What is "wday"

• W-Day can refer to a military designation

WDAY is the call sign of a TV station and a radio station in Fargo, North Dakota, all except WDAY-FM owned by Forum Communications:

• WDAY (AM) 970; a news/talk radio station
• WDAY-TV 6; an ABC affiliate, with The CW on a digital subchannel
• WDAZ-TV 8; a semi-satellite of WDAY in Grand Forks, North Dakota
• KOYY 93.7; a top 40 radio station, owned by Midwest Communications, which held the call sign WDAY-FM from 1965 to 2015

WDAY (970 kHz "News-Talk 970 WDAY") is North Dakota's oldest radio station, having first signed on in 1922. WDAY is licensed to Fargo, North Dakota and is owned Forum Communications. Forum also owns ABC network affiliate WDAY-TV 6 and The Forum newspaper in Fargo. Forum Communications also owns ABC affiliate WDAZ-TV 8 in Grand Forks and several other newspapers and TV stations in North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

The Forum bought 49 percent of the station in 1935 to become the largest shareholder, and bought the remaining 51 percent interest in 1958.

WDAY's power is 10,000 watts and it uses a three tower directional antenna to protect other stations on 970 kHz. On January 8, 1935, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved increasing WDAY's power to 5000 watts. In March 2013, the power was increased to 10,000 watts. WDAY's signal covers the eastern half of North Dakota, west central Minnesota, northeastern South Dakota, and southern Manitoba. The transmitter is near 210th Street South in Barnesville, Minnesota and the studios are on 8th Street South in Fargo.

Most stations west of the Mississippi have call letters which begin with "K." However, WDAY was licensed before the U.S. government changed its assignment of call signs. Prior to 1923, call letters beginning with "W" were generally assigned to stations east of an irregular line forming the western borders of states from North Dakota south to Texas, with calls beginning with "K" going to stations in states west of that line. In 1923, the dividing line was shifted to the Mississippi River.