WYDC

WYDC (channel 48) is a television station licensed to Corning, New York, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for the Elmira area. It is owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company LLC alongside low-power MyNetworkTV affiliate WJKP-LD (channel 39). Both stations share studios on East Market Street in Downtown Corning, while WYDC's transmitter is located on Higman Hill.

WYDC
CityCorning, New York
Channels
BrandingBig Fox
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
  • Coastal Television Broadcasting Company LLC
  • (CTNY License LLC)
WJKP-LD
History
FoundedOctober 2, 1989
First air date
September 6, 1994 (1994-09-06)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 48 (UHF, 1994–2009)
  • Digital: 50 (UHF, 2001–2009), 48 (UHF, 2009–2019)
  • Independent (1994–1995)
  • UPN (primary 1995–1997, secondary 1997–2004)
  • The WB (secondary, 1995–1997)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID62219
ERP55 kW
HAAT311 m (1,020 ft)
Transmitter coordinates42°8′31.2″N 77°4′38.8″W
Translator(s)see § Translators
Links
Public license information
Websitewydc-tv.com
WYDC studio building on Market Street in downtown Corning, as seen in October 2022

History

On June 9, 1988, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted a construction permit to Rural New York Broadcasting, owned by Robert Walker of Albany, to build a new television station in Corning. In 1992, Walker moved to Florida and donated the permit to Cornerstone Television, a Christian broadcaster from Pittsburgh.[2] Cornerstone never built the station, and instead it was Molly and David Grant, with investors known as Standfast Broadcasting, who put WYDC on the air in 1994 as independent "Big TV".[3]

Big TV rapidly grew. It built translators in Elmira and Bath, became an affiliate of UPN and The WB in 1995,[4] and added Fox in October 1996.[5]

Vision Communications, headed by William Christian, leased the station with an option to buy in 1997 and moved to shift the station's focus to Fox, eliminating UPN and WB programs.[6] The new ownership upgraded the facilities with a $2 million investment.[7] The Grants went on to start another station known as Big TV, UPN affiliate WBGT-LP in Rochester, which Vision acquired in 2002.[8]

Vision Communications filed to sell its broadcast properties to Standard Media in 2019.[9] The sale was never consummated.[10]

Sale to Coastal Television

In July 2021, Waypoint announced that it would sell nine of its television stations, including WYDC, WJKP-LD, and WECY-LD, to Cumming, Georgia–based Coastal Television for $36.9 million. The sale was completed on January 4, 2022.[11]

News operation

According to television listings, WYDC airs half-hour newscasts on weeknights known as Big Fox News at 10.[12] All weather forecasts are provided through an outsourcing agreement by WeatherVision of Jackson, Mississippi.[13] The prime time newscast competes with another weeknight thirty-minute newscast at 10 seen on WETM-DT2.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WYDC[14]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
48.1 720p16:9WYDCMain WYDC programming / Fox
48.2 WJKPMyNetworkTV (WJKP-LD)
48.3 480i4:3MeTVMeTV
48.4 16:9Grit
48.5 Bounce TV
48.6 Scripps News
48.7 Defy TV
  Simulcast of subchannels of another station

Analog-to-digital conversion

WYDC shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 48, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 50 to channel 48.[15]

Translators

In addition to its main signal, WYDC can also be seen on five low-power digital repeaters. WYDC was also formerly repeated on WMYH-LP in Elmira/Watkins Glen, which is no longer licensed.

References
  1. "Facility Technical Data for WYDC". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. Lowman, Jim (September 26, 1992). "Corning may tune in religious network". Star-Gazette. pp. 1A, 2A. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  3. Wilson, Larry (September 17, 1994). "The Big TV picture comes to Corning: WYDC-TV starts broadcasting 24 hours a day next week". Star-Gazette. pp. 1A, 2A. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  4. Wilson, Larry (September 12, 1995). "Big TV gets even bigger, expands into Bath, Elmira". Star-Gazette. pp. 1A, 5A. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  5. Wilson, Larry (October 25, 1996). "Corning station will become a Fox affiliate". Star-Gazette. p. 1B. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  6. Finger, Ray (August 5, 1997). "Corning's Fox affiliate WYDC-TV gets new manager". Star-Gazette. p. 3B. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  7. Fernandez, Lydia (September 17, 1998). "Corning's a Fox when it comes to station growth". Star-Gazette. p. 1C. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  8. Aaron, G. Jeffrey (November 12, 2002). "WYDC-TV owner buys Rochester UPN station". Star-Gazette. p. 8A. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  9. "Standard Media to acquire nine stations". Standard Media. November 25, 2019. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  10. "Notification of Non-consummation". fcc.gov. January 3, 2021.
  11. Jacobson, Adam (January 4, 2022). "Coastal Completes Its Waypoint Radio/TV Purchase | Radio & Television Business Report". Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  12. "WYDCDT (WYDC-DT) TV listings, TV Shows and Schedule". Archived from the original on April 5, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
  13. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "WYDC Big Fox Elmira, NY". YouTube.
  14. RabbitEars TV Query for WYDC
  15. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved March 24, 2012.
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