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WDAM-TV is the NBC and ABC affiliated television station for Southeastern Mississippi's Pine Belt that is licensed to Laurel. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 7 from a transmitter at its studios on U.S. 11 in unincorporated Moselle in southern Jones. Owned by Raycom Media, the station can also be seen on Comcast channel 4 and in high definition on digital channel 432. Syndicated programming on WDAM includes The Meredith Vieira Show, ''Wheel of Fortune'', ''Jeopardy!'', ''Inside Edition'', and ''Judge Judy'' among others. == History == WDAM-TV, named for the initials of the original owner David A. Madison, signed-on June 8, 1956 airing an analog signal on VHF channel 9. At that time is carried both NBC and ABC. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. In September 1959, then licensed by South Mississippi Broadcasting, Inc., it moved from channel 9 to channel 7 to allow WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to move from UHF channel 28 to VHF channel 9 and to protect Tupelo's WTWV (now WTVA) that also broadcast on channel 9. After moving to 7, the station was designated as serving the Laurel-Hattiesburg area. In 1962, WDAM dropped its secondary ABC affiliation to become a sole NBC affiliate. In 1967 the license holding changed its name to Service Broadcasters, Inc. In 1978, Beam Communications purchased the stations from Service Broadcasters. who later changed their name to Beacon Communications in 1989. Beacon sold the station to Federal Broadcasting in 1990, The station was acquired by current owner Raycom Media in 1997. However, Raycom owned CBS affiliate WHLT at the time and had to sell it to Media General in order to comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) duopoly rules. In 2008, the station added a new position, web manager, and updated its website to conform to modern standards. That same year, the station launched "wdamtogo.com", a site designed for internet-capable mobile devices. In 2010, the station launched news and weather smart phone applications along with a photo and video sharing service called Send It to Seven. In 2011, the station launched a secondary set of websites for each community of over 20,000 people in the station's viewing area called WDAM Neighborhoods; those sites were retired in ealry 2014. In early 2012, WDAM launched tablet applications. In the summer of 2012, the station added ABC programming and became affiliated with both NBC and ABC, airing ABC programming on 7.2 and the Bounce Network on 7.3. The move replaced WLOX as the ABC affiliate for most of its viewing area. Bobby Smith worked at the station since a week after it signed-on until 2011. Weathercaster Jim Gibbon was a staple of WDAM's weekday morning and noon shows for 43 years until his retirement in March 2007. He died nearly two months later on April 25. Sports Director Mitchell Williams retired in 2011 after 27 years at the station. In January 2012, William "Dubbie" White retired after 45 years with the station. Jim Cameron retired in 2013 after 22 years as general manager. Randy Swan, formerly news director for 24 years, and news anchor was with the station for over three decades leaving for only a brief period when he served in the same position with WABG-TV in the Greenwood/Greenville, Mississippi market. Swan's father, Jimmy Swan, was a well known radio personality and country/bluegrass singer/bandleader during the late-1950s and 1960s who also ran for Governor of Mississippi. Randy Swan retired in 2015 and his last day on air was February 27, 2015. Current ''Good Morning America'' co-host Robin Roberts was a sports anchor at WDAM in the early-1980s. In 2001, WDAM signed-on its digital signal on UHF channel 28. By federal mandate on June 12, 2009, the analog transmitter of WDAM was shut down and the station began broadcasting exclusively in digital. With the digital television transition, the station added two new channels to its lineup on 7.2 and 7.3. On January 28, 2010, WDAM moved from UHF channel 28 to the pre-digital allotment on VHF channel 7. An early field test showed a dramatically improved signal in areas that were lost after the original digital transition. On July 28, 2012 Comcast moved WDAM's DTV 7.2 ABC feed to cable channel 2. Cable channel 2 was previously occupied by WDAM's sister station WLOX. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「WDAM-TV」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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