WHKY-TV

WHKY-TV, virtual and UHF digital channel 14, is an independent television station licensed to Hickory, North Carolina, United States and serving the northwestern corner of the Charlotte media market, a region locally referred to as "The Unifour". Owned by Long Communications, LLC, it is sister to radio station WHKY (1290 AM and translator 102.3 FM). The two stations share studios on Main Avenue SE in Hickory. WHKY-TV's primary transmitter is located on Baker Mountain in southwestern Catawba County, with a secondary transmitter in the unincorporated area of Newell in northeastern Mecklenburg County (just northeast of the Charlotte city limits).

WHKY-TV
Hickory/Charlotte, North Carolina
United States
CityHickory, North Carolina
BrandingWHKY-TV 14 (general)
WHKY News (newscasts)
ChannelsDigital: 14 (UHF)
Virtual: 14 (PSIP)
Affiliations
OwnerLong Communications, LLC
First air dateFebruary 14, 1968 (1968-02-14)
Call sign meaningHicKorY
Sister station(s)WHKY
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 14 (UHF, 1968–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 40 (UHF, until 2019)
Transmitter powerDTS1:
42 kW (STA)
1000 kW (CP)
DTS2:
12 kW (STA)
260 kW (CP)
HeightDTS1:
188.3 m (618 ft) (STA)
256 m (840 ft) (CP)
DTS2:
384.4 m (1,261 ft) (STA)
161 m (528 ft) (CP)
Facility ID65919
Transmitter coordinatesDTS1:
35°43′57″N 81°19′52″W (STA)
35°39′28.4″N 81°24′23.3″W (CP)
DTS2:
35°17′15″N 80°41′44″W
Licensing authorityFCC
Public license informationProfile
CDBS
Websitewww.whky.com

On cable, the station is available on Charter Spectrum channel 7 in the Hickory area and channel 18 in the Charlotte area (CW affiliate WCCB, which broadcasts over the air on virtual channel 18, is carried by Spectrum on cable channel 5 in Hickory and channel 11 in Charlotte). It is not presently carried by AT&T U-verse in the Charlotte market. Google Fiber carried the station until July 1, 2017. WHKY is also available on cable in Mountain City, Tennessee, which is part of the Tri-Cities television market.

History

The station first signed on the air on February 14, 1968; WHKY is the oldest independent station in the state of North Carolina. (Charlotte's WCTU-TV channel 36, now NBC affiliate WCNC-TV, was the first independent station in North Carolina, signing on eight months before WHKY-TV.) During the 1980s, WHKY-TV aired Major League Baseball games from the Cincinnati Reds. Also during the 1980s, the station had a secondary affiliation with NBC, carrying some programs that were pre-empted by the Charlotte market's primary NBC affiliate, WPCQ-TV.[1] In 2002, WHKY-TV installed two new antennas: one for its digital signal and one which replaced its older analog antenna. The latter antenna's installation helped to increase WHKY-TV's analog signal coverage into the far northern corner of Mecklenburg County. As a result, the station was granted a must-carry claim, allowing it to be added to Time Warner Cable's systems in the Charlotte area; the station also began identifying as "Hickory/Charlotte" in its on-air legal identifications.

In 2004, WHKY-TV boosted its analog transmitter's power to 2 million watts. In June 2006, the station began to be carried on Dish Network and DirecTV's Charlotte area local station lineups, expanding its reach to cover two million people in North and South Carolina. The station's digital transmitter was relocated to Baker Mountain in the fall of 2011, with its effective radiated power increasing to 950,000 watts (equivalent to 4.75 million watts in analog); the station also launched a fill-in translator, whose transmitter is located just north of Charlotte (near the Charlotte Motor Speedway).

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[2]
14.1720p16:9WHKYDTMain WHKY-TV programming
14.2480iWHKYDT2This TV
14.3WHKYDT3Comet
14.4WHKYDT4Charge!
14.5WHKYDT5HSN
14.6WHKYDT6CRTV Shopping

Previously, the second and fourth digital subchannels have been affiliated with Jewelry Television, which is shown at various times on the main channel. The network was used as a placeholder until the additions of RTV and My Family TV on those respective subchannels. On September 28, 2012, My Family TV was replaced with PBJ. In November 2012, WHKY-TV began transmitting its main channel in 720p high definition, and in 2014 the main channel began airing Jewelry Television in HD for portions of the day. On March 1, 2014, PBJ was replaced on digital subchannel 14.4 by Heartland (which originated as the broadcast incarnation of The Nashville Network in 2012). On July 1, 2014, This TV was added to the second subchannel, making WHKY the fourth station in the Charlotte market to carry it. On that same date, Retro TV was moved to the third subchannel, replacing Tuff TV.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WHKY-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 14, on February 14, 2009, three days before the original date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 40.[3][4] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 14.

Programming

The station's current schedule consists primarily of locally-produced religious and entertainment shows; and paid programming; as well as weekday local newscasts, airing at 5:30 and 10:00 p.m.

References
  1. The Charlotte Observer TV Week, Dec. 18, 1983.
  2. RabbitEars TV Query for WHKY
  3. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  4. Hundreds of television stations cut analog signals, PETER SVENSSON, Associated Press, February 17, 2009
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