WBKO-DT2

WBKO-DT2
Bowling Green, Kentucky
United States
Branding WBKO Fox
Slogan Bowling Green's Fox
Channels Digital: WBKO-DT 13.2 (VHF/PSIP)
Affiliations Fox [1]
Owner Gray Television
(Gray Television Licensee, LLC)
Founded September 6, 2006 (2006-09-06)
Call letters' meaning see WBKO
Former channel number(s) 33.2 (UHF digital, 2006–2009)
Former affiliations Secondary: Jewelry Television (overnights, 2006-2016)
Transmitter power 31.5 kW
Height 220.5 metres (723 ft)
Facility ID 4692
Transmitter coordinates 37°3′49.4″N 86°26′6.7″W / 37.063722°N 86.435194°W / 37.063722; -86.435194
Website WBKO.com

WBKO-DT2 is the Fox-affiliated television station for South Central Kentucky. Licensed to Bowling Green, the station is the second digital subchannel of ABC affiliate WBKO that is owned by Gray Television. WBKO-DT2's parent studios are located at 2727 Russellville Road (US 68/KY 80) alongside the William H. Natcher Parkway in Bowling Green.

Over the air, it broadcasts a 16:9 standard definition widescreen digital signal on VHF digital channel 13.2 (displayed as channel 13.2 via PSIP) from the station's transmitter, which is located in unincorporated northern Warren County along Kentucky Route 185 (Richardsville Road). WBKO-DT2 can also be viewed via Time Warner Cable channels 8 (SD) and 910 (HD).[2]

History

South Central Kentucky's original Fox affiliate was WKNT (now WNKY) from January 10, 1992 until March 27, 2001, when WNKY dropped its Fox affiliation to become an NBC affiliate.[3][4] At that point, WZTV in Nashville, Tennessee became the default Fox affiliate for Bowling Green over-the-air, and on cable in many locations in the Bowling Green market. However, WDRB in Louisville was carried on cable systems in Hart County. WCAY-TV (now WUXP, later a UPN affiliate, now a MyNetworkTV affiliate) was the default Fox affiliate for Bowling Green from the network's 1987 inception until that station lost it to WZTV in 1990. That station became the default Fox affiliate for the Bowling Green area from that point until WNKY signed up with Fox in 1992 only to re-assume the title from March 2001 until September 2006. From 1990 until 1992, Campbellsville-licensed WGRB (now CW affiliate WBKI-TV) was an alternate Fox affiliate for some areas east of Bowling Green until their switch to The WB in 1997.

On September 5, 2006, WBKO-DT2 was launched to serve as a new Fox affiliate for the Bowling Green media market.[5] [6] WBKO-DT3 was launched 13 days later as an over-the-air relaunch of cable-exclusive "WBWG," an affiliate of The CW (via The CW Plus) upon that network's launch after The WB's merger with UPN.

On February 1, 2007, which was not more than nearly five months after WBKO-DT2's launch, WNKY launched their second subchannel, WNKY-DT2, to serve as the market's first locally based CBS affiliate after many decades of Nashville's WTVF being the default CBS station. As a result of the 2007 inception of WNKY-DT2, and WCZU-LD's early 2014 sign on with programming from MyNetworkTV (a sister channel to Fox) and classic TV multi-cast network Antenna TV, Bowling Green now offers every major over-the-air broadcast network except for the ION Television programming service. Cookeville-licensed ION Owned-and-operated station WNPX-TV is the default over-the-air ION station, and all cable and satellite providers carry ION's national feed. WZTV's over-the-air signal can still be picked up in some areas of the market. WZTV was dropped from many cable systems in the market, but both WZTV and WBKO-DT2 are available on Mediacom cable systems serving the Morgantown (Butler County) and Brownsville (Edmonson County) areas.[7] In addition, the two Fox affiliates are also carried on WesternCable, the in-campus cable system available in classrooms and residential halls at locally based Western Kentucky University.[8]

Analog-to-digital transition and beyond

See also: WBKO

On December 8, 2008 at 1:15 a.m. CT, WBKO shut down its analog signal in a flash-cut procedure, becoming the first full-powered station in Bowling Green to do so.[9][10] This allowed the station to begin the process of installing a new digital antenna and other equipment. Its digital signal had been scheduled to move from UHF channel 33 to VHF channel 13 on or immediately after December 22. However, due to inclement weather and the holiday season, the construction took longer than anticipated with eight more days of construction resuming on January 3, 2009.[11]

Due to the installation of the equipment at the transmitter site, the digital signal (on UHF channel 33) was off-the-air during daytime hours so that installation work could be completed.[12] Until the completion of the over-the-air transition, WBKO and its associated subchannels were seen non-stop on several area cable systems. According to Weather Director Chris Allen's official Facebook page on May 20, 2010, he posted Dish Network was in the process of adding WBKO's main signal and Fox subchannel to its system (the actual addition occurred June 3). Viewers living in Warren, Butler, Barren, Edmonson, Hart, and Metcalfe Counties in South Central Kentucky, all of which will make up the Bowling Green DMA, are eligible to switch to Bowling Green local stations. This was made possible by the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010 signed into law by President Barack Obama the week prior. DirecTV currently does not offer any of Bowling Green's local channels.

Programming

General programming

WBKO-DT2 broadcasts the entire Fox network primetime schedule and weekend schedules, except for the Xploration Station Saturday morning block. Fox's programming also includes some national Special Reports from Fox News and Fox News Sunday. Syndicated programs on WBKO-DT2 include The Real, The People's Court, The Big Bang Theory, 2 Broke Girls, How I Met Your Mother, The Middle, Mike & Molly, Everybody Loves Raymond, Two and a Half Men, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Extra. WBKO-DT2's weekend lineup of syndicated programs include Animal Rescue, Teen Kids News, Dog Tales, Glee, Blue Bloods, Elementary, and Person of Interest. [13]

Until June 2016, WBKO-DT2 ran programming from Jewelry Television overnights from 1:00 to 9:00 a.m. CT. Jewelry Television was dropped overnights and replaced with infomercials and replays of certain syndicated programming from the main channel.

Sports programming

Sports programming on WBKO-DT2 includes Fox College Football games on Saturday, NASCAR on Fox, and the NFL Sunday afternoon games featuring NFC road games. That also includes instances when the Tennessee Titans (based in Nashville), who play in the AFC, plays host to an NFC opponent, which usually happens two to three times per season. In addition, the station also carries THIS is Kentucky Basketball as part of the UK Sports Network's television package offered by sister station WKYT-TV in Lexington.

Until the discontinuation of the Southeastern Conference men's basketball and football syndication packages by Raycom Sports and ESPN Plus-oriented SEC TV in 2009 and 2014, respectively, WBKO-DT2 had carried any ABC broadcast of a college football game that would conflict with the timing of SEC TV's broadcast of a football game. Some SEC games were also seen on WBKO-DT2, depending on the schedules of WBKO and WBKO-DT3.

Newscasts

On October 21, 2007, WBKO-DT2 began airing a thirty-minute prime time newscast on weeknights known as WBKO Fox News at 9. Sarah Goebel originally anchored the show until early 2008, when she was promoted to WBKO's main weeknight broadcasts. After this, Daniel Kemp was the news anchor until early June, when he moved to the weekend newscasts on the main channel. Julie Talley would host the prime time broadcast for a short time in mid-2008, after which reporter and internet producer Sam Provenzano anchored the show until its cancellation. WBKO Fox News at 9 stopped airing on November 28, 2008, as a result of financial issues. WBKO-DT2 continues to replay the main channel's MidDay Live on a tape delay on weekdays at 12 noon CT. The broadcast features news anchor Hayley Harmon and Weather Director Chris Allen. In addition, the station carries an alert map display denoted with the main channel's news logo on the bottom of the screen during severe weather situations affecting any county in WBKO's coverage area.

Beginning on June 13, 2016, WBKO-DT2 began broadcasting a replay of AM Kentucky, the main channel's 90-minute weekday morning newscast.

References

  1. ↑ Fox Broadcasting Company | FOX Affiliates
  2. ↑ Time Warner Cable - Channel lineup for Bowling Green
  3. ↑ "FOX Across America - FOX.com". Archived from the Original October 19, 1996. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  4. ↑ Home - WKNT.com. Archived from the Original August 17, 2000. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  5. ↑ Cetawayo, Ameerah (February 21, 2006). "WBKO FOX coming to region". Bowling Green Daily News. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  6. ↑ WBKO | Fox - FAQ. Archived from the Original July 20, 2006.
  7. ↑ Mediacom Channel Lineup: Morgantown, Brownsville, Butler Co., and Edmonson Co., KY
  8. ↑ Where to Watch US | WKU PBS
  9. ↑ "WBKO Shuts Down Analog Signal". WBKO. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
  10. ↑ "FCC Databale". United States Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
  11. ↑ "Digital Transition". WBKO. Retrieved December 19, 2008.
  12. ↑ "Important Digital Changeover Information". WBKO. Retrieved December 19, 2008.
  13. ↑ "Program Guide". WBKO. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
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