WDAM-TV (channel 7) 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 ear ...

licensed to

Laurel, Mississippi Laurel is a city in and the second county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 17,161. It is located northeast of Ellisville, the first county seat, which contains the first coun ...

, United States, serving the

Hattiesburg Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County, Mississippi, Forrest County (where it is the county seat and largest city) and extending west into Lamar County, Mississippi, Lamar County. The city popu ...

area as an affiliate of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

and

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 ...

. Owned by

Gray Television Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...

, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on

US 11 {{Infobox road , country=USA , type=US , route=11 , map={{maplink, frame=yes, plain=yes, frame-align=center, frame-width=290, frame-height=330, type=line, from=U.S. Route 11.map , map_custom=yes , map_notes=US 11 in red, US 11E in blue, US 11W in ...

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...

in southern Jones County.

History

WDAM-TV, named for the initials of the original owner David A. Matison, signed on June 8, 1956, airing an

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...

signal on VHF channel 9, then allocated to Hattiesburg. At that time it carried both NBC and ABC. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the

NTA Film Network The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956. The network was not a full-time television network like CBS, NBC, or ABC. Rather, it operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several f ...

. Meanwhile, in 1957, the Laurel Television Company won its bid for a new station on channel 7, which took the call letters WTLM. The company was owned by William S. Smylie, the mayor of

Meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...

, and had been able to secure the permit when Meridian's silent UHF station,

WCOC-TV WGBC (channel 30) is a television station in Meridian, Mississippi, United States, affiliated with Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox and NBC. It is owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company Limited liability company, LLC, which provides cert ...

, dropped its proposal to move channel 7 from Laurel to Pachuta for its use. The Lion Television Corporation, which was the licensee of WDAM-TV, became majority-owned by

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

WDSU-TV WDSU (channel 6) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Howard Avenue in the city's Central Business District, and its transmit ...

in 1956; WDAM already received all of its network programs from that station via microwave link. WDSU also owned a controlling stake in the Modern Broadcasting Company, which owned

WAFB-TV WAFB (channel 9) is a television station in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power, Class A MyNetworkTV affiliate WBXH-CD (channel 39). Both stations share studios on Go ...

, a struggling UHF station in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of countie ...

. In October 1957, Lion proposed to the FCC that channel 9 be moved from Hattiesburg to Baton Rouge for WAFB-TV's use, with WDAM-TV reaching an agreement to take over the channel 7 Laurel allocation; in the application, the company noted that it felt that the market could only sustain one commercial television station. The FCC initially turned down the application in May 1958, but it ultimately permitted the change in 1959, provided that the Baton Rouge station compete with other applicants for use of channel 9. On September 3, 1959, WDAM-TV moved to channel 7 at Laurel, leaving the Pine Belt with one VHF station. Coinciding with the move, Smylie's group—having held the chapter 7 construction permit the whole time—became the South Mississippi Television Company and bought the physical plant, taking operational control of the station. In 1962, WDAM dropped its secondary ABC affiliation to become a sole NBC affiliate. In 1967, WDAM-TV purchased

WCFT-TV WSES (channel 33) is a television station licensed to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States, serving the western portion of the Birmingham market as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Heroes & Icons. The station is owned by Howard Stir ...

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of ...

. license holding changed its name to Service Broadcasters, Inc. In 1978, Beam Broadcasters purchased the stations from Service Broadcasters; it ultimately owned three stations before almost being foreclosed on in 1989 to satisfy $45 million of debt that Beam owed

Chase Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and ...

; the company went into bankruptcy, emerged as Beacon Communications Corporation, and sold WDAM to Federal Broadcasting in 1990. The station was acquired by current owner

Raycom Media Raycom Media, Inc. was an American television broadcasting company based in Montgomery, Alabama. Raycom owned and/or provided services for 65 television stations and two radio stations across 44 markets in 20 states. Raycom, through its Commun ...

in 1997. However, Raycom owned WHLT at the time and had to sell it to

Media General Media General was an American media company based in Richmond, Virginia. The company's origins can be traced back to 1887 when Richmond attorney Joseph Bryan acquired ''The Richmond Daily Times'', which later became ''The Richmond Times-Dispatch ...

in order to comply with

Federal Communications Commission 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 jurisd ...

(FCC)

duopoly A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicity ...

rules. In 2008, the station added a new position, web manager, and updated its website to conform to modern standards. That same year, the station launched "wdamtogo.com", a site designed for internet-capable mobile devices. In 2010, the station launched news and weather smart phone applications along with a photo and video sharing service called "Send It to Seven". In 2011, the station launched a secondary set of websites for each community of over 20,000 people in the station's viewing area called "WDAM Neighborhoods"; those sites were retired in early 2014. In early 2012, WDAM launched tablet applications. Over the years, WDAM has been home to personnel who achieved fame either locally or nationally. Bobby Smith worked at the station since a week after it signed on until 2011. Weathercaster Jim Gibbon was a staple of WDAM's weekday morning and noon shows for 43 years until his retirement in March 2007. He died nearly two months later on April 25. Sports Director Mitchell Williams retired in 2011 after 27 years at the station. In January 2012, William "Dubbie" White retired after 45 years with the station. Jim Cameron retired in 2013 after 22 years as general manager. Randy Swan, formerly news director for 24 years, and news anchor was with the station for over three decades leaving for only a brief period when he served in the same position with

WABG-TV WABG-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Greenwood, Mississippi, United States, serving the Delta area as an affiliate of ABC and Fox. It is owned by Imagicomm Communications alongside two low-power stations: Grenada-licensed N ...

in the

Greenwood Green wood is unseasoned wood. Greenwood or Green wood may also refer to: People * Greenwood (surname) Settlements Australia * Greenwood, Queensland, a locality in the Toowoomba Region * Greenwood, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth ...

–

Greenville, Mississippi Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta. ...

market. Swan's father, Jimmy Swan, was a well known radio personality and

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whil ...

/ bluegrass singer/bandleader during the late 1950s and 1960s who also ran for

Governor of Mississippi A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

. Randy Swan retired in 2015 and his last day on air was February 27, 2015. Miranda Beard was with the station nearly three decades. Her last day on air was February 25, 2016. Current ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...

'' co-host

Robin Roberts Robin Roberts may refer to: * Robin Roberts (newscaster) (born 1960), ''Good Morning America'' anchor and former ESPN anchor * Robin Roberts (baseball) (1926–2010), American baseball player * Rockin' Robin Roberts (1940–1967), singer See al ...

was a sports anchor at WDAM in the early 1980s. In 2001, the station signed on its digital signal on UHF channel 28. WDAM signed off its analog signal on June 12, 2009, and began broadcasting exclusively in digital. With the digital television transition, the station added two new channels to its lineup on 7.2 and 7.3. On January 28, 2010, WDAM moved from UHF channel 28 to the pre-digital allotment on VHF channel 7. An early field test showed a dramatically improved signal in areas that were lost after the original digital transition. On May 30, 2012, Raycom Media and ABC jointly announced that WDAM had entered into a long-term affiliation agreement. This resulted in WDAM-DT2 dropping

This TV This TV (also known as This TV Network and alternately stylized as thisTV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by Allen Media Broadcast Networks, LLC, part of the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios. Originally f ...

in favor of ABC on June 11. Prior to the change, ABC had not been seen locally in the Hattiesburg–Laurel market since 1962 after the main WDAM channel dropped its secondary arrangement with the network. After that, WLOX in Biloxi began serving as the Pine Belt's default affiliate and would subsequently become a sister outlet to WDAM in 2006. By March 2020, the over-the-air feed of WDAM-DT2 was upgraded into

720p 720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcas ...

HD; it had been airing in the 4:3

standard definition Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...

picture format, before then.

Sale to Gray Television

On June 25, 2018,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

-based

announced it had reached an agreement with Raycom to merge their respective broadcasting assets (consisting of Raycom's 63 existing owned-and/or-operated television stations, including WDAM-TV), and Gray's 93 television stations) under the former's corporate umbrella. The cash-and-stock merger transaction valued at $3.6 billion – in which Gray shareholders would acquire preferred stock currently held by Raycom – will result in WDAM-TV gaining new

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

s in nearby markets, including CBS/ABC affiliate

KNOE-TV KNOE-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Monroe, Louisiana, United States, serving the Monroe, Louisiana–El Dorado, Arkansas market as an affiliate of CBS and ABC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power dual CW+/ ...

Monroe, Louisiana Monroe (historically french: Poste-du-Ouachita) is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and parish seat of Ouachita Parish. With a 2020 census-tabulated population of 47,702, it is the principal city of the Monroe metropol ...

and ABC affiliate

WTOK-TV WTOK-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Meridian, Mississippi, United States, affiliated with ABC, MyNetworkTV and The CW Plus. The station is owned by Gray Television, and maintains studios on 23rd Avenue in Meridian's Mid-Town s ...

in Meridian. The combined company will be in every Mississippi market except for Greenville and Columbus–Tupelo as a result. The sale was approved on December 20, and was completed on January 2, 2019. In mid-2021, Gray launched a low-powered repeater, WLHA-LD on UHF channel 18, which currently has three blank subchannels (18.1, 18.2, 18.3) with forthcoming programming and a repeater of WDAM's main channel on 18.4, rerouted to channel 7.10.

Programming

Syndicated Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

programming on WDAM includes ''

Right This Minute ''Right This Minute'' (alternatively abbreviated as ''RTM'') was an American syndicated television program that debuted on September 12, 2011. Produced by MagicDust Television in conjunction with television station groups Cox Media Group, Gray T ...

'', ''

25 Words or Less ''25 Words or Less'' is a party board game in which two teams of players take turns bidding words back and forth, until one team allows the other to try to give that number of clues to their team to try guessing five words from a card in only ...

'', ''

Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or ''Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Art * ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-Jo ...

'', ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given ge ...

'', ''

Inside Edition ''Inside Edition'' is an American news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed in first-run syndication by CBS Media Ventures. Having premiered on January 9, 1989, it is the longest-running syndicated-newsmagazine program that is ...

'', and ''

Judge Judy ''Judge Judy'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show featured Sheindlin as she adjudicated real-life small-claims disputes within a simulated court ...

'' among others. WDAM also carried '' Star Trek: Voyager'' during the 1995–1996 season, airing the

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

program at 6 p.m. on Saturdays.May 13, 1995 TV Listings, Hattiesburg American, May 7, 1995, Page 111

Newscasts

Since WDAM is the only local television station to offer the most newscasts, it has traditionally been a ratings powerhouse. As a

semi-satellite A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

of Jackson's WJTV, rival

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliate

WHLT WHLT (channel 22) is a television station in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, and has studios on US 49 in Hattiesburg; its transmitter is located in unin ...

provides local coverage. WHLT airs a 30-minute local newscast weeknights at 10 p.m. In addition, the only other newscast simulcasted on WHLT is WJTV's weekday morning show. WLOX in Biloxi, also owned by Gray Television, shares resources with WDAM. With the addition of ABC network programming on WDAM-DT2, simulcasts of some local newscasts from the main channel are included on its schedule. More specifically, this includes the entire weekday morning show as well as weeknight broadcasts at 5 and 10. An exclusive newscast airs weeknights at 6:30 on WDAM-DT2. Weekend simulcasts include Saturdays at 6 p.m. and both nights at 10. With the simulcasts, however, there can be delays and/or preemptions on one programming service due to network obligations. WDAM's half-hour early afternoon newscast at noon and weeknight 6 p.m. newscast are not seen on the second subchannel. On September 10, 2012, WDAM became the first television station in the Pine Belt to broadcasts its newscasts in high definition. This included a new set and weather center, along with HD versions of its graphics.

Notable former on-air staff

(now co-anchor of

's ''

'') *

Chuck Scarborough Charles Bishop Scarborough III (born November 4, 1943) is an American television journalist and author. Since 1974, he has been the lead news anchor at WNBC, the New York City flagship station of the NBC Television Network, and has also appeared ...

(now at

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo statio ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

) *

Cindy Williams Cynthia Jane Williams (born August 22, 1947) is an American actress and producer, known for her role as Shirley Feeney on the television sitcom '' Happy Days'' (1975–1979), and ''Laverne & Shirley'' (1976–1982). Early life Williams was bo ...

(now at

WCSH WCSH (channel 6) is a television station in Portland, Maine, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Congress Square in Downtown Portland, and its transmitter is located on Winn Mountain in ...

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metro ...

)

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...

References

External links

*
WDAM-TV mobile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wdam-Tv Television channels and stations established in 1956 1956 establishments in Mississippi DAM-TV NBC network affiliates Bounce TV affiliates True Crime Network affiliates Circle (TV network) affiliates Grit (TV network) affiliates Gray Television