WMDT was the second commercial station to serve the Delmarva Peninsula, signing on in April 1980. It struggled financially and was placed in court-appointed receivership less than 18 months after beginning broadcasting. From 1982 to 2013, it was owned by the Brechner family. Marquee Broadcasting acquired WMDT in 2013 as its first TV station property. In local news ratings, WMDT has long been a distant second-place station to WBOC-TV.
History
Construction and early struggles
In early 1978, the MDV Television Company petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to insert a second commercial television channel at Salisbury, then served only by primary CBS affiliate WBOC-TV (channel 16) and a Maryland Public Television repeater. In its application, MDV claimed that Delmarva was inadequately served by the Philadelphia and Baltimore stations and that WBOC-TV's local news coverage was also inadequate.[3] The commission assigned the channel in July 1978, allowing potential owners to apply for a construction permit to build and operate the station.[4]
Even though MDV Television received the permit in May, it spent part of the year fighting with local authorities in Wicomico County over the construction of a transmitting tower; some nearby landowners feared its construction would affect their property values.[5][6] Wicomico County approved construction of the tower in June.[7] The station announced it had obtained ABC affiliation in July; this was in part because among its stockholders were William Sheehan and Walter Pfister, former president and director of special news events, respectively, at ABC.[8] WMDT set up in studio facilities that once housed a Rite Aid drug store and restaurant on Salisbury's Downtown Plaza.[9][10] Shortly before launch, it picked up a secondary affiliation with NBC.[1]
WMDT began broadcasting on April 11, 1980, but it was another two months before the station aired local news programming.[11] The station struggled in its early years from technical issues, low ratings against WBOC-TV (the only station on Delmarva for 26 years[11]), and consistent rumors of financial trouble. In March 1981, MDV announced an infusion of new cash into the business.[12] President J. Paul Audet, who had previously been involved in the startup of TV stations in New Mexico and South Carolina,[8] noted that the station was three months late in getting on air, leaving it undercapitalized. In June, a receiver was appointed on a petition from the First National Bank of Maryland, which it owed $3 million plus interest.[11]
Brechner ownership
In 1982, a court approved the sale of WMDT to Mid-Florida Television, which owned a partial stake in WFTV in Orlando, Florida.[13][14] The sale received an objection from the station's law firm, which claimed it was owed money,[15] but it was finalized in July.[16] Joseph Brechner, the president of the company, died in 1990,[17] followed by his wife Marion in 2011.[18]
WMDT launched a bureau in Dover, Delaware, as well as translator W27AJ there, in 1987.[19] The next year, the station debuted Newswatch 27, a newscast specifically for Dover and Kent County, produced from a studio in the city and only aired on the translator; the long-term goal was to have television ratings agencies assign Kent County into the Salisbury media market, thereby making it larger and increasing revenues.[20] The Dover translator remained with WMDT, later under the call sign WEVD-LD, until later owner Marquee Broadcasting swapped it for three low-power stations owned by Lowcountry 34 Media in 2020.[21]
WMDT launched "WBD", a cable-only affiliate of The WB as part of The WB 100+ Station Group, in May 2000.[22] This service affiliated with The CW in 2006, when The WB and UPN merged,[23] and was broadcast as a subchannel of WMDT by 2008.[24] Upon the launch of The CW, it began carrying a midday and 10 p.m. newscast.[23]
Marquee Broadcasting ownership
Brechner Management Company announced the sale of WMDT to Marquee Broadcasting on August 8, 2013.[25][26] It was the first broadcast property for the company, owned by Brookeville residents Patricia and Brian Lane, who had sought to buy a TV station for five years.[27]
WMDT discontinued regular programming on its analog signal on September 22, 2008.[24] This enabled work to conclude on relocating WMDT's digital signal from its pre-transition channel 53 to channel 47.[24][33] WMDT relocated its signal from channel 47 to channel 29 on March 13, 2020, as a result of the 2016 United States wireless spectrum auction.[34]
(*) – indicates station is in one of Maryland's primary TV markets (**) – indicates station is in an out-of-state TV market, but reaches a small portion of Maryland
