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WNKY-LD (channel 35) is a low-power television station in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with Ion Television. It is owned by Marquee Broadcasting alongside dual NBC/CBS affiliate WNKY (channel 40) and Glasgow-licensed low-power Country Network affiliate WDNZ-LD (channel 11). The three stations share studios on Chestnut Street in downtown Bowling Green; WNKY-LD also shares tower space with WNKY at its transmitter site located on Pilot Knob near Smiths Grove, Kentucky.
| |
|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
|
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WNKY, WDNZ-LD | |
| History | |
| Founded | June 15, 2020 |
First air date | July 11, 2023 |
Former call signs | W16EI-D (2020–2022) |
Former channel number(s) | 16 (UHF CP, 2020–2023) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 182667 |
| Class | LD |
| ERP | 15 kW |
| HAAT | 192.4 m (631 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 37°2′5.6″N 86°10′41″W / 37.034889°N 86.17806°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | LMS |
History
editConstruction permit
editKing Forward, Incorporated was granted a construction permit for W16EI-D on June 15, 2020. This was King Forward's second construction permit for a television station in the Bowling Green market after WCZU-LD was successfully built and taken to the air in cooperation with DTV America Corporation in 2014. The initial broadcast plans for the station was to transmit the signal on UHF channel 16 from WCZU's original transmitter site, which is a former AT&T Long Lines microwave relay tower in Edmonson County just northwest of Brownsville on Grassland Road off Kentucky Route 70.
Sale to Marquee Broadcasting
editOn March 14, 2022, W16EI-D was sold to Marquee Broadcasting, owner of full-power station WNKY, after having purchased W09DM-D (now WNSH-LD) in Nashville, Tennessee, another silent station.[2] In May 2022, the station's call letters changed to the current WNKY-LD.
As a WNKY translator
editIn early 2023, the station applied for and successfully changed its allocation to UHF channel 35, and to move to the full-power WNKY's transmission facility near Smiths Grove.[3][4] On July 11, 2023, the station was granted its license[5] and began test broadcasting as a full-time translator of WNKY, simulcasting all three of its subchannels.
As an Ion Television affiliate
editIn September 2023, the station began airing programming from Ion Television on its primary channel, with the second and third subchannels airing the full schedules of Defy TV and Laff. Ion was the last major programming service that was not available from a local outlet in Bowling Green; the Nashville-based Ion O&O station WNPX-TV (licensed to Franklin, Tennessee) had been the default Ion outlet for the area since that network's 1998 debut as Pax TV. The conversion into an Ion affiliate also marked Defy TV's in-market debut in Bowling Green, and the return of the Laff network to the area as W14DG-D (channel 14, now Telemundo affiliate WBGS-LD channel 34) was briefly affiliated with that network during that station's first incarnation in 2016.
Two subchannel content changes occurred in 2024: the launch of the DT4 channel to carry MeTV Toons on June 25,[6] and Defy TV being replaced by Ion Plus on July 1.[7]
Subchannels
editThe station's signal is multiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming[9] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | ION | Ion Television[10] |
| 35.2 | 480i | DEFY | Ion Plus[7] | |
| 35.3 | LAFF | Laff | ||
| 35.4 | MeTOONS | MeTV Toons[6] |
References
edit- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WNKY-LD". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "WNTU and Bowling Green KY News". Nashville DTV News & More. March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
- ^ "WNKY-LD Engineering Statement". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
- ^ "WNKY-LD TV Study Results". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
- ^ "Public Notice". Federal Communications Commission. July 13, 2023. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
- ^ a b "WNKY News 40 Launches MeTV Toons". WNKY. July 2, 2024. Archived from the original on July 3, 2024. Retrieved July 2, 2024.
- ^ a b Keys, Matthew (June 28, 2024). "Scripps replacing Defy TV with Ion Plus on broadcast TV". TheDesk.net. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
- ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for WNKY-LD". rabbitears.info.
- ^ "Bowling Green: WCZU Power Temporarily Lowered". Retrieved December 2, 2023. Editor's note: Information cited is in the comments section of the page.
- ^ "Find us". Ion Television. Retrieved October 15, 2023. Editor's note: Information retrieved by entering Bowling Green ZIP code 42101.