WNDT-CD (channel 14) is a
Class A television station in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, affiliated with
First Nations Experience (FNX). Owned by The WNET Group, it is
sister
A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...
to the city's two
PBS member stations—
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...
–licensed
WNET
WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educ ...
(channel 13) and
Garden City, New York
Garden City is a village located in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 23,272 at the time of the 2020 census.
The Incorporated Village of Garden City is primarily located within the Town of Hempstead ...
–licensed
WLIW (channel 21)—and Class A station
WMBQ-CD
WMBQ-CD (channel 46) is a class A television station in New York City, affiliated with First Nations Experience (FNX). Owned by The WNET Group, it is sister station to the city's two PBS member stations, Newark, New Jersey–licensed WNET (chann ...
(channel 46).
Under a
channel sharing arrangement, WNDT-CD and WMBQ-CD share transmitter facilities with WNET at
One World Trade Center
One World Trade Center, also known as One WTC and as the Freedom Tower, is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, One World Tr ...
. Despite WNDT-CD and WMBQ-CD legally holding
low-power class A licenses, they transmit using WNET's full-power spectrum. This ensures complete reception across the New York City
television market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...
.
In addition to FNX programming, WNDT-CD airs some news and public affairs shows from WNET and
NJ PBS
NJ PBS (known as NJTV prior to 2021) is a public television network serving the U.S. state of New Jersey. The network is owned by the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority (NJPBA), an agency of the New Jersey state government which owns the ...
.
History
W73AP and W17AC (1973–1992)
The station was
signed on over
UHF channel 73 in 1973 by its original owner,
WPIX, Inc., as W73AP. It was one of multiple television
broadcast translators in New York City that operated at the upper end of the UHF television band to provide reliable coverage to sections of New York City where reception was compromised by the construction of the
World Trade Center. It relayed WPIX, which operates over VHF channel 11.
Originally, most of the New York City television stations operated their main transmitters from the
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...
. However, reliable reception was compromised for some viewers once the majority of the World Trade Center was constructed, thus necessitating the use of the UHF translators. In response, nearly all of the TV stations, including WPIX, relocated to the North Tower of the World Trade Center in 1975.
In 1982, UHF channels 70 through 83 were decommissioned for use as television stations, and the frequencies were reassigned for the
Advanced Mobile Phone System
Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) was an analog mobile phone system standard originally developed by Bell Labs and later modified in a cooperative effort between Bell Labs and Motorola. It was officially introduced in the Americas on October ...
(AMPS), an analog mobile phone system standard developed by
Bell Labs
Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey, the compa ...
that was officially introduced in the Americas in 1983. TV stations operating on these channels were either displaced to in-core broadcast channels, sold, or deleted.
WPIX filed for displacement around this time, and the station's translator was reallocated to channel 17 with the new alpha-numeric
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...
W17AC, reflecting the station's new channel number. The station continued to operate as a relay for WPIX.
More than a year after WPIX became a
Tribune Broadcasting
Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC was an American media company which operated as a subsidiary of Tribune Media, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. The group owned and operated television station, television and radio stations thro ...
station outright in 1991 and expanded coverage in New York City,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
and
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
over the air and through cable, it was unnecessary to keep channel 17 as a backup translator. WPIX sold channel 17 to Trimtab Productions, Inc., in 1992, and the station went off the air shortly thereafter.
W17BM (1992–1997)
On November 9, 1992, the call sign was changed to W17BM, reflecting the station's transfer of ownership. Empire Broadcasting at that point became the operator through Trimtab Productions. It was then programmed as an affiliate of
The Box, airing music videos. In 1995, the station branded as KTV airing
KBS Korean programming along with The Box during the day and on weekends.
WEBR-LP (1997–2001)
On April 22, 1997, the call-sign was changed to WEBR-LP, which stands for Empire BRoadcasting. Trimtab Productions and Empire Broadcasting were later sold to K Licensee, Inc., the owner of NY Radio Korea, who programmed the station as the affiliate of KBS with Korean programming. K Licensee, Inc., later changed its corporate name to K Media, Inc. In 1997, The Box was removed and it ran Korean programming full-time. Over the years it added news programming called KTV news and 1 hour radio public affairs each week along with foreign news like YTN, which was added later that year. Also, community a calendar was added during weeknights after the local news programming ended. During the day, it aired most of the KBS programming along with a 30-minute children's program from that station in
Korean.
WEBR-CA (2001–2009)
On March 5, 2001, the call-sign suffix was changed to WEBR-CA, reflecting the station's new Class A status. Korean programming and KBS were broadcast from 5 p.m. to 1 p.m, while HSN Spanish ran from 1 to 5 p.m. on weekdays and on weekends. On September 11, 2001, the affiliate temporarily switched to
CNN
Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
, which aired news coverage as a backup after the
planes hit the main transmitter on the north tower. In 2002,
HSN Spanish was replaced with the Korean shopping channel KNH. The format stayed the same. Later that year, it ran from 1 a.m. to 7 am. This lasted until mid-2005, when the programming was temporarily changed back to KBS along with Korean programming. GCN (Global Christian Network) programming began on September 1, 2005. At that time, it aired three hours of repeated programming for six weeks. Some of the programming came from out-of-market religious ministries such as sermons by Korean pastor
Jaerock Lee, ''Quick Study'', ''Day Of Discovery'', and some of the promo programming throughout most of the day for a couple of weeks. Children's programming was added on Saturdays from 7 to 10 a.m. and from 8 to 10 p.m. to fill most of the gaps. Also, testimony concerts aired each week on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Additional programming was added in multiple languages on October 10, 2005. After the transition, some of the promos were dropped and more religious programming was added. Children's programming was extended to one hour each day and 2 hours during the morning and evenings on weekends. The following year, religious news programming was added from CBN along with Worship Network music videos. Later that year, movies were added each week.
WEBR-CD (2009–2018)
On September 16, 2009, the call sign was changed to WEBR-CD. The religious format stayed mostly the same except the station ID was classified as "WEBR 17 New York", while WEBR-CD 17 was only used on 17.2, re-branding as KTV.
As a condition for its continued operation on Channel 17, WEBR-CD cannot cause harmful interference to operations on Channel 16, as frequencies on that channel are used for public safety communications systems within New York City. The station has an agreement with the New York Metropolitan Advisory Committee (NYMAC) that requires any operation on Channel 17 to be reduced or ceased should any interference occur to the public safety operations. Any proposed modifications to the respective operations by either the NYMAC or Channel 17 must be made known to the other party, and responses from the other party must be included within such public filings.
WEBR-CD operates at significantly less wattage than its analog predecessor. It also operates with a stringent mask filter, which reduces emissions so the channel 17 signal will not exceed -123 DBM within the NYMAC assigned spectrum.
On March 20, 2012, K Licensee Inc., agreed to sell WEBR-CD to
OTA Broadcasting, a company controlled by
Michael Dell
Michael Saul Dell (born February 23, 1965) is an American billionaire businessman and investor. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Dell Technologies, one of the world's largest technology infrastructure companies.
As of May 2025, accordin ...
's
MSD Capital, for $6.6 million. On April 30, 2012, the license was officially transferred. The deal closed on June 15, 2012. Prior to the transfer of ownership of OTA Broadcasting, the GCN format stayed the same for a couple of months before being taken off the air in 2013. With GCN moving to sub channel 17.3, another format was added and it is currently airing
infomercial
An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of di ...
s. Later in 2013, it switched to the Universal Affiliates Network, which airs movies, local programming, religious programming, and mostly infomercials during the day. In 2015, WEBR moved to digital channel 49 for the first time in 32 years.
In the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC)'s
incentive auction
The 2016 United States wireless spectrum auction, officially known as Auction 1001, allocated approximately 100 MHz of the United States Ultra High Frequency (UHF) spectrum formerly allocated to UHF television in the 600 MHz band. The sp ...
, WEBR-CD sold its spectrum for $72,817,599 and indicated that it would enter into a post-auction channel sharing agreement.
On October 30, 2017, the station entered into a channel sharing agreement with
WNET
WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educ ...
(channel 13);
concurrently, OTA Broadcasting agreed to donate the WEBR license to WNET.
The donation was completed on December 22, 2017;
the next day, WEBR-CD was taken off the air while WNET prepared to move the shared transmitter to the
World Trade Center.
WNCT-CD and WNDT-CD (2018–present)
The call letters were changed to WNCT-CD on March 15, 2018, and to WNDT-CD on March 22.
In November 2018, WNDT-CD returned on its new channel 13 as a non-commercial
network affiliate
In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...
of
MHz Worldview. WNDT currently is seen on its virtual channel 14. In addition to multi-ethnic programming, it also
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
s NJTV news along with the daily public affairs program ''Metrofocus''. Local programming children's shows air on Saturday afternoons from
WNET
WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educ ...
. After MHz Networks announced in January that MHz Worldview will cease operations by March 1, 2020, in favor of digital
streaming
Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...
, WNET switched its programming to
First Nations Experience.
Here's How to Keep Watching MHz Worldview Programming After March 1st
/ref>
Technical information
Subchannel
In late November 2009, WEBR added MBC-D after Newton, New Jersey
Newton, officially the ''Town of Newton'', is an Local government in the United States, incorporated municipality in and the county seat of Sussex County, New Jersey, Sussex County[WMBC-TV
WMBC-TV (channel 63) is a television station licensed to Newton, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York metropolitan area as an affiliate of Merit TV. The station is owned by the Mountain Broadcasting Corporation, and maintains studi ...]
dropped it in favor of a new network, CGN, a Korean Christian network that was later moved to 63.2 and is now a Sinovision English affiliate. A couple of weeks later, NY Radio Korea, an aural service, was added on 17.4.
Effective March 1, 2011, MBC-D programming was discontinued on 17.2. Replacing it is a slide reading "KTV 17.2" with audio from NY Radio Korea—the same as is carried on 17.4—albeit slightly louder. The virtual channel information still identifies 17-2 as MBCD.
In summer 2011, a fourth subchannel, 17.3, was added as GCN, replacing primary channel 17.1 as infomercial
An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of di ...
s. However, as of January, the entire GCN programming was removed, leaving only two subchannels blank without audio. The KTV slide was discontinued with the KRB audio remaining. The same aural programming is replicated on 17.4. As of mid-2013, subchannels were removed, leaving only the main channel 17.1. Earlier that year, GCN programming returned to channel 17.3. Following the donation to WNET, UAN and GCN subchannel programming was replaced with MHz Worldview. Originally All Arts was supposed to air on WNDT-CD in late January, but it was picked up by WLIW as a fourth subchannel.
Analog-to-digital conversion
In August 2009, the station flash-cut to a low-power DTV signal, and the call sign suffix was changed to CD, reflecting the station's Class A status using digital transmission.
References
External links
*
{{Other New York Stations
First Nations Experience affiliates
NDT-CD
Television channels and stations established in 1970
NDT-CD