WDAZ TV

History

WDAZ went on the air for the first time on January 29, 1967. For its first 15 years on the air, WDAY-TV had significant coverage problems in the northern portion of the vast Fargo/Grand Forks market. Channel 6 was required to conform its signal to protect CBC Television station CBWT in Winnipeg, which was also on channel 6. While the other Fargo stations covered the northern portion of the market very well, WDAY-TV only provides grade B coverage to most of Grand Forks and cannot be seen at all in much of the northern part of the market. WDAZ was signed on to fill this coverage gap. (WDAY's coverage problem would become moot with the 2009 digital television transition in the United States and the 2011 transition in Canada, in which WDAY would broadcast its digital signal on channel 21 and CBWT broadcast theirs on channel 27.) It is one of the few stations west of the Mississippi River allowed to use a "W" call sign at sign-on. Most stations west of the Mississippi begin with the 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.

Originally an NBC affiliate, WDAZ switched to ABC along with sister station WDAY-TV in August 1983. WDAZ continues to be carried on Canadian cable systems, while other North Dakota broadcasts were replaced with Detroit and/or Toledo, Ohio stations. WDAZ even maintained a sales office in Winnipeg. In 1986, WDAZ was nearly dropped from cable in Winnipeg. After the crisis, WDAZ and Prairie Public Television set up a fixed microwave link to carry stronger signals into Winnipeg.

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.

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.⁵ 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

WDAZ-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 8, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 59, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to its analog-era VHF channel 8.

News operation and programming

WDAZ broadcasts its own locally produced newscasts from Grand Forks on weekdays at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. (five hours each week), and simulcasts WDAY-TV's other newscasts with resources from WDAZ. From 1997 until 2011, WDAZ broadcast nine hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 1½ hours on weekdays, one hour on Saturdays, and the 30 minute Sunday 10:00 p.m. newscast).

WDAY's morning show First News has been broadcast on WDAZ since its inception, although the broadcast went statewide in April 2014 as it debuted on sister ABC affiliates KBMY in Bismarck and KMCY in Minot.

WDAZ is noted for being nationally honored with the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for Continuing Coverage during the Red River Flood of 1997. WDAZ received two Upper Midwest Regional Emmy Awards in 2014.

On February 22, 2012, WDAZ began presenting its local newscasts in 16:9 widescreen standard definition, while the morning and weekend newscasts originating from WDAY are presented in high definition. WDAZ began presenting its locally produced newscasts in high definition on October 15, 2013.

WDAZ 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. WDAZ previously broadcast a weekly political talk show called Agenda, which was primarily on local and regional issues.

Sports coverage

WDAZ was known for its coverage of University of North Dakota athletics, with former longtime sports director Pat Sweeney handling play-by-play commentating. The station produced telecasts in conjunction with the University of North Dakota for its own airwaves, often simulcasted on its sister ABC stations statewide, from 1984 until 2012. UND play-by-play coverage began being simulcast on WDAZ's airwaves and a cable network known as the University of North Dakota Sports Network (formerly the Fighting Sioux Sports Network), which was launched in 2002. This network, also known as UNDSN (formerly FSSN), broadcast UND hockey, football, and basketball games which were distributed on cable television by Midcontinent Communications and other cable systems in North Dakota, Minnesota, and South Dakota. The UND Sports Network was also available all across the North American continent via Free-To-Air satellite. Pat Sweeney also handled play-by-play commentating on UNDSN. UNDSN was folded into the regional Midco Sports Network in 2012, and UND athletics play-by-play broadcast rights were taken over by the new regional network.

Out-of-market and Canadian coverage

Although WDAZ reaches only 82,000 American television households, the station is also carried on Shaw Communications and MTS TV in southern Manitoba, including the Winnipeg area, reaching an additional 256,000 homes. Winnipeg is the center of a market with over 1 million people—more than three times the entire population of WDAZ's American coverage area (and indeed double the entire population of the Fargo/Grand Forks market).

WDAZ and Prairie Public Television (through KGFE) are the only stations from this region that still air in Manitoba, after KVLY-TV (formerly KTHI) and KXJB-TV were replaced with other network affiliates in March 1986. This was due to a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decision that allowed the Winnipeg cable companies to replace the CBS and NBC affiliates with Detroit stations (WJBK (later WWJ-TV) and WDIV-TV, respectively) because of complaints about poor reception, but denied them the ability to replace WDAZ with WXYZ or KGFE/PPT with WTVS (although the latter station would later be added as a second PBS station to cable customers). Shaw Cable airs WDAZ on cable channel 7 and MTS TV airs WDAZ on cable channel 13. For several years in the 1980s, WDAZ was also fed in Saskatchewan as a replacement for KTHI on its Telecable (Saskatoon) and Cable Regina (now Access Communications) systems, before it (along with two Williston stations and PPT) were also replaced by Detroit stations in the aftermath of a similar CRTC decision in October 1984.

WDAZ can also be seen over the air in extreme southern Manitoba, and in southern parts of Winnipeg, with a rooftop antenna. WDAZ's over-the-air signal is spotty at best in Manitoba, as its transmitter is more than 100 miles (160 km) from Winnipeg.

Advertising from Winnipeg businesses sometimes air on the station, although this is sometimes ineffective due to simultaneous substitution. This practice requires Shaw and MTS to replace WDAZ's signal with that of a Winnipeg station (usually either CKY-DT or CKND-DT) whenever the same program and episode airs at the same time. Because WDAZ is carried on cable in southern Manitoba, it has become somewhat of a regional superstation.

WDAZ is also available on cable or IPTV providers in the northeastern portion of the Minot/Bismarck market (in Rolette, Pierce and Wells counties), and in Red Lake, Minnesota, (Beltrami County), located in the northern edge of the Minneapolis/St. Paul television market. Cable or IPTV providers in Belcourt, Rolla, Rugby, Harvey, and Fessenden have carried WDAZ for decades rather than sister ABC affiliate KMCY in Minot.

WDAZ-TV tower mast

WDAZ-TV broadcasts from a 445.2-meter (1,461 ft) high guy-wired aerial mast, making it the third tallest tower in North Dakota after the KVLY-TV tower and the KRDK-TV tower. The tower is located in Dahlen, North Dakota, roughly located between Grand Forks and Devils Lake. The tower was also used by KGFE of Grand Forks until an ice storm damaged equipment in 2004.

Translators

WDAZ serves its large coverage area with three translators. All are owned by local municipalities.