WHDF

WHDF
Florence/Huntsville/Decatur, Alabama
United States
City Florence, Alabama
Branding The Valley's CW
Channels Digital: 14 (UHF)
(to move to 2 (VHF))
Virtual: 15 (PSIP)
Affiliations The CW (2006–present)
Owner Lockwood Broadcast Group
(Huntsville TV, LLC)
Operator Nexstar Media Group
(via TBA; full acquisition pending[1])
First air date October 28, 1957 (1957-10-28)
Call letters' meaning Huntsville
Decatur
Florence[2]
Sister station(s) WZDX, WDHN, WIAT, WKRG, WKRN-TV
Former callsigns WOWL-TV (1957–1999)
Former channel number(s) 15 (UHF analog, 1957–2009)
Former affiliations NBC (1957–1999)
UPN (1999–2006)
Transmitter power 1000 kW
Height 431 m (1,414 ft)
Class DT
Facility ID 65128
Transmitter coordinates 35°0′5.7″N 87°8′3.9″W / 35.001583°N 87.134417°W / 35.001583; -87.134417
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.thevalleyscw.tv

WHDF is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Florence, Alabama, United States, serving Huntsville and North Alabama's Tennessee Valley. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 14 (or virtual channel 15 via PSIP) from a transmitter located southeast of Minor Hill, Tennessee, just 500 yards (457 m) north of the Alabama state line. Owned by Lockwood Broadcast Group, the station is operated by Nexstar Media Group under a time brokerage agreement. This makes it a sister station to Huntsville-licensed Fox affiliate WZDX (channel 54); an outright sale of WHDF to Nexstar is pending approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).[1] WHDF maintains studios on Cypress Mill Road in Florence, with a sales office on Andrew Jackson Way in Huntsville's Five Points neighborhood. The station is carried on channel 6 on most cable systems in the market.

History

The station began on October 28, 1957 as WOWL-TV, based in Florence. The station was owned by Richard "Dick" Biddle. Up until late 1999, that station broadcast NBC programs to northwestern Alabama and portions of southern middle Tennessee and northeastern Mississippi; it also carried some popular CBS shows like the soap opera As the World Turns.

WOWL-TV always faced competing NBC affiliates in Huntsville/Decatur (WAFF, channel 48) or even Tupelo (WTVA), whose signals reached much of its broadcast area. However, it retained viewership in northwest Alabama (Florence, Sheffield, Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia and areas known as "The Shoals" recently and referred to as "The Quad Cities" years ago) by offering local newscasts, which for most of the station's 40-plus years were the only newscasts concerned specifically with northwestern Alabama. Over time, though, with the Huntsville stations, especially WAFF, expanding news bureaus of their own into the Shoals in the 1980s and 1990s, WOWL-TV lost much of its traditional advantage.

By the late 1990s, this duplication had progressed to the point that the station could no longer focus solely on northwest Alabama and remain viable. The owners opted to sell to outside interests, who dropped NBC in favor of UPN in the fall of 1999, making WAFF the sole NBC outlet in north Alabama. Shortly before that, on July 19, the call letters were changed to the current WHDF, with a move of the transmitter and tower to Giles County, Tennessee. The new tower transmitted from a location high enough to provide a coverage area comparable to the other north Alabama stations, while remaining within 15 miles (24 km) of Florence as required by FCC regulations.

In 2004, Lockwood Broadcast Group acquired WHDF. Lockwood Broadcast Group's Broadcast Operation Service Solution provides content delivery and back-office function from Lockwood's Richmond, Virginia Operation Headquarters. Completed in 2007, the "hub" facility has remotely operated WHDF since that year.[3]

In September 2006, both UPN and The WB ceased operations. A single new network, The CW, replaced those two struggling entities. WHDF, the UPN affiliate, was granted the northern Alabama affiliation rights for the new network earlier that year, and rebranded as The Valley's CW at midnight on July 27, 2006. (The former WB affiliate, meanwhile, became WAMY-TV, affiliated with MyNetworkTV.)

Local employees at WHDF's Florence and Huntsville facilities total fewer than ten, according to Census business statistics in 2010.

On July 15, 2018, Lockwood Broadcast Group reached an agreement to sell WHDF to Nexstar Media Group for $2.25 million; Nexstar concurrently took over the station's operations through a time brokerage agreement. The sale will create a duopoly with Fox affiliate WZDX (channel 54).[1]

Digital television

Digital channel

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[4]
15.11080i16:9WHDF-DTMain WHDF programming / The CW

Analog-to-digital conversion

WHDF shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 15, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[5] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 14,[6] using PSIP to display WHDF's virtual channel as 15 on digital television receivers.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  2. ↑ Nelson, Bob (2008-10-18). "Call Letter Origins". The Broadcast Archive. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  3. ↑ http://www.lockwoodbroadcast.com/
  4. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WHDF
  5. ↑ List of Digital Full-Power Stations
  6. ↑ CDBS Print
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