verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message wadl mount clemens detroit michigan united states city mount clemens michigan branding wadl tv 38 slogan detroit s tv station channels digital 39 uhf virtual 38 psip affiliations .1 independent .2 grit .3 gettv .4 cozi tv owner adell broadcasting corporation founded september 25 1985 first air date may 20 1989 ; 27 years ago 1989 05 20 call letters meaning adell broadcasting sister station s wfdf former channel number s analog 38 uhf 1989 2009 digital 38.4 2011 former affiliations dt1 cbs fox kids 1992 2002 foxbox 2002 2003 hsn hsn spree america s store shop at home network one all of the above networks had been seen on the station during the 1990s and 2000s dt2 universal sports 2008 2012 antenna tv 2012 2015 dt3 the word network 2008 2015 dt4 titan sports network 2014 2015 transmitter power 1000 kw height 170 m facility id 455 transmitter coordinates 42 33 12.2 n 82 53 14.6 w 42.553389 n 82.887389 w 42.553389 ; 82.887389 coordinates 42 33 12.2 n 82 53 14.6 w 42.553389 n 82.887389 w 42.553389 ; 82.887389 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wadldetroit.com wadl virtual channel 38 uhf digital channel 39 is an independent television station serving detroit michigan united states that is licensed to mount clemens . the station is locally owned by the adell broadcasting corporation . wadl maintains studio and transmitter facilities located on adell drive in clinton township . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 breakthrough 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 newscasts 5 out of market cable coverage 6 fcc spectrum auction and wadl sale 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit early history edit although adell broadcasting filed for an application for the channel 38 license on september 25 1985 it took four years for wadl to begin broadcasting signing on the air for the first time on may 20 1989 . the station was founded by franklin z. adell previously the owner of an automotive parts supplier company . his son kevin joined the company after graduating from arizona state university in 1988 . 2 its original programming blocks were filled with mostly home shopping network programs religious shows and other paid programming classic movies and hourly blocks of the syndicated music video show hit video usa . in 1990 it began running several hours of syndicated programs . wadl had long been considered the 5 million watt powerhouse because it has one of the strongest broadcast signals in the detroit market . citation needed in 1992 channel 38 began running cbs shows that were preempted by that network s then affiliate wjbk tv channel 2 . despite its relationship with wjbk wadl was barely competitive in the ratings at first . most of the stronger syndicated programs had been acquired by fox affiliate wkbd tv channel 50 ; which for all intents and purposes was programmed as an independent as fox did not carry a full week s worth of programming until 1993 and fellow independent station wxon channel 20 now wmyd . there simply was not enough programming to go around even for a market as large as detroit . channel 38 faced an additional problem in the form of cbc owned cbet channel 9 in windsor which owned the detroit market rights to other syndicated programs . it relied mostly on paid programming ; the few entertainment shows seen on wadl s schedule consisted of barter programming . in may 1994 wjbk s then owner new world communications signed a groupwide deal with fox to switch the network affiliations of twelve of the company s 14 stations to fox two of which new world would sell to fox outright as it could not keep them due to ownership conflicts . 3 4 one of the stations due to switch was wjbk . cbs approached all of detroit s major stations wdiv tv wxyz tv wkbd and wxon but all of them turned cbs down . fearing it would be left without an affiliate in detroit cbs began talks with wadl . as a measure of how desperate cbs was at the time it approached wadl even though most detroit area viewers didn t even know the station existed . however franklin adell and cbs could not come to a mutual agreement due to what cbs called unreasonable demands on adell s part . cbs eventually bought detroit s other low profile independent wgpr tv channel 62 changing its calls to wwj tv and moved the network s programming there on december 11 1994 months before its purchase was finalized . on august 31 1998 wadl began carrying children s programming from fox kids later foxbox and 4kidstv after picking up the rights to the block from then upn affiliate wkbd which had continued to air the fox kids weekday and saturday blocks even after losing its fox affiliation to wjbk . the station also acquired several syndicated children s programs . after fox discontinued the fox kids weekday block in 2002 wadl continued running the revamped fox box until the fall of 2003 when fox s 4kids tv saturday morning block moved to then wb affiliate wdwb now mynetworktv affiliate wmyd . during this time until october 2007 wadl was the only other station besides wkbd and wmyd to continuously air children s programming . from the program s 1999 debut until 2002 wadl also broadcast the nbc daytime soap opera passions which nbc affiliate wdiv channel 4 originally declined to broadcast before adding the serial to its schedule in the fall of 2002 . breakthrough edit in september 2007 wadl began to cement its standing as a major player among the detroit market s television stations with the acquisition of popular syndicated shows including older series such as the nanny mad about you the jeffersons and good times ; the station also kept many religious programs and a few infomercials as well and eliminated the remaining animated shows . over the years wadl began positioning itself as being a voice of detroit s urban community with local programs including a weekly feature with the mayor of detroit and former player for the detroit pistons dave bing . in the fall of 2007 wadl was relaunched as detroit s urban station in order to appeal to the african american community and acquired syndicated programs such as the fresh prince of bel air american chopper reno 911 the montel williams show in the heat of the night chappelle s show a different world magnum p.i. and sanford and son . 5 in 2009 the station added classic television series such as the brady bunch i love lucy happy days m a s h the jeffersons and laverne and shirley to its schedule . by this time wadl began running a mix of both recent and older syndicated programs . wadl also increased its local public affairs programming with shows such as real talk hosted by political activist rev. horace sheffield . wadl has further cemented its presence in the community broadcasting political debates with all candidates and inviting the community to attend . on june 18 2014 wadl named broadcasting veteran david bangura as its new president ; bangura had formerly held a similar position at wmyd which was recently sold to the e.w. scripps company owners of wxyz tv . 6 7 on july 7 2015 wadl would add get tv for detroit area television viewers to 38.2 bumping antenna tv to 38.4 with titan sports network s classic sports replays being removed from the station s subchannel entirely . on july 15 2015 wadl added grit to 38.2 moving get tv to 38.3 in the process . this caused the word network to be temporarily removed from the station subchannel entirely . the word network eventually returned to wadl on september 18 of that year replacing antenna tv on 38.4 . wadl will add cozi tv to 38.4 on february 1 2016 displaced from wmyd 20.2 by antenna tv . it is unknown what will happen to the word network s current affiliation on 38.4 . on august 12 2016 wadl was given the broadcasts rights to the new york yankees vs tampa bay rays game at yankee stadium . this game served as a lasting moment in history as it would be new york yankees third basemen alex rodriguez final game in major league baseball . rodriguez was one of mlb s most notable prospects and is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time . 8 the game was broadcast live on wadl tv 38 at 7pm . 9 the game was originally scheduled to air on wjbk fox 2 detroit but pushed airing rights to kevin adell s independent broadcasting station . 10 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 11 38.1 1080i 16 9 wadl hd main wadl programming 38.2 480i 4 3 grit grit 38.3 get tv gettv 38.4 cozi tv cozi tv wadl began carrying antenna tv on its second digital subchannel replacing universal sports on october 1 2011 universal sports subsequently moved to a temporary digital subchannel 38.4 until its discontinuation as a broadcast service and conversion to cable and satellite only distribution on january 1 2012 . 12 analog to digital conversion edit wadl shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 38 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 remained on its pre transition uhf channel 39 . 13 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 38 . programming edit syndicated programs carried on wadl include king of the hill seinfeld law & order special victims unit cheaters everybody loves raymond american dad what went down bob s burgers and others . wadl airs religious programs early mornings on sunday . on june 24 2013 wadl televised game six of the stanley cup finals in order to allow detroit s nbc station wdiv tv to televise the local annual target fireworks show . 14 through 2014 nbc established a relationship with wadl that provided airing programming that local tv station wdiv could not carry . this was an opportunity for wadl to run prime time first run nbc programming such as grimm the macy s thanksgiving day parade growing up fisher kathie lee and hoda the michael j. fox show and revolution . in august 2015 wadl began airing fox network programs preempted by the market s fox station wjbk due to the detroit lions preseason . newscasts edit in 1992 wadl began airing a same night rebroadcast of wjbk s 6 p.m. newscast typically airing in primetime at 8 p.m. ; this continued until that station switched from cbs to fox in december 1994 . on january 5 2012 wadl announced that it would debut half hour newscasts at noon and 9 p.m. on weekdays which were produced by the journal register company owners of the macomb daily oakland press and southgate news herald 15 in association with the independent news network . the station canceled the noon and 9 p.m. newscasts after only four months on may 23 2012 filling the time slots with syndicated programming . in june 2012 wadl began producing daily five minute local news updates airing four times each day during the evening hours with an hour long national news program supplied by newsmax tv at 9 pm on weekdays . out of market cable coverage edit