WADL (TV)

Although Adell Broadcasting filed for an application for the channel 38 license on September 25, 1985, it took four years for WADL to begin broadcasting, signing on the air for the first time on May 20, 1989. The station was founded by Franklin Z. Adell, previously the owner of an automotive parts supplier company. His son Kevin Adell joined the company after graduating from Arizona State University in 1988.[4] 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 programs.

In 1992, channel 38 began running CBS shows that were preempted by that network's then-affiliate WJBK-TV (channel 2). Despite its relationship with WJBK, WADL was barely competitive in the ratings at first. Most of the stronger syndicated programs had been acquired by Fox affiliate WKBD-TV (channel 50; which, for all intents and purposes, was programmed as an independent as Fox did not carry a full week's worth of programming until 1993) and fellow independent station WXON (channel 20, now WMYD). There simply was not enough programming to go around, even for a market as large as Detroit. Channel 38 faced an additional problem in the form of CBC-owned CBET (channel 9) in Windsor, which owned the Detroit market rights to other syndicated programs. It relied mostly on paid programming; the few entertainment shows seen on WADL's schedule consisted of barter programming.

In May 1994, WJBK's then-owner, New World Communications signed a groupwide deal with Fox to switch the network affiliations of twelve of the company's 14 stations to Fox (two of which New World would sell to Fox outright as it could not keep them due to ownership conflicts).[5][6] One of the stations due to switch was WJBK. CBS approached three of Detroit's major stations—WXYZ-TV (channel 7, which renewed its ABC affiliation), WKBD, and WXON—all of which turned CBS down; WDIV was eliminated as a possibility due to the station's long-term affiliation contract with NBC. Fearing it would be left without an affiliate in Detroit, CBS began talks with WADL. As a measure of how desperate CBS was at the time, it approached WADL even though most Detroit-area viewers didn't even know the station existed. However, Franklin Adell and CBS could not come to a mutual agreement, due to what CBS called unreasonable demands on Adell's part. CBS eventually bought Detroit's other low-profile independent, WGPR-TV (channel 62), changing its calls to WWJ-TV and moved the network's programming there on December 11, 1994, months before its purchase was finalized.

On August 31, 1998, WADL began carrying children's programming from Fox Kids (later FoxBox and 4KidsTV), after picking up the rights to the block from then-UPN affiliate WKBD, which had continued to air the Fox Kids weekday and Saturday blocks even after losing its Fox affiliation to WJBK. The station also acquired several syndicated children's programs. After Fox discontinued the Fox Kids weekday block in 2002, WADL continued running the revamped Fox Box until the fall of 2003, when Fox's 4Kids TV Saturday morning block moved to then-WB affiliate WDWB (now MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYD). During this time, until October 2007, WADL was the only other station besides WKBD and WMYD to continuously air children's programming. From the program's 1999 debut until 2002, WADL also broadcast the NBC daytime soap opera Passions, which WDIV originally declined to broadcast, before adding the serial to its schedule in the fall of 2002.

In September 2007, WADL began to cement its standing as a major player among the Detroit market's television stations with the acquisition of popular syndicated shows, including older series such as The Nanny, Mad About You, The Jeffersons and Good Times; the station also kept many religious programs and a few infomercials as well, and eliminated the remaining animated shows. Over the years, WADL began positioning itself as being a voice of Detroit's urban community, with local programs including 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 acquired syndicated programs such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, American Chopper, Reno 911!, The Montel Williams Show, In the Heat of the Night, Chappelle's Show, A Different World, Magnum, P.I. and Sanford and Son.[7] In 2009, the station added classic television series such as The Brady Bunch, I Love Lucy, Happy Days, M*A*S*H, The Jeffersons and Laverne and Shirley to its schedule. By this time, WADL began running a mix of both recent and older syndicated programs. WADL also increased its local public affairs programming with shows such as Real Talk (hosted by political activist Rev. Horace Sheffield). WADL has further cemented its presence in the community, broadcasting political debates with all candidates and inviting the community to attend.

On June 18, 2014, WADL named broadcasting veteran David Bangura as its new president; Bangura had formerly held a similar position at WMYD, which was later sold to the E. W. Scripps Company, owner of WXYZ-TV.[8][9]

On July 7, 2015, WADL would add Get TV for Detroit-area television viewers to 38.2, bumping Antenna TV to 38.4, with Titan Sports Network's classic sports replays being removed from the station's subchannel entirely.

On July 15, 2015, WADL added Grit to 38.2, moving Get TV to 38.3 in the process. This caused The Word Network to be temporarily removed from the station's subchannel lineup. The Word Network eventually returned to WADL on September 18 of that year, replacing Antenna TV on 38.4. WADL added Cozi TV to 38.4 on February 1, 2016, displaced from WMYD 20.2 by Antenna TV. On May 4, 2017, The Word Network returned on a newly created fifth subchannel, and added Justice Network to a new 38.6 subchannel. WADL also added the simulcast of WFDF (audio only) to a new 38.7 subchannel, on May 26, 2017.

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

WADL initially carried Universal Sports on 38.2 and The Word Network on 38.3 in 2008, then they began carrying Antenna TV on their second digital subchannel,[11] replacing Universal Sports on October 1, 2011 (Universal Sports subsequently moved to a temporary digital subchannel 38.4 until its discontinuation as a broadcast service and conversion to cable and satellite-only distribution on January 1, 2012). They then used 38.4 to broadcast games from the Detroit Mercy Titans, branded as The Titan Sports Network. This was discontinued on July 7, 2015 when Antenna TV moved to 38.4, and GetTV launched on the second subchannel. Grit was then added to 38.2, moving GetTV to 38.3, which temporarily removed The Word Network until August 2015, when it was added to 38.4 at the expense of Antenna TV. Antenna TV was eventually added to WMYD-DT2 on February 20, 2016. On the same day, WADL added Cozi TV to 38.4. Which, ironically, was the network replaced by Antenna TV on WMYD. The Word Network would not be seen on WADL until April 2017, on channel 38.5. Justice Network was also added to 38.6, and then an audio-only simulcast of sister station WFDF-AM on 38.7. GetTV was removed on June 1, 2018. It was replaced by a simulcast of WFDF-AM (this simulcast actually had video), and was replaced by Quest a few weeks later. In October 2018, GetTV affiliated with WHNE-LD. On January 1, 2020, Cozi TV was replaced by QVC, which is also seen locally on a subchannel of WPXD-TV. Two days later, Cozi TV affiliated with WDIV-TV.

WADL shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 38, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition UHF channel 39.[12] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 38.

In 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced it would hold a voluntary incentive auction for a portion of the radio frequency spectrum that is currently used by television broadcasters across the country.[13] In 2014, WADL owner Kevin Adell announced he would participate in the auction, since it was estimated the station would net somewhere in the range of $170 million, much more than it would be worth on the open market otherwise. Since that time, the auction estimate had increased to somewhere between $360–$380 million.

Adell has also said he would continue to own and operate The Word Network, which is a separate non-profit company from WADL. The current WADL broadcast facility would have been re-purposed for The Word Network, along with the transfer of roughly 33 WADL staffers.[4][14]

WADL was ultimately not sold in the auction, which concluded in 2017.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FCC allowed some stations in Phase 8 (ending March 13, 2020) of their 600-MHz spectrum aution to delay their move to Phase 9 (ending May 1, 2020) on an as-needed basis. As a result, WADL was granted permission to delay being relocated to Phase 9, and moved from UHF 39 to UHF 27 on March 23, 2020.