WRTD-CD

WRTD-CD
Raleigh, North Carolina; United States;
Channels	Digital: 15 (UHF), shared with WRAZ; Virtual: 54;
Branding	Telemundo Raleigh
Programming
Affiliations	54.1: Telemundo
Ownership
Owner	Telemundo Station Group; (NBC Telemundo License LLC);
History
Founded	1991 (33 years ago)
Former call signs	W60BT (1991–1999); WHOA-LP (1999–2005); WZGS-CA (2005–2013); WZGS-CD (2013–2018);
Former channel number(s)	Digital: 44 (UHF, 2013–2018), 49 (UHF, 2018–2019); Virtual: 44 (2013–2018);
Former affiliations	America's Store (c. 2002–2003); Telemundo (2005–2010); Independent (2010–2018);
Call sign meaning	Raleigh/Research Triangle Telemundo/Durham
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	41095
ERP	805.4 kW
HAAT	607 m (1,991 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	35°40′29″N 78°31′39″W / 35.67472°N 78.52750°W
Links
Public license information	Public file; LMS;

WRTD-CD (channel 54) is a Class A television station licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, serving as the Research Triangle area's outlet for the Spanish-language network Telemundo. The station is owned and operated by the Telemundo Station Group subsidiary of NBCUniversal. Under a channel sharing agreement, WRTD-CD shares transmitter facilities with Fox affiliate WRAZ (channel 50, owned by locally based Capitol Broadcasting Company) near Auburn, North Carolina. The station originates its master control from the facilities of WZDC-CD in Washington, D.C., whose website links to WRTD's public file.

Despite WRTD-CD legally holding a low-power Class A license, it transmits using WRAZ's full-power spectrum. This ensures complete reception across the Research Triangle television market (Raleigh−Durham−Chapel Hill−Fayetteville).

History

The station signed on in 1991 as W60BT. Its call sign was changed to WHOA-LP in 1999, and to WZGS-CA in 2005.

WZGS-CA went silent on April 1, 2010, due to losing its first affiliation with Telemundo.^[3] It then became an independent station, airing English, Spanish and Portuguese programming. In the interim, the national cable/satellite feed for Telemundo served the market.

WZGS-CA resumed broadcasting on March 25, 2011.^[4] The station changed its call sign to WZGS-CD on May 31, 2013.^[5]

On December 4, 2017, NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group announced its purchase of ZGS Communications' 13 television stations, including WZGS-CD. The sale marks NBCUniversal's re-entry into the Raleigh–Durham market, as they owned WNCN (channel 17) from 1996 to 2006 (it is now a CBS affiliate, owned by Nexstar Media Group).^[6] The sale was completed on July 20, 2018.^[7] NBCUniversal changed the station's call letters to WRTD-CD^[8] on July 25, 2018;^[5] the station also rejoined Telemundo.