WBKI-TV
Encyclopedia
WBKI-TV is the CW-affiliated television station
for the Kentuckiana area of North-Central Kentucky
and Southern Indiana
. Licensed to Campbellsville, Kentucky
, the station broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 19 (or virtual channel
34.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in Raywick, Kentucky
. It can also be seen on Insight
channel 7 and in high definition on digital channel 914. Owned by Fusion Communications, the station is operated through a local marketing agreement
(LMA) by the Belo Corporation making it a sister outlet to ABC
affiliate WHAS-TV
.
WBKI has studios within the Kaden Tower
on Dutchmans Lane (in Louisville's Bowman section) along I-265
/US 60
/Henry Watterson
Expressway. WHAS has a separate facility on West Chestnut Street in Downtown Lousiville
. Syndicated
programming on this station includes TMZ on TV
, The Insider
, Judge Karen's Court, and The Tyra Banks Show
among others.
network VasalloVision
which cannot be seen on any digital cable
providers at the current time.
The station signed-on November 22, 1982
as WGRB and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 34. It was a small Independent outlet serving a rural area on the far southern fringe of the Louisville market
. It became a Fox
affiliate in 1990. Although Louisville's Fox affiliate, WDRB
, broadcast at the maximum million watts of power
, it didn't get much penetration into the southern part of the market, and cable didn't get much penetration into the area at the time.
The station switched to The WB
in 1997, fulfilling a similar role in regards to the main WB outlet for Louisville, WBNA
. However, WBNA was a conservative religious station, and its owner, Evangel World Prayer Center, frequently pre-empted most of the network's more risqué shows. The WB soon had enough, and in 1998 made WGRB the sole WB outlet for Louisville.
At the same time, WGRB announced plans to build a new transmission tower closer to Louisville and upgrade its analog signal to a full five million watts. The station activated this new, more powerful tower in 1999. Along with updated transmitter, it adopted WWWB as its call sign on November 29, 1999 likely in tribute to the "dubba-dubba-WB!" jingle the network utilized at the time. On September 19, 2000, the calls changed again to the current WBKI-TV.
On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN
announced the two networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents "C"BS
(the parent company of UPN) and the "W"arner Bros.
unit of Time Warner
. On February 22, News Corporation
announced it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV
. This new service, which would be a sister network to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming Independent. It was also created to compete against The CW.
Shortly afterward on March 1, the Cascade Broadcasting Group
, then-owner of WBKI, announced that channel 34 would be joining the CW. It was one of the first outlets outside of the core CBS and Tribune Company
-owned stations to announce an affiliation agreement with the new network. Meanwhile, UPN affiliate WFTE
(owned by Block Communications
in a duopoly
with WDRB) made public it would join MyNetworkTV which officially occurred on September 5. On September 18, 2006, WBKI became part of The CW at the network's launch. It was decided to continue using WBKI as its call letters to avoid audience confusion and refer to "Kentuckiana". In February 2007, Cascade Broadcasting took over the operations of W24BW
(known unofficially as "WYCS") with an option to buy.
The company went bankrupt
in 2008, resulting in WBKI and W24BW being put up for sale at an auction, with the winning bid submitted by Fusion Communications. The transaction cleared the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) and the new ownership became effective in August 2009. Later that year, Fusion moved the station's operations from its longtime facility on Alliant Avenue in Louisville's St. Matthews
section to the Kaden Tower. At some point in time, WBKI added VasalloVision to a new second digital subchannel
. In 2011, the Belo Corporation (owner of WHAS) took over this station's operations through a local marketing agreement. However, both stations retained separate studios, unlike most other similar arrangements established between two outlets.
, Campbellsville, to provide that area city grade coverage. As a result, the station's main transmitter only provides "rimshot" coverage of Louisville itself despite its power and height. It is all but unviewable over-the-air in much of the Indiana side of the market even in digital. To make up for this shortfall in coverage, WBKI set up a Class A
repeater
on channel 28 at the Kentuckiana tower farm northeast of Floyds Knobs, Indiana
shortly after getting The WB affiliation. WBKI was the first Louisville-market station to go digital-exclusive. Before Cascade was forced into bankruptcy, the company asked for permission to move WBKI's city of license to Bardstown
. Presumably, this change would have allowed it to build a new tower closer to Louisville and shut down the channel 28 repeater.
However, the station currently plans to keep its license in Campbellsville and upgrade WBKI-CA to digital as well. The repeater was not mandated by federal law to cease analog transmission in 2009 because it was not a full-powered outlet. The FCC has provided Class A and low-powered stations an additional two years past the original digital transition deadline in order to switch to digital. Current listings with the FCC only mention the existence of WBKI-CA and the station is licensed to a separate entity, Word of God Fellowship. It is unknown if programming from WBKI is still simulcasted on the repeater.
, WBKI claims the largest coverage area of any station in Kentucky. The station provides at least secondary coverage (Grade B signal or better) from the Tennessee
border to Southern Indiana. This area includes portions of the Bowling Green
and Lexington markets. 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 Lexington's default WB affiliate, and even operated a "virtual channel" on primary cable systems in that area with separate identifications. With the launch of The CW, WBKI was dropped from most cable providers in the Bowling Green and Lexington areas since that network airs on subcarriers of WBKO
and WKYT-TV
respectively. It can still be seen over-the-air in much of the Lexington area and on about twenty other cable systems in Central Kentucky
. The station is also available on cable in three counties in Tennessee.
. For several years, the station produced a local weekday morning entertainment and lifestyle show known as Louisville Live This Morning. Airing in a magazine-type format for an hour, the broadcast could be seen from 10 until 11. At one point in time, WBKI also carried a newscast weeknights at 5:30 called The CW World Report offering national and international coverage.
That half-hour program was produced by Fusion Communications' sister operation Independent News Network
and originated from studios on Tremont Avenue in Davenport, Iowa
. Through a news share agreement, WHAS continues to produce a nightly prime time newscast on WBKI. Known as WHAS 11 News at 10 on WBKI, the broadcast airs for thirty minutes from the WHAS studios. It competes with a nightly 45 minute newscast seen at the same time on Fox affiliate WDRB.
Anchors
Reporters
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
for the Kentuckiana area of North-Central Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
and Southern Indiana
Southern Indiana
Southern Indiana, in the United States, consists of the 33 counties located in the southernmost part of the state. The region's history and geography has led to a blend of Northern and Southern culture distinct from the remainder of Indiana. It is often considered to be part of the Upland South...
. Licensed to Campbellsville, Kentucky
Campbellsville, Kentucky
Campbellsville is a city in Taylor County, Kentucky, United States. The population within city limits was 10,498 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Taylor County, and the home of Campbellsville University...
, the station broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
digital signal on UHF channel 19 (or virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
34.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in Raywick, Kentucky
Raywick, Kentucky
Raywick is a city in Marion County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 144 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Raywick is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
. It can also be seen on Insight
Insight Communications
Insight Communications is the 13th largest multiple system operator in the United States with approximately 692,000 customers in the three contiguous states of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio...
channel 7 and in high definition on digital channel 914. Owned by Fusion Communications, the station is operated through a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
(LMA) by the Belo Corporation making it a sister outlet to ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate WHAS-TV
WHAS-TV
WHAS-TV channel 11 is the ABC affiliated television station in Louisville, Kentucky. Owned by Belo Corporation, the station's transmitter is located in Floyd County, Indiana, near the community of Floyds Knobs...
.
WBKI has studios within the Kaden Tower
Kaden Tower
Kaden Tower is a 15-story office building at 6100 Dutchmans Lane in suburban Louisville, Kentucky. The building opened in 1966 as the headquarters for Lincoln Income Life Insurance Company and was originally named Lincoln Tower. Designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, the building is notable...
on Dutchmans Lane (in Louisville's Bowman section) along I-265
Interstate 264 (Kentucky)
The Henry Watterson Expressway, also known as the Georgia Davis Powers/Shawnee Expressway west of US 31W, is one of two Interstate Highways in the United States designated as Interstate 264 . It is 22.93 miles in length, and runs an open circle around central Louisville, Kentucky...
/US 60
U.S. Route 60 in Kentucky
Upon entering Kentucky, U.S. 60 is concurrent with U.S. 51 and U.S. 62 from the Ohio River bridge to the town of Wickliffe. At Wickliffe, U.S. 60 separates from the other routes and heads generally northeast toward the city of Paducah. Between Wickliffe and Paducah, the towns of Barlow, La Center...
/Henry Watterson
Henry Watterson
Henry Watterson was a United States journalist who founded the Louisville Courier-Journal.He also served part of one term in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat....
Expressway. WHAS has a separate facility on West Chestnut Street in Downtown Lousiville
Downtown Louisville
Downtown Louisville is the largest central business district in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the urban hub of the Louisville, Kentucky Metropolitan Area. Its boundaries are the Ohio River to the north, Hancock Street to the east, York and Jacob Streets to the south, and 9th Street to the west...
. Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programming on this station includes TMZ on TV
TMZ on TV
TMZ on TV, or simply TMZ and TMZTV, is an American syndicated entertainment and gossip news television show that premiered on September 10, 2007. The program is generally aired on Fox, The CW and MyNetworkTV affiliates, though a majority of the stations that carry the series are Fox affiliates...
, The Insider
The Insider (TV series)
The Insider is an American tabloid television news program covering events and celebrities. It debuted on September 13, 2004 as a spinoff of Entertainment Tonight and started as a popular segment that took viewers "behind closed doors" and gave them "inside" information...
, Judge Karen's Court, and The Tyra Banks Show
The Tyra Banks Show
The Tyra Banks Show, also known as and shortened to Tyra or The Tyra Show, is an American talk show hosted by Tyra Banks. The last new episode aired on Friday, May 28, 2010.-2005-2009: Syndication:...
among others.
Digital programming
On WBKI-DT2 is the Spanish languageSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
network VasalloVision
VasalloVision
VasalloVision is a small Spanish-language TV network in the USA that caters to the Mexican audience. Its programming mainly consists of movies, pro wrestling and some kids' shows. The network is currently made up of four stations, mostly in the western USA....
which cannot be seen on any digital cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
providers at the current time.
| Channels | Name | Video | Aspect Aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,... |
Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34.1 | WBKI-DT | 1080i 1080i 1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels... |
16:9 16:9 16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ... |
Main WBKI programming / The CW |
| 34.2 | WBKI-DT2 | 480i 480i 480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC... |
4:3 | VasalloVision |
History
1982 in television
The year 1982 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1982.For the American TV schedule, see: 1982-83 American network television schedule.-Events:...
as WGRB and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 34. It was a small Independent outlet serving a rural area on the far southern fringe of the Louisville market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
. It became a Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
affiliate in 1990. Although Louisville's Fox affiliate, WDRB
WDRB
WDRB is a television station in Louisville, Kentucky, broadcasting locally on channel 41 as a Fox affiliate. Owned by Block Communications, the station's transmitter is located in Floyds Knobs, Indiana alongside sister-station WMYO...
, broadcast at the maximum million watts of power
Effective radiated power
In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...
, it didn't get much penetration into the southern part of the market, and cable didn't get much penetration into the area at the time.
The station switched to The WB
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
in 1997, fulfilling a similar role in regards to the main WB outlet for Louisville, WBNA
WBNA
WBNA is an affiliate of the Ion Television network, located in Louisville, Kentucky and broadcasting over digital channel 8. WBNA is owned by Evangel World Prayer Center, an Assemblies of God megachurch in Louisville...
. However, WBNA was a conservative religious station, and its owner, Evangel World Prayer Center, frequently pre-empted most of the network's more risqué shows. The WB soon had enough, and in 1998 made WGRB the sole WB outlet for Louisville.
At the same time, WGRB announced plans to build a new transmission tower closer to Louisville and upgrade its analog signal to a full five million watts. The station activated this new, more powerful tower in 1999. Along with updated transmitter, it adopted WWWB as its call sign on November 29, 1999 likely in tribute to the "dubba-dubba-WB!" jingle the network utilized at the time. On September 19, 2000, the calls changed again to the current WBKI-TV.
On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
announced the two networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents "C"BS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
(the parent company of UPN) and the "W"arner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
unit of Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
. On February 22, News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
announced it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
. This new service, which would be a sister network to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming Independent. It was also created to compete against The CW.
Cascade Broadcasting Group
There were two companies under the name Cascade Broadcasting Company:-Cascade Broadcasting Company :The first Cascade Broadcasting Company was based in Yakima, Washington...
, then-owner of WBKI, announced that channel 34 would be joining the CW. It was one of the first outlets outside of the core CBS and Tribune Company
Tribune Company
The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...
-owned stations to announce an affiliation agreement with the new network. Meanwhile, UPN affiliate WFTE
WMYO
WMYO is a television station serving the Louisville, Kentucky market as a My Network TV affiliate on channel 58. The station is owned by the Independence Television subsidiary of Block Communications with sister-station WDRB in Louisville...
(owned by Block Communications
Block Communications
Block Communications is a privately held holding company of various assets, mainly in the print and broadcast media, based in Toledo, Ohio. The company was founded in 1900 in New York City when Paul Block, a German immigrant who came to the United States fifteen years prior, formed an ad...
in a duopoly
Duopoly (broadcasting)
In United States broadcast television and radio, duopoly is a term used to describe a single company which owns two or more stations in the same city or community....
with WDRB) made public it would join MyNetworkTV which officially occurred on September 5. On September 18, 2006, WBKI became part of The CW at the network's launch. It was decided to continue using WBKI as its call letters to avoid audience confusion and refer to "Kentuckiana". In February 2007, Cascade Broadcasting took over the operations of W24BW
W24BW
WKYI-CD, is an independent station in Louisville, Kentucky which broadcasts on and uses as their PSIP channel slot Channel 24, and which also airs Jewelry Television programming...
(known unofficially as "WYCS") with an option to buy.
The company went bankrupt
Bankruptcy in the United States
Bankruptcy in the United States is governed under the United States Constitution which authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States." Congress has exercised this authority several times since 1801, most recently by adopting the Bankruptcy...
in 2008, resulting in WBKI and W24BW being put up for sale at an auction, with the winning bid submitted by Fusion Communications. The transaction cleared the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) and the new ownership became effective in August 2009. Later that year, Fusion moved the station's operations from its longtime facility on Alliant Avenue in Louisville's St. Matthews
St. Matthews, Kentucky
St. Matthews is the 20th largest city in Kentucky, United States and is a prominent suburb of Louisville. It is located 8 miles east of downtown Louisville in Jefferson County. It is one of the state's major shopping areas, being home to second and fifth largest malls in Kentucky St. Matthews is...
section to the Kaden Tower. At some point in time, WBKI added VasalloVision to a new second digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
. In 2011, the Belo Corporation (owner of WHAS) took over this station's operations through a local marketing agreement. However, both stations retained separate studios, unlike most other similar arrangements established between two outlets.
Primary coverage area
WBKI's transmitter is located sixty miles south of Downtown Louisville. This is necessary so it can stay close enough to its city of licenseCity of license
A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....
, Campbellsville, to provide that area city grade coverage. As a result, the station's main transmitter only provides "rimshot" coverage of Louisville itself despite its power and height. It is all but unviewable over-the-air in much of the Indiana side of the market even in digital. To make up for this shortfall in coverage, WBKI set up a Class A
Class A television service
The class A television service is a system for regulating some low-power television stations in the United States. Class A stations are denoted by the broadcast callsign suffix "-CA" or "-CD" , although very many analog -CA stations have a digital companion channel that was assigned the -LD...
repeater
Broadcast relay station
A broadcast relay station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator , rebroadcaster , or repeater is a broadcast transmitter which relays, repeats, or reflects the signal of another radio station or television station, usually to an area not covered by the signal of the originating station...
on channel 28 at the Kentuckiana tower farm northeast of Floyds Knobs, Indiana
Floyds Knobs, Indiana
Floyds Knobs is a small unincorporated town in Lafayette Township, Floyd County, Indiana. Historically a farming community on the outskirts of New Albany, it has since become a bedroom community for Louisville, Kentucky, containing subdivisions, farms, small shopping centers and churches, and...
shortly after getting The WB affiliation. WBKI was the first Louisville-market station to go digital-exclusive. Before Cascade was forced into bankruptcy, the company asked for permission to move WBKI's city of license to Bardstown
Bardstown, Kentucky
As of the census of 2010, there were 11,700 people, 4,712 households, and 2,949 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 5,113 housing units at an average density of...
. Presumably, this change would have allowed it to build a new tower closer to Louisville and shut down the channel 28 repeater.
However, the station currently plans to keep its license in Campbellsville and upgrade WBKI-CA to digital as well. The repeater was not mandated by federal law to cease analog transmission in 2009 because it was not a full-powered outlet. The FCC has provided Class A and low-powered stations an additional two years past the original digital transition deadline in order to switch to digital. Current listings with the FCC only mention the existence of WBKI-CA and the station is licensed to a separate entity, Word of God Fellowship. It is unknown if programming from WBKI is still simulcasted on the repeater.
Out-of-market coverage area
Due to its transmitter location being roughly halfway between Louisville and LexingtonLexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
, WBKI claims the largest coverage area of any station in Kentucky. The station provides at least secondary coverage (Grade B signal or better) from the Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
border to Southern Indiana. This area includes portions of the Bowling Green
Bowling Green, Kentucky
Bowling Green is the third-most populous city in the state of Kentucky after Louisville and Lexington, with a population of 58,067 as of the 2010 Census. It is the county seat of Warren County and the principal city of the Bowling Green, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area with an estimated 2009...
and Lexington markets. 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 Lexington's default WB affiliate, and even operated a "virtual channel" on primary cable systems in that area with separate identifications. With the launch of The CW, WBKI was dropped from most cable providers in the Bowling Green and Lexington areas since that network airs on subcarriers of WBKO
WBKO
WBKO is the ABC-affiliated television station for South Central Kentucky licensed to Bowling Green. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter along KY 185/Richardsville Road in unincorporated Northern Warren County. The station can also be seen on Insight...
and WKYT-TV
WKYT-TV
WKYT-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station in Lexington, Kentucky, serving the east-central part of Kentucky. Through cable, the station also reaches much of eastern, southern & northern Kentucky. Its transmitter is located in Lexington, east of the intersection of I-75 & US 60...
respectively. It can still be seen over-the-air in much of the Lexington area and on about twenty other cable systems in Central Kentucky
Central Kentucky
Central Kentucky is sometimes considered the Central and Southern part of the Bluegrass region, the Far Upper Western Eastern Mountain Coal Fields, and the Far Upper Eastern Pennyroyal regions. Its major cities include Lexington and Frankfort. Lexington citizens, especially radio and TV stations...
. The station is also available on cable in three counties in Tennessee.
Newscasts
WBKI currently airs the second hour (from 7 until 8) of the three hour-long nationally syndicated morning show, The Daily BuzzThe Daily Buzz
The Daily Buzz is a nationally syndicated breakfast television news and infotainment program. The show is produced by Fisher Communications and is owned and distributed by ACME Communications; it is broadcast every weekday morning from studios at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida...
. For several years, the station produced a local weekday morning entertainment and lifestyle show known as Louisville Live This Morning. Airing in a magazine-type format for an hour, the broadcast could be seen from 10 until 11. At one point in time, WBKI also carried a newscast weeknights at 5:30 called The CW World Report offering national and international coverage.
That half-hour program was produced by Fusion Communications' sister operation Independent News Network
Independent News Network
For the consortium of non-profit investigative news organizations, see .The Independent News Network, also known as INN, is a television news service based in Davenport, Iowa. It syndicates "localized" news programs for television stations across the country with little budget for news...
and originated from studios on Tremont Avenue in Davenport, Iowa
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
. Through a news share agreement, WHAS continues to produce a nightly prime time newscast on WBKI. Known as WHAS 11 News at 10 on WBKI, the broadcast airs for thirty minutes from the WHAS studios. It competes with a nightly 45 minute newscast seen at the same time on Fox affiliate WDRB.
Anchors
- Doug Proffitt - weeknight news
- Joe Arnold - weekend news and reporter
- Monty Webb (AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist seen weeknights - Kristin Walls - weekend meteorologist
- Matt Hobbs - Sports DirectorSports DirectorA sports director is an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. In local news, the sports director is typically the station's primary sportscaster, and often anchors the primetime newscasts on weekdays. They are in charge of sports programming and...
seen weeknights - Adam Lefkoe - weekend sports and sports reporter
- Brandi Williams - The Daily Buzz host
- Andy Campbell - The Daily Buzz host
- Mitch English - The Daily Buzz host
- Kia Malone - The Daily Buzz host
Reporters
- Adrianna Hopkins - fill-in news anchor
- Adam Walser - primary investigative
- Claudia Coffey - fill-in news anchor
- Spinach Bentley - The Daily Buzz
- Anna Prendergast
- Renee Murphy
- Johnny Archer
- Mike Colombo
- Kelsey Starks
- Brooke Katz
- Gene Kang