WKOW

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WKOW is the ABC-affiliated television station for Madison, Wisconsin. The station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 26 (PSIP virtual channel 27) from a transmitter in the city's Middleton Junction section; the station is also available on Charter Cable systems in the Madison market (SD channel 7 and HD channel 607). Owned and operated by Quincy Newspapers, WKOW has studios on Tokay Boulevard on Madison's west side. Programming on WKOW includes the ABC lineup, local news, and syndicated programming including The Dr. Oz Show, Ellen, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Live with Kelly and The Doctors.

History

The station launched on June 30, 1953 as WKOW-TV, an affiliate of CBS television and sister station to WKOW Radio (AM 1070, now WTSO and FM 104.1, now WZEE). The station's call sign was an acknowledgment to Wisconsin's dairy industry, and featured a smiling bovine (or cow) alongside the emphasized "K-O-W" of the call sign. WKOW-AM-FM-TV originally shared studios on Tokay Boulevard on Madison's west side (WKOW-TV is still based at Tokay today). WKOW-TV remained with CBS until joining ABC in 1956, when CBS moved to the new WISC-TV. (ABC had been with WMTV; WKOW-AM remained with CBS Radio.) From January to August 1958, WKOW was part of the short-lived, Wisconsin-oriented Badger Television Network, alongside Milwaukee's WISN-TV and Green Bay's WFRV-TV[1]

By 1974, Terry Shockley took over control of WKOW and its fellow sister stations that were part of the Wisconsin Television Network (which included WAOW in Wausau and WXOW in La Crosse). Also during the 1970s, WKOW-TV was broken up from WKOW-AM in accordance with the FCC's "one to market" policy of that era; as a result, WKOW-AM fell under new ownership and became WTSO, although it would remain at Tokay Boulevard alongside WKOW-TV through the 1980s and 1990s until becoming part of the Clear Channel Communications cluster, where it is today an all-sports station. (For a time in the 2000s, WKOW-TV supplied weather updates to the Clear Channel stations. As of October 2010 however, the station is no longer involved with WTSO or other Madison Clear Channel stations in any way.)

In 1986, Shockley sold WKOW-TV and its Wausau and La Crosse sister stations to Sharad Tak, whose Tak Communications would later purchase KITV in Honolulu, Hawaii and WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, New York. In the wake of the 1986 group deal, Shockley formed a new company, Shockley Communications Corporation, as a holding company for the radio stations which Shockley retained. Tak filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1991 and later went into receivership. As part of Tak Communications' bankruptcy sale, Shockley repurchased the four Wisconsin stations in 1995 (WKOW, WAOW, WXOW, and Eau Claire's WQOW). In June 2001, WKOW and its Wisconsin sister stations were acquired from Shockley by Quincy Newspapers, who own the stations today.

Digital Broadcasting

On October 29, 1998, WKOW launched high definition broadcasts on digital channel 26, becoming at the time the smallest United States television station to launch HD broadcasts. WKOW would eventually add 2 digital subchannels, adding RTV on channel 27.2 in December 2008 and This TV on channel 27.3 in March 2009. RTV would be replaced by the similarly-formatted Me-TV on July 1, 2011, the result of an affiliation deal with Me-TV and WKOW owner Quincy Newspapers.

WKOW discontinued analog broadcasting at 1PM on February 17, 2009 and moved to full-time over-the-air digital transmission.[2] WKOW now broadcasts digital programming in the following manner:

Channels (physical/virtual) Video Aspect Cable Channel Programming
26.1/27.1 720p 16:9 7/607 main WKOW programming/ABC (HD)
26.2/27.2 480i 4:3 967 WKOW-DT2 "Me-TV 27.2 Madison" (SD)
26.3/27.3 480i 4:3 966 WKOW-DT3 "This TV Madison" (SD)

Occasionally, WKOW's programming commitments will prompt the station to move programming from its main channel to one of its digital subchannels. For example, due to an August 21, 2010 commitment to a Green Bay Packers pre-season game, WKOW moved that night's live ABC NASCAR broadcast from channel 27.1 to 27.2, pre-empting RTV programming for the evening.

News operation

File:Wkow news 2011.png
News open.

WKOW debuted a news department on the first day of its broadcasting in Summer 1953. Local news, weather, and sports were seen in the initial shows. From 1999 to 2011, the station produce, through a news share agreement, the market's first nightly prime time newscast on Sinclair-owned Fox affiliate WMSN-TV ("Fox 47 News at 9"); the newscast originated from a secondary studio at WMSN, and although it featured WKOW personnel in the broadcasts, WMSN maintained separate weeknight news and sports anchors, as well as using theme music and graphics packages that are found on other Sinclair stations and that are different from that on WKOW's newscasts.(WISC-TV subchannel TVW had aired a prime-time newscast from 2004 to 2011; a third station, WBUW, had their own 9PM newscast from 2003 until 2005.) WISC-TV took over the production of the WMSN newscast at the beginning of 2012.

On October 26, 2010, WKOW became the third station in Madison to upgrade newscasts to high definition, following WISC-TV and WMTV. The WMSN broadcasts, however, were still in 4:3 standard definition, as the station didn't have the necessary equipment to air local or syndicated HD programming.

Current on-air staff[3]

Anchors

  • Elishah Oesch - weekday mornings
  • Dani Maxwell - weekday mornings and Parenting Project reporter
  • Greg Jeschke - weeknights at 5, 6, 6:30, and 10
  • Amber Noggle - weeknights at 5, 6, and 10
  • John Beard - weekend evenings and Call for Action reporter
  • Julia Fello - weekend mornings and weekday reporter

27 Storm Track Meteorologists

  • Chief Meteorologist Bob Lindmeier (AMS Seal of Approval) - weeknights at 5, 6, and 10
  • Brian Olson (NWA and AMS Seals of Approval) - weekday mornings
  • Laurie Mercurio (AMS Seal of Approval)
  • Evan Hutchinson - weekends

Sports

  • Jake Zimmermann - Director seen weeknights at 6, 6:30, and 10
  • Jamie Hersch - weekend evenings
  • Jon Griffith

Reporters

  • Tony Galli - investigative reporter
  • Lysée Mitri - multimedia journalist
  • Greg Neumann - Capitol Bureau Chief
  • Jennifer Kliese
  • Danielle Lama
  • Katie Priebe

References

  1. ^ Golembiewski, Dick (2008). Milwaukee Television History: The Analog Years. Marquette University Press. pp. 213–270. ISBN 0-87462-055-4. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ "WKOW-TV ends its analog signal, becomes WKOW-DT", from wkowtv.com, February 17, 2009. The link includes a 4-minute video of its analog shutdown.
  3. ^ [1], wkow.com. Retrieved 10-10-2011.

External links

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