WDNZ-LD

WDNZ-LD

Glasgow–Bowling Green, Kentucky United States
City	Glasgow, Kentucky
Channels	Digital:11 (VHF) Virtual:11
Branding	WDNZ-TV 11
Programming
Subchannels	11.1:The Country Network for others, see§ Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Marquee Broadcasting (Marquee Broadcasting Kentucky, Inc.)
Sister stations	WNKY,WNKY-LD
History
Founded	February 22, 2011
First air date	October 18, 2019(2019-10-18)
Former call signs	W11DJ-D (2011-2019)
Former affiliations	Dark(2011–2019) MyNetworkTV(2019–2024) Antenna TV(secondary and DT4, 2019–2024) Biz TV(secondary, 2019–2024)
Call signmeaning	Reference to formerDaily Newsownership
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	185022
Class	LD
ERP	3kW
HAAT	110.7 m (363 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	36°56′39″N86°15′11″W
Links
Public license information	LMS

WDNZ-LD(channel 11) is alow-power television stationlicensed toGlasgow, Kentucky,United States, serving theBowling Greenarea as an affiliate ofThe Country Network.It is owned byMarquee Broadcastingalongside dualNBC/CBSaffiliateWNKY(channel 40) andIon TelevisionaffiliateWNKY-LD(channel 35). The three stations share studios on Chestnut Street in downtown Bowling Green; WDNZ-LD's transmitter is located nearPolkville, Kentucky.

History

Under Frank Digital ownership

While under original ownership by Frank Digital Broadcasting, the station's first construction permit was issued by theFederal Communications Commissionon February 22, 2011, under the callsign W11DJ-D. The station has beensilent,but the station would eventually become the market's third low-power television station afterWCZU-LDandW14DG-D,the latter of which was initially only on the air for a month in 2016. The station is also the first television station of any kind to be licensed in Glasgow since 2010, when formerTrinity Broadcasting Network(TBN),owned-and-operatedtranslatorsWKUT-LPandWKUW-LPwent off the air due to lack of viewer support; both of them relocated to serve theLouisvilleandNashvillemarkets, respectively. The licenses of both WKUT and WKUW were first sold to Budd Broadcasting in 2010, and then toDTV America Corporationin the mid-2010s, and as of 2017, they, along with WCZU, are now owned byINNOVATE Corp.

Ownership by The Daily News

In 2018, the FCC issued aSpecial temporary authoritylicense to the then-W11DJ-D's new licensee, News Publishing, LLC, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of theDaily News Broadcasting CompanyofBowling Green.TheDaily Newsalso owns tworadio stations:news/talkAMstationWKCT,along with its associated translator W281BV, andclassic rock-formattedFMsister stationWDNS.The special temporary authority license would allow it to conduct test broadcasts from a formerAT&Tlong-linesmicrowave towernearBrownsville,with the directional antenna orienting the signal to the south in order to cover the city of Bowling Green proper, and to protect the full-power signal of Louisville'sABCaffiliateWHAS-TV,which also broadcasts on channel 11, from co-channel interference. However, the station also has a construction permit to instead transmit from theWDNSradio transmission tower located in southeasternWarren Countyon Iron Bridge Road just offKentucky Route 1402(KY 1402) west ofThreeforks.If it begins broadcasting at that location, the projected signal coverage would cover almost all of the Bowling Green media market area, plus central and southern portions ofGrayson County(part of the Louisville market), and nearby portions of northernAllen County(part of the Nashville market) located within a few miles from that county's northern boundary. The signal would be oriented west to east, but also have limited coverage to the north to also protect the signal of WHAS-TV.

Sign on and MyNetworkTV affiliation takeover

The station adapted its current WDNZ-LD callsign on October 8, 2019.In June 2019, the Antenna TV network's website listed the station as Bowling Green's upcoming Antenna TV affiliate after WCZU-LD dropped both of its Antenna TV and MyNetworkTV affiliations in favor of the newly resurrectedCourt TV.It was announced that WDNZ will take over both of WCZU's former main-channel affiliations; MyNetworkTV on its main channel, with its DT2 subchannel carrying the full Antenna TV schedule, and Biz TV on a third subchannel. Along with that information, the station has applied for special temporary authority to temporarily transmit the signal onUHFchannel 31 from a small tower behind the WDNS/WKCT/W281BV studios on College Street in downtown Bowling Green while the permanent transmission facility near Threeforks is being built. This could happen afterreligiousindependentstationWPBM-CDin nearbyScottsville, Kentucky,which originally transmit on channel 31, moves their digital allocation to channel 15 on October 18, 2019.

Upon the station's sign-on, WDNZ initially broadcast four digital subchannels, carrying a mixture ofMyNetworkTV,Biz TV andAntenna TVprogramming on the main channel, withStadiumon DT2, and the full-time schedules of Biz TV and Antenna TV on DT3 and DT4, respectively. In 2020, Biz TV was replaced withThe Country Networkon the DT3 subchannel. Two other subchannels were launched to provide a visual simulcast of WKCT on a fifth subchannel, displayed as virtual channel 9.30, andEstrella TVon a DT6 subchannel, displayed as 12.1, thus making WDNZ the first Bowling Green station to offer aSpanish-languagenetwork.

As of July 5, 2022, the station holds an application to relocate its signal to VHF channel 8.

Sale to Marquee Broadcasting

On February 24, 2023, Daily News Broadcasting sold the station toMarquee Broadcasting,owner of full-power stationWNKY.The sale has been approved by the FCC on April 7, 2023.

In 2024, WDNZ dropped its affiliations with Antenna TV, Biz TV and MyNetworkTV after the sale to Marquee was finalized. The Country Network is now on the station's primary subchannel.

Programming

While under operation by theDaily News,WDNZ-LD aired local news programs on weekday mornings and evenings,in addition to the primary programming of its subchannels.

Subchannels

The station's signal ismultiplexed:

Subchannels of WDNZ-LD

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming
11.1	720p	16:9	WDNZ-LD	The Country Network
11.2	1080i			The Nest
11.3	480i			Estrella TV