WKBT
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| WKBT | |
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| La Crosse, Wisconsin | |
| Branding | NewsChannel 8 |
| Slogan | Coverage You Can Count On |
| Channels | Analog: 8 (VHF) |
| Subchannels | 8.1 WKBT/CBS 8.2 MyNetworkTV |
| Affiliations | CBS/MyTV |
| Owner | Morgan Murphy Media (QueenB Television, LLC) |
| First air date | August 8, 1954 |
| Call letters’ meaning | WKBH Television (for "Kimball [Piano] Brings Happiness", as the stations shared ownership with a music store) |
| Former affiliations | All secondary: ABC (1954-1970) DuMont (1954-1955) NBC (1954-1958) |
| Transmitter Power | 316 kW (analog) 494 kW (digital) 20kW (post-transition) |
| Height | 469 m (analog) 461.5 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 74424 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.wkbt.com |
WKBT (NewsChannel 8) is a CBS television affiliate serving West Central Wisconsin, including La Crosse (its city of license) and Eau Claire.
Their main competitors are WXOW/WQOW, WEAU, KTTC (via translator W67CH) and WLAX/WEUX. Notably, WLAX and WEUX did not have an evening newscast until August 28, 2006.
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[edit] History
WKBT launched on August 8, 1954 as sister station to WKBH (known today as WIZM), and carried dual affiliation with CBS and ABC (a set-up that continued until 1970, when WKBT became solely a CBS affiliate). WKBT also briefly had secondary affiliations with DuMont (until 1956) and NBC (until 1958).[1]
In 1965 the downtown La Crosse building that housed both WKBT and WKBH fell victim to fire; WKBT then rebuilt its current building on the same site.
WKBT would later be sold to Harold F. Gross, a businessman from Lansing, Michigan who owned WJIM AM, WJIM-FM and WJIM-TV in that city. WKBT and WJIM-TV would later be sold off in the mid-1980s to Unicom Inc, a unit of Forstmann Little, d.b.a. Backe Communications, following a licensing dispute involving WJIM-TV (which would become WLNS-TV under Unicom). Unicom's ownership of the station was short-lived as in 1986 they sold WLNS and WKBT to Young Broadcasting.
In March 2000, Young sold WKBT to Morgan Murphy Stations (through its QueenB Television subsidiary). The company changed its name to Morgan Murphy Media in 2007.
[edit] Past Slogans/Branding
- Action 8 News
- News Watch 8
- Channel 8 News
- NewsChannel 8 (Current)
- StormTeam 8 (Current Weather Branding)
- Serving the Tri-State
- Do you watch News Watch?
- Take Me There, Make Me Care
- Coverage You Can Count On (current)
[edit] MyNetworkTV La Crosse/Eau Claire
The station also aired UPN on its DT2 digital subchannel as of January 30, 2006. On September 4 of that year, the station switched its affiliation to MyNetworkTV, as announced on March 9.
MNTV La Crosse/Eau Claire is slowly being developed. It carries syndicated shows such as The Simpsons and Dr. Phil as well as programming with local interest, such as Racing Rewind (a show about weekly races at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway), and a few one time airings of local events. There is a newscast called My News at Nine shown weekdays at 9 PM.
On the early snowy morning February 25, 2007, WKBT-DT aired a 2 hour 30 minute live newscast, to keep people informed of a snowfall that brought over 28 inches of snow to the area.
[edit] On-Air Personalities
- Jennifer Livingston - Morning Show Anchor
- Mike Thompson - 5 & 10 PM Co-Anchor (Also working as 6 PM co-anchor until a replacement for Bill Bessette is found)
- Lisa Klein - 5 & 6 PM Co-Anchor
- Martha Koloski - 10 PM Co-Anchor, Also Anchors My NewsChannel 8 at Nine
- Mark McPherson - Reporter and Noon & Weekend Anchor
- Bart Winkler - Reporter
- Jenna Sachs - Reporter
- Tony Beyer - Fill-in Reporter
- Cory Malles - Chief Meteorologist/5, 6, 10 PM Weather and My NewsChannel 8 at Nine Weather
- Bill Graul - Meteorologist/Morning and Noon Weather
- Josh Blumenfeld - Meteorologist/Weekend Weather
- Gregg Wavrunek - Sports Director/Weeknight Sports
- Aaron Matas - Weekend Sports
[edit] Transmitter
WKBT's transmitter is located in Galesville, Wisconsin, about 30 miles north of the actual station in order to provide their signal to the entire market - it also serves as the CBS affiliate for the Chippewa Valley.
The transmitter sits at 1,627 feet (496 m) and sends out both a digital and analog signal. The analog signal has a maximum power output of 316 kilowatts. The digital signal broadcasting both the main CBS signal and the MyNetworkTV signal has a maximum power output of 494 kilowatts. If put up next to the Sears Tower, the WKBT transmitter would surpass the upper roof and fall just about 100 feet short of the highest antenna on top.
[edit] External links
- WKBT Website
- WKBT DT2 MNTV Website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WKBT
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WKBT-TV
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