WBDT
Encyclopedia : W : WB : WBD : WBDT
WBDT (Dayton's WB) is the WB affiliate in the Dayton, Ohio television market. Licensed to Springfield, Ohio, the station serves the Miami Valley. It broadcasts on analog channel 26, and was the original home to the syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz. That show now broadcasts out of Florida, but is still seen on Dayton's WB. After the February 2006 ratings period, WBDT was announced as the second highest rated WB affiliate in the nation. WBDT is slated to become the new home of The CW.
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 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 retuned 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 Bullwinkle Show, Bugs Bunny, Leave It To Beaver, Mister Ed, Little Rascals, Great Space Coaster, New Zoo Revue, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, Lassie, 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 i Network) 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 will become the CW affiliate in the Dayton market. It may change its call letters before September to reflect its new affiliation.
External links
| Broadcast television in the Dayton market [(Nielsen DMA #59)] | |||
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WDTN 2 (NBC) -
WHIO 7 (CBS) -
WPTO 14 (PBS) -
WPTD 16 (PBS) -
WKEF 22 (ABC) (The Tube on DT2) -
WBDT 26 (The WB/The CW) -
WRCX-LP 40 (Ind.) -
WKOI 43 (TBN) -
WRGT 45 (Fox) -
W66AQ 66 (The WB/My Network TV)
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| Local cable television channels | |||
| WHIO 17/6 (UPN) | |||
| See also: Broadcast television in the , , , , and markets | |||
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