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WMDT (channel 47) is a
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
in
Salisbury, Maryland Salisbury () is a city in and the county seat of Wicomico County, Maryland, Wicomico County, Maryland, United States, and the largest city in Eastern Shore of Maryland, the state's Eastern Shore region. The population was 33,050 at the 2020 United ...
, United States, affiliated with
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
and
The CW Plus The CW Plus is a secondary national programming service feed of The CW that is fully controlled and 75% owned by Nexstar Media Group, with Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery each owning a 12.5% stake in the network. It is intended primar ...
. It is the
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 ...
television property of locally based
Marquee Broadcasting Marquee Broadcasting, Inc. is a small broadcasting company which owns several television stations in the United States. History Marquee began in 2013 when its owners, Brian and Patricia Lane, announced its intent to acquire WMDT and its repeater, ...
, and has common ownership with low-power Azteca América affiliate
WGDV-LD WGDV-LD (channel 32) is a low-power television station in Salisbury, Maryland, United States, affiliated with MeTV. It is owned by locally based Marquee Broadcasting alongside ABC affiliate and company flagship WMDT (channel 47). Both stations ...
(channel 32). Both stations share studios on West Main Street ( mailing address is Downtown Plaza) in Salisbury, while WMDT's transmitter is located in
Wicomico County Wicomico County () is located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Maryland, on the Delmarva Peninsula. As of the 2020 census, the population was 103,588. The county seat is Salisbury. The county was named for the Wicomico River, whic ...
northeast of Mardela Springs.


History

WMDT initiated broadcast operations in the Salisbury area on April 11, 1980. It was owned by the MDV Television Company. It was a primary ABC station with a secondary NBC affiliation. It was the brainchild of the late J. Paul Audet, a television pioneer who spent some of his early years in the
Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...
and
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
markets Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: * Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand * Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, a ...
. With his late son, James R. Audet, equity and debt financing of approximately $3,500,000 was raised to construct and operate the station. 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 from MDV Television Company in 1982. In 1992, the station became a sole ABC affiliate carrying that network's programming as well as a mix of syndicated shows; this left the Salisbury region without an NBC affiliate until 2014, when WRDE-LD affiliated with that network. For the 22 years that followed, cable and satellite systems in the region aired NBC programs via the network's stations in
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
( WMAR-TV until January 1995, then
WBAL-TV WBAL-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the flagship property of Hearst Television, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to the company's sole radio ...
),
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
(
KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WPSG (channel 57 ...
until September 1995, then network-owned WCAU), Hagerstown ( WHAG-TV, which is now an independent station), or
Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
(
WAVY-TV WAVY-TV (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Portsmouth, Virginia, United States, serving the Hampton Roads area as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Virginia Beach–licensed Fox affiliate WVBT (chann ...
), depending on the location. In 2000, WMDT launched cable-only WB affiliate "WBD" (the call letters were fictional). It was part of
The WB 100+ The WB 100+ Station Group (originally called The WeB from its developmental stages until March 1999) was a national programming service of The WB—owned by the Warner Bros. Entertainment division of Time Warner, the Tribune Company, and group fo ...
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 digital signal, cable channel, 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 The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a trade association and lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States. The NAB represents more than ...
Education Foundation. The station also has "Teachers Who Make a Difference" and "Meet The Money Givers" programs among other community-service activities. On January 24, 2006, the Warner Bros. Television division of
Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...
(which operated The WB in a joint venture with Tribune Broadcasting) and CBS Corporation (the then-new owners of UPN) announced that the two companies would shut down their respective networks and combine their resources to create a new network named
The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
. 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 The CW Plus is a secondary national programming service feed of The CW that is fully controlled and 75% owned by Nexstar Media Group, with Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery each owning a 12.5% stake in the network. It is intended primar ...
(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 Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
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 Delaware State Fair is the annual state fair for the state of Delaware. It is held in Harrington. The fair is a ten-day event at the end of July. History The first Delaware State Fair was held in Wilmington, with mentions of the "Delaware ...
, the 6 p.m. newscast is broadcast live from the Exhibit Hall. Brechner Management Company announced the sale of WMDT to Marquee Broadcasting on August 8, 2013.


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 ''The Daily Buzz'' (occasionally abbreviated ''"theDBZ"'') is a nationally syndicated news and infotainment program. The show premiered as a 3-hour weekday morning television show on September 16, 2002, initially airing on 10 stations owned and ...
''. Some well-known television personalities that started their careers at WMDT include Bonnie Bernstein (of
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
), Mike Tobin, Gregg Jarrett of the
Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
, and
Greg Fishel Greg Fishel (born February 19, 1957) is a former meteorologist for WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina. He received his B.S. in Meteorology from Pennsylvania State University in 1979. Fishel began his broadcast meteorology career in 1979 with WM ...
now with
WRAL-TV WRAL-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Research Triangle area. It is the flagship station of the locally based Capitol Broadcasting Company, which h ...
. 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. In September 2015, WMDT launched the ''47ABC News Hour'', airing each weeknight from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The station branded this newscast as "local news done differently."


Notable former on-air staff

*
Greg Fishel Greg Fishel (born February 19, 1957) is a former meteorologist for WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina. He received his B.S. in Meteorology from Pennsylvania State University in 1979. Fishel began his broadcast meteorology career in 1979 with WM ...
, later with
WRAL-TV WRAL-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Research Triangle area. It is the flagship station of the locally based Capitol Broadcasting Company, which h ...
*
Gregg Jarrett Gregory Walter Jarrett (born April 7, 1955) is an American conservative news commentator, author and attorney. He joined Fox News in November 2002, after working at local NBC and ABC TV stations for over ten years, as well as national networks ...
, now with
Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
* Mike Seidel, now with The Weather Channel * Bonnie Bernstein, later with
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed: On May 21, 2014,
Weigel Broadcasting Weigel Broadcasting Co. is an American television broadcasting company based in Chicago, Illinois, alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV (Channel 26), at 26 North Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood. It currently owns 25 television sta ...
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.


Analog-to-digital conversion

WMDT discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
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.


Former translator

WMDT previously operated low-power digital repeater WEVD-LD (
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 3, also mapped to virtual channel 47), licensed to
Dover, Delaware Dover () is the capital and second-largest city of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County and the principal city of the Dover, DE, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County and is part of ...
, but primarily serving Wilmington. Both Wilmington and Dover are part of the Philadelphia television market, which is served by ABC
owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
WPVI-TV WPVI-TV (channel 6), branded on-air as 6 ABC, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station ...
(channel 6). This station was sold in 2020 and moved to the
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...
area as WRZH-LP.


Satellite availability

WMDT is available on
DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...
and
Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...
in the Delmarva counties of Wicomico,
Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...
,
Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...
, and Dorchester in Maryland and Sussex County in Delaware.Dish Network
Local Channels


See also

* Channel 29 digital TV stations in the United States * Channel 47 virtual TV stations in the United States


References


External links

*
WMDT-DT2 "Delmarva CW 3"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wmdt ABC network affiliates MeTV affiliates Ion Television affiliates Marquee Broadcasting MDT MDT Television channels and stations established in 1980 1980 establishments in Maryland