Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
WZDX
WZDX (channel 54) is a television station in Huntsville, Alabama, United States, affiliated with Fox and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on North Memorial Parkway (US 72/231/431) in Huntsville, and its transmitter is located on Monte Sano Mountain.
WZDX began broadcasting in April 1985 as the first independent station for the Huntsville area; it became a Fox affiliate in November 1987. Its original owner, Media Central, filed for bankruptcy that year and eventually sold the station in 1990 to a consortium of Citicorp and Milton Grant, marking the latter's return to TV station ownership after a prior bankruptcy. The station started a cable channel that served as the local affiliate of The WB—predecessor to its MyNetworkTV subchannel—in 2001. A local newscast, produced at first out-of-state and then by local ABC affiliate WAAY-TV, began to air in 2008.
The Grant stations were acquired by Nexstar Broadcasting Group in 2013; Nexstar brought local news production in-house by establishing its own newsroom in 2016, and it formed a duopoly in the market by acquiring The CW affiliate WHDF two years later. When Nexstar acquired Tribune Media, owner of Huntsville CBS affiliate WHNT-TV, in 2019, it retained that station and WHDF and spun out WZDX along with other stations to Tegna.
In 1975, Thomas Barr and James Cleary under the name Pioneer Communications petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to add another television channel to the Huntsville area for the purpose of building an independent station. At the time, only four channels were assigned to Huntsville: 19, 25, 31, and 48. The FCC proposed adding channel 54, but two Huntsville stations, WAAY-TV and WYUR-TV, opposed the proposal. In 1977, the FCC suggested inserting channel 54 at Decatur, Alabama, which already had channel 23. However, unlike channel 54, channel 23 could not be used at Monte Sano—the main television transmission site in the region, resulting in low interest.
Channel 54 was ultimately added to Huntsville, but there were no applications on file until C. Michael Norton, an attorney from Nashville, Tennessee, applied for it in September 1981 after seeing it on a list of unused TV allocations. Norton was soon joined by other applicants, with the FCC selecting Community Service Broadcasting, a company owned by John Pauza of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Joel Katz of Atlanta. Pauza owned Media Central, which specialized in the construction of new independent stations in medium markets.
For two years, Media Central missed a series of deadlines. In February 1983, after being selected for the construction permit, Media Central announced it intended to begin broadcasting that fall. By that fall, the target date had shifted to spring 1984. Issues with locating the station's tower impeded a launch at that time, but in late 1984, channel 54 began to take shape. A tower site was purchased in August, the call letters WZDX were assigned in September, and construction began in November. Even then, the station did not start broadcasting in 1984; the antenna was not hoisted onto the station's new tower on Green Mountain until March 1985.
From studios on Mastin Lake Road in northeast Huntsville, WZDX first signed on April 14, 1985, as Northern Alabama's first independent station and the area's first new outlet to launch in 22 years. Programming consisted of syndicated reruns, movies, and short local newsbreaks. The station cost the owners between $5 million and $6 million to put on the air.
When the Fox network began late-night service on October 9, 1986, WZDX initially abstained from affiliating with the network unlike many other strong independent TV stations across the country that had signed on with them, despite the network wanting the station "badly". Program director David Godbout felt that his weekend shows were already attracting ratings and that he would have to charge too much for advertising within Fox programming for it to work economically. This was a posture shared by the entire Media Central chain at the network's launch. However, after Godbout left in late 1987, WZDX joined Fox in December of that year, becoming the fifth Media Central outlet to join the network in 1987.
Hub AI
WZDX AI simulator
(@WZDX_simulator)
WZDX
WZDX (channel 54) is a television station in Huntsville, Alabama, United States, affiliated with Fox and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on North Memorial Parkway (US 72/231/431) in Huntsville, and its transmitter is located on Monte Sano Mountain.
WZDX began broadcasting in April 1985 as the first independent station for the Huntsville area; it became a Fox affiliate in November 1987. Its original owner, Media Central, filed for bankruptcy that year and eventually sold the station in 1990 to a consortium of Citicorp and Milton Grant, marking the latter's return to TV station ownership after a prior bankruptcy. The station started a cable channel that served as the local affiliate of The WB—predecessor to its MyNetworkTV subchannel—in 2001. A local newscast, produced at first out-of-state and then by local ABC affiliate WAAY-TV, began to air in 2008.
The Grant stations were acquired by Nexstar Broadcasting Group in 2013; Nexstar brought local news production in-house by establishing its own newsroom in 2016, and it formed a duopoly in the market by acquiring The CW affiliate WHDF two years later. When Nexstar acquired Tribune Media, owner of Huntsville CBS affiliate WHNT-TV, in 2019, it retained that station and WHDF and spun out WZDX along with other stations to Tegna.
In 1975, Thomas Barr and James Cleary under the name Pioneer Communications petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to add another television channel to the Huntsville area for the purpose of building an independent station. At the time, only four channels were assigned to Huntsville: 19, 25, 31, and 48. The FCC proposed adding channel 54, but two Huntsville stations, WAAY-TV and WYUR-TV, opposed the proposal. In 1977, the FCC suggested inserting channel 54 at Decatur, Alabama, which already had channel 23. However, unlike channel 54, channel 23 could not be used at Monte Sano—the main television transmission site in the region, resulting in low interest.
Channel 54 was ultimately added to Huntsville, but there were no applications on file until C. Michael Norton, an attorney from Nashville, Tennessee, applied for it in September 1981 after seeing it on a list of unused TV allocations. Norton was soon joined by other applicants, with the FCC selecting Community Service Broadcasting, a company owned by John Pauza of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Joel Katz of Atlanta. Pauza owned Media Central, which specialized in the construction of new independent stations in medium markets.
For two years, Media Central missed a series of deadlines. In February 1983, after being selected for the construction permit, Media Central announced it intended to begin broadcasting that fall. By that fall, the target date had shifted to spring 1984. Issues with locating the station's tower impeded a launch at that time, but in late 1984, channel 54 began to take shape. A tower site was purchased in August, the call letters WZDX were assigned in September, and construction began in November. Even then, the station did not start broadcasting in 1984; the antenna was not hoisted onto the station's new tower on Green Mountain until March 1985.
From studios on Mastin Lake Road in northeast Huntsville, WZDX first signed on April 14, 1985, as Northern Alabama's first independent station and the area's first new outlet to launch in 22 years. Programming consisted of syndicated reruns, movies, and short local newsbreaks. The station cost the owners between $5 million and $6 million to put on the air.
When the Fox network began late-night service on October 9, 1986, WZDX initially abstained from affiliating with the network unlike many other strong independent TV stations across the country that had signed on with them, despite the network wanting the station "badly". Program director David Godbout felt that his weekend shows were already attracting ratings and that he would have to charge too much for advertising within Fox programming for it to work economically. This was a posture shared by the entire Media Central chain at the network's launch. However, after Godbout left in late 1987, WZDX joined Fox in December of that year, becoming the fifth Media Central outlet to join the network in 1987.