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WRDM-CD (channel 19) is aClass A television station licensed toHartford, Connecticut, United States, serving as the Hartford–New Havenmarket's outlet for the Spanish-language networkTelemundo. It isowned and operated byNBCUniversal'sTelemundo Station Group alongsideNBC outletWVIT (channel 30).[4] The two stations share studios on New Britain Avenue inWest Hartford and transmitter facilities onRattlesnake Mountain inFarmington, Connecticut. Despite WRDM-CD legally holding alow-power Class A license, it transmits using WVIT's full-power spectrum. This ensures complete reception across the Hartford–New Haven market.
WDMR-LD (channel 14) inSpringfield, Massachusetts, operates as atranslator of WRDM, serving thePioneer Valley. This station's transmitter is located onProvin Mountain in theFeeding Hills section ofAgawam, Massachusetts.
WRDM-CD signed on June 14, 1986; it claims to be the firstSpanish-language television station inNew England.[5] The station initially operated on channel 13 under the call letters W13BF.[1] On June 13, 1991,[6] the station added a simulcast in Springfield, W65BX (channel 65).[1] Initially, in addition to Telemundo programming, W13BF and W65BX aired programming inItalian from public broadcaster Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI)'sinternational service,[1] with additional programming inGreek andPolish.[7] The television stations were joined by radio station WRDM (1550 AM, nowWSDK) in 1993;[1] on September 1, 1995, W13BF changed its call letters to WRDM-LP,[8] and W65BX became WDMR-LP.[9] WRDM radio was sold off in 1998.[10] During the late 1990s, WDMR-LP's schedule also includedEnglish-languageBoston Red Sox telecasts produced byBoston's WABU (nowIon Television owned-and-operated stationWBPX-TV).[11] By 1997, WRDM-LP's programming was simulcast in New Haven on W10BQ (channel 10, now defunct) and in Hartford on W11BJ (channel 11, nowWFXQ-CD channel 28 in Springfield).[12]
Original owner Channel 13 Television sold WRDM-LP and WDMR-LP toZGS Communications on March 27, 2001.[13][14] In January 2006, WRDM-LP moved to channel 50;[15] WDMR-LP moved to channel 51 that November.[16] WRDM became aclass A station as WRDM-CA on May 7, 2008.[8] On November 15, 2012, WDMRflash cut from analog to digital as WDMR-LD;[9] on January 7, 2013, WRDM followed suit and became WRDM-CD.[8] WDMR-LD now serves as a complete simulcast of WRDM-CD.[17]
On December 4, 2017,NBCUniversal'sTelemundo Station Group announced its purchase of ZGS' 13 television stations, including WRDM-CD and WDMR-LD. The sale was completed on February 1, 2018.[4] The deal made WRDM a sister station toNBCowned-and-operated stationWVIT (channel 30), along withWNBC (channel 4) andWNJU (channel 47) to the southwest inNew York City, andWBTS-LD (channel 8),WYCN-CD (channel 15) andWNEU (channel 60) to the northeast in Boston. WVIT began operating WRDM under alocal marketing agreement onJanuary 1, 2018 from WVIT's studios inWest Hartford; WRDM later entered into achannel sharing agreement with WVIT.[18] ZGS had sold WRDM's spectrum in the FCC'sincentive auction for $10,574,516 and indicated that the station would enter into a post-auction channel sharing agreement.[19] One immediate effect of the sale was the end of abrokered programming arrangement to carry English languageJewelry TV programming in overnights for Telemundo's regular overnight schedule, along with the addition of a Connecticut-specific part of the website for WNEU in place of the former WRDM website.
WRDM-LP began producing a newscast in April 1998; at the outset,Noticiero 13 primarily featured reports fromPuerto Rico andLatin America, with local news coverage being added in June 1999.[20] The station's news operation was discontinued in the early 2000s; WRDM then began carryingTelenoticias Puerto Rico fromWKAQ-TV inSan Juan.
On December 15, 2017, NBCUniversal announced that, following its acquisition of WRDM-CD, the station (along with WDMR-LD) would begin simulcasting the newscasts of Boston sister station WNEU; the newscasts will include news from Connecticut and western Massachusetts from a reporter based at WRDM's facilities at the WVIT studios in West Hartford.[18]
The stations' signals aremultiplexed:
| License | Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WVIT | 30.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WVIT-HD | NBC |
| 30.2 | 480i | COZI-TV | Cozi TV | ||
| 30.3 | CRIMES | NBC True CRMZ | |||
| 30.4 | OXYGEN | Oxygen | |||
| WRDM-CD | 19.1 | 1080i | TLMD | Telemundo | |
| 19.2 | 480i | EXITOS | TeleXitos |
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WDMR-DT | Telemundo |
| 14.2 | 480i | XITOS | TeleXitos | |
| 14.3 | Crimes | NBC True CRMZ | ||
| 14.4 | Oxygen | Oxygen |
WDMR-LD also broadcasts the national servicesNBC True CRMZ andOxygen, which are carried by WVIT as subchannels 30.3 and 30.4.
On August 2, 2019, WVIT and WRDM-CD were switched from RF 35 to RF 31.
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