WRDQ, virtual and UHF digital channel 27, is an independent television station licensed to Orlando, Florida, United States. The station is owned by the Cox Media Group subsidiary of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, as part of a duopoly with ABC affiliate WFTV (channel 9). The two stations share studios on East South Street in downtown Orlando; WRDQ's transmitter is located in Christmas, Florida.
On cable, the station is available in standard definition on channel 10 on Charter Spectrum, channel 20 on Comcast Xfinity, and channel 27 on CenturyLink Prism.
History[]
The station's original construction permit was issued as early as 1990. Channel 27 first signed on the air on April 23, 2000 under the ownership of Reece Associates Ltd., with WFTV (which has been owned by Cox since 1985) operating the station under a local marketing agreement (LMA); Reece was co-owned by former WFTV reporter/anchor Marsha Reece. Several months before WRDQ signed on, in August 1999, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began allowing duopolies involving commercially licensed television stations, allowing Cox to exercise an option to acquire the station outright on February 1, 2001.
On May 24, 2011, Cox decided to use WRDQ to carry coverage of the Casey Anthony trial in full from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with WFTV airing the last hour from 4 to 5 p.m., pre-empting the station's weekday programming schedule. High interest in the trial eventually led to coverage being increasingly shifted to WFTV (with WRDQ generally only airing "more procedural" and "more dry or technical" portions); on June 8, coverage was moved to WFTV entirely, after ABC granted Cox permission to move ABC Daytime programming to WRDQ for remainder of the trial's duration. It returned to WFTV upon the trial's conclusion. ABC Daytime was temporarily moved to WRDQ once more during WFTV's coverage of the George Zimmerman trial in 2013.
WRDQ airs Orlando City SC soccer matches since 2016.
| TV stations in Florida | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami – Fort Lauderdale | Tampa – St. Petersburg | Jacksonville | Orlando – Daytona Beach – Melbourne | Gainesville | West Palm Beach – Fort Pierce | Panama City | Fort Myers – Naples | Pensacola / Mobile |
| WCAY-CD, Key West | WPDS-LD, Largo | WJXT, Jacksonville | WDSC, Daytona Beach | WRUF-LD, Gainesville | WWCI-CD, Vero Beach | WPCT, Panama City Beach | WGPS-LP, Fort Myers | WRBD-LP, Pensacola |
| WURH-CD, Miami | WARP-CD, Tampa | WQXT-CD, St. Augustine | WOTF, Daytona Beach | WBXG-CA, Gainesville | WHDT, Stuart | WBQP-CD, Pensacola | ||
| WBEC, Ft. Lauderdale | WTAM-LD, Tampa | WBXJ-CD, Jacksonville | WRDQ, Orlando | WYME-CD, Gainesville | WBEC, Boca Raton | WJTC, Pensacola | ||
| WMOR, Lakeland | W39DF-D, Jacksonville | WFEF-LD, Orlando | WXOD-LD, Wabasso | WFBD, Destin | ||||
| WZRA-CA, Oldsmar | WEFS, Cocoa | W05DH-D, Jupiter | WPAN, Fort Walton Beach | |||||
| WHDO-CD, Orlando | WAWD, Fort Walton Beach | |||||||
| WZXZ-CD, Orlando | ||||||||
| TV stations in East Central Florida and the Space Coast, including Orlando, Daytona Beach and Melbourne |
|---|
| WESH 2 (NBC) WKMG 6 (CBS) WFTV 9 (ABC) WDSC 15 (ETV) WKCF 18 (CW) W21AU-D 21 (ATeVe) WUCF 24 (PBS) WOTF 26 (Grit) WRDQ 27 (Ind) WFEF-LD 28 (Comet) WRCF-CD 29 (UMas) WTMO-CD/WKME-CD/WMVJ-CD 31 (TLM) W32DJ-D 32 (3ABN) WOFL 35 (Fox) WZXZ-CD 36 (SSN) WHDO-CD 38 (Biz) WVEN 43 (UNI) WTGL 45 (Rel) WATV-LD 47 (AZA) WDTO-LD 50 (Daystar) WHLV 52 (TBN) WACX 55 (Rel) WOPX 56 (Ion) WRBW 65 (MNTV) WEFS 68 (ETV) |