Branding TCT 18 | Subchannels See below | |
Channels Digital: 18 (UHF)
Virtual: 18.1 TCT-SD (Local)
18.2 TCT-HD (Network) Translators 27 WFHD-LP (Ann Arbor) (silent) Affiliations TCT/Cornerstone Television Owner LocusPoint Networks
(sale to Tri-State Christian Television, Inc. pending)
(LocusPoint WDWO Licensee LLC) | ||
WDWO-CD is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, which broadcasts the programming of the Tri-State Christian Television (TCT) religious network.
The station was founded on April 13, 1989, but did not sign on until sometime in 1993 as W44AR channel 44, owned by a local religious organization, Detroit World Outreach.
The station went silent in July 1999, due to WWJ-TV starting up its digital signal on that channel, but returned to air on channel 18 on February 25, 2000, under TCT ownership. The station was sold, apparently since DWO couldn't afford keeping the station, or enduring any expenses to move the channel.
The station also had a rebroadcaster on channel 27 in Ann Arbor. That channel was originally "W59CA" channel 59, a repeater of Saginaw's WAQP, serving Jackson, which was relocated to Ann Arbor in November 2000 and rechristened as W27CJ. In November 2007, the repeater was sold to SMG Media Group and the call sign changed to WHDA-LP, and later to WFHD-LP, which has since been sold and is currently silent. Plans were for the station to broadcast all local programming from Ann Arbor in 100% high definition digital format; however, the station's future is unknown, and for a while, the WFHD calls were pending reassignment to W36CO in St. Petersburg, Florida, for a new digital Spanish-language channel on that station.
WDWO's over-the-air signal can be seen throughout Detroit's west side, as well as in Highland Park, most of Hamtramck, parts of Windsor, and the innermost western suburbs; and from further north at night with a high quality antenna.
In March 2013, TCT filed to sell WDWO-CD to LocusPoint Networks. The deal would have put the station under common ownership with another Detroit religious station, WUDT-LD; the sale of WDWO-CD closed on May 31, 2013, while LocusPoint's acquisition of WUDT-LD remains pending as of February 2017. Upon purchase by LocusPoint, the station moved its antenna from Dearborn to WKBD-TV's tower in Southfield. TCT agreed to reacquire WDWO-CD from LocusPoint in February 2017.
Digital television
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Former subchannel(s):
Sometime on the morning of Friday, July 30, 2010, the station converted to digital on channel 18 with an effective radiated power of 15 kW (slightly lower than its analog ERP of 20 kW), but retained its -CA suffix (and branding itself as "WDWO-DT" via PSIP).
Like the other TCT stations, WDWO-CD broadcasts three video feeds: DT1 broadcasts in SD, and carries some local programs in addition to the network feed. DT2 broadcasts in HD, and carries the network programming. The two feeds air most of the same shows at the same times, but occasionally have different schedules. DT3 was recently added in the last week of January, 2011, and airs mostly older public-domain sitcoms, older public-domain cartoons, and a block of TCT-made E/I programming called "TCT Kids". In June 2011, WDWO-CD, like many other TCT stations, added SD3, "La Fuente" ("The Source"), a Spanish-language religious service, available on 18.4.