WDEF-TV

WDEF-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with CBS. Owned by Morris Multimedia, the station maintains studios on Broad Street in Chattanooga. Its transmitter is on Hampton Road in nearby Signal Mountain, along Walden Ridge.

WDEF-TV
Channels
BrandingNews 12
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
April 25, 1954 (1954-04-25)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 12 (VHF, 1954–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 47 (UHF, 2001–2009)
  • 12 (VHF, 2009–2020)
  • All secondary:
  • DuMont (1954–1955)
  • NBC (1954–1956)
  • ABC (1954–1958)
  • NTA (1956–1961)
  • UPN (2004–2006)
  • DT2:
  • Tuff TV (2009–2011)
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID54385
ERP26 kW
35.9 kW (CP)
HAAT384 m (1,260 ft)
Transmitter coordinates35°8′6″N 85°19′25″W
Links
Public license information
Websitewdef.com

The signal covers sections of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. Although parts of the Chattanooga market are in the Central Time Zone, all schedules on WDEF-TV are listed in Eastern Time.

History

The station signed on the air on April 25, 1954, carrying programming from all four networks, though it has always been a primary CBS affiliate. It took the CBS affiliation from WROM-TV (channel 9, now WTVC). It lost NBC to WRGP-TV (now WRCB-TV) in 1956, and lost ABC to WTVC (the former WROM) in 1958. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[1]

WDEF logo used from 2005, when the station was owned by Media General, until November 2015, when the station re-branded as "News 12 Now."

Roy H. Park bought WDEF-TV in 1963 as well as WDEF 1370 AM (now WXCT) and WDEF-FM 92.3.[2] His media interests eventually became known as Park Communications, which was bought by Media General in 1997.

In 2006, Media General sold the TV station to Morris Multimedia.[3]

Programming

Syndicated programming on WDEF includes Judge Judy and Chicago Fire.

In its early years, WDEF was locally-oriented, offering a mix of children's shows, talk and variety programs, including Point of View, one of the longest–running local public affairs programs in the United States.[4]

WDEF has been the local home of the Nashville-based Tennessee Titans football team since 1998 (when the team was still called the Oilers). This comes with its CBS affiliation, as CBS carries all National Football League games played in the afternoon that feature a road team from the American Football Conference, in which the Titans play.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect Short name Programming[5]
12.11080i16:9WDEF-DTMain WDEF-TV programming / CBS
12.2480iBounceBounce TV
12.3MysteryIon Mystery
12.4GritTVGrit
12.5CourtTVDefy TV
12.6LaffTVLaff

Analog-to-digital conversion

WDEF-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 12, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 47 to VHF channel 12 for post-transition operations. Immediately before the shutdown, anchor Joe Legge gave a brief retrospective of the station's history as well as the farewell message for all analog viewers. The message ended with images of the past newscasts.[6][7][8][9]

References
  1. "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films". Boxoffice: 13. November 10, 1956. Archived from the original on June 14, 2009. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  2. https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/63-OCR/1963-11-04-BC-OCR-Page-0067.pdf
  3. "Media General Completes Sale of WDEF-TV in Chattanooga to Morris Multimedia". Media General. October 13, 2006. Retrieved April 8, 2009.
  4. "About Us". WDEF. Retrieved April 8, 2009.
  5. RabbitEars TV Query for WDEF
  6. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
  7. "Pick a Date. Congress Sends Mixed Message to TV Stations, Viewers | WDEF News 12 | News, Weather and Sports for Chattanooga and the Tennessee Valley". Archived from the original on February 9, 2009. Retrieved February 6, 2009.
  8. "List of TV stations to end analog on Tuesday" From Google (February 13, 2009)
  9. WDEF News 12 Goes All Digital: See What You Missed Overnight Archived February 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Joe Legge, WDEF-TV, February 18, 2009
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