WKBT-DT

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WKBT-DT
WKBT Logo.png
La Crosse/Eau Claire, Wisconsin
City of license La Crosse, Wisconsin
Branding News 8
Slogan Our Community. Your Station.
Channels Digital: 8 (VHF)
Subchannels 8.1 CBS
8.2 MyNetworkTV
Affiliations CBS, MyNetworkTV
Owner Morgan Murphy Media
(QueenB Television, LLC)
First air date August 8, 1954
Call letters' meaning Derived from sister radio station WKBH, which was owned by a music store that sold Kimball Pianos (the store's slogan: Kimball Brings Happiness)
Sister station(s) WISC-TV
TVW
Former channel number(s) Analog: 8 (VHF)
(8/8/1954 - 2/17/2009)
Digital: 41 (UHF)
(3/28/2003 - 2/17/2009)
Former affiliations All secondary:
ABC (1954-1970)
DuMont (1954-1955)
NBC (1954-1958)
UPN (2006)
Transmitter power 20 kW
Height 469 m
Facility ID 74424
Transmitter coordinates 44°5′27.4″N 91°20′17.4″W / 44.090944°N 91.338167°W / 44.090944; -91.338167
Website www.news8000.com

WKBT-DT is a television station owned and operated by Morgan Murphy Media and serving West Central Wisconsin, including La Crosse (its city of license) and Eau Claire. The station is primarily affiliated with CBS and airs programming from MyNetworkTV on its digital subchannel.

Contents

[edit] History

Studios of WKBT-DT

WKBT launched on August 8, 1954 as sister station to WKBH, a radio station known today as as WIZM. (The "T," for "television," replaced the "H" in the call sign to differentiate the stations.) WKBT carried dual affiliation with CBS and ABC, a set-up that continued until 1970, when WKBT became solely a CBS affiliate. WKBT also briefly had secondary affiliations with DuMont (until 1956) and NBC (until 1958).[1]

On April 16th, 1965, during the worst of the famous 1965 flood, the downtown La Crosse building that housed both WKBT and WKBH fell victim to fire; WKBT then rebuilt its current building on the same site.

In the 1970s, WKBT was sold to Harold F. Gross, a businessman from Lansing, Michigan who owned WJIM-AM-FM-TV in that city. WKBT and WJIM-TV were sold in the mid-1980s to Unicom Inc, a unit of Forstmann Little, d.b.a. Backe Communications, following a licensing dispute involving WJIM-TV (which changed its call letters to WLNS-TV). Unicom's ownership of the station was short-lived as in 1986 it sold WLNS and WKBT to Young Broadcasting.

In March 2000, Young sold WKBT to Morgan Murphy Stations, whose QueenB Television subsidiary (now Morgan Murphy Media) became the licensee for the station.

WKBT-DT went on the air with digital broadcasting on channel 41 (UHF) on March 28, 2003.[2]

WKBT-DT launched digital subchannel 8.2, UPN La Crosse/Eau Claire, on Monday January 30, 2006.[3] (Rival station KQEG-CA had dropped its affiliation with UPN at the end of the previous week.[4])

Beginning September 5, 2006, with the demise of UPN, WKBT-DT2 subchannel 8.2 became an affiliate of the new MyNetworkTV.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, February 17, 2009, WKBT-TV discontinued analog broadcasting on channel 8 (VHF), and the digital WKBT-DT signal was transitioned from channel 41 (UHF) to channel 8 (VHF), completing the station's digital broadcast transition.

In the summer of 2011, WKBT became the first station in the La Crosse/Eau Claire DMA to air newscasts in high definition.

[edit] News/station presentation

[edit] Newscast titles

  • Total News (1971-1974)
  • TV-8 Action News (1974-1976)
  • Action 8 News (1976-1987)
  • Newswatch 8 (1987-1994)
  • Channel 8 News (1994-1995)
  • NewsChannel 8 (1995-October 24, 2010)
  • News 8 (October 25, 2010-present)

[edit] Station slogans

  • 8 Country (1970s)
  • Action 8 is Total News (1970s)
  • Serving the Tri-State (1980s)
  • Do you watch Newswatch? (1980s-1994)
  • Take Me There, Make Me Care (1994-1998)
  • Coverage You Can Count On (1998-2010)
  • Our Community, Your Station (June 2009 in TV ads, 2010-present)

[edit] MyNetworkTV La Crosse/Eau Claire

MyNetworkTV La Crosse/Eau Claire is slowly being developed. It carries syndicated shows such as The Simpsons, Dr. Phil, and programming with local interest, such as Racing Rewind (a show about weekly races at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway), and a few one-time airings of local events. There is a newscast called My News at Nine shown weekdays at 9 pm. In 2009 WKBT stopped making My NewsChannel 8 at Nine and reaires the 5 pm news.

On the early snowy morning February 25, 2007, the channel aired a 2 hour 30 minute live newscast, to keep people informed of a snowfall that brought over 28 inches of snow to the area.

[edit] On-air staff

[edit] Anchors

  • Lou Hillman - Saturday evening anchor and weekday reporter
  • Lisa Klein - 5 & 6 pm co-anchor
  • Martha Koloski - Noon & 10 pm co-anchor
  • Jennifer Livingston - "News 8 This Morning"
  • Mark McPherson - 5 pm co-anchor and Sunday evening anchor
  • Mike Thompson - 6 & 10 pm co-anchor

[edit] Reporters

  • Jenna Troum
  • Pauleen Le

[edit] Weather

  • Bill Graul - Meteorologist;"News 8 This Morning" and Noon
  • Cory Malles - Chief Meteorologist; 5pm. 6pm & 10 pm
  • Michelle Poedel- Weekend Meteorologist

[edit] Sports

  • Ryan Rodig - Weekend Sports anchor
  • Gregg Wavrunek - Sports Director/Weeknight Sports

[edit] Former on-air staff

[edit] Transmitter

WKBT's transmitter is located in Galesville, Wisconsin, about 30 miles north of the actual station in order to provide their signal to the entire market - it also serves as the CBS affiliate for the Chippewa Valley.

If put up next to Chicago's Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower), the WKBT transmitter would surpass the upper roof and fall just about 100 feet short of the highest antenna on top.

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=2253116#post2253116
  3. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3652/is_200603/ai_n17179469/
  4. ^ http://www.lacrossetribune.com/news/article_0b5326c6-5c9a-5f06-8f04-3f5914934aa3.html

[edit] External links

v · d · e
Eau Claire

WEAU (13.1 NBC, 13.2 WX) • WQOW (18.1 ABC, 18.2 CW, 18.3 This) • WHWC (28.1 PBS, 28.2 Wis, 28.3 Create) • WEUX (48.1 Fox, 48.2 Fox)
La Crosse

WKBT (8.1 CBS, 8.2 MNTV) • W50DR (10.1 NBC, 10.2 CW) • WXOW (19.1 ABC, 19.2 CW, 19.3 This) • KQEG-CA 23 / WIBU-LP 51 (FN/Ion) • WLAX (25.1 Fox, 25.2 Fox) • WHLA (31.1 PBS, 31.2 Wis, 31.3 Create)
v · d · e
CBS Network Affiliates in the state of Wisconsin
v · d · e
MyNetworkTV Network Affiliates in the state of Wisconsin
v · d · e
Radio Stations:
KEZE  · KHTQ  · KIYX  · KVNI  · KXLX  · KXLY  · KXLY-FM  · KZZU-FM  · WGLR  · WGLR-FM  · WPVL  · WPVL-FM
Television Stations:
KAPP (ABC) · KVEW (ABC) · KXLY-TV (ABC) · KXMN-LP (MNTV) · WISC-TV (CBS) / TVW (MNTV) · WKBT-DT (CBS/MNTV)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WKBT-DT&oldid=452811516"
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