WMDO-CD (channel 47) is a
low-power,
Class A television station
The class A television service is a system for regulating some low-power television (LPTV) stations in the United States. Class A stations are denoted by the broadcast callsign suffix "-CA" (analog) or "-CD" (digital), although very many analog -C ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, affiliated with
LATV
LATV (; originally pronounced on-air as from 2007 to 2014 and, since 2014, serving as a backronym for its on-air slogan, "Latino Alternative Television") is an American bilingual broadcast television network, digital publisher and media company ...
. It is owned by
Entravision Communications
Entravision Communications Corporation is an American media company based in Santa Monica, California. Entravision primarily caters to the Spanish-speaking Hispanic community and owns television and radio stations and outdoor media, in several of ...
alongside
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...
–licensed
NTD America
New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD Television) is a multilingual American television broadcaster, founded by adherents of the Falun Gong new religious movement and based in New York City. The station was founded in 2001 as a Chinese-language ...
affiliate
WJAL (channel 68).
History
The station first signed on the air as W14AA on UHF channel 14 in 1976.
First owned by
Central Virginia Educational Television Corporation, it rebroadcast the signal of
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
member station
WNVT
WNVT, virtual channel 23.3 (ultra high frequency, UHF digital terrestrial television, digital channel 22), is a World Channel-network affiliate, affiliated television station city of license, licensed to Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia, Unite ...
from a transmitter in
Arlington, Virginia
Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...
. WNVT's transmitter was located in
Independent Hill, Virginia
Independent Hill is an unincorporated town in Prince William County, Virginia. It is located along State Route 234 at the intersection with Joplin Road. The only visible remaining businesses seem to bSamsky's Market(also a Citgo gas station) anCr ...
, and was difficult to receive in the built-up parts of the Washington metropolitan area.
As Washington's original channel 14,
WFAN-TV
WOOK-TV (known as WFAN-TV from 1968 to 1972), UHF analog channel 14, was an independent television station licensed to Washington, D.C., United States, which operated from March 5, 1963, to February 12, 1972. It was the first television station ...
, had gone dark in 1972, CVETC attempted to have the vacant full-power allocation moved to
Fairfax.
This stoked controversy, as channel 14 was the last available commercial allocation assigned to Washington. Several competing groups and
District of Columbia Mayor Walter E. Washington contested CVETC's application, arguing that Washington was under-served by local television and that the channel should possibly be reserved for a minority-owned station. The request was denied, but channel 56 was allocated to Fairfax as a compromise. CVETC took this allocation and began building what was to become
WNVC NVC is an abbreviation for:
* National Visa Center, a center that is part of the U.S. Department of State that holds immigrant visa petitions till they can be processed and then arranges for a visa interview for the beneficiaries of the petition.
* ...
instead, rendering W14AA unnecessary. CVETC used the translator to broadcast
Congressional hearings until WNVC went on the air June 6, 1981.
Meanwhile, Los Cerezos Television Co. signed on station KA2XEH on channel 56 on June 29, 1980. The station relayed the programming of the Spanish International Network (SIN, as
Univision
Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...
was then known) via a satellite feed of
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
KWEX-TV
KWEX-DT (channel 41) is a television station in San Antonio, Texas, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Univision network. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside Blanco-licensed UniMás outlet KNIC-DT (channel 17). B ...
in
San Antonio, Texas
("Cradle of Freedom")
, image_map =
, mapsize = 220px
, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
, subdivision_t ...
. At the time, television translators were limited to the same rules as commercial FM translators and could only repeat a station's signal received over-the-air. As part of an
FCC
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
trial, SIN signed on two of these "satellators" under experimental licenses, denoted by the "2X" in the callsign. With the FCC's rules relaxed, Los Cerezos purchased W14AA in July 1981, and SIN programming was on the air soon afterward. Los Cerezos later made two failed attempts to move W14AA to
Wheaton, Maryland
Wheaton is a census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, situated north of Washington, D.C. and northwest of downtown Silver Spring. Wheaton takes its name from Frank Wheaton (1833–1903), a career officer in the Uni ...
, where its radio station
WMDO (1540 AM) was already located.
The license for KA2XEH was deleted effective October 1, 1981, as its channel 56 allocation had been given to WNVC.
On November 1, 1988, as the full-powered channel 14 allocation had been awarded to what would become
WTMW, W14AA moved to channel 48 and received the new call sign of W48AW. The call letters were changed to WMDO-LP on February 1, 1995. In October 1998, WMDO-LP moved to channel 30, in order to allow
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
owned-and-operated station
WRC-TV
WRC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A television se ...
to launch its digital signal on channel 48. On March 20, 2001, the station changed its call letters to WMDO-CA to reflect an upgrade to
Class A status.
The WMDO callsign derives not from a former or planned affiliation with the competing
Telemundo
Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a divi ...
television network, but from co-ownership by Los Cerezos with WMDO radio. The pair was broken up in 1999, when the television station was sold to Entravision.
In November 2003, the station moved to channel 47 so that WNVT could sign on its digital signal on channel 30. WMDO's history of being shuffled around to different channels is not uncommon, since the FCC requires that
low-power stations switch channels if a full-power station wishes to use their channel allocation.
On
January 1
January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
, 2006, Entravision entered into a 16-year
joint sales agreement
In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or time ...
(JSA) with
Univision Communications
TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in New York and Mexico City, which owns the American Spanish language broadcast network Univision. 45% of the company is held by the ...
, owner of then-TeleFutura affiliate
WFDC-DT
WFDC-DT (channel 14) is a television station licensed to Arlington County, Virginia, Arlington, Virginia, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Univision and UniMás networks to the Washington, D.C. area. owned-and-operated station, O ...
(channel 14). Under the agreement, the Univision affiliation for the Washington market was passed to WFDC in return for Entravision handling its operation and advertising sales. WMDO-CD joined TeleFutura (since renamed to
UniMás
UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network's programming, which is ...
) on the same day. The agreement expired on December 31, 2021; WFDC-DT retained the Univision affiliation after that date.
In the summer of 2009, WMDO-LD began broadcasting a digital signal on
VHF
Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter.
Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
channel 8. This signal was nearly unusable as it received interference from
WJLA-TV
WJLA-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with ABC. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (alongside dual Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF hannel 45in Baltimore), and is also sister to ...
on channel 7,
WUSA on channel 9, and distant station
WGAL
WGAL (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Susquehanna Valley region as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Hearst Television, the station maintains studios on Columbia Avenue ( PA 462) in ...
on channel 8. WMDO was forced to accept the interference as there were no other available channels in the area. In March 2011, WMDO filed to move to channel 22;
Daystar was to use the channel for
WDDN-LD
WDDN-LD (channel 23) is a low-power religious television station in Washington, D.C., owned and operated by the Daystar Television Network. The station's transmitter is located on Brookville Road in Silver Spring, Maryland.
History
Communicast ...
, but accidentally allowed the construction permit to lapse in September 2010. After a legal fight with Daystar over the allocation, on May 22, 2015, the station was licensed to move to channel 22, and it changed its call sign to the current WMDO-CD.
WMDO-CD was a winner in the FCC's 2016–17
spectrum reallocation auction, and received $58,231,415 to go off the air.
[FCC Broadcast Television Spectrum Incentive Auction — Auction 1001 Winning Bids](_blank)
/ref> Winners in the auction who were to leave the air had the option of pursuing a channel-sharing agreement with another station to preserve over-the-air coverage. WMDO-CD reached an agreement with WIAV-CD. The station suspended operations over its own signal on channel 22 and moved to WIAV-CD's signal on channel 44 on December 1, 2017.
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...
purchased WIAV-CD in June 2020 with the intent of converting it to Washington's first ATSC 3.0
ATSC 3.0 is a major version of the ATSC standards for television broadcasting created by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC).
The standards are designed to offer support for newer technologies, including HEVC for video channels of up ...
broadcaster. Consequently, WMDO-CD applied to dissolve its channel-sharing agreement with WIAV-CD and file a new one with co-owned and co-located WDCO-CD
WDCO-CD, virtual channel 10 ( UHF digital channel 24), is a low-powered, Class A TBD owned-and-operated television station licensed to Woodstock, Virginia, United States and serving the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Owned by the Hunt Val ...
(channel 10), which will continue ATSC 1.0 service. The FCC granted the dissolution on January 21, with the relocation occurring in March.
The channel-sharing agreement with WDCO-CD expired on December 31, 2021, and Entravision did not exercise its option to extend. With no authorized facilities to continue broadcasting, Entravision filed to take WMDO-CD silent pending a new channel-sharing agreement. UniMás programming moved to the fourth subchannel of WFDC-DT in advance of the shutdown.
Entravision applied for a third channel-sharing agreement with WWTD-LD
WWTD-LD, virtual channel 49 ( UHF digital channel 14), is a low-powered Dabl- affiliated television station licensed to Washington, D.C., United States. The station is owned by DC Broadcasting, Inc. which itself is wholly owned by Christopher Bl ...
(channel 14), located on the WRC-TV
WRC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A television se ...
tower in northwest Washington, on December 21, 2022. WMDO-CD returned to broadcasting on December 29, three days before its license would have been deleted for inactivity pursuant to the Telecommunications Act of 1996
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a United States federal law enacted by the 104th United States Congress on January 3, 1996, and signed into law on February 8, 1996, by President Bill Clinton. It primarily amended Chapter 5 of Title 47 of t ...
. The agreement expires after one year, and does not contain any provisions for an extension.
Subchannel
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wmdo-Cd
UniMás network affiliates
MDO-CD
Low-power television stations in the United States
Television channels and stations established in 1988
1988 establishments in Washington, D.C.
MDO-CD
Entravision Communications stations