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WNKY
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| WNKY | |
|---|---|
| Bowling Green, Kentucky | |
| Branding | WNKY NBC WNKY CBS |
| Slogan | Your Local News Link |
| Channels | Analog: 40 (UHF) Digital: 16 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | NBC CBS (on DT2) |
| Owner | Max Media |
| Founded | late-1989 |
| Call letters meaning | NBC KentuckY |
| Former callsigns | WQQB (1989-1992) WKNT (1992-2001) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (from late-1989) FOX (until 2001) |
| Transmitter Power | 1,640 kW (analog) 1.77 kW (digital) |
| Website | wnky.net |
Someone please add the official station logo. It can be found at the following address: http://media.wnky.net/images/NEWWNKY%20copy.jpg Afterwards, you can remove the above request.
WNKY is the NBC-affiliated television station for South Central Kentucky. Licensed to Bowling Green, the station broadcasts an analog signal on UHF channel 40 and a digital signal on UHF channel 16. WNKY's transmitter is located north of US 68 and SR 80, west of Hays (about halfway between Bowling Green and Glasgow). Owned by Max Media, the station has studios located on Emmett Avenue in Bowling Green. WNKY is known on-air as "WNKY NBC".
WNKY operates the area's CBS affiliate on its DT2 digital subchannel called WNKY CBS. It is also offered on Insight cable channel 10 and the NBC affiliate on channel 7.
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Although granted a construction permit in 1983, the station first signed on the air in late-1989. At that time, the station operated as an independent station under the callsign WQQB. It had a general entertainment format with a mixture of sitcoms, old movies, and cartoons.
In its early days, the picture and sound quality of the station were very poor and had a low-budget feel. Programs would often broadcast mistracked, sticking, and skipping. Sometimes the picture would appear clear but the sound would consist of complete static. The station had little presence in the market at that time. Many people in the area did not know the station existed.
It would later become a FOX affiliate for the Southern Kentucky region and change its callsign to WKNT. Ultimately, the station became a NBC affiliate in 2001, changed its calls to the current WNKY, and boosted its power from 776,000 watts to 1,640,000 directional with a null to the east.
Before changing to NBC, the network's Nashville, Tennessee affiliate WSMV was the default station in the market. Even after WNKY flipped to NBC, WSMV could still be received in the Bowling Green market in parts that WNKY could not be received in.
In March of 2003, Max Media bought WNKY.
On December 12, 2003, WNKY signed on its digital signal on UHF channel 16 from its broadcsting tower in Hays. WNKY-DT was then added to Insight cable systems in Bowling Green and Electric Power Board cable systems in Glasgow.
On August 7, 2004, WNKY-DT began airing NBC in full 1080i HDTV. This upgrade was made in time to broadcast special NBC-HD coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics from Athens, Greece. WNKY also installed a Dolby model 569 AC-3 surround sound encoder to relay the 5.1 full surround audio from NBC-HD. As of November of 2006, the area's ABC affiliate WBKO has not yet installed any AC-3 audio encoding equipment according to ABC's website.
On October 12, 2006, WNKY signed a long term affiliation deal with CBS to air the network on its DT2 digital subchannel. The CBS station launnched on February 1, 2007. Until that point, Bowling Green did not have its own CBS affiliate. As a result, Nashville's WTVF or Louisville's WLKY-TV were the default CBS stations in the market.
At some point in time, WNKY has plans to add a third digital subchannel to broadcast FOX's sister network MyNetworkTV. There is currently no MyNetworkTV affiliate in the Bowling Green market or one offered on cable. However, WUXP from Nashville can be picked up over-the-air in some South Central Kentucky locations. Cable systems in Bowling Green removed WUXP in late-2006 due to the UPN / WB merger. If WNKY does go through with its MyNetworkTV plans, Bowling Green would then be said to constitute a complete television market of its own. With the main WNKY signal carrying NBC and WBKO continuing its ABC affiliation (in addition to FOX and The CW on two digital subchannels, there would be no further dependence upon Nashville or Louisville.
WNKY, then WKNT-FOX, has only competed with WBKO's news in the mid-1990s. Their news operation was short-lived and they are now slowly re-entering with a weather-only approach. In October of 2005, WNKY discontinued its agreement with WeatherVision of Jackson and decided to produce its own weather forecasts at its Bowling Green studios. At that time, the station partnered with AccuWeather of State College. WNKY began airing NBC 40 First Look AccuWeather forecasts on the weeknights at 4:55, 5:55, and 10 PM. In December of 2005, weekend weather forecasts were added to the schedule at 10 PM. In January of 2006, local weather on weekday mornings began airing during NBC's Today Show from 7 to 10 AM. WNKY's weather team currently consists of three people. The team covers severe weather in addition to the regular weather broadcasts. Also, there is a fourth non-human member of the weather team, Radar the Weather Dog. Radar, a Border Collie adopted from the Bowling Green - Warren Couty Humane Society, has served as the station's mascot since the new weather broadcasts began in October of 2005. Viewers can often catch Radar interacting with one of the three weather anchors as they begin their broadcasts. The weather dog idea may have been inspired by Houston-based KPRC who also has a "Radar, The Weather Dog". WNKY's sister station in Tyler, KYTX, took a similar approach with "Stormy, The Weather Dog". KYTX, like WNKY, is a recent startup station but KYTX has built a fully equipped local news department that began in late-2004 / early-2005. It is rumored that Max Media will eventually fund a news department for WNKY. For now, WNKY has local weather forecasts that only partially compete with WBKO. WNKY's current website slogan "Your Local News Link" is ironic considering the lack of a news department on the station.
When WNKY launched the area's CBS affiliate on its DT2 digital subchannel, the weekday morning weather updates as well as the 4:55 and 10 PM (on weeknights) and 10 PM (on weekends) updates began to be seen on that station as well.
WNKY First Look Accuweather Team
- Jim Lawrence (AMS and NWA certified) - Chief Meteorologist, Weeknights
- Kristi Fox - Weekday Mornings (seeking certification seals)
- Jay Brandon - Weekend Mornings & Evenings (seeking certification seals)
- Chris Sowers - former Chief, now at WHP-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
- Ed Groves - General Manager
- Ross Baize - Business Manager
- Gerald Keith - Operations Manager
- Greg Fotos - General Sales Manager
- Ellen Vinson - Programming Director
- Kathy Werner - Traffic Manager
- Frank Brucks - Chief Engineer
- Heather Davidson - Creative Services Director
- Andrew Miladin - Special Projects Producer
- Craig Sensel
- Jade Dixon
- Cheryl Goodlad
- Teresa Faulkner
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WBKO 13 (ABC, FOX on DT2, The CW on DT3) - WKYU 24 (PBS) - WNKY 40 (NBC, CBS on DT2) - WKGB 53 (PBS/KET) - WKUW-LP 60 (Ind) - WKUG-LP 62 (Ind) - WKUT-LP 64 (Ind) Significantly Viewed Out-of-Market Broadcast Stations Local cable television channels |
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WAVE 3 (Louisville) - WPSD 6 (Paducah) - WLEX 18 (Lexington) - WNKY 40 (Bowling Green) |
| See also: ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, PBS and Other Stations in Kentucky |
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WKYT 27 (Lexington) - WLKY 32 (Louisville) - WNKY-DT 40.2 (Bowling Green) - WYMT 57 (Hazard) |
| See also: ABC, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS, and Other Stations in Kentucky |