s cw general 2 news on dayton s cw newscasts slogan your dayton station working for you newscasts channels digital 26 uhf virtual 26 psip subchannels 26.1 the cw 26.2 bounce tv 26.3 ion television affiliations the cw 2006 present owner vaughan media wbdt television llc operator media general first air date january 6 1968 ; 48 years ago 1968 01 06 call letters meaning wb previous affiliation dayton sister station s wdtn former callsigns wswo tv 1968 1972 wtjc 1980 1998 wdpx 1998 1999 former channel number s analog 26 uhf 1968 2009 digital 18 uhf until 2009 former affiliations independent 1968 1970 1972 & 1980 1998 silent 1970 1972 & 1973 1980 pax 1998 1999 secondary through mid 2004 the wb 1999 2006 transmitter power 770 kw height 349 m facility id 70138 transmitter coordinates 39 43 28 n 84 15 18 w 39.72444 n 84.25500 w 39.72444 ; 84.25500 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website dayton s cw wbdt is the cw affiliated television station for ohio s miami valley . licensed to springfield the station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 26 from a transmitter in the frytown section of dayton . the station can also be seen on time warner cable channel 13 and in high definition on digital channel 1013 . wbdt is the default cw affiliate for lima ohio ; that area had been previously served by a cable only affiliate until early 2010 . owned by vaughan media wbdt is operated by media general and is sister station to wdtn . the two stations share studios on south dixie drive in moraine though their mailing address is dayton . contents 1 history 2 programming 3 digital television 3.1 digital channels 3.2 analog to digital conversion 4 newscasts 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit the station began analog operation on uhf channel 26 on january 6 1968 as independent wswo tv under the ownership of southwestern ohio broadcasting . wswo tv ran a local live version of bozo the clown portrayed by announcer dave eaton who was previously with the former wktr tv in kettering now public station wptd as well as other local shows . the station suddenly went dark on march 6 1970 possibly due to financial difficulties . wswo tv briefly returned to the air on july 2 1972 under the ownership of lester w. white but fell silent again at the beginning of december after white defaulted on a loan . white was later charged with equipment theft from whiz tv in zanesville ohio . 1 the current incarnation of channel 26 dates from september 7 1980 when miami valley christian television mvct returned it to the air as a christian oriented station under the call sign wtjc for witnessing til jesus comes . wtjc aired religious programming during most of its daytime and weekend schedule including the 700 club ptl and jerry falwell although it also aired lifestyle programming such as the joy of gardening cartoons and children s programming in late weekday afternoon slots including the rocky and bullwinkle show porky pig great space coaster and new zoo revue . there were also family friendly reruns in early evenings among them leave it to beaver sergeant preston of the yukon and lassie and a local newscast . wtjc s saturday schedule included westerns sportsmen hunting wildlife shows including wild kingdom and the lawrence welk show . when wrgt tv signed on in 1984 mvct sold most of its secular programming inventory to that station and switched wtjc to a mostly religious format with the exception of a few children s shows and saturday morning sporting and hunting shows . over the next few years several ministries that bought time on wtjc became involved in scandals . due to the scandals donations to the ministries and to mvct declined . the primary owner of mvct marvin sparks bought out his partners shares in 1991 and in turn sold them to video mall communications . wtjc then aired home shopping and paid programming eighteen hours a day with religious shows the rest of the broadcast day . in the mid 1990s abry communications which had purchased wrgt tv s owner act iii broadcasting approached mvct with a proposal to manage wtjc for eighteen hours a day . mvct declined and chose instead to sell the station to paxson communications in 1995 . paxson kept a similar lineup for wtjc airing religious programming in early mornings infomercials for most of the day and worship music overnight . in january 1998 wtjc s call sign was changed to wdpx for dayton pax . accordingly later that year the station became a charter affiliate of pax now ion television . in summer 1999 paxson sold the station to acme communications which dropped most pax programming for a primary affiliation with the wb along with syndicated programming ; the previous wb affiliate was wuct lp now wrcx lp . acme also changed wdpx s call sign to the current wbdt . wbdt maintained a secondary affiliation with pax until mid 2004 at the latest airing its primetime lineup touched by an angel diagnosis murder weakest link etc. on weekday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon and weekend late nights from midnight to 4 a.m. on september 18 2006 wbdt became the market s cw outlet after the wb and upn merged . it became a strong affiliate with the new network in terms of prime time ratings strong enough for the cw to designate wbdt the 1 cw affiliate in the nation in march 2007 . in that same month the station became the first in the area and one of the few in the entire country to broadcast in a 1080i high definition 16 9 format 24 hours a day broadcasting on digital uhf channel 18 . original high definition shows on wbdt are passed through for broadcast ; all other programming and commercials are upconverted to hd . on june 4 2010 it was announced that the lin tv corporation owner of wdtn would begin to operate wbdt through shared service and joint sales agreements . 2 3 wbdt was to leave its longtime studios on corporate place off byers road in miamisburg in october and move to wdtn s facility in moraine . as of january 27 2013 the former wbdt studio facility is now occupied by sinclair broadcast group s duopoly of abc affiliate wkef and fox affiliate wrgt tv the move made them the last network affiliated stations in dayton to have upgraded their local programming including newscasts to high definition . three months after acme and lin tv reached their operations and sales agreements lin tv exercised an option to purchase wbdt along with another lin tv operated acme station fellow cw afifliate wcwf in green bay wisconsin . 4 lin tv requested that wbdt s license be assigned to a subsidiary of vaughan media owner of austin texas cw affiliate knva which is also operated by lin tv . lin tv holds a 4.5 % equity stake in vaughan media but controls most of that company s voting stock effectively making it a shell corporation for lin tv . 5 the fcc approved the sale and license transfer in april 2011 ; the commission also denied objections from area cable operators time warner cable and buckeye cablevision who claimed that retransmission fees for wbdt would increase as a result of the sale . 6 the sale of wbdt was consummated on may 20 2011 . 7 8 on march 4 2011 lin tv s contract with dish network expired and all tv stations owned or operated by lin including both wbdt and wdtn were pulled from dish . 9 10 11 12 13 on march 13 lin and dish entered into a retransmission consent agreement and all affected channels were restored . 14 15 16 17 on march 21 2014 media general announced that it would purchase lin media and its stations including wdtn and the ssa and jsa with wbdt in a 1.6 billion merger . 18 the fcc approved the merger on december 12 2014 but a condition of the deal requires media general to end the jsa between wbdt and wdtn due to tighter scrutiny such deals are getting by the fcc . media general received a two year waiver to end the jsa between wdtn and wbdt . 19 the merger was completed on december 19 . 20 programming edit starting with the april 9 . 2016 home opener dayton dragons telecasts will appear on wbdt which will air 25 home games per season . 21 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 22 26.1 1080i 16 9 wbdt hd main wbdt programming the cw 26.2 480i 4 3 bounce bounce tv 26.3 ion ion television analog to digital conversion edit wbdt shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 26 on june 12 2009 the official date in 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 18 to channel 26 for post transition operations . 23 24 initially wbdt aired a standard definition simulcast of its hd programming on its dt2 subchannel . after several months this subchannel was dropped . on september 26 2011 wbdt began airing bounce tv on dt2 becoming a charter affiliate of the network . 25 on november 30 2015 wbdt added a third subchannel to carry ion television the network was also added by other media general stations marking the first time channel 26 has carried the network s programming since the end of its secondary affiliation with pax the forerunner of ion in 2004 . newscasts edit on september 16 2002 the nationally syndicated morning show the daily buzz premiered from wbdt s studios . the program then produced by then parent acme communications remained based at the station until its august 2004 move to the facilities of former sister station wkcf in lake mary florida near orlando . the daily buzz currently airs on wbdt weekdays from 6 00 to 7 00 a.m. with local weather forecasts inserted into the broadcast . on august 18 2007 wdtn began to produce a nightly prime time newscast for wbdt known as 2 news at 10 on dayton s cw . on the 26th day of its broadcast this show achieved higher ratings than wrgt tv s nightly prime time news produced by wkef in dayton s metered market households . on july 21 2012 wdtn began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition . the wbdt shows were included in the upgrade . beginning on january 7 2013 wbdt will air a weekday news program from 7 00 to 9 00 a.m. called 2 news today on dayton s cw . the daily buzz will air from 6 00 to 7 00 a.m. 26 the broadcast is now live from 7 00 to 8 00 a.m. with the 7 00 a.m. hour repeated at 8 00 a.m. on september 9 2013 wbdt will expand the primetime 10 00 p.m. wdtn produced newscast to an hour . 27 see also edit channel 26 digital tv stations in the united states channel 26 virtual tv stations in the united states list of television stations in ohio list of television stations in ohio by channel number list of television stations in the united states by call sign initial letter w references edit ohio uhf owner accused of receiving stolen gear broadcasting 12 11 1972 lin acme share services in three markets from broadcastingcable.com 6 4 2010 lin and acme in 3 new ssa deals from tvnewscheck.com 6 4 2010 lin buys pair of acme stations from broadcastingcable.com 9 2 2010 lin seeks