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Branding WDAY 6 Television (general)
WDAY News (newscasts)
WDAY/WDAZ (regional) Channels Digital: 21 (UHF)
Virtual: 6 (PSIP) Subchannels 6.1 ABC
6.2 Justice Network
6.3 WDAY'Z Xtra Affiliations ABC (secondary 1953–1959; primary since 1983) | ||
WDAY-TV, channel 6.1, is the ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 21 (or virtual channel 6.1 via PSIP) from a 1,000-foot (300 m) tall transmitter tower near Amenia. On cable, the station can be seen on channel 6 in most areas, and on Midcontinent Communications digital channel 606 and Cable One digital channel 1006 in high definition.
Contents
- History
- Digital channels
- Analog to digital conversion
- News operation and programming
- Past on air staff
- References
The station is owned by Forum Communications of Fargo, which also owns WDAY radio (970 AM) and The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. The facilities for WDAY-AM-TV are on South 8th Street in downtown Fargo. WDAY also operates semi-satellite WDAZ-TV in Grand Forks, which airs local advertising and weekday newscasts focusing on the Grand Forks metro and northern portion of the Fargo/Grand Forks market. It also airs ABC programming. WDAZ also has significant viewership in southern Manitoba, Canada, including Winnipeg, which has double the population of the Fargo/Grand Forks market as a whole.
WDAY-TV also handles master control and some internal operations for sister stations and fellow ABC affiliates KBMY in Bismarck and KMCY in Minot.
History
WDAY-TV went on the air for the first time in 1953 as the second television station in North Dakota (after KCJB-TV, now KXMC-TV, in Minot), and the first in Fargo and the eastern part of the state. It was owned by a group of Fargo investors, the largest of which was Norman Black, owner and publisher of The Forum. Black bought the remaining shares in 1958.
It was originally an NBC affiliate when it signed on in 1953. WDAY swapped affiliations and became an ABC affiliate in 1983.
WDAZ was established in 1967 and serves the northern part of the Fargo-Grand Forks market, while WDAY-TV serves the southern portion.
WDAY/WDAZ began operating cable-only WB affiliate "WBFG" in 1998. WDAY/WDAZ replaced "WBFG" with the Justice Network (which launched in early 2016) on new digital broadcast subchannels WDAY 6.2 and WDAZ 8.2 and WDAY'Z Xtra (which launched in 2013) on digital subchannel 6.3 in the Fargo area and 8.3 in the Grand Forks area.
WDAY-TV is one of the westernmost stations in the country whose call sign begins with W. Most stations west of the Mississippi River begin with K; however, WDAY radio received its call letters before the U.S. government moved the K-W boundary in 1923 from the state borders between 102 and 104 degrees West longitude (including the North Dakota-Montana border) to the Mississippi River.
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
Justice Network is carried on a digital subchannel of WDAY 6.2 in Fargo, WDAZ 8.2 in Devils Lake/Grand Forks, KBMY 17.2 in Bismarck and KMCY 14.2 in Minot. This channel is also offered on Cable One cable channel 28 in the Fargo-Moorhead area. It can be seen on Midcontinent cable channel 14 in Fargo, Moorhead, Devil Lake and most other areas. It can be seen on Midco cable channel 7 in Grand Forks area. The station can be found on Cable One's lineup on channel 28.
WDAY'Z Xtra is a digital subchannel carried on WDAY 6.3, WDAZ 8.3, KBMY 17.3, and KMCY 14.3, airing as a secondary affiliation to MyNetworkTV on KBMY and KMCY but without interruption on WDAY-TV and WDAZ-TV.⁴ This subchannel airs Doppler weather radar and "Storm Tracker" weather loop with easy listening music. It also airs North Dakota and Minnesota high school sports, North Dakota high school state tournaments, Minnesota State University Moorhead Athletics, ACC football and basketball and select University of North Dakota athletic events. It is offered on Midco cable channel 596 and CableOne channel 29.
WDAY'Z Xtra became available in HD in 2014, and in 2016 MyNetworkTV programming began airing (in primetime), although on KBMY and KMCY only (in Bismarck and Minot respectively) but not on WDAY-TV in Fargo or WDAZ-TV in Devils Lake/Grand Forks (the most likely reason being that both of those stations broadcast to a viewing area that is currently being serviced by MyNetworkTV affiliate, KCPM from Grand Forks-Fargo, N.D.).
Starting on August 29, 2016, WDAY'Z Xtra and the Justice Network aired WDAY'Z Xtra News during weekdays at 9:00 pm.
Analog-to-digital conversion
WDAY-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 6, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 21. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 6.
News operation and programming
WDAY-TV presently broadcasts 21½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 3½ hours on weekdays, and 2 1/2 hours on Saturdays and 1 hour on Sundays). For the better part of the last two decades, WDAY's newscasts have traditionally led the ratings in the Fargo/Grand Forks market. WDAZ has traditionally dominated the ratings for the northern part of the market.
WDAZ once had a larger news presence, as it aired separate 5 p.m. and weekend newscasts, with the only WDAY newscast airing being the morning First News. WDAZ's weekend news was taken over by WDAY in 2011 and its 5 p.m. weekday newscast was taken over in July 2014. The decision to replace the 5 p.m. broadcast was met with an immediate backlash from viewers, including those who circulated a petition on Change.org demanding that Forum restore the local 5 p.m. news to WDAZ.
On February 22, 2012, WDAY began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. KBMY and KMCY began airing some of WDAY's newscasts in 2014.
WDAY signs off in the overnight hours; as a result, ABC's overnight news program, World News Now, is not broadcast. It goes off the air at 3:43 am and signs on again at 4:27 am to broadcast America This Morning. The stations also pre-empt the network's NBA pre-game show NBA Countdown to carry paid programming.
In August 2016, WDAY launched a half-hour prime time newscast on its second and third subchannels called WDAY'Z Xtra News at 9. WDAY'Z Xtra News at 9 also simulcast on WDAZ's subchannels in Grand Forks, as well as KBMY/KMCY's subchannels in the Bismarck/Minot market.