WCDC began broadcasting on February 5, 1954 as WMGT (Mount Greylock Television) on UHF channel 74, the highest channel to ever be used by a full-power television station in U.S. history. WMGT began as a separate station affiliated with the DuMont network. The tower location on Mount Greylock (part of a state reserve) helped WMGT serve first as the market's secondary affiliate of DuMont and later as a major boost to WCDA. In December 1954, WMGT moved to channel 19 extending the station's range to the Capital District of New York State. In February 1956, it was forced off the air when a storm damaged its transmitter tower. Capital Cities bought the license and returned it to the air in 1957 under its final calls, WCDC. (The WMGT callsign now resides at an NBC-affiliated station in Macon, Georgia.) After Capital Cities returned WCDC to the air and until it shut down, it served as a straight simulcast of WCDA/WTEN. Due to substantial snow and ice build-up, a tower collapse forced WCDC off the air again in March 1983. Most cable systems on the Vermont and Massachusetts sides of the market picked up WCDC's signal. WTEN's various owners also leased tower space to other entities, including the Massachusetts State Police and competitor WNYT for their area translator station.