View source for WHDF

{{Short description|Television station in Florence, Alabama}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}} 
{{Infobox television station
| name = 
| callsign = WHDF
| city = Florence, Alabama
| logo = WHDF (2024).svg
| logo_size = 200px
| branding = North Alabama's CW 15; ''News 19''
| digital = 2 ([[VHF]])
| virtual = 15
| translators = WHNT-TV 19.2 Huntsville<ref name="whdfonwhnt"/><ref name="whdfonwhnt2"/>
| affiliations = {{ubl|'''15.1:''' [[The CW]]|'''15.2:''' [[Court TV]]|'''15.3:''' [[Rewind TV]]}}
| country = United States
| airdate = {{start date and age|1957|10|28|p=y|br=yes}}
| location = [[Florence, Alabama|Florence]]–[[Huntsville]]–[[Decatur, Alabama]]
| callsign_meaning = Huntsville, Decatur, Florence<ref name="bob">{{cite web |title=Call Letter Origins |url=http://nelson.oldradio.com/origins.call-list.html |publisher=The Broadcast Archive |last=Nelson |first=Bob |date=October 18, 2008 |access-date=October 31, 2008}}</ref>
| former_callsigns = WOWL-TV (1957–1999)
| former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 15 (UHF, 1957–2009)|'''Digital:''' 14 (UHF, 2001–2019)}}
| owner = [[Nexstar Media Group]]
| licensee = Nexstar Media Inc.
| sister_stations = [[WHNT-TV]]
| former_affiliations = {{ubl|[[NBC]] (1957–1999)|[[UPN]] (1999–2006)}}
| erp = 21 [[kW]]
| haat = {{convert|431|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| class = 
| facility_id = 65128
| coordinates = {{coord|35|0|9|N|87|8|9|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}}
| licensing_authority = [[FCC]]
| website = {{URL|https://whnt.com/north-alabamas-cw/}}
}}

'''WHDF''' (channel 15) is a [[television station]] licensed to [[Florence, Alabama]], United States, serving as the [[The CW|CW]] outlet for the [[Huntsville]] area. It is [[owned and operated]] by network majority owner [[Nexstar Media Group]] alongside [[CBS]] affiliate [[WHNT-TV]] (channel 19). The two stations share studios on Holmes Avenue Northwest in downtown Huntsville; WHDF's transmitter is located southeast of [[Minor Hill, Tennessee]].

In addition to its own digital signal, WHDF is [[simulcast]] in [[720p]] [[high-definition television|high definition]] on WHNT-TV's second digital subchannel (19.2) from a transmitter on [[Monte Sano Mountain]].<ref name="whdfonwhnt">{{Cite web|url=https://www.avsforum.com/threads/huntsville-al-hdtv.436602/page-159#post-60086131|title=Huntsville, AL - HDTV|date=May 14, 2023 }}</ref><ref name="whdfonwhnt2">{{Cite web|url=https://tvlistings.gracenote.com/ss-list-affiliates.html?aid=LTVWHNT|title = TV Listings- Find Local TV Listings and Watch Full Episodes|date = September 2017}}</ref>

==History==
The station began on October 28, 1957, as WOWL-TV, based in Florence. The station was owned by Richard "Dick" Biddle's TV Muscle Shoals, Inc.<ref>[https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1962-63-TV-Factbook/TV-Factbook-1963-AL-IN.pdf TV Factbook] American Radio History {{dead link|date=August 2023}}</ref> Up until late 1999, that station broadcast [[NBC]] programs to northwestern [[Alabama]] and portions of southern middle [[Tennessee]] and northeastern [[Mississippi]]; it also carried some popular CBS shows like the [[soap opera]] ''[[As the World Turns]].''

WOWL-TV always faced competing NBC affiliates in Huntsville–[[Decatur, Alabama|Decatur]] (in later years [[WAFF (TV)|WAFF]], channel 48) or even [[Tupelo, Mississippi|Tupelo]] ([[WTVA]]), whose signals reached much of its broadcast area. However, it retained viewership in northwest Alabama (Florence, [[Sheffield, Alabama|Sheffield]], [[Muscle Shoals]], [[Tuscumbia, Alabama|Tuscumbia]] and areas known as "[[The Shoals]]" in recent times and referred to as "The Quad Cities" years ago) by offering local newscasts, which for most of the station's 40-plus years were the only newscasts concerned specifically with northwestern Alabama. Over time, though, with the Huntsville stations, especially WAFF, expanding news bureaus of their own into the Shoals in the 1980s and 1990s, WOWL-TV lost much of its traditional advantage.

By the late 1990s, this duplication had progressed to the point that the station could no longer focus solely on northwest Alabama and remain viable. The owners opted to sell to outside interests, who dropped NBC in favor of [[UPN]] in the fall of 1999, making WAFF the sole NBC outlet in north Alabama. Shortly before that, on July 19, the call letters were changed to the current WHDF, with a move of the transmitter and tower to [[Giles County, Tennessee]]. The new tower transmitted from a location high enough to provide a coverage area comparable to the other north Alabama stations, while remaining within {{convert|15|mi|km}} of Florence as required by FCC regulations.

During the early 2000s, Viacom owned 17.5% of the station.

In 2004, [[Lockwood Broadcast Group]] acquired WHDF. Lockwood provided content delivery and back-office function from the company's headquarters in Virginia. Completed in 2007, the "hub" facility has remotely operated WHDF since that year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lockwoodbroadcast.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040324113449/http://lockwoodbroadcast.com/ |archive-date=March 24, 2004 |title=lockwoodbroadcast.com}}</ref>

[[File:WHDF The Valley's CW logo.png|thumb|left|Logo as "The Valley's CW", from 2006 to 2020]]
In September 2006, both UPN and [[The WB]] ceased operations. A single new network, [[The CW]], replaced those two struggling entities. WHDF, the UPN affiliate, was granted the northern Alabama affiliation rights for the new network earlier that year, and rebranded as The Valley's CW at midnight on July 27, 2006. (The former WB affiliate, meanwhile, became WAMY-TV, affiliated with [[MyNetworkTV]].)

Local employees at WHDF's Florence and Huntsville facilities totaled fewer than ten, according to [[United States Census Bureau|Census]] business statistics in [[2010 United States Census|2010]].

On July 15, 2018, Lockwood Broadcast Group reached an agreement to sell WHDF to [[Nexstar Media Group]] for $2.25 million; Nexstar concurrently took over the station's operations through a [[Local marketing agreement|time brokerage agreement]].<ref name="fcc-saletonexstar">{{cite web |title=Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License |url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1788648&Service=DT&Form_id=314&Facility_id=65128 |website=CDBS Public Access |publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]] |access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref> The sale was completed on November 9,<ref name="whdfdealdone">{{Cite web|url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1795908&Service=DT&Form_id=905&Facility_id=65128|title=Consummation Notice|work=CDBS Public Access|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]|access-date=November 13, 2018}}</ref> creating a [[duopoly (broadcasting)|duopoly]] with [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] affiliate [[WZDX]] (channel 54).

Only 24 days after the acquisition of WHDF by Nexstar closed, on December 3, 2018, Nexstar announced it would acquire the assets of [[Chicago]]-based [[Tribune Media]]—which has owned CBS affiliate WHNT-TV since December 2013—for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. As Nexstar already owned WHDF and WZDX, the company agreed on March 20, 2019, to divest WZDX to [[Tegna Inc.]] as part of a series of transactions with multiple companies that totaled $1.32 billion.<ref name="tvnc-nexstarspinoffs">{{cite web|url=https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/232391/nexstar-selling-19-tvs-in-15-markets-for-1-32b/|title=Nexstar Selling 19 TVs In 15 Markets For $1.32B|work=TVNewsCheck|publisher=NewsCheckMedia|date=March 20, 2019|access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Nexstar to Sell Stations to Tegna, Scripps for $1.32 Billion|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-20/nexstar-to-sell-19-stations-to-tegna-scripps-for-1-32-billion|first=Nabila|last=Ahmed|first2=Anousha|last2=Sakoui|website=Bloomberg News|publisher=[[Bloomberg, L.P.]]|date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> (As WHDF does not rank among the top four in total-day viewership and therefore is not in conflict with existing FCC in-market ownership rules, it was retained by Nexstar, thus creating a new duopoly with WHNT.) The sale was completed on September 19, 2019.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Mark K. |last=Miller |date=September 19, 2019 |title=Nexstar Closes On Tribune Merger |url=https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/239233/nexstar-closes-on-tribune-merger/ |work=TVNewsCheck |access-date=July 20, 2021 |archive-date=September 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190920231248/https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/239233/nexstar-closes-on-tribune-merger/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Technical information==

===Subchannels===
The station's signal is [[multiplex (TV)|multiplexed]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Subchannels of WHDF<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WHDF|title=RabbitEars TV Query for WHDF|website=[[RabbitEars.info]]|accessdate=August 13, 2023}}</ref>
! [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! [[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! Short name
! Programming
|-
! scope = "row" | 15.1 
| [[1080i]] || rowspan=4|[[16:9]] || WHDF-DT || [[The CW]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 15.2 
| rowspan=3|[[480i]] || CourtTV || [[Court TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 15.3 
| Rewind || [[Rewind TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 15.4
| Charge || [[Charge! (TV network)|Charge!]]
|}

===Analog-to-digital conversion===
WHDF shut down its analog signal, over [[UHF]] channel 15, on June 12, 2009, as part of the [[Digital television transition in the United States|federally mandated transition from analog to digital television]].<ref name="Analog to Digital">[http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf List of Digital Full-Power Stations]</ref> The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 14, using [[virtual channel]] 15.<ref name="FCCForm387">{{Cite web|url=http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101230980&formid=387&fac_num=65128|title=CDBS Print<!-- Bot generated title -->|accessdate=August 13, 2023}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Huntsville TV}}
{{Alabama TV}}
{{Tennessee TV}}
{{NXST TV}}
{{Major U.S. TV O-O Stations}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whdf}}
[[Category:1957 establishments in Alabama]]
[[Category:Charge! (TV network) affiliates]]
[[Category:Court TV affiliates]]
[[Category:The CW affiliates]]
[[Category:Florence, Alabama]]
[[Category:Nexstar Media Group]]
[[Category:Rewind TV affiliates]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1957]]
[[Category:Television stations in Huntsville, Alabama|HDF]]