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This article is about the low-powered television station in Washington, D.C.. For the Nashville PBS member station that formerly used the call letters, see WNPT (TV).

WDCN-LD (channel 6), branded on air as DC 87.7FM, is a low-power television station licensed to Fairfax, Virginia, United States, serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Owned by Signal Above LLC, WDCN-LD markets itself as a conventional FM radio station, broadcasting Spanish contemporary hits.

WDCN-LD has its studios on Old Gallows Road in Tysons. The transmitter is on Lee Highway (US 29) near Interstate 495 (The Capital Beltway) in Merrifield.[2]

History

Channel 6

In the analog television era, stations on television channel 6 broadcast an FM audio signal at 87.75 MHz which is receivable by ordinary FM radios. These stations, colloquially known as "Franken-FMs", took advantage of this fact and a loophole in Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations that only require a television station to broadcast some kind of video content, not that the video and audio content are related.[3]

Low-powered analog stations were exempt from the 2009 digital television transition, allowing WDCN-LP to continue operating as a Franken-FM. However, the later set a 2021 deadline for all low-powered stations to cease operating in analog. Several Franken-FMs proposed experimentally embedding an FM carrier at 87.7 MHz inside an ATSC 3.0 signal, which tests later showed to be technically feasible; the FCC initially allowed this under special temporary authority grants, provided the stations broadcast at least one accompanying television service, and the FM and television signals had similar coverage.[4] On July 20, 2023, an FCC "Report and Order" included this station as one of 13 "FM6" stations allowed to continue to operate an FM radio broadcast, as a "ancillary or supplementary" service.[5]

Switch to digital

WDCN-LP signed off on July 13, 2021, the day on which the FCC ended all analog television operation nationwide.[6] It restarted operations on October 5, 2021, carrying The Country Network and the embedded FM signal.[7]

WDCN-LP previously simulcast on co-owned WOWZ-LP, another low-power channel 6 station, licensed to Salisbury, Maryland, and serving the Ocean City–Salisbury area. That station has since switched to a simulcast of WVES.[8]

Sports programming

From 2010 through 2012, WDCN-LP was the home for Spanish-language broadcasts of D.C. United soccer games. WDCN-LP carried all of the team's games, including those not broadcast on television.[9]

Since the 2019 NFL season, WDCN-LD is the flagship Spanish-language radio station of the NFL's Baltimore Ravens.[10]

WDCN-LD and co-owned WFAX (1220 AM) broadcast Washington Nationals games in Spanish for the 2024 season.[11]

Subchannel

Subchannel of WDCN-LD (ATSC 3.0)[12]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
6.1 1080p 16:9 WDCN The Country Network

References

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WDCN-LD". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ FCCdata.org/WDCN
  3. ^ "Welcome to Mega Media Group, Inc. - Recent News". Archived from the original on April 16, 2009. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
  4. ^ "'Franken FM' In San Jose Gets Six Month Lease On Life; Other LPTVs Could Follow". Insideradio.com.
  5. ^ "Fifth Report and Order: In the Matter of Amendment of Parts 73 and 74 of the Commission's Rules to Establish Rules for Digital Low Power Television and Television Translator Stations" (FCC 23-58, MB Docket No. 03-185, Adopted: July 20, 2023, Released: July 20, 2023)
  6. ^ WDCN-LP 87.7 Final Sign-Off
  7. ^ "WDCN-LD Facility Data". FCCData.
  8. ^ "Delmarva Country Station Rebrands... And Reverts After C&D - RadioInsight". October 26, 2017.
  9. ^ "La Nueva 87.7 FM Returns as Official Spanish-Language Radio Partner". OurSports Central. March 5, 2012.
  10. ^ Campbell, Colin (December 26, 2019). "Spanish radio announcers bring soccer-style energy to NFL". The Baltimore Sun – via AP.
  11. ^ "DC Low Power FM Snags Play-By-Play For Washington Nationals". Insideradio.com. March 14, 2024.
  12. ^ "Digital TV Listing for WDCN-LD". RabbitEars.Info.

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