About WDIO
WDIO-TV debuted on the air on January 24, 1966, and has been broadcasting in color since since. It quickly joined ABC, which had previously been restricted to after-hours clearances on CBS station KDAL-TV (channel 3, now KDLH) and NBC affiliate WDSM-TV (channel 6, now KBJR-TV). Frank Befera, a qualified engineer who owned a network of radio stations in northern Minnesota, owned it. WIRT first broadcast on August 31, 1967. In 1977, Befera sold channels 10 and 13 to Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, but remained president and general manager. In 1986, HBJ sold the stations to Hubbard Broadcasting, and Befera retired the following year.From the 1980s until 2019, the station had a long-running logo before switching to a callsign-only logo. The typography of the logo (which incorporates a number "10" into the word "IO") goes back to the early 1970s. Changes to the 10/13 logo were only dependent on changes to ABC's logo and branding rules until 2019.
A snowstorm blew in the Northland on April 11, 2008. This triggered power outages in Duluth, which led WDIO, KDLH, and KBJR to lose service at times.
MeTV replaced RTV on 10.2 and 13.2 on November 28, 2011. WDIO/WIRT introduced Ion Television programs to their third subchannels at the end of September 2017, and all three signals now operate in 720p high definition.