First air date c. 1998/99 Former channel number(s) Analog: 33 (1995–2011) Facility ID 17791 Affiliation Dark Last air date 2011 | Call letters' meaning DYeRsburg Transmitter power 15 kW Founded 1999 City of license Dyersburg | |
Former callsigns W33BO (1995–1999)
WDYR-LP (1999–2003)
WDYR-CA (2003–2011) Owner Tri-State Christian Television Channels Digital: 18 (UHF); Virtual: 33 (PSIP) Former affiliations Independent station (1999–2000, Primary) | ||
WDYR-CD was a Class A low-powered television station that was licensed to and serving Dyersburg, Tennessee. For most of the years of its operation, the station was owned and operated by Tri-State Christian Television. Broadcast facilities and studios were originally located at 2340 Upper Finley Road in Dyersburg.
Contents
History
WDYR's application history began in 1995 under the callsign W33BO. The late Ray Ashley, Jr., senior law partner of law firm Ashley, Ashley & Arnold in Dyersburg and former Tennessee State Attorney General (1974–)76) filed for the original application. Former Memphis TV news reporter and friend of Ashley's Tommy Stafford, co-founded the station. By 1999, the station was on air and had launched a local news operation, titled Tri 33 News. The news aired at 6:30am, 6pm and 10pm C.T. each night, including anchors that had left nearby television stations in Jackson, Memphis, and Paducah to start the newscast. The original news anchors of the Tri 33 6PM newscast were Larry McIntosh (who formerly anchored in the Paducah market), Tiffany Carey, a former Jackson anchor and the producer and weather anchor Carey Byars, who had previously reported nationally for the syndicated series AgDay. The newscast intro music used was the Shelly Palmer News music package. After a contentious meeting, original founders Ashley and Stafford found themselves at odds with shareholders in the company.
Outside share holders had been brought in to give the station sufficient capitalization. However, some of these outside shareholders and the founders disagreed strongly on the direction the station should be headed. Ashley and Stafford didn't feel their original vision was being followed. They left the board and eventually the company in early 2000. The news was gone by the summer of 2000, when the Tri-State Christian Television network acquired the station and began airing its network's programming, which was a mixture of Christian programming.
TCT surrendered their license to this outlet in February 2013. The station is now defunct and on the market.
Before the station left the air, programming included all TCT network programming, along with some syndicated programming such as Bridging the Gap, Jack Van Impe Presents, A Bible Answer (originating from an area church in Paducah), Manna Fest, and a few others.
Coverage area
In addition to its Dyer County coverage, WDYR was also available to antenna users in surrounding areas like parts of Crockett, Lake and Obion Counties of Tennessee, as well as into the Caruthersville, Missouri area. In Pemiscot County, Missouri, including the Steele area, the station was available on cable television via NewWave Communications.