WDRL-TV
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| WDRL-TV | |
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| Danville/Roanoke/Lynchburg, Virginia | |
| Branding | WDRL-TV |
| Channels | Analog: 24 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | independent |
| Owner | Melvin Eleazer (MNE Broadcasting, LLC) |
| First air date | August 18, 1994 |
| Call letters’ meaning | Danville Roanoke Lynchburg |
| Former callsigns | WDRG (1994-1997) |
| Former affiliations | independent (1994-1995) The WB (1995-1997) UPN (1997-2006) |
| Transmitter Power | 1150 kW (analog) 43 kW (digital) |
| Height | 107 m (analog) 378 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 15507 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | (analog) (digital) |
| Website | www.wdrl-tv.com |
WDRL-TV is an independent television station licensed to Danville, Virginia and serving the Roanoke/Lynchburg, Virginia market.
WDRL broadcasts on analog channel 24 from a tower in Pelham, North Carolina, and its signal is directional toward Greensboro, North Carolina.
It broadcasts its digital signal on channel 41 (non-directional) from a tower on Smith Mountain, giving city grade coverage of Lynchburg and Roanoke, New River Valley and all of the south side of Virginia. Digital coverage also extends into the northern North Carolina counties of Caswell, Rockingham, Person, and Stokes. The station plans to move its digital signal to its current analog frequency, channel 24, at the U.S. television digital transition date, February 17, 2009.
WDRL is owned by Melvin N. Eleazer, who is also the General Manager.
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[edit] History
The channel 24 dial position was once occupied by WBTM-TV, which operated in the mid-to-late 1950s. The station only lasted a few years before attempting to become a hybrid commercial and educational station. This request to the FCC was denied, and the station went off the air not long after.
WDRL signed on the air August 18, 1994 as WDRG, (for Danville-Roanoke-Greensboro, and gained the WB affiliation for Roanoke DMA in November 1994.
When the FCC switched from using Arbitron's ADI to Neilsen's DMA system of determining which remained to the market of Roanoke-Lynchburg (market #67). In 1997, WDRL changed its call letters to WDRL-TV (for Danville-Roanoke-Lynchburg) and became the UPN affiliate for southwestern Virginia. Shortly after this change, WDRL put a translator on the air in Roanoke, W54BT on channel 54, to bring WDRL's signal and UPN programming into Roanoke, Lynchburg, and the New River Valley.
On March 31, 2005, the FCC ordered the Roanoke translator off the air to make way for cellular phones. The transmitter was soon returned to broadcast on channel 24 with the same amount of power, but with a more directional antenna to protect WDRL's primary analog transmitter in Pelham.
On May 1, 2006, it was announced that WDRL would become an independent station as a result of UPN's pending shutdown.
On March 11, 2007, Jerry Falwell's Liberty University agreed to purchase WDRL; the station would initially continue to operate out its current studios with Eleazer serving as general manager, with the eventual move to Lynchburg, where it would be based along with new sister station WTLU. In May 2008, Liberty University and MNE Broadcasting dissolved the agreement, for unknown reasons.
[edit] Sports programming
WDRL is currently the regional free-to-air home of the Charlotte Bobcats NBA team, Baltimore Orioles baseball, and SEC, Big South, Mid-American, Big East, and CIAA collegiate sports, with other local sporting events (including high school basketball and football). WDRL also broadcasts some CBS Sports events on a seasonal basis only.
[edit] Digital television programming
WDRL-DT began broadcasting digital in 2001 at its Pelham site, at low power. In 2004, the station won permission to move the digital transmitter to Smith Mountain. This location was chosen as it is the highest point east of Poor Mountain, where most of Roanoke's other television stations transmit from. WDRL-DT's Smith Mountain transmitter went on the air in May 2006.[1] In February 2009, WDRL-DT will move from channel 41 to Channel 24 with a higher transmitter output of 141 kW.
WDRL will soon air .2 Network, a new digital subchannel that will feature general entertainment and movies.
[edit] External links
- WDRL website
- RabbitEars.Info: Roanoke-Lynchburg Stations
- History of Danville's now-defunct WBTM-TV
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WDRL-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WDRL-TV
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