WDKA

WDKA
Paducah, Kentucky/
Harrisburg, Illinois/
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
United States
City Paducah, Kentucky
Branding My 49 WDKA
Channels Digital: 49 (UHF)
(to move to 25 (UHF))
Virtual: 49 (PSIP)
Subchannels 49.1 MyNetworkTV
49.2 Charge!
49.3 TBD
49.4 Stadium
Translators KBSI-DT 23.2 (22.2 UHF) Cape Girardeau, MO
Affiliations MyNetworkTV (2006–present)
Owner Sinclair Broadcast Group
(WDKA Licensee, LLC)
Founded October 2, 1989
First air date June 5, 1997 (1997-06-05)
Call letters' meaning PaDu(K)Ah
Sister station(s) KBSI
Former channel number(s) Analog:
49 (UHF, 1997–2009)
Digital:
50 (UHF, until 2010)
Former affiliations Analog/DT1:
UPN (1997–2000)
The WB (2000–2006)
DT2:
TheCoolTV (2010–2012)
GetTV (2014–2017)
DT3:
The Country Network/Zuus Country (2010–2017)
DT4:
GetTV (2017–2018)
Transmitter power 1,000 kW
623 kW (CP)
Height 327 m (1,073 ft)
Class DT
Facility ID 39561
Transmitter coordinates 37°23′42.6″N 88°56′23.3″W / 37.395167°N 88.939806°W / 37.395167; -88.939806
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website mywdka.com

WDKA is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station licensed to Paducah, Kentucky, United States, serving Western Kentucky's Jackson Purchase region, Southern Illinois, and the Missouri Bootheel. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on virtual and UHF channel 49 from a transmitter in Vienna, Illinois. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station is part of a duopoly with Cape Girardeau, Missouri-licensed Fox affiliate KBSI. The two stations share studios on Enterprise Street in Cape Girardeau.

WDKA can also be seen on KBSI's second digital subchannel (UHF channel 22.2, virtual channel 23.2) in standard definition from a transmitter north of Cape Girardeau in rural Cape Girardeau County.

History

WDKA began broadcasting on June 5, 1997. It was a UPN affiliate broadcasting an analog signal on UHF channel 49.[1] In 2000, WDKA switched affiliations with low-powered station WQTV-LP (licensed to Murray, Kentucky) and repeater WQWQ-LP to become an affiliate of The WB. The station became a MyNetworkTV affiliate on September 5, 2006. In the same month, The WB and UPN merged to become The CW, and WQTV-LP was announced to become The CW affiliate for Paducah.

GetTV, a new movie-oriented network owned by Sony Pictures Television, started broadcasting over WDKA-DT2 in July 2014 (exact date unknown) as part of a deal with Sinclair Broadcasting to add 33 markets to GetTV's roster of affiliates.[2]

On August 30, 2014, WDKA became a charter affiliate of Sinclair's ad-hoc syndicated television network, the American Sports Network. ASN provides Ohio Valley Conference basketball and Conference USA football and basketball games to the station's viewers.[3][4] The ASN's programming content replaces Southeastern Conference football and basketball broadcasts from ESPN Plus-oriented SEC TV, which was run from 2009 until 2014, which was discontinued because of the launch of the cable-exclusive SEC Network.

On March 3, 2016, WDKA Acquisition Corporation (owned by Paul T. Lucci,[5]) filed to sell WDKA to Sinclair's subsidiary WDKA Licensee, LLC.[6] Sinclair bought the station for $1.9 million.[7] The sale was completed on September 1, 2017.[8]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[9]
49.1720p16:9WDKA-DTMain WDKA programming / MyNetworkTV
49.2480i4:3Charge!Charge!
49.3TBDTBD
49.4StadiumStadium

WDKA-DT2

WDKA-DT2 previously aired TheCoolTV from 2010 until August 31, 2012. It went silent for two years before becoming a GetTV affiliate in Summer 2014. On February 28, 2017, WDKA-DT2 became affiliated with an action-based network Charge! with GetTV moving to 49.4. On that day, GetTV was relocated to a DT4 subchannel.

WDKA-DT3

As a part of a deal involving several Sinclair Broadcast Group owned stations similar to the earlier deal between Sinclair and TheCoolTV, WDKA-DT3 was added to carry The Country Network on September 18, 2010. The Country Network changed its name and was rebranded to ZUUS Country on June 1, 2013. On February 28, 2017, WDKA-DT3 became affiliated with the TBD network.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WDKA shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 49, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 50.[10] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 49.

References

  1. ↑ http://oldtvguides.com/all_thumbs/49-wdka.html
  2. ↑ "GetTV Signs Big Affiliation Deal with Sinclair". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Sinclair Broadcasting Launches the American Sports Network". Baltimore Business Journal.
  4. ↑ "Sinclair Launches Sports Network". TVTechnology. July 17, 2014. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
  5. ↑ Ownership Report for Commercial Broadcast Stations - Federal Communications Commission
  6. ↑ "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  7. ↑ Asset Purchase Agreement - Federal Communications Commission
  8. ↑ Consummation Notice, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  9. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for WDKA
  10. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.