{{Short description|Television station in Corning, New York}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}} {{Infobox television station | callsign = WYDC | city = Corning, New York | logo = WYDC logo 2023.png | logo_size = 200px | image = WYDC-TV studios, Market Street, Corning, New York - 20221012.jpg | branding = {{ubl|Big Fox; ''Big Fox News''|MyTV WJKP-TV (DT2)}} | digital = 30 (UHF) | virtual = 48 | subchannels = | translators = ''see {{section link||Translators}}'' | affiliations = {{ubl|'''48.1:''' Fox|'''48.2:''' MyNetworkTV|''for others, see {{section link||Subchannels}}''}} | network = | owner = Coastal Television Broadcasting Company | licensee = CTNY License LLC | image_size = 200px | caption = WYDC studio building on Market Street in downtown Corning, as seen in October 2022. | location = Corning–Elmira, New York | country = United States | founded = October 2, 1989 | airdate = {{start date|1994|9|6}} | last_airdate = | callsign_meaning = | sister_stations = WJKP-LD | former_callsigns = | former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 48 (UHF, 1994–2009)|'''Digital:''' 50 (UHF, 2001–2009), 48 (UHF, 2009–2019)}} | former_affiliations = {{ubl|Independent (1994–1995)|UPN (primary 1995–1997, secondary 1997–2004)|The WB (secondary, 1995–1997)}} | erp = 55 kW | haat = {{convert|311|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} | class = | facility_id = 62219 | coordinates = {{coord|42|8|31.2|N|77|4|38.8|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|display=inline, title}} | licensing_authority = FCC | website = {{URL|https://wydc-tv.com/}} }}
'''WYDC''' (channel 48) is a television station licensed to Corning, New York, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for the Elmira area. It is owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company LLC alongside WJKP-LD (channel 39), an independent station with MyNetworkTV. The two stations share studios on East Market Street in Downtown Corning; WYDC's transmitter is located on Higman Hill.
==History== On June 9, 1988, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted a construction permit to Rural New York Broadcasting, owned by Robert Walker of Albany, to build a new television station in Corning. In 1992, Walker moved to Florida and donated the permit to Cornerstone Television, a Christian broadcaster from Pittsburgh.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80809849/|pages=1A, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80810499/ 2A]|date=September 26, 1992|first=Jim|last=Lowman|work=Star-Gazette|title=Corning may tune in religious network|accessdate=July 4, 2021}}</ref> Cornerstone never built the station, and instead it was Molly and David Grant, with investors known as Standfast Broadcasting, who put WYDC on the air in 1994 as independent "Big TV".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80810632/|first=Larry|last=Wilson|pages=1A, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80810754/ 2A]|title=The Big TV picture comes to Corning: WYDC-TV starts broadcasting 24 hours a day next week|work=Star-Gazette|date=September 17, 1994|accessdate=July 4, 2021}}</ref>
Big TV rapidly grew. It built translators in Elmira and Bath, became an affiliate of UPN and The WB in 1995,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80810973/|accessdate=July 4, 2021|date=September 12, 1995|title=Big TV gets even bigger, expands into Bath, Elmira|pages=1A, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80811033/ 5A]|work=Star-Gazette|first=Larry|last=Wilson}}</ref> and added Fox in October 1996.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80811107/corning-station-will-become-a-fox-affili/|title=Corning station will become a Fox affiliate|page=1B|work=Star-Gazette|first=Larry|last=Wilson|date=October 25, 1996|accessdate=July 4, 2021}}</ref>
Vision Communications, headed by William Christian, leased the station with an option to buy in 1997 and moved to shift the station's focus to Fox, eliminating UPN and WB programs.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80811208/|accessdate=July 4, 2021|title=Corning's Fox affiliate WYDC-TV gets new manager|page=3B|first=Ray|last=Finger|work=Star-Gazette|date=August 5, 1997}}</ref> The new ownership upgraded the facilities with a $2 million investment.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80811354/|accessdate=July 4, 2021|title=Corning's a Fox when it comes to station growth|date=September 17, 1998|page=1C|first=Lydia|last=Fernandez|work=Star-Gazette}}</ref> The Grants went on to start another station known as Big TV, UPN affiliate WBGT-LP in Rochester, which Vision acquired in 2002.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80811447/|accessdate=July 4, 2021|date=November 12, 2002|first=G. Jeffrey|last=Aaron|page=8A|work=Star-Gazette|title=WYDC-TV owner buys Rochester UPN station}}</ref>
Vision Communications filed to sell its broadcast properties to Standard Media in 2019.<ref name="standardmediasale">{{cite web|url=https://www.standardmedia.com/2019/11/25/standard-media-to-acquire-waypoint-and-visions-television-and-radio-stations/|title=Standard Media to acquire nine stations|work=Standard Media Group |publisher=Standard Media|date=November 25, 2019|access-date=November 26, 2019}}</ref> The sale was never consummated.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 3, 2021 |title=Notification of Non-consummation |url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101824158&formid=905&fac_num=62219 |website=fcc.gov}}</ref>
In July 2021, Waypoint Media and its related entity, Vision Communications, announced that they would sell nine of their television stations, including WYDC, WJKP-LD, and WECY-LD, to Cumming, Georgia–based Coastal Television for $36.9 million. The sale was completed on January 4, 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jacobson |first=Adam |date=January 4, 2022 |title=Coastal Completes Its Waypoint Radio/TV Purchase {{!}} Radio & Television Business Report |url=https://rbr.com/kalil-coastal-waypoint-bill-christian/ |access-date=July 18, 2023 |language=en-US}}</ref>
The station airs a 10 p.m. weeknight newscast branded as ''Big Fox News at 10'', using Coastal's partly-centralized News Hub from Little Rock, Arkansas.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ortega |first=Roly |date=August 9, 2022 |title=Meridian, Marquette, and Elmira are our first stops. |url=https://changingnewscasts.wordpress.com/2022/08/09/meridian-marquette-and-elmira-are-our-first-stops/ |access-date=October 19, 2024 |language=en}}</ref>
==Technical information== ===Subchannels=== WYDC's transmitter is located on Higman Hill.{{r|FCC-LMS-62219}} The station's signal is multiplexed: {| class="wikitable" |+Subchannels of WYDC<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WYDC#station|website=RabbitEars|title=TV Query for WYDC}}</ref> ! scope = "col" | Channel ! scope = "col" | Res. ! scope = "col" | Short name ! scope = "col" | Programming |- ! scope = "row" | 48.1 | rowspan=2|720p || WYDC || Fox |- style="background-color: #E6FFF7;" ! scope = "row" | 48.2 | WJKP || MyNetworkTV (WJKP-LD) |- ! scope = "row" | 48.3 | rowspan=5|480i || MeTV || MeTV (4:3) |- ! scope = "row" | 48.4 | Grit || Grit |- ! scope = "row" | 48.5 | Bounce || Bounce TV |- ! scope = "row" | 48.7 | Ion Plus || Ion Plus |} {{legend|#E6FFF7|Simulcast of subchannels of another station}}
===Analog-to-digital conversion=== WYDC shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 48, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 50 to channel 48.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds |access-date=March 24, 2012}}</ref>
===Translators=== In addition to its main signal, WYDC can also be seen on five low-power digital repeaters. WYDC was also formerly repeated on WMYH-LP in Elmira/Watkins Glen, which is no longer licensed.
*'''{{FCC-LMS-Facility|43452|3=W19ET-D}}''' Bath *'''{{FCC-LMS-Facility|128780|3=W15EG-D}}''' Corning *'''{{FCC-LMS-Facility|125480|3=WECY-LD}}''' 19 Elmira *'''{{FCC-LMS-Facility|15570|3=W26BF-D}}''' Elmira *'''{{FCC-LMS-Facility|43451|3=W17ED-D}}''' Hornell–Alfred
==See also== * Channel 30 digital TV stations in the United States * Channel 48 virtual TV stations in the United States
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://wydc-tv.com/ Official website]
{{Elmira TV}} {{Binghamton TV}} {{Fox New York}} {{Fox Pennsylvania}} {{Coastal TV Broadcasting}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wydc}} Category:1994 establishments in New York (state) Category:Bounce TV affiliates Category:Coastal Television Category:Ion Plus affiliates Category:Fox Broadcasting Company affiliates Category:Grit (TV network) affiliates Category:Hornell, New York Category:MeTV affiliates Category:MyNetworkTV affiliates Category:Television channels and stations established in 1994 YDC