Editing WDIO-DT (section)

==History==
WDIO-TV first went on the air on January 24, 1966,<ref>[https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=86141 FCC History Cards for WDIO-TV (WDIO-DT)]. [[Federal Communications Commission]].</ref> and has transmitted from its first day in [[color television|color]]. It immediately joined ABC, which had previously been relegated to off-hours clearances on [[CBS]] affiliate KDAL-TV (channel 3, now [[KDLH]]) and [[NBC]] affiliate WDSM-TV (channel 6, now [[KBJR-TV]]). It was owned by Frank Befera, a trained engineer who owned a chain of radio stations across northeastern Minnesota. WIRT went on the air on August 31, 1967. Befera sold channels 10 and 13 to publishers [[Harcourt (publisher)|Harcourt Brace Jovanovich]] in 1977,<ref>''Television and Cable Factbook'', 1988 edition</ref> but remained as president and general manager. HBJ sold the stations to Hubbard Broadcasting in 1986, and Befera retired a year later.

The station utilized a longtime logo from the 1980s until 2019, when it switched to a callsign-only logo. The lettering used in the logo (which blends a number "10" into the "IO" lettering) dates back to as late as the early 1970s. Changes to the 10/13 logo until 2019 merely depended on changes to ABC's logo and branding guidelines.

On April 11, 2008, a [[blizzard]] swept through the Northland. This resulted in power outages in Duluth, causing WDIO, KDLH and KBJR all to lose their signal at times.

On November 28, 2011, [[MeTV]] replaced RTV on 10.2 and 13.2.<ref>[http://www.wdio.com/article/stories/S2362298.shtml?cat=10335 WDIO: "WDIO/WIRT-DT to Launch Me-TV", November 7, 2011.]</ref> At the end of September 2017, WDIO/WIRT added [[Ion Television]] programming to their third subchannels, and all three signals now run in [[720p]] [[high-definition television|high definition]].<ref>{{cite press release|title=WDIO/WIRT Brings ION Television to the Northland|publisher=WDIO/WIRT|date=September 27, 2017|url=http://www.wdio.com/news/wdio-wirt-ion-television-network/4616315/?cat=10335|access-date=September 28, 2017}}</ref>

Every [[New Year's Eve]], WDIO often cuts in to ''[[Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve]]'' to broadcast the [[St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic Health System|SMDC]] New Year's Eve Ball, which was a fundraiser for the hospital. In 2008, after 17 years of televising the event, WDIO announced that it would stop its annual broadcast. This decision, along with declining attendance, led to the decision to cancel the event. The Ball itself ran for 23 years and at its peak hosted 4,000 guests.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 18, 2008 |title=SMDC says the New Year's Eve Ball is over |url=https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/smdc-says-the-new-years-eve-ball-is-over |access-date=October 2, 2024 |website=Duluth News Tribune |language=en}}</ref>