WBKI-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WBKI-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan = Where YOU Wanna Be!
station_branding = The CW Louisville
analog = 34 (UHF)
digital = 19 (UHF)
other_chs = WBKI-CA 28 Louisville (city)
affiliations = The CW
network =
founded =
airdate = April 1983 [The "Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook" says April 6, while the "Television and Cable Factbook" says April 7.]
location = Campbellsville/Louisville, Kentucky
callsign_meaning = WB KentuckyIndiana
(referring to former affiliation)
former_callsigns = WGRB (1983-1999)
WWWB (1999-2000)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Cascade Broadcasting Group
licensee = nowrap|Louisville Communications, LLC
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = independent (1983-1990)
Fox (1990-1999)
The WB (1999-2006)
effective_radiated_power = 5000 kW (analog)
1000 kW (digital)
HAAT = 387 m (analog)
370 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 25173
coordinates = coord|37|31|51|N|85|26|45|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.cwlouisville.com/ www.cwlouisville.com]

WBKI is The CW affiliate for the Louisville market. It is licensed to Campbellsville, a small city about 85 miles (135 km) southeast of Louisville. Owned by Cascade Broadcasting Group, LLC, the station's transmitter is located near Raywick, Kentucky. Due to WBKI's marginal signal in most of the Louisville area (see below), it also operates on a low-powered repeater, WBKI-CA ch.28, in Louisville.

In 2005, WBKI was The WB's strongest station, beating WGN-TV, KTLA-TV, and KWGN-TV; and the third-highest rated station in Louisville. On January 3, 2005 WBKI launched a newscast produced by WHAS-TV. The show is one of two 10pm newscasts in the Louisville market. The other one is on WDRB-TV.

On March 1, 2006, Cascade announced that WBKI would affiliate with The CW, which debuted in September 2006. [http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6312099.html?display=Breaking+News] Current UPN affiliate WMYO will carry the Monday-Saturday My Network TV programming block from Fox.

In February 2007, Cascade took over operation of W24BW (also known as WYCS) with an option to buy. This station is currently sharing studio space with WBKI.

History

When the station first signed on July 27, 1983, WBKI was WGRB, a much smaller independent station serving the southern portion of the Louisville market. It became a Fox affiliate in 1990, serving areas that couldn't get a good signal from Louisville's Fox affiliate, WDRB.

In April 2000, the station shifted its focus towards Louisville by relocating to a taller transmission tower closer to the city and upgrading its signal to five million watts, the maximum power allowed. Shortly before the move, WGRB became Louisville's WB affiliate, taking over from religious WBNA-TV. Along with the new affiliation came new calls, WWWB. In September 2000, the calls changed again, this time to the current WBKI-TV.

Coverage

WBKI's transmitter is located 60 miles (96 km) from downtown Louisville. This was partly done out of necessity to stay close enough to its city of license, Campbellsville, so as to provide it city grade coverage. FCC regulations require a station's transmitter to be located within 15 miles (24 km) of the city of license. Thus, the station's signal only provides a "rimshot" into Louisville itself and can't be seen at all in most of the Indiana portion of the market. A low-powered transmitter on channel 28 was established in Louisville to improve reception. Also, the station has filed a request to move its city of license to Bardstown, Kentucky. WBKI operates a digital signal on channel 34.1, but will not begin broadcasting 28.1 until late 2008 [Columnist Q&A: Tom Dorsey - [http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=999980212006] ] .

Despite the signal's shortcomings in the Louisville area, WBKI's transmitter location roughly halfway between Louisville and Lexington, as well as its power and height, afford it the advantage of one of the largest coverage areas of any station in Kentucky. WBKI provides at least secondary coverage (Grade B signal or better) from the Tennessee border to southern Indiana. This area includes the Bowling Green and Lexington areas. Consequently, WBKI maintained solid coverage on most cable systems in these areas for most of its tenure with The WB. For all intents and purposes, it was the WB affiliate for Lexington as well, though it never included Lexington in its IDs.

WBKI is available in Louisville on cable channel 7. However, cable coverage of WBKI is not provided in Bowling Green since the cable system offers a local cable-only CW affiliate, WBWG, which is produced by WBKO. Also, WBKI has been dropped from the cable lineup of Insight Communications in Lexington (where it was on cable 17), since The CW's programming will be carried on a subcarrier of Lexington CBS affiliate WKYT-TV, which Insight already offers. WBKI can still be seen over the air in much of the Lexington DMA and on about 20 other cable systems in central Kentucky. [An e-mail query from a Wikipedia member to WBKI Chief Operating Officer Carol LaFever led to news that, due to a condition of WBKI's affiliation agreement, that station must vacate the channel on Insight Lexington for CWKYT, a digital CW channel run by WKYT. ]

Logos

External links

* [http://www.cwlouisville.com/ The CW Louisville]
*TVQ|WBKI
*BIA|WBKI|TV|TV

References