Thanks for a televised voice for the region's blacks

There is an icon in the Village that is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The icon is WDRL-TV 24/54.

WDRL-TV is owned by Mel Eleazer Enterprises. The station went on the air on August 18, 1994 in Danville as a Warner Brother affiliate. Its viewing audience was Danville and Pittsylvania County. The station had three employees: Mel Eleazer, William Harris and Gail Calloway.

WDRL-TV moved to Roanoke in July 1997. The reason for the move was that Roanoke allowed the station to have a larger market. On January 5, 1998 the station became a UPN affiliate. They recently formed an association with MBC network, thus expanding their programs of interest to the African American community.

Mel and WDRL have endeared themselves to the Village because of their involvement and coverage of events such as Henry Street Festival, Roanoke city political debates, NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner, Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Worship Service, just to name a few.

Its fall line-up includes football games of historically black colleges. Its Sunday line-up contains a wide range of church services not only locally (including mine), but nationally. Dr. William Jones of Brooklyn and Bishop T.D. Jakes of Dallas are among the programs.

The station is now finalizing its plans for five nights of local and national news geared to the African American community. To accomplish this, WDRL-TV hired Paul Houston, a former newscaster at WSLS-TV 10, as its news anchor.

Last month, WDRL-TV was authorized to move its digital transmitter to Smith Mountain Lake in order to improve its signal coverage into Roanoke, Lynchburg, Danville and Rocky Mount. WDRL-TV covers 94% of cable and satellite presentation in the market.

Mel has an excellent staff, which includes his wife, Nellie, as public service director. She assists clients in developing commercials for their business.

Mel and WDRL is actively involved in youth programs. He has provided resources that allowed kids go to summer camps and assisted churches in their youth programs such as Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

WDRL-TV 24/54 has become an integral part of our Village and we wish them many more years of successful and quality broadcasting.

Floyd Davis' God's House Baptist Ministry airs at 5:30-6:30 p.m. every Sunday and "One on One" at 2:00-2:30 p.m. every Sunday.