WDME-CD (channel 48) is a
low-power,
Class A television station in
Washington, D.C., airing programming from the classic television network
MeTV.
Owned and operated by network parent
Weigel Broadcasting, the station maintains a transmitter in
Ward Circle in Washington's
northwest quadrant.
History
The station signed on for the first time on September 29, 1989, as W48AZ in
Winchester, Virginia, a relay of the original WAZT-LP in Woodstock (then W10AZ, now
WDCO-CD). The WAZT network offered some programming from
Cornerstone and other religious networks, but it generally did not show them in-pattern with those networks, and it also broadcast some
secular syndicated programming and classic television shows.
W48AZ changed its callsign to WAZW-LP on August 20, 1999. The station gained Class A status on December 26, 2000, becoming WAZW-CA.
Ruarch sold the WAZT stations to JLA Media & Publications (no relation to
ABC affiliate
WJLA-TV, channel 7) in 2006. Jones Broadcasting acquired the stations out of
Chapter 7 Chapter 7 may refer to:
Albums
* ''Chapter Seven'' (album), a 2013 album by Damien Leith.
*''Chapter VII'', a 1973 album by drummer Buddy Miles
George Allen "Buddy" Miles Jr. (September 5, 1947February 26, 2008) was an American composer, drum ...
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
in 2011.
Jones Broadcasting sold the group of stations to
Venture Technologies Group in December 2013. Venture immediately began moving WAZT and its sister stations to the far larger Washington, D.C. television market. After spending most of its time as a religious broadcaster branded as simply "WAZT", the station and its relays changed to the branding "Faith Television Network" under Venture's ownership.
WAZT-CD's callsign was changed to WDCO-CD on October 11, 2017. On the same day, Winchester repeater WAZW-CD became WAZT-CD. On January 24, 2018, Faith Television Network announced it would cease broadcasting. All four remaining stations in the network became full-time affiliates of
Jewelry Television on January 31.
On June 25, 2020, Venture Technologies Group filed an agreement with the FCC to sell WDCO-CD and WIAV-CD to
Sinclair Broadcast Group (owner of WJLA-TV) for $8.5 million.
The sale was completed on October 15,
Consummation Notice
/ref> making them Sinclair's second and third properties in the Washington market, alongside WJLA-TV. On the same day, WDCO-CD and WIAV-CD flipped to Sinclair's TBD multicast network, simulcasting WJLA-TV's fourth digital subchannel in 1080i
1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the screen. ...
full high definition
High definition or HD may refer to:
Visual technologies
*HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format
*HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format
*HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape
* HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
.
WAZT-CD was not included in the sale and continued to air Jewelry TV programming. It was later sold to Weigel Broadcasting in September 2021 for $3 million.
Subchannels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
References
External links
MeTV official website
{{Weigel Broadcasting
Low-power television stations in the United States
DME-CD
Television channels and stations established in 1989
1989 establishments in Virginia
Weigel Broadcasting
MeTV affiliates
Story Television affiliates
Decades (TV network) affiliates
OnTV4U affiliates