main channel and its weeknight news programs.

In July 2003, WMDT's transmitter tower experienced a fire after a severe storm caused extensive damage to the transmitter. The analog UHF channel 47 signal was unavailable for many weeks although its cable channel, digital signal, and cable-only WB station were unaffected. In 2004, WMDT won the top "Service to Children" award for small market stations from the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation. The station also has a "Teachers Who Make a Difference" program and a "Meet The Money Givers" among other community-service activities.

On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that they would cease broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would representing the first initial of its corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. UPN was offered on WBOC-TV's second digital subchannel and Comcast channel 5. It was announced on March 28 that WBD would become an affiliate of The CW via The CW Plus (a similar operation to The WB 100+). WMDT would then create a new second digital subchannel to simulcast WBD and offer CW programming for non-cable viewers. WBOC announced on May 9, 2006 that its UPN subchannel would become a Fox affiliate beginning August 21, 2006. On September 18, 2006, The CW debuted on WBD (now officially using the WMDT-DT2 calls). The station began to be known on-air as "Delmarva CW 3". During the annual Delaware State Fair, the 6 pm newscast is broadcast live from the Exhibit Hall[2]

Brechner Management Company announced the sale of WMDT to Marquee Broadcasting on August 8, 2013.[1][3]

Programming rights

WMDT has twice filed a petition seeking a waiver of the FCC's network non-duplication and syndicated program exclusivity rules. The petition involved the carriage of two stations, WMAR-TV (filed in 1999) and WTTG (filed in 2000). The petitions were filed by Comcast, the cable provider in the area that WMDT is located in within a 35-mile / 56 km radius of its studios. WMAR and WTTG carried programming that WMDT held exclusive programming rights for, either by syndication or by network distribution, within its market catchment area. In both cases, the FCC ruled in favor of WMDT in that: the stations in question (WMAR and WTTG) failed to meet the criteria set by the FCC for "distant stations" with "significant" level of over-the-air viewership.

The effect of the ruling resulted in that when WMAR and / or WTTG broadcast programming which WMDT has exclusive rights to (specifically in the communities of: Salisbury, Delmar, Fuitland, Hebron, unincorporated areas of Wicomico County, and unincorporated areas of Sussex County, Delaware), Comcast would have to blackout those channels while the programs were being shown. This resulted in WMAR being removed entirely from the Comcast Ocean City lineup. Today, WMDT carries the full line-up of ABC network programming and a number of popular syndicated shows. For many years, the station was the only one in the area to broadcast Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. Both shows have since moved to WBOC-DT2.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[4]
47.1 720p 16:9 WMDT-HD Main WMDT programming / ABC
47.2 WMDT-D2 Delmarva CW 3
47.3 480i 4:3 WMDT-D3 MeTV

On May 21, 2014, Weigel Broadcasting announced that WMDT had signed an affiliation agreement to carry MeTV programming on a new digital subchannel; the network debuted on digital channel 47.3 on May 26.[5]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WMDT discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 47, in September 2008. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 53, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to its analog-era UHF channel 47.[6]

Satellite availability

WMDT is available on DirecTV and Dish Network in the Delmarva counties of Wicomico, Somerset, Worcester, and Dorchester in Maryland and Sussex County in Delaware.[7][8]

News operation

WMDT's news department, from its inception, used electronic news gathering instead of the commonly used 16 mm film which was still in use on the Delmarva Peninsula in 1980. It began broadcasting its first weekday noon show, known as Midday Live, on July 26, 1982. When WBD became WMDT-DT2, it began to simulcast the Midday broadcast. That channel also started to air a nightly prime time newscast which competes with WBOC-DT2. The 5 a.m. hour of WMDT's weekday morning show is simulcast on WMDT-DT2, followed by the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz. Historically, WMDT's newscasts have been a distant second in the market behind those of long-dominant WBOC.

Some well-known television personalities that started their careers at WMDT include Bonnie Bernstein (of ESPN), Mike Tobin, Gregg Jarrett of the Fox News Channel, and Greg Fishel now with WRAL-TV. WMDT has re-launched a sports department in April 2014. It airs a public affairs program, Good Things Delmarva, on Sunday mornings at 7. Unlike most ABC affiliates, it does not air local news weeknights at 5 p.m.

Following Marquee Broadcasting's acquisition of WMDT, there have been several changes. In 2013, the station launched a sports department. In 2015, the station became the first in the nation to regularly broadcast its newscasts from a virtual news studio. Additionally, a focus was put on investigative reporting, led by Senior Anchor Emily Lampa.

In September 2015, WMDT launched the 47ABC News Hour, airing each weeknight from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Initially anchored by Emily Lampa and David Caldwell, the station branded this newscast as 'local news done differently'.

Notable former on-air staff

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Marquee Broadcasting To Acquire WMDT-TV". WMDT 47 News. August 8, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  2. ↑ Delaware State Fair. "2011 Fair Schedule". Delaware State Fair. Retrieved 2011-07-22.
  3. ↑ Malone, Michael (August 8, 2013). "WMDT in Salisbury, Md. Sells for $9 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  4. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WMDT
  5. ↑ MeTV Network Adds WMDT Salisbury, Md., TVNewsCheck, May 21, 2014.
  6. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  7. ↑ DirecTV Local Channels Available
  8. ↑ Dish Network Local Channels
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