| Operator: | Gray Television | | Licensee: | GRAY TELEVISION LICENSEE, LLC |
| Sisters: | WZBJ, WZBJ-CD | | Analog Sign-on: | October 3, 1955 (7) | | Digital Sign-on: | April 30, 2002 (18) | | Repack: | Form 387  : | 0000081533 | | Form 399 : | 0000028727 | | DTV Transition: | | Certification : | Analog channel 7. Digital channel 18. | | Elected Round 1 : | Elected channel 18. (Approved) | | Final Channel : | Channel 18. | | Last Analog: | Channel 7  : | 2001' 316 kW DA |
| Call Sign History: |
| | WDBJ | | | 09/14/1978 | WDBJ-TV | | | 11/01/1983 | WDBJ | | | (09/16/2022) | WDBJ | |
Expanded History:
Television on channel 7 begins in 1950, when Times World and the Polan Bros. of Huntington both applied for channel 7. Soon, the Polan Bros. instead filed a competing application for channel 10. The first station in the Roanoke valley, WROV-TV, went dark after only three months. Radio Roanoke (owner of WROV-AM 1240 and WROV-FM 103.7) filed a competing application for channel 7. Eventually, it was resolved with an agreement that Times World (owner of WDBJ-AM 960 and WDBJ-FM 94.9) would buy the UHF equipment of the now-dark WROV-TV, and in exchange Radio Roanoke would withdraw their application.
10/03/1955: WDBJ-7 signed on from Mill Mountain with studios in the Mountain Trust Bank Building.
--/--/1957: WDBJ-7 moved to a transmitter on Poor Mountain.
--/--/1969: WDBJ-7 was purchased by Schurz Communications.
04/20/2002: WDBJ-7 moved to studios in its new "Digital Broadcast Center" on Hershberger Road.
04/30/2002: WDBJ-DT signed on with a full-powered signal.
--/--/2004: WDBJ became the first in the market to invest in high-definition recording equipment. This allowed them to air a selection of movies from Paramount in high-definition.
09/05/2006: WDBJ-DT 7-2 "Seven Too" joined My Network TV.
09/11/2006: WDBJ-DT began carrying Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy in HD, the first HD syndicated programming in the market.
12/19/2006: WDBJ-DT 7-3 "Hometown Weather Channel" was discontinued.
04/22/2008, 5:00PM: WDBJ began HD newscasts.
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Station has no translators. |
