WDCO-CD

WDCO-CD, virtual channel 10 (UHF digital channel 24), is a low-powered, Class A Jewelry Television-affiliated television station licensed to Woodstock, Virginia, United States and serving the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The station is owned by Venture Technologies Group. WDCO-CD's transmitter is located in Ward Circle in Washington's northwest quadrant.

WDCO-CD
Woodstock, Virginia
United States
ChannelsDigital: 24 (UHF)
Virtual: 10 (PSIP)
Programming
AffiliationsJewelry Television
Ownership
OwnerVenture Technologies Group
(sale to Sinclair Broadcast Group pending[1])
(WMTM, LLC)
History
First air dateOctober 1985 (1985-10)
Former call signsW10AZ (1985–1994)
WAZT-LP (1994–2002)
WAZT-CA (2002–2015)
WAZT-CD (2015–2017)
Former channel number(s)Analog:
10 (VHF, 1985–2015)
Digital:
45 (UHF, 2015–2019)
Former affiliationsReligious Independent (1985–2018)
Technical information
Licensing authorityFCC
Facility ID57905
ClassCD
ERP15 kW
HAAT151.2 m (496 ft)
Transmitter coordinates38°56′24.2″N 77°4′52.5″W
Translator(s)See below
Links
Public license informationProfile
LMS

History
Logo used until October 2008.

The station has operated since October 1985, when it was put on the air as a religious independent station by Ruarch Associates, LLC (its original calls were W10AZ, with the WAZT calls, introduced in 1994, apparently being derived from it), and once had a radio sister station, WAZR (93.7 FM; that station is now owned by iHeartMedia with a contemporary format).[2]

The WAZT network offered some programming from Cornerstone and other religious networks, but it generally did not show them in-pattern with those networks, and it also broadcast some secular syndicated programming and classic television shows.

WAZT once broadcast a local newscast at 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday (entitled News 10), but this was discontinued on December 26, 2005. In January 2006, WAZT began airing CBN's NewsWatch program.

Ruarch sold WAZT to JLA Media & Publications (no relation to Washington's ABC affiliate WJLA-TV, owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group) in 2006. Jones Broadcasting acquired the station out of Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2011.[3]

Jones Broadcasting sold the group of stations to Venture Technologies Group in December 2013. Venture immediately began moving WAZT and its sister stations to the far larger Washington, D.C. television market. At the time, WAZT transmitted from a hill near Toms Brook, Virginia. After agreeing to purchase the WAZT network, Venture obtained a construction permit to move the station's analog signal to the WZRV tower near Front Royal, Virginia. Later in 2014, it filed for a digital signal at its current transmitter site near The Plains, Virginia, which signed on in March 2015.[4] Venture also purchased WIAV-CD in 2014, which expanded the network's footprint into the city of Washington proper.[5]

After spending most of its time as a religious broadcaster branded as simply "WAZT", the station and its relays changed to the branding "Faith Television Network" under Venture's ownership.

WAZT-CD's callsign was changed to WDCO-CD on October 11, 2017. On the same day, Winchester repeater WAZW-CD became WAZT-CD.[6] On January 24, 2018, Faith Television Network announced it would cease broadcasting. All four remaining stations in the network became full-time affiliates of Jewelry Television on January 31.[7]

As a result of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s 2016–17 spectrum reallocation incentive auction, channels 24 and 30 – occupied by WNVC and WNVT, respectively – became available in the Washington market in 2018. WDCO-CD applied to take over WNVC's channel 24 facilities at its tower in Merrifield, Virginia, which would place it firmly in the Washington market, while WIAV-CD applied to move to channel 30. After WNVC was unable to find a channel-sharing partner and went off the air, it sold the tower and transmitter building. Left without a transmission site, WDCO-CD moved to temporary low-powered facilities shared with WIAV-CD at the WRC-TV (channel 4) tower in northwest Washington, and reapplied to permanently build there.[4]

The new WAZT-CD has since relocated from Winchester to Blue Ridge Mountain in Bluemont, Virginia, also within the Washington market.[8]

On June 25, 2020, Venture Technologies Group filed an agreement with the FCC to sell WDCO-CD and WIAV-CD to Sinclair Broadcast Group for $8.5 million, pending approval. They would be Sinclair's second and third properties in the Washington market, alongside WJLA-TV. WAZT-CD is not included in the sale.[1][9]

Relays

WDCO-CD operates two translators. The relay network, which at one time covered the Shenandoah Valley from Winchester to Staunton, is now confined to the Washington metropolitan area.

Station City of license Channels
RF / VC		 First air date Callsign meaning Former callsigns Former channels ERP HAAT Facility ID Transmitter coordinates Public license information
WAZT-CD Vienna, VA 20 (UHF)
48 (PSIP)		 1989 (1989) AZ Television W48AZ (1989–1999)
WAZW-LP (1999–2000)
WAZW-CA (2000–2014)
WAZW-CD (2014–2017)		 Analog:
48 (1989–2010)
Digital:
46 (2010–2019)		 15 kW 318.3 m (1,044 ft) 168449 39°8′16.5″N 77°49′57.6″W Profile
CDBS
WIAV-CD Washington, D.C. 30 (UHF)
(shared with WMDO-CD)
58 (PSIP)		 1989 (1989) AsiaVision
(former owner)		 W58BR (1989–1996)
WIAV-CA (1996–2011)[10]
WIAV-LD (2011–2013)		 Analog:
58 (1989–2011)
Digital:
44 (2011–2020)		 48 kW 151.2 m (496 ft) 168063 38°56′24.2″N 77°4′52.5″W Profile
CDBS

Defunct

WDCO-CD formerly operated four other relays:

WAZC-LP went on the air in 1988 as W16AA, a translator for WVIR-TV owned by Rockingham County with a transmitter on Massanutten Peak. In 1998, it was sold to Ruarch and moved to Luray. In 2006, WAZC-LP was forced to vacate channel 16 as WJAL in Hagerstown, Maryland received the allocation for its digital signal. A construction permit for WAZC-LD on channel 35 expired in June 2010 without being built. This station was not included in the 2013 sale to Venture and is off the air, although its license has never been canceled.[11]

WAZM-CA signed on in 1996 (as W25CC, later W25AZ) and was a relay for Staunton and Waynesboro. In 2012, Jones Broadcasting sold this station to Gray Television, who converted it to digital CBS/Fox affiliate WSVF-CD.

WAZF-CD signed on in 1994 as W28AZ, becoming WFAZ-CA in 2000 and WAZF-CA in 2001. This station was licensed to Front Royal, Virginia and in the analog era broadcast on channel 28 from the same Winchester tower as then-WAZW-CA; WAZF-CA's signal was pointed toward Front Royal while WAZW-CA's was pointed toward Charles Town, West Virginia. In 2014, this station signed on a digital signal on UHF channel 20 (virtual channel 28.1) from a transmitter on Short Hill Mountain southeast of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. WAZF-CD's license was sold for $513,526 in the spectrum reallocation auction, and was taken off the air on August 3, 2017.[12][13]

WAZH-CD signed on in 1989 as W24AZ, and briefly took the callsign WWAZ-CA before becoming WAZH-CA in 2001. Although its callsign implied it was to be the relay for Harrisonburg, in the analog era it broadcast from a ridge above Basye with a directional signal pointed at Mount Jackson. After the digital transition, the new WAZH-CD moved to Signal Knob near Strasburg, which was the same location as then-WAZW-CD.[14] The station operated on UHF channel 14 and virtual channel 24.1. Venture sold WAZH-CD's channel 14 allocation for $12,042,490 in the spectrum reallocation auction, missed the subsequent deadline to reach a channel-sharing agreement with another Harrisonburg station, and elected to surrender the license on April 23, 2018.[15][12][16]

Digital channels
Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[17][18]
10.1
48.1
58.1		480i4:3WDCO-CD
WAZT-CD
WIAV-CD		Jewelry TV

References
  1. "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. June 25, 2020. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  2. "harrisonburg" | iHeartRadio
  3. Seyler, Dave (October 28, 2011). "Transactions: 10-31-11". Television Business Report. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
  4. "Facility No. 57905 Record". FCCData.
  5. "WIAV-CD Facility Data". FCCData.
  6. "Facility No. 168449 Record". FCCData.
  7. "Celebrating 32 years and saying goodbye". Faith Television Network. 24 January 2018.
  8. "RabbitEars TV Query for WAZT-CD".
  9. Jacobson, Adam (26 June 2020). "A Major Broadcast Player Snags D.C. LPTV Duo". Radio & Television Business Report.
  10. "Engineering STA". Federal Communications Commission.
  11. "WAZC-LP Facility Data".
  12. FCC Broadcast Television Spectrum Incentive Auction — Auction 1001 Winning Bids
  13. "DWAZF-CD Facility Data". FCCData.
  14. "DWAZH-CD Facility Data". FCCData.
  15. "Legal STA".
  16. "Cancellation Application". FCC LMS.
  17. "Digital TV Listing for WDCO-CD". RabbitEars.Info. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  18. "Digital TV Listing for WAZT-CD". RabbitEars.Info. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
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