WCKD-LP is a low power television station in Bangor, Maine

Bangor, Maine

Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...

. Its signal originates from a transmitter in East Eddington, Maine, and is seen on UHF

Ultra high frequency

Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...

 channel 30. The station is not carried on any local cable systems.

History

The station was launched in the mid-1990s under the call sign

Call sign

In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...

 W30BF as part of MPBN Plus

Maine Public Broadcasting Network

The Maine Public Broadcasting Network is a state network of public television and radio stations located in the state of Maine in the United States. It is operated by the Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation, which holds the licenses for all the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public...

, Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

's secondary public television network

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

. When MPBN Plus folded, W30BF was sold to James McLeod, owner of Pax (now Ion) affiliate WBGR-LP

WBGR-LP

WBGR-LP is a low-powered television station located in Bangor, Maine, licensed to both Bangor and Dedham. The station is affiliated with the Ion Television, World Harvest and Liberty Channel networks, and broadcasts on channel 33 and channel 12 on Time Warner Cable...

. McLeod subsequently executed a Local Marketing Agreement (LMA) with 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 WVII-TV

WVII-TV

WVII-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Central and Eastern Maine licensed to Bangor. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 7 from a transmitter on Black Cap Mountain along the Penobscot and Hancock County line. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable...

, who changed changed channel 30's call sign to WCKD-LP in April 2001 and affiliated the station with 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...

. After Portland's

Portland, Maine

Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...

 WPXT

WPXT

WPXT is the CW-affiliated television station for Southern Maine and Northern New Hampshire licensed to Portland. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 43 from a transmitter in South Gray along I-95/Maine Turnpike/Gold Star Memorial Highway...

 dropped its 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...

 affiliation for 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 2001, WVII negotiated with Fox to convert WCKD to Fox. However, UPN threatened legal action for breach of its affiliation agreement, and WVII abandoned its plans to convert WCKD to Fox. However, WCKD did air Fox Sports

Fox Sports (USA)

Fox Sports is a division of the Fox Broadcasting Company . It was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League games...

 programming, including Super Bowl XXXVI

Super Bowl XXXVI

Super Bowl XXXVI was an American football game played on February 3, 2002 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 2001 regular season. The American Football Conference champion New England Patriots won their first Super...

. WVII then launched WFVX-LP

WFVX-LP

WFVX-LP is the primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV television station for Central and Eastern Maine licensed to Bangor. It broadcasts a low-powered analog signal on UHF channel 22 from a transmitter on Black Cap Mountain along the Penobscot and Hancock County line. The station can also be seen on...

/Channel 22 in 2003, which became the Fox affiliate. WFVX inherited WCKD's syndicated programming, leaving the station airing UPN programming and Jewelry Television

Jewelry Television

Jewelry Television is an American television network, similar to the Home Shopping Network. It was formerly called "America's Collectibles Network" . The privately-held company was founded in 1993 and broadcasts high definition programming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to over 80 million unique...

. WCKD remained a UPN affiliate until early 2005, when it began to air programming from Jewelry Television

Jewelry Television

Jewelry Television is an American television network, similar to the Home Shopping Network. It was formerly called "America's Collectibles Network" . The privately-held company was founded in 1993 and broadcasts high definition programming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to over 80 million unique...

 fulltime. Control of WCKD reverted back to James McLeod when the LMA terminated. In 2006, the station became a TBN

Trinity Broadcasting Network

The Trinity Broadcasting Network is a major American Christian television network. TBN is based in Costa Mesa, California, with auxiliary studio facilities in Irving, Texas; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Gadsden, Alabama; Decatur, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; and New...

 affiliate, even though TBN already owned a repeater (W36CK

W36CK

W36CK is a low-power television station licensed to Bangor, Maine. It was most recently a repeater that broadcast programming from the Trinity Broadcasting Network, via satellite. The station broadcasts on UHF channel 36, with no digital signal currently on-the-air...

) in the market.

In 2007, James McLeod sold WCKD to Western Family Television.