WADL is an independent television station for the Detroit metropolitan area that is licensed to Mount Clemens, Michigan. Owned by Adell Broadcasting Company, it broadcasts a standard definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 (or virtual channel 38.1 via PSIP) from a directional transmitter located in the vicinity of its studios near 15 Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue (near Interstate 94) in the Charter Township of Clinton.

The station's signal reaches across Genesee, Lapeer, Livingston, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, St. Clair, Washtenaw and Wayne counties in Michigan, and Essex and Lambton counties in the Canadian province of Ontario (including the cities of Windsor, Ontario and Flint, Michigan).

History [link]

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Early history [link]

WADL began operation in 1989, after having filed for a broadcasting license on September 25, 1985. The station was founded by Kevin Adell and his father the late Franklin Z. Adell. Its original programming blocks were filled with mostly Home Shopping Network programs, religious shows and other paid programming, classic movies and hourly blocks of the syndicated music video show Hit Video USA. In 1990, it began running several hours of syndicated shows.

WADL is considered "The 5 Million Watt Powerhouse" because it has one of the strongest signals in the area. Starting in 1992, it began running CBS shows preempted by then-CBS affiliate WJBK. Despite its relationship with WJBK, WADL barely registered as a blip on the Detroit television scene at first. Most of the stronger programming had been picked clean by Fox affiliate WKBD-TV (which, for all intents and purposes, was programmed as an independent) and independent WXON (now WMYD). There simply wasn't enough programming to go around, even for a market as large as Detroit. Channel 38 faced an additional problem in the form of CBET (channel 9), the CBC-owned station in Windsor, which owned the Detroit rights to other syndicated programs. It relied mostly on paid programming; the few entertainment shows on the schedule were barter programming.

In 1994, WJBK defected to Fox after that network struck a deal with its then-owner New World Communications. After being turned down by WKBD and WXON, CBS approached WADL for an affiliation, even though most Metro Detroit viewers hadn't even heard of the station before. However, Franklin Adell and CBS could not come to a mutual agreement. CBS eventually bought Detroit's other low-profile independent, WGPR-TV, changing its calls to WWJ-TV.

Picking children and NBC shows [link]

On August 31, 1998, WADL would pick up Fox Kids programming (later FoxBox and 4KidsTV) on weekdays and weekends with programs such as Power Rangers, Batman: The Animated Series, Goosebumps, among others. They also had several syndicated children's shows like Jumanji. It was thought that the station would gradually add stronger shows, but this did not happen. Previously, WKBD had aired Fox Kids even after losing its Fox affiliation. As Fox Kids ended its weekday airings on Fox in 2002, WADL continued running the revamped Fox Box until the fall of 2003, when Fox's 4Kids TV Saturday morning lineup moved to another cross-town station, then WB affiliate WDWB (now MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYD). During this time, WADL was the only other station besides WKBD and WMYD to continuously air children's programming (until October 2007). The station aired three cartoons produced by DiC Entertainment, all designed to meet federal E/I requirements:

• Archie's Weird Mysteries – Thursdays & Fridays at 7:00 am
• Inspector Gadget's Field Trip – Tuesdays at 7:30 am and Wednesdays at 7:00 am
• Sabrina's Secret Life – Mondays & Tuesdays at 7:00 am

WADL at one point also broadcast the NBC daytime soap opera Passions, from its premiere in 1999 until 2002, when NBC affiliate WDIV added the serial to its schedule.

Breakthrough [link]

In September 2007, WADL had begun to acquire popular syndicated shows, such as The Nanny, Mad About You, The Jeffersons and Good Times, though keeping many religious programs and a few infomercials as well, but eliminated the remaining animated shows. Through the years, WADL has made strides towards the fulfillment of being a voice of Detroit's urban community at large. Such programming aimed at Detroit's urban community includes a weekly feature with the Mayor of Detroit and former player for the Detroit Pistons, Dave Bing.

In the fall of 2007, WADL was relaunched as "Detroit's Urban Station" in order to appeal to the African-American community and picking up new syndicated programming, including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Pimp My Ride, Cribs, American Chopper, Reno 911, The Montel Williams Show, The Daily Buzz (which WKBD replaced with Judge Judy), In the Heat of the Night, Chappelle's Show, Dance Party, A Different World, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, Magnum P.I., Sanford and Son and others.^[1] In 2009, shows like The Brady Bunch, I Love Lucy, Happy Days, M*A*S*H, The Jeffersons and Laverne and Shirley among others were added. WADL continues to provide religious broadcast Monday-Fridays 8 a.m.-12 noon and all day on Sundays. Saturday programming features a community block as well as "The Movie of the Week", Cheaters, Dance Party and American Chopper.

In fall 2009, WADL added The Brian McKnight Show and classic episodes of Batman, Lost in Space and Star Trek to the schedule. WADL's 2010 fall lineup included Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, South Park and The Twilight Zone.

WADL has since cemented its standing as a major player in Detroit's television broadcasting community. WADL recognized the need to secure current programs as well as maintaining viewers that are fond of the classics. The station added to its programming lineup, Frasier, Hawaii Five-O, Deadliest Catch, Cash Cab and health and fitness guru Peter's Principles. The station also created a child and family friendly block in their Saturday rotation by adding The Three Stooges, The Addams Family, The Munsters, Curiosity Quest, Dog Tales, Animal Exploration with Jarod Miller and Animal Rescue.

As the station grows, some programming has been shelved or replaced such as Batman, Dance Party and The Brian McKnight Show.

WADL has continued the commitment made to the community by producing and airing locally relevant programming such as Schwartz's Law with attorney Michael Schwartz, Real Talk with political activist Rev. Horace Sheffield, Detroit Wants to Know with Steve Hood.

Newscasts [link]

In 1992, WADL aired a same-night rebroadcast of WJBK's 6 p.m. newscast, typically airing at 8 p.m.; this continued until WJBK switched its affiliation from CBS to Fox in December 1994.

WADL announced on January 5, 2012 that it would begin airing half-hour newscasts at noon and 9 pm weekdays, produced by the Journal Register Company, owners of the Macomb Daily, Oakland Press and Southgate News-Herald,^[2] in association with the Independent News Network. After only four months, the station announced on May 23, 2012 that it would drop the 9 p.m. newscast in favor of syndicated reruns, as part of a refocus on non-news programming (the noon newscast had earlier been abandoned in favor of CBN News).^[3]

News/station presentation [link]

Newscast titles [link]

• (TV-2/Channel 2) Eyewitness News (1992–1994)^[4][5]
• WADL News @ 9 (2012)

Former on-air staff [link]

WADL News @ 9

• Makenzi Henderson – anchor
• Eric Garlick – meteorologist
• Ryan Bass – sports reporter

Local program hosts [link]

• Joelle Lukasiewicz – Motor City Movie Night host
• Peter Nielsen – Peter's Principles host

Digital Television [link]

This station's digital signal is multiplexed. WADL operates the area's Antenna TV affiliate on a second digital subchannel,^[7] which can also be seen on Comcast Xfinity digital channel 295; this replaced Universal Sports on October 1, 2011 (that network subsequently moved to a temporary digital subchannel 38.4 until its discontinuation as a broadcast service on January 1, 2012). WADL-DT3 carries the flagship station of The Word Network; this can also be seen on Comcast Xfinity digital channel 395. While WADL is The Word Network's flagship (and is programmed from WADL), the network's satellite uplink system is located at the studios of ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV.

Analog-to-digital conversion [link]

WADL discontinued its analog operations on June 12, 2009, as part of the analog to digital conversion in the United States. The station remained on its pre-transition channel 39. Through the use of PSIP, WADL's virtual channel is displayed as "38.1".

Out-of-market cable coverage [link]

It is not currently seen on Cogeco Windsor, though the cable provider has expressed interest in adding the station to its digital cable lineups, pending CRTC approval.^{[citation needed]} It is available on Cogeco Cable in some rural areas of Southwestern Ontario; this is from previous cable companies in the rural Southwestern Ontario areas that were purchased by Cogeco around 2000, and the station has remained on their lineups.

See also [link]

• Media in Detroit

References [link]

External links [link]

• WADLDetroit.com - Official Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WADL
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WADL-TV
• WADL information at fccinfo.com
• WADL TV Lineup and Demographic Data
• Broadcasting & Cable article from October 2007 on WADL's revamp