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| Channels | |
| Branding | Fox 40 |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| Operator | Gray Media |
| WLBT,WLOO | |
| History | |
First air date | November 30, 1984 (40 years ago) (1984-11-30)[1] |
Former channel numbers |
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Call sign meaning | Station's calls are in tribute to founder Hal Bernard Dixon's father, Dudley Burgwyn Dixon[2] |
| Technical information[3] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 71326 |
| ERP | 675kW |
| HAAT | 598 m (1,962 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 32°12′49.9″N90°22′56.5″W / 32.213861°N 90.382361°W /32.213861; -90.382361 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | fox40jackson |
WDBD (channel 40) is atelevision station inJackson, Mississippi, United States, affiliated with theFox network. It is owned byAmerican Spirit Media, which maintains ashared services agreement (SSA) withGray Media, owner ofNBC affiliateWLBT (channel 3), for the provision of certain services; it is alsosister toVicksburg-licensedMyNetworkTV outletWLOO (channel 35). Although technically owned byTougaloo College, WLOO is actually controlled by American Spirit through a separatejoint sales agreement (JSA), with Gray providing limited engineering support. The three stations share studios on SouthJefferson Street in downtown Jackson; WDBD's transmitter is located on Thigpen Road southeast ofRaymond, Mississippi.
The station began broadcasting on November 30, 1984,[1] as themarket's firstindependent outlet. It was also the first television station in Mississippi to not be affiliated with a network. Jackson Family Television, originally consisting ofNashville housewife and communications student Brenda Harrison andCleveland, Tennessee, businessman H. Bernard Dixon, owned the station while Media Central, Inc. ofChattanooga, Tennessee, operated it under alocal marketing agreement (LMA). Two months after it signed on, Harrison sold her interest in the station to Dixon, and in October 1985, Media Central took over ownership of the station.[4] On July 6, 1987, WDBD became the area's first Fox affiliate, although the fourth broadcast network had launched back in October 1986. For the first nine months of the network's existence, the network's only affiliate in Mississippi wasGulfport-basedWXXV-TV, which had signed on the air in February 1987 and had a decent signal that was able to cover most of southern Mississippi, but not the city of Jackson. As a result, Fox programming was not available in a large part of Mississippi for the network's first four months of operations, although WDBD did air an episode ofThe Late Show StarringJoan Rivers featuring the cheerleading team ofDelta State University.[5] In 1988, while Media Central was inChapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings,Act III Broadcasting tried to acquire WDBD and sister stationWZDX inHuntsville, Alabama, but the deal had fallen through.[6] In 1989, the station was sold to Donatelli & Klein ofBethesda, Maryland, making it a sister station toWDSI in Chattanooga.[7] Pegasus Broadcasting brought out Donatelli & Klein in 1993.
On October 7, 2001, due to a payment dispute between Pegasus and Fox, WDBD became an affiliate ofThe WB, leaving Jackson without an over-the-air Fox affiliate for the next 23 months; sister stationWPXT inPortland, Maine, also made the switch at the same time as Pegasus and Fox failed to agree on an affiliation agreement for the two stations. It would not be until September 2003 when WUFX (now sister station WLOO) signed-on in nearby Vicksburg and became the area's second Fox affiliate. In the interim, programming from the network was provided on cable viaWNTZ-TV for those who lived in theNatchez area and viaFoxnet for those living in the Jackson–Vicksburg area.
In January and February 2006, respectively, it was announced thatUPN and The WB would merge and formThe CW whileNews Corporation (owner of Fox) made public another new programming service called MyNetworkTV would start up as well. UPN affiliateWRBJ was announced as Jackson's CW affiliate while WUFX eventually joined MyNetworkTV. In advance of switching to the latter network, WUFX and WDBD swapped affiliations. On July 3, 2006, the former picked up The WB but began identifying itself on-air as "My 35" in anticipation of joining the new service. Meanwhile, WDBD rejoined Fox and became known as "Fox 40".
WDBD and WUFX were sold by previous owner Jackson Television, who began operating the two stations andWXMS-LP in 2003, to Roundtable Broadcasting in early 2010. However, its licensee listing with theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) still said Jackson Television.[8][9] Fellow Fox affiliate WNTZ-TV in nearby Natchez technically serves theAlexandria, Louisiana, market (through alow-powerrepeater) but shares some of its coverage territory with WDBD. WNTZ also maintains a secondary MyNetworkTV affiliation and therefore encroaches on WUFX's home territory as well.
Roundtable Broadcasting filed to sell WDBD and WXMS-LP to American Spirit Media in July 2012. As part of the deal, the station's operations were taken over by Raycom Media, owner of WLBT, under a shared services agreement; American Spirit also acquired WUFX andWBMS-CA from Vicksburg Broadcasting, but spun off the WUFX license toTougaloo College (though it operates that station under a joint sales agreement).[10] The transaction was consummated on November 13.[11]
WDBD's parent company, American Spirit Media, failed to renew its retransmission contract withDirecTV/AT&T U-verse upon its expiration on August 31, 2017. After a three-week extension period passed with both parties failing to agree on a new contract, American Spirit Media withdrew permission for DirecTV/AT&T U-verse to retransmit the signals of its stations as of 11:59 p.m. EDT on September 21.[12] This dispute was resolved in January 2018.[13]
On August 12, 1991, WDBD debuted a local newscast calledMississippi News Tonight which was simulcast on WXXV-TV in Gulfport and produced by Love Communications, who ownedWLOX andWLOV in Mississippi.[14] Likewise, it featured regionalized news andweather coverage despite being produced at this station's facility in Jackson. Due to lowratings and inconsistent viewership, the program was dropped from both outlets on April 24, 1992.[15]
In August 2008, WDBD established a second news department and began airing a thirty-minute prime time show. Known asFox 40 News at 9, this was originally seen every night. After a short period of time, however, weekend broadcasts were dropped due to inadequate resources. On January 24, 2009, the weeknight newscast began airing in high definition resulting in this outlet becoming Jackson's first television station to make the upgrade. With the change came a new logo and an updated graphics package based on the standardized theme seen on Foxowned-and-operated stations.
In April 2010, WDBD added two weeknight newscasts, both half-hour in length. The early evening show, known asFox 40 News at 6, directly competed with news programs seen on the area'sbig three affiliates. This would subsequently be dropped for a 5:30 p.m. broadcast, which currently airs against the national evening network newscasts. The late night program, calledFox 40 News at 10 on My 35, aired on WUFX and also competed with the area's big three outlets.
A further expansion occurred on January 17, 2011, after WDBD launched a weekday morning show calledFox 40 & Friends (name adapted fromFox & Friends which can be seen at the same time onFox News Channel). The program, eventually renamedFox 40 A.M., aired for two hours from 7 until 9 providing a local alternative to the national morning shows seen on the market's big three stations. To correspond with that addition, the weeknight prime time show at 9 was reformatted. It now included a fast-paced segment featuring the top stories of the day and a complete weather forecast in the first nine minutes before a commercial break.[16][17]
After American Spirit Media completed its acquisition of WDBD and entered into the shared services agreement with WLBT, the station's news department was shut down resulting in several members of the WDBD staff being laid-off. Production of the station's newscasts was assumed by WLBT on November 12, 2012, with all of the news programming retained (except for the 10 p.m. show on WUFX since it would compete with WLBT). Its weekday morning show was renamed a third time toFox 40 Morning News at this point.
All newscasts on this station currently originate from WLBT's primary set at its South Jefferson Street studios except with separate on-airduratrans and graphics indicating the Fox-branded newscasts. Although it shares a majority of on-air personnel with WLBT, WDBD maintains a separate additional news anchor for the weekday morning and weeknight shows. WLBT and WDBD operate a combined news department under theMississippi News Now branding very similar to Raycom partnerships inTucson, Arizona (withTegna-ownedKMSB), andToledo, Ohio (with American Spirit Media-ownedWUPW).[18][19]
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WDBD-TV | Fox |
| 40.2 | 480i | 4:3 | Antenna | Antenna TV |
| 40.3 | 16:9 | Grit | Grit | |
| 40.4 | Justice | True Crime Network | ||
| 40.5 | Defy | Ion Plus | ||
| 40.6 | Nosey | Nosey |
WDBD shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 40, on May 4, 2009.[21] The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transitionVHF channel 6 to UHF channel 40.
WDBD upgraded the new digital signal to full-power as opposed to thespecial temporary authority operation before the switchover. The change was needed because its previous VHF digital signal had a tough time reaching the outer suburbs of Jackson. The current UHF signal pushes well into theMonroe, Louisiana, market to the west and theGreenwood–Greenville–Cleveland market to the north.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofMississippi | ||
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