WBKO
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| WBKO | |
|---|---|
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| Bowling Green, Kentucky | |
| Branding | WBKO |
| Slogan | Stay Connected |
| Channels | Analog: 13 (VHF) |
| Affiliations | ABC Fox (on DT2) The CW (on DT3) |
| Owner | Gray Television (Gray Television Licensee, Inc.) |
| First air date | June 3, 1962 |
| Call letters’ meaning | We're Bowling Green, Kentucky's Own |
| Former callsigns | WLTV (1962-1971) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1962-1967) |
| Transmitter Power | 316 kW (analog) 490 kW (digital) |
| Height | 226 m (analog) 202.6 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 4692 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | wbko.com |
WBKO, channel 13, is the ABC-affiliated television station for South Central Kentucky, licensed to Bowling Green. Its transmitter is located 6 miles north of the town on SR 185. Owned by Gray Television, the station has studios on Russellville Road (a.k.a. U.S. 68 and SR 80) in Bowling Green.
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[edit] Overview
WBKO operates the area's Fox affiliate on its second digital subchannel. Known on-air as WBKO Fox, it is also offered on Insight cable channel 8. The station only broadcasts in 480i and not in HD. The station also operates the area's CW affiliate on its third digital subchannel. Known on-air as South Central Kentucky's CW, it is also offered on Insight cable channel 12.
This station also only broadcasts in 480i. As a result of the addition of WBKO Fox, Bowling Green now offers every major network except MyNetworkTV. If that network comes to Bowling Green, the city would be able to sustain its own complete television market without relying on other markets for programming.
[edit] History
The station began broadcasting on June 3, 1962 with the call letters WLTV (standing for Wonderful Live Television). It was an independent station owned by Argus Broadcasting and had studios located in rural Warren County outside Bowling Green proper. On March 6, 1967, WLTV became affiliated with ABC and aired all of its shows. After spending some time off the air in late-1969 due to an explosion destroying its transmitter, WLTV changed hands to Professional Telecasting Systems in 1970.
The new owner adopted the current WBKO (meaning Bowling Green, Kentucky's Own) call sign and instituted color telecasting for local in-studio programming and newscasts in 1971. Also by this time, the station had moved to studios in downtown Bowling Green. Five years later, a local group known as Bluegrass Media, bought WBKO from Professional Telecasting. The station remained in their hands until 1983 when broadcaster A. Richard Benedek took over.
Under Benedek's management, WBKO built its present studios on Russellville Road in 1985. In 2002, Benedek, whose broadcasting empire was hemorrhaging red ink, sold most of his stations (including WBKO) to current owner Gray Television. In 2000, WBKO began broadcasting a digital signal on UHF channel 33. Due to its fairly close proximity to Nashville, Tennessee (about 60 miles), WBKO has often competed with that market's ABC affiliate, WKRN, for viewing allegiances.
[edit] Digital television
The station's digital signal is multiplexed.
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 13.1 / 33.1 | main WBKO programming / ABC HD |
| 13.2 / 33.2 | Fox |
| 13.3 / 33.3 | The CW |
On September 5, 2006, WBKO began to broadcast a Fox affiliate on its second digital subchannel. This filled a gap created in 2001 when WNKY dropped its Fox affiliation and switched to NBC. From its startup, WBKO operated the area's cable-only WB affiliate "WBWG" that was known on-air as WB 12. The call sign was fictional as the station was part of The WB 100+, a group of cable-only WB affiliates that broadcasted in television markets ranked above 100 (the Bowling Green market has a rank of 183).
On January 24, 2006, UPN and The WB announced that they would cease broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. The CW launched on September 18, 2006 and on that date, WBWG became affiliated with The CW via The CW Plus (which is a similar operation to The WB 100+). Also, the station's call letters officially became WBKO-DT3.
[edit] News operation
The station's first newscasts were branded as Channel 13 News Report and began airing in 1963. In 1973, the newscasts became known as NewsCenter 13. Most recently, the newscasts were rebranded to only as the station's call letters. Currently, it is the only full-length local newscast in the Bowling Green market as NBC / CBS affiliate WNKY shows only brief weather updates. WBKO-DT2 began broadcasting WBKO Fox News at 9 on October 21, 2007.
Reporter Sarah Goebel briefly anchored the show until early 2008 when she was promoted to WBKO's weeknight 5, 6, and 10 o'clock broadcasts. Daniel Kemp currently anchors the show. During the week, WBKO-DT2 rebroadcasts Midday Live at Noon. Like most CW plus affiliates, WBKO-DT3 airs the nationally syndicated morning show, The Daily Buzz, on weekdays mornings from 5 to 9.
[edit] News team
Anchors
- Lauren Hanson - AM Kentucky
- reporter
- Laura Rogers - AM Kentucky and MidDay Live
- reporter
- Darla Oglesby - MidDay Live
- Gene Birk - weeknights at 5, 6, and 10
- Sarah Goebel - weeknights at 5, 6, and 10
- reporter
- Daniel Kemp - weeknights at 9 (WBKO FOX)
- reporter
- Tamara Evans - weekends
- reporter
WBKO First Alert Storm Team
- Shane Holinde - weeknights at 5, 6, and 10
- Jason Berry - weeknights at 9 (WBKO FOX) and MidDay Live
- weekends
- Chris Allen - A.M. Kentucky and Midday Live
Sports
- James Brandenburg - weeknights at 6 and 10
- Jeff Woods - weekends
- sports reporter
Reporters
- Ryan Dearbone
- Sam Provenzano
- Forrest Sanders
- Lacey Steele
- Morgan White
[edit] Logos
 WBKO's logo circa September of 1979. |
 WBKO's logo circa January of 1980. |
 WBKO's current logo. |
 Logo for WBKO-DT2. |
 WBWG's old logo. |
 WBKO-DT3's CW logo used at the network's start. |
 WBKO-DT3's second CW logo. |
WBKO-DT3's current CW logo. |
[edit] External links
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