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|---|---|
| City | Wilmington, Delaware[a] |
| Channels | |
| Branding | MeTV 2; WDPN 2; MeTV 2 Wilmington/Philadelphia |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner | Maranatha Broadcasting Company, Inc. |
| WFMZ-TV | |
| History | |
| Founded | June 3, 1988 |
First air date | January 9, 1991; 34 years ago (1991-01-09) |
Former call signs |
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Former channel number(s) |
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Call sign meaning | Wilmington, Delaware,Pennsylvania,New Jersey |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 1283 |
| ERP | 34kW[2] |
| HAAT | 310.8 m (1,020 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°2′30.1″N75°14′10.1″W / 40.041694°N 75.236139°W /40.041694; -75.236139 |
| Translator(s) | |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | metv2 |
WDPN-TV (channel 2) is atelevision station licensed toWilmington, Delaware, United States, serving thePhiladelphia television market as an affiliate of the classic television networkMeTV.[3][4] It is owned by Maranatha Broadcasting Company alongsideAllentown, Pennsylvania–licensedindependent stationWFMZ-TV (channel 69). The two stations share studios on East Rock Road onSouth Mountain in Allentown; WDPN's transmitter is located in theRoxborough section of Philadelphia.
WDPN-TV's origins lie in aconstruction permit granted to Ambassador Media in 1988 for aJackson, Wyoming,satellite station of itsABC affiliate inPocatello, Idaho,KPVI. The new station, which signed on January 9, 1991,[5] as KJVI, served as asemi-satellite of KPVI for the Wyoming side of theIdaho Falls–Pocatello market, airing separate commercials. KPVI and KJVI were sold toSunbelt Communications Company in November 1995, who switched the stations toNBC in January 1996. Channel 2's call letters were changed to KJWY that June.[6] While KJWY was technically a satellite of KPVI, it later began to carry Wyoming news from another Sunbelt-owned NBC affiliate,KCWY inCasper, after that station began a news operation.
KJWY had the distinction of being the lowest-powered full-serviceanalog television station in the United States, at only 178watts. It also tiedCJBN-TV (channel 13) ofKenora, Ontario, Canada, also at 178 watts, for the lowest-powered full-service analog station in North America. The analog channel 2 signaltraveled a very long distance under normal conditions, and KJWY had to operate at very low power since it was short-spaced to KBCI-TV inBoise, Idaho (nowKBOI-TV), andKUTV inSalt Lake City, Utah. After the digital transition was complete, KJWY's power was increased to 270 watts, equivalent to 1,350 watts in analog—still fairly modest for a full-power station.
On March 2, 2009, Sunbelt Communications Company filed an application with the FCC to sell KJWY to PMCM TV (whose principals own sixJersey Shore radio stations inMonmouth andOcean counties asPress Communications, LLC); however, Sunbelt initially planned to retain control of KJWY under alocal marketing agreement.[7] The transaction was approved by the FCC on June 10, 2009, after both parties agreed to drop the proposed local marketing agreement. After closing the sale on June 12, 2009, KJWY dropped all NBC programming, as well as the KPVI simulcast. After two monthsoff-the-air, KJWY returned on August 12 as aThis TV affiliate.[8] It switched toMeTV in 2012.
Soon after taking over, PMCM sought permission to reallocate KJWY from Jackson, Wyoming, to Wilmington, Delaware, as part of alegal loophole that allows any VHF station that moves to a state with no FCC-licensed commercial VHF stations to receive automatic permission to move. Delaware had not had any commercial VHF stations licensed within its borders sinceWVUE in Wilmington—whose frequency is now occupied by PhiladelphiaPBSmemberWHYY-TV—had gone off the air in 1958. (PMCM also looked to moveKVNV toNew Jersey under the same rule.)[9][10] The request was denied by the FCC in a December 18, 2009, letter.[11] The full Commission denied PMCM's application for review in a Memorandum Opinion and Order released on September 15, 2011;[12] however, this denial was reversed by theU.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on December 14, 2012.[13] On March 8, 2013, the call letters were changed to KJWP, making it one of the few stations east of theMississippi River with a "K" call sign.[6] KJWP applied for aconstruction permit to move to Wilmington (though its transmitter is in Philadelphia's Roxborough neighborhood where the transmitters for most Philadelphia television stations are located) on May 28, 2013.[14] KJWP signed off from Jackson for the last time on August 11, 2013, in anticipation of the move. (Following the move, the station's former studios on West Broadway in Jackson were permanently closed.)[15]
On November 18, 2013, KJWP signed on its upconverted 720phigh-definition television signal from its new location at Roxborough.[16] The station continued to carry MeTV following the move, and on February 27, 2014, KJWP launched in the Philadelphia and New Jersey area. On March 1, 2014, KJWP fully became the Delaware Valley's exclusive MeTV affiliate, with Allentown-based WFMZ-TV discontinuing their MeTV subchannel the same day. After the move to Wilmington, the station's power drastically increased to 9.36 kW, adjusting itself to the size of the Philadelphia television market.
In late June 2014, the station announced the hiring of longtime Philadelphia television personalityLarry Mendte aspublic affairs director. Mendte hosted two programs for the station;The Delaware Way, a week-in-review rundown of state issues, and...And Another Thing, a more general news and commentary program (the latter also airs on sister stationWJLP in theNew York City area).[17]
On December 17, 2015, PMCM TV agreed to sell KJWP to Allentown-based Maranatha Broadcasting Company (owner of WFMZ-TV) for an undisclosed price.[18] The deal was finalized nearly two years later, on August 31, 2017, creating aduopoly in the Philadelphia market with WFMZ, with the two stations serving different parts of the market.
On September 4, 2018, KJWP's call letters were changed to WDPN-TV.[6]
As of February 2025, WDPN carries the majority of the MeTV lineup, with some exceptions.The 302, a public affairs show focused on the Delaware area, airs on Saturdays at 5:30 a.m. and Sundays at 6 a.m. WDPN also preempts several hours of the MeTV schedule on early weekend mornings to air infomercials from 5 to 7 a.m. on Saturdays, and 6 to 8 a.m. on Sundays.
WDPN-TV's broadcast signal ismultiplexed, with its lead channel (2.1) airing programming fromMeTV. On August 18, 2014, KJWP added subchannels that carryEscape (2.2) andGrit (2.3), new networks that respectively cater to female and male audiences. In February 2015,Justice Network (2.4) made its debut as part of the KJWP broadcast featuring true crime and police-centric programming (Justice has since moved to a subchannel ofUnivision-ownedWUVP-DT).
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | 720p | 16:9 | 2-MeTV | MeTV |
| 2.2 | 480i | 2-COURT | Court TV | |
| 2.3 | 2MYSTRY | Ion Mystery | ||
| 2.4 | 2-H&I | Heroes & Icons | ||
| 2.5 | 2-RTV | Retro TV | ||
| 2.6 | 2CATCHY | Catchy Comedy | ||
| 2.7 | 2-STORY | Story Television | ||
| 2.8 | 2-PTN | Pocono Television Network | ||
| 2.9 | 2-NWMX2 | Newsmax 2 | ||
| 2.10 | 2MeToon | MeTV Toons |