KUOK

KUOK

Woodward, Oklahoma
Branding	Univision 36 Univision Oklahoma (alternate)
Channels	Digital: 35 (UHF) Virtual: 35 (PSIP)
Translators	KUOK-CD 36 Oklahoma City KUOK-LP 48 Oklahoma City
Affiliations	Univision
Owner	Tyler Media Group (Oklahoma Land Company, LLC)
First air date	2002
Call letters' meaning	Univision OKlahoma
Sister station(s)	KTUZ-TV, KUTU-CD, KTUZ-FM, KJKE, KEBC, KTLR, KKNG-FM
Former affiliations	Pax (2002-2004)
Transmitter power	1,000 kW
Height	338.6 m
Facility ID	86532
Transmitter coordinates	36°16′6″N 99°26′56″W
Website	http://www.univisionok.com

KUOK, channel 35 (branded as "Univision 36" after the primary Oklahoma City translator or "Univision Oklahoma"), is the Univision-affiliated television station for the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma television market, licensed to Woodward, Oklahoma; the station is owned by Oklahoma City-based Tyler Media Group in a duopoly with Telemundo affiliate KTUZ-TV (channel 30), and both stations' studios are located on Shields Blvd. in southwest Oklahoma City.

The station broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 35; it also operates two translator stations licensed to Oklahoma City, both of which also utilize the KUOK callsign: a Class A digital station on channel 36 (KUOK-CD) and a low-power analog station on channel 48 (KUOK-LP). On cable, it is carried in Oklahoma City on Cox Communications channel 21; it is also carried locally on the DirecTV and Dish Network satellite services on channel 35.

Digital programming

Digital channels

KUOK	KUOK-CD	Video	Aspect	Programming
35.1	36.1	720p	16:9	main KUOK programming / Univision HD

Because it was granted an original construction permit after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997 , the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Instead, at the end of the digital TV conversion period for full-service stations, KUOK would have been required to turn off its analog signal and turn on its digital signal (called a "flash-cut").

According to the station's DTV status report, "On December 8, 2008, the licensee's parent corporation filed a petition for bankruptcy relief under chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code... This station must obtain post-petition financing and court approval before digital facilities may be constructed. The station will cease analogue broadcasting on June 12, 2009, regardless of whether digital facilities are operational by that date. The station will file authority to remain silent if so required by the FCC."

While the DTV Delay Act extended this deadline to June 12, 2009, Equity had applied for an extension of the digital construction permit in order to retain the broadcast license after the station goes dark. Though Tyler Media purchased KUOK and its repeaters in 2009, the main KUOK signal had not been added as a digital subchannel on sister station and Telemundo affiliate KTUZ-TV (channel 30) for viewers in Oklahoma City with an over-the-air digital receiver. In December 2011, KCHM-CA ended analog operations and flash-cut its signal to digital (becoming KUOK-CD), allowing Oklahoma City viewers who previously lost access to the station following the digital transition to view the station over-the-air; the KUOK-CD signal covers a 32-mile radius that includes the entire Oklahoma City metropolitan area.

History

KUOK originally signed on in 2002 as an affiliate of Pax (now Ion Television); after being acquired by Equity Broadcasting Corporation, the station changed its affiliation to Univision on May 8, 2004, becoming the full-power flagship station of the six station statewide network called "Univision Arkansas-Oklahoma"; KUOK and the three low-power stations it acquired to become translators of the network (KWDW-LP, now KUOK-LP; KCHM-LP, now KUOK-CD; and Sulphur-based KOKT-LP), originally relayed Univision programming across Oklahoma via a simulcast from sister station KLRA-LP (channel 58), Little Rock's Univision affiliate. In the first months of operation, the Univision Oklahoma stations ran a direct simulcast from KLRA-LP including local commercials from the Little Rock area and KLRA-LP's station IDs (the Oklahoma City repeaters identified only though fine print-style IDs at the bottom of the screen during the top and bottom of each hour).

KUOK station ID from 2004.

In March 2005, KUOK, though still programmed via satellite from Equity's home office in Little Rock, began ended the KLRA-LP simulcast and began carrying Univision programming off a separate feed with local advertising and station promotions added. Prior to KUOK and its translators affiliating with Univision, the Spanish-language network was only receiveable via local cable providers such as Cox Communications, running programming from Univision's national broadcast feed; these providers now carry KUOK on a clearer signal compared to its over-the-air coverage in most areas of central and south central Oklahoma.

On June 25, 2008, Equity announced that it was selling Univision Oklahoma to Luken Communications, LLC. In December of that year, Equity Media Holdings filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and offers by Luken Communications to acquire Equity-owned stations in six markets were later withdrawn. KUOK and its translators were sold at auction to the Tyler Media Group on April 16, 2009, thus creating a duopoly with Telemundo affiliate KTUZ-TV.

Newscasts

From 2005 until May 2008, KUOK aired a daily half-hour weeknight-only newscast Noticias Univision Oklahoma at 5 and 10 p.m. Previously, KUOK and its translators aired former Little Rock sister station KLRA-LP's regional Spanish-language newscast Noticias Univision Arkansas (later Noticias Univision Arkansas-Oklahoma) in the 5 and 10 p.m. timeslots before KUOK stopped rebroadcasting KLRA-LP's broadcast feed. All of the newscasts were produced and broadcast out of Equity Broadcasting's headquarters in Little Rock. On June 6, 2008, Equity discontinued local newscasts at its six Univision affiliates, including KUOK.

Although sister station KTUZ-TV carries local newscasts at 5 and 10 p.m. weeknights, these newscasts are not simulcast on KUOK (though they are carried on sister station KUTU-CD in Tulsa, as of August 2011); instead of local news programming, KUOK currently airs half-hour telenovelas broadcast by Univision at 5 p.m., and the network's late night newsmagazine series Primer Impacto Extra at 10 p.m. In addition, the station runs a slide showing the Oklahoma City area weather forecast for the next seven days (along with FCC-mandated identification for the station and its repeaters) at approximately the top and bottom of each hour during station breaks, along with news and weather updates on weekday mornings airing between 6:25 and 8:25 a.m. during ¡Despierta América!.

Translators

KUOK operates two translators, which are both licensed to and serve the immediate Oklahoma City area:

Station	Channels (Analog/DT)	First air date	Callsign meaning	Former callsigns	Former affiliations	ERP	HAAT	Facility ID	Transmitter Coordinates
KUOK-CD	36 (UHF, digital) (formerly on UHF 59, 1991-1997)	1991	Derived from parent station	K59EO (1991-1997) KCHM-LP (1997-2010) KCHM-CA (2010-2011) KCHM-CD (2011)	unknown	20 kW (Digital)	219 m	14885	35°22′10.0″N 97°27′41.0″W
KUOK-LP	48 (UHF, analog) (formerly on UHF 69, 1989-2005)	1989	Derived from parent station	K69EK (1989-2005) KWDW-LP (2005-2011)	WHT (?-2000); The Shepherd's Chapel Network (2000-2002); MTV2 (2002-2004)	15 kW (Analog)	327 m	36850	35°32′51.0″N 97°29′30.0″W

Note: In addition, KUOK formerly operated KOKT-LP (channel 20) in Sulphur from 2004 to 2011. Prior to affiliating with Univision, KOKT-LP was an independent station from 1994 to 1995, before becoming the UPN affiliate for the Ada, Oklahoma-Sherman, Texas television market between 1995 and 2004; however Oklahoma City and Dallas-Fort Worth area editions of TV Guide (during the magazine's local listings era) have stated that some UPN programming also aired on NBC affiliate KTEN between 1995 and 2002.

See also

• KUOK-CA - defunct television station licensed to Norman; formerly a translator of KUOK
• WJMF-LP - station in Jackson, Mississippi, which at one time carried Univision programming from KUOK
• KUTU-CD - Tulsa Univision affiliate, sister station to KUOK

External links

• Official website
• Tyler Media corporate website
• Univision official website
• Official Facebook page
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KUOK
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KUOK-CD
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KUOK-LP
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KUOK-TV