WKPT-TV
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| WKPT-TV | |
|---|---|
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| Kingsport-Johnson City-Bristol, Tennessee-Bristol, Virginia | |
| Branding | ABC 19 WKPT Tri-Cities RTN (on DT3) |
| Slogan | ABC 19 Tri-Cities News Source |
| Channels | Digital: 27 (UHF) |
| Subchannels | 19.1 ABC 19.2 MyNetworkTV 19.3 RTN |
| Affiliations | American Broadcasting Company |
| Owner | Holston Valley Broadcasting Corporation |
| First air date | August 20, 1969 |
| Call letters’ meaning | We're KingsPort, Tennessee |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 19 (UHF, 1969-2009) |
| Transmitter Power | 200 kW (digital) |
| Height | 695 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 27504 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 36°25′54″N 82°8′15″W / 36.43167°N 82.1375°W |
| Website | www.abc19.tv/ |
WKPT-TV "ABC 19" is the ABC television affiliate located in Kingsport, Tennessee. It serves the Tri-Cities area of Tennessee and Virginia from a transmitter on Holston Mountain on the Sullivan County - Carter County county line, near Elizabethton, Tennessee with studios and offices located at 222 Commerce Street in downtown Kingsport.
WKPT-TV also currently operates "WKPT DT-3", a digital multicast station which is also available on area cable systems as well as on an analog low-powered channel, WOPI-CA channel 9 in Bristol, Virginia. Initially its schedule consisted of infomercials and Pentagon Channel programming. The station was a full-time affiliate of the America One network until December 21, 2007. On that date, DT-3 and WOPI-CA switched to the Retro Television Network.
WKPT-TV is owned by the Holston Valley Broadcasting Corporation, along with WAPK-CA channel 36, WKPT AM 1400-FM 94.3, WOPI AM 1490-FM 97.9, WKTP AM 1590-FM 97.7 and WTFM-FM 98.5.
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[edit] History
WKPT-TV began broadcasting on August 20, 1969 as the Tri-Cities' ABC affiliate. Previously, ABC had been shared between NBC affiliate WCYB-TV and CBS affiliate WJHL-TV, each of whom picked its own ABC programs to air. But, many viewers in the area could view the entire ABC schedule on nearby WLOS-TV in Asheville, North Carolina. Before WKPT-TV signed on, WLOS included the Tri-Cities as part of its primary coverage area, as it was widely available off-air and on cable.
WKPT-TV has three historical distinctions. First, it is the oldest UHF television station in Tennessee to have maintained continuous operation on the UHF band to the present. Secondly, it is the second oldest TV station in Tennessee to have had the same licensee from its inaugural date to the present. (WBBJ-TV in Jackson, Tennessee is the oldest, but only after it was sold to Bahakel Broadcasting). Third, for years, it was the only locally owned-and-operated full-power station in the Tri-Cities; however, that was merely by default. Because the antenna heights of its two VHF rivals, WJHL and WCYB, are above the 2,000 feet above average terrain full power ceiling height mandated by the FCC, those two stations could not operate at their full power capacities. WCYB radiated 65,000 watts ERP analog visual while WJHL radiates 245,000 watts ERP analog visual.
WKPT-TV was also one of the first stations in the country to utilize a newly-adopted (at the time) FCC rule called "must-carry," that required local cable companies to black out stations in nearby cities affiliated with the same network that were carried on local cable systems, and cover the channel with the local network affiliate. As a result, the easily receivable off-air network signal from WLOS-TV, 80 miles away, was always blacked out on cable systems in Kingsport, Bristol and Johnson City and the surrounding communities and covered by the WKPT-TV signal any time both stations were broadcasting ABC programming; local WLOS programming was not blacked out. After deregulation of the cable industry, though, stations from adjacent markets were taken off most local cable systems altogether, in favor of satellite stations like TBS, WGN, CNN and others.
WCYB and WJHL received the ABC network via traditional ground microwave relay stations provided by AT&T back in the 1950s and 1960s. However, when WKPT started in 1969, its owners could not afford the expensive network feed, estimated to have been around a half-million dollars per year. As a result, the station developed its own low-cost way of bringing ABC to upper East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. Before the advent of satellite technology, WKPT utilized a series of private microwave relay stations between Kingsport and Knoxville. As the ABC signal was being transmitted via traditional microwave from AT&T into the studios of then-ABC affiliate WTVK-TV, channel 26 on Sharp's Ridge in Knoxville (now CBS affiliate WVLT-TV, channel 8), WKPT would literally "grab" the telco signal just as it was going into the WTVK studios. It then sent the signal via microwave to a relay station 70 air miles east to Camp Creek Bald on the Tennessee-North Carolina border in southern Greene County, Tennessee. That same ABC signal was then re-transmitted via another WKPT microwave 33 air miles further east to the WKPT transmitter site on Holston Mountain. From the relay point there, it was transmitted via yet a third WKPT microwave 25 air miles down to the studios in downtown Kingsport, through the station's master control board, and then back to Holston Mountain via the station's regular studio-transmitter link, and then broadcast on Channel 19. Whenever any part of the private microwave relay system malfunctioned, as it did periodically because of heavy snowfall or downed trees, station engineers were forced to broadcast the signal of either WTVK or WLOS whenever network programming was airing. Occasionally, WKPT accidentally aired the local commercials and the station identifications of either WTVK or WLOS, unable to cover them up quickly. When WTVK swapped networks with WATE-TV, WKPT merely moved its Knoxville microwave relay 800 feet west to WATE's transmitter site, also on Sharp's Ridge, and continued to receive ABC via its privately-owned microwave relay system.
Ironically, the A.T. & T. network signals for WJHL-TV and WCYB-TV were both delivered from Greenville, South Carolina to the phone company microwave that is also atop Camp Creek Bald, which was also split there to feed the Knoxville TV stations.
Many other stations received their early network signals via private microwave, including WSMV, Nashville, which, when the station was WSM-TV back in the 1950s, received its NBC network via private microwave from WAVE-TV, Louisville, another NBC station, which itself received the signal via private microwave frm WLWT, Cincinnati. At that time, AT&T's coaxial cable from Washington, D.C. went through Cincinnati enroute to Chicago. WSAZ-TV, Huntington, West Virginia received its NBC signal, by private microwave first from NBC's WLWC (now WCMH-TV), Columbus; then from network affiliate WLWT, Cincinnati. A third example was the privately-microwaved NBC signal from WSLS-TV, Roanoke that fed WHIS-TV (now WVVA) in Bluefield.
WKPT's first branding in the 1970s was "WKPT, Tri-Cities' ABC," which featured the first musical station IDs in the area. That concept was later used by WATE, when that station became an ABC affiliate in 1979.
In 1998, the station rebranded as "ABC 19 WKPT," which marked the first time the station's channel number was actually mentioned on-air since the 1980s.
[edit] Digital television
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Digital channels
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 19.1 / 27.1 | WKPT-TV (ABC HD) |
| 19.2 / 27.2 | WAPK-CA (My Network TV) |
| 19.3 / 27.3 | WOPI-CA (Retro Television Network) |
[edit] Analog-to-digital conversion
WKPT-TV transmits on its current pre-digital transition channel number, 27.[1] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display WKPT-TV's virtual channel as 19.
[edit] Retransmission consent controversy
Under federal must-carry rules, broadcasters can either allow cable systems in their market to carry their signals for free or charge a fee under retransmission consent provisions. On December 3, 2008, it was announced that Inter Mountain Cable (IMC), a cable provider serving parts of eastern Kentucky, announced that it would drop WKPT from their lineup unless an agreement was reached over retransmission consent.[2] According to The Mountain Eagle, this dispute has caused concern among officials in the city of Fleming-Neon, where IMC holds the cable TV franchise there.[3] The city council in Fleming-Neon have stated that the removal of WKPT will violate IMC's franchise agreement.[3]
[edit] Newscasts
WKPT-TV's first personalities in the early 1970s included news anchors Martin Karant and Bill Freehoff, and weather-sports with Bill Trailer. These distinguished broadcasters had been popular personalities on WKPT (1400 AM), and made the move to television. Karant continued to hold his position on WKPT-AM until his retirement in 1997.
Until February 2002, WKPT produced news in-house[1]. From February 2002 to September 2006, 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts originated from WJHL-TV and were simulcast on both WJHL and WKPT. In situations where one station was off time (due to network runover or other circumstances), the news was broadcast on the other station at the correct time. As of September 2006, WJHL's nightside broadcast is repeated on WKPT at or around 1:06 AM. Also a 5-minute news and weather summary is provided at 11:30 p.m. to accommodate for the gap between the end of syndicated programming and the beginning of Nightline.
Also, WJHL's 12 p.m. weekday newscast is repeated on WAPK and DT-3/WOPI on a half-hour delay at 12:30 PM.
[edit] Former Personalities
- Martin Karant, news anchor, 1969-1972 (deceased)
- Bill Freehoff, news director/news anchor, 1969-1984 (deceased)
- Bill Trailer, sports anchor/weather anchor, 1969-1984 (deceased)
- Calvin Sneed, news reporter/photographer, (1970-1973), now news anchor at WTVC-TV, Chattanooga
- Betty Payne, news director/news anchor, (1982-2002), now at Eastman Chemical Public Relations
- Keith Cate, news reporter/anchor (1984-1988), now news anchor at WFLA-TV, Tampa
- Jim Wogan, sports anchor (1986-1987), now at WATE-TV, Knoxville
- Ken Ulmer, reporter/anchor,(1996-2002), now morning show host at WOXL-FM, Asheville
- Frances Eden, weather anchor
- Jim Watkins, news reporter/anchor, now at WPIX-TV, New York
[edit] News/Station Presentation
[edit] Newscast Titles
- The Television 19 News (1969–1974)
- TV-19 News (1974–1981)
- Newswatch 19 (1981–1994)
- WKPT-TV News (1994–1999)
- WKPT-TV News on ABC 19 (1999–2002)
- ABC 19 Tri-Cities News Source (2002-2009)
- ABC 19 Connects News (2009-present)
[edit] Station Slogans
- Your Tri-Cities News Source (2002-present)
This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.[edit] References
- ^ "CDBS Print". http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101234049&formid=387&fac_num=40761.
- ^ "WKPT, WCYB & WJHL Possible Programming Issue For 2009". Inter Mountain Cable. 2008-12-03. http://www.imctv.com/news_viewNews.php?news_id=41. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
- ^ a b Farley, William (2009-01-14). "Neon council upset by threat of TV changes". The Mountain Eagle. pp. 2. http://www.themountaineagle.com/news/2009/0114/news/004.html. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
[edit] External links
- WKPT-TV Homepage
- WKPT-DT3
- Holston Valley Broadcasting Group
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WKPT
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WOPI-CA
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WKPT-TV
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