WOWK-TV
Encyclopedia
WOWK-TV is the CBS
-affiliated television station
for the Tri-States and Kanawha Valley
area of West Virginia
that is licensed to Huntington
which is the second largest market
(in terms of area) east of the Mississippi River
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter northwest of Milton
. Due to the nature of VHF signals, this cannot be seen in the Kanawha Valley or Charleston
. However, WOWK is offered on Comcast
channel 12 and high definition on digital channel 782 (in Huntington) as well as Suddenlink
channel 13 and in high definition on digital channel 113 (in Charleston).
Owned by West Virginia Media Holdings
, it is the flagship of the company and has historically had studios in downtown Huntington and secondary facilities in Charleston. On August 23, 2011, the station announced that it was closing both its current facilities and moving into a space in the Charleston Town Center
, a shopping mall in downtown Charleston, and maintaining only a small sales and news office in Huntington. FCC requirements, however require it to remain licensed to Huntington. The move is to take place in early 2012.
Syndicated
programming on WOWK includes: Inside Edition
, Dr. Phil
, The Doctors
, and Rachael Ray
.
affiliate owned by the Greater Huntington Theater Corporation. After only a year, it was bought by Cowles Communications
. WHTN swapped affiliations with WCHS-TV
and became a CBS station for the first time in 1958. It went back to ABC in 1962 and stayed with that network for 24 years. Cowles sold the station to Gateway Communications in 1974. A year later, it changed its call letters to the current WOWK-TV to reflect the three states it serves (Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky). In 1986, it changed affiliations again returning to CBS.
The station was headquartered at the Radio Center Building in Huntington from its inception until 1984 when WOWK moved to a location on Fifth Avenue. Gateway merged with SJL Broadcasting
in 2000. SJL sold it to West Virginia Media Holdings
in 2002. WOWK-TV ended analog operations on VHF channel 13 in 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States
. The station then returned to channel 13 for its post-transition operations. On January 25, 2009, an ice storm destroyed the temporary UHF channel 47 digital transmitter. Rather than repair it for two more weeks of service, the station shut down its analog transmission early and brought its digital 13 transmitter on-line.
Under federal must-carry
rules, broadcasters can either allow cable TV 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 WOWK from its lineup unless an agreement was reached over retransmission consent. According to The Mountain Eagle
, this dispute caused concern among officials in the city of Fleming-Neon, Kentucky
where IMC holds the cable television franchise. The city council in Fleming-Neon have stated that the removal of WOWK will violate IMC's franchise agreement.
affiliate WSAZ-TV
and ABC
affiliate WCHS, in no small part because it does not cover events in Ohio or Kentucky, which constitue about one-third of the market. For a time in the 1990s, it was the highest-rated station in the northern portion of the market (Charleston and Kanawha Valley), but it is now again last in the entire market and in the Charleston sub-market. WOWK-TV airs the market's only 7pm newscast. The station also airs a 5pm newscast, which debuted on October 18, 2010. It provides all weather forecasts for WVNS-TV
as well as weekend weather for WBOY-TV
and WTRF-TV
. On May 16, 2011, WOWK expanded its morning newscast to a 4:30 A.M. start time. It is the first station in the market, as well as in the state, to do so. The morning news expansion is a growing trend across the United States. The station announced on August 5, 2011 that 17 year veteran evening anchor Sandra Cole had decided not to renew her contract. Cole ended her tenure at the station on September 30, 2011.
plans to upgrade WOWK to high definition when the station moves to their new Charleston studios in March, 2012.
StormTracker 13 Meteorologists
Sports
Reporters
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
for the Tri-States and Kanawha Valley
Kanawha River
The Kanawha River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 97 mi long, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The largest inland waterway in West Virginia, it has formed a significant industrial region of the state since the middle of the 19th century.It is formed at the town of Gauley...
area of West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
that is licensed to Huntington
Huntington, West Virginia
Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia, along the Ohio River. Most of the city is in Cabell County, for which it is the county seat. A small portion of the city, mainly the neighborhood of Westmoreland, is in Wayne County. Its population was 49,138 at...
which is the second largest market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
(in terms of area) east of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. It broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter northwest of Milton
Milton, West Virginia
Milton is a town in Cabell County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,206 at the 2000 census.Milton is a part of the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area . As of the 2000 census, the MSA had a population of 288,649...
. Due to the nature of VHF signals, this cannot be seen in the Kanawha Valley or Charleston
Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers in Kanawha County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 51,400, and its metropolitan area 304,214. It is the county seat of Kanawha County.Early...
. However, WOWK is offered on Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
channel 12 and high definition on digital channel 782 (in Huntington) as well as Suddenlink
Suddenlink Communications
Suddenlink Communications, formerly Cebridge Connections, is a top-10 cable broadband services provider in the United States with approximately 1.4 million subscribers. Suddenlink operates in 18 states in primarily medium-sized communities. With its corporate headquarters in St. Louis, MO,...
channel 13 and in high definition on digital channel 113 (in Charleston).
Owned by West Virginia Media Holdings
West Virginia Media Holdings
West Virginia Media Holdings is a media chain in West Virginia. It owns television stations in each of the four main media markets in the state, as well as a weekly newspaper....
, it is the flagship of the company and has historically had studios in downtown Huntington and secondary facilities in Charleston. On August 23, 2011, the station announced that it was closing both its current facilities and moving into a space in the Charleston Town Center
Charleston Town Center
Charleston Town Center is an enclosed shopping mall in downtown Charleston, West Virginia, USA. One of the largest enclosed malls to be located in a downtown shopping district, it comprises more than 150+ tenants on two levels, as well as a food court on a partial third level. Anchor stores...
, a shopping mall in downtown Charleston, and maintaining only a small sales and news office in Huntington. FCC requirements, however require it to remain licensed to Huntington. The move is to take place in early 2012.
Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programming on WOWK includes: Inside Edition
Inside Edition
Inside Edition is a thirty-minute American television syndicated news program, first aired on CBS on October 9, 1988. It was originally similar to the programs Hard Copy and A Current Affair, but now more closely resembles a condensed version of breakfast television, exclusively with pre-recorded...
, Dr. Phil
Dr. Phil (TV series)
Dr. Phil is a reality/talk television show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002...
, The Doctors
The Doctors (2008 TV series)
The Doctors is an American syndicated talk show airing daily in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Sweden and Finland. It debuted on September 8, 2008. The hour-long daytime program is produced by Phil McGraw and his son Jay McGraw and is distributed domestically and globally by CBS Television...
, and Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray (TV series)
Rachael Ray, also known as The Rachael Ray Show, is a talk show starring Rachael Ray that debuted in syndication in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2006....
.
Digital programming
The station's digital channel is multiplexed.| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 13.1 | main WOWK-TV programming / CBS HD |
| 13.2 | Weather Radar |
History
The station went on-air October 2, 1955 as WHTN-TV (for HunTingtoN) an ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate owned by the Greater Huntington Theater Corporation. After only a year, it was bought by Cowles Communications
Cowles Media Company
Cowles Media Company was a newspaper, magazine and information publishing company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. The company operated Cowles Business Media, Cowles Creative Publishing and Cowles Enthusiast Media units. The McClatchy Company purchased Cowles Media in 1998...
. WHTN swapped affiliations with WCHS-TV
WCHS-TV
WCHS-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Charleston and Huntington, West Virginia. This area is the second-largest market in terms of area east of the Mississippi River and consists of 61 counties in Central West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and Southern Ohio...
and became a CBS station for the first time in 1958. It went back to ABC in 1962 and stayed with that network for 24 years. Cowles sold the station to Gateway Communications in 1974. A year later, it changed its call letters to the current WOWK-TV to reflect the three states it serves (Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky). In 1986, it changed affiliations again returning to CBS.
The station was headquartered at the Radio Center Building in Huntington from its inception until 1984 when WOWK moved to a location on Fifth Avenue. Gateway merged with SJL Broadcasting
Montecito Broadcast Group
Lilly Broadcasting, L.L.C. is a privately owned American broadcasting company owned and operated by the father-and-son team of George Lilly and Brian Lilly ....
in 2000. SJL sold it to West Virginia Media Holdings
West Virginia Media Holdings
West Virginia Media Holdings is a media chain in West Virginia. It owns television stations in each of the four main media markets in the state, as well as a weekly newspaper....
in 2002. WOWK-TV ended analog operations on VHF channel 13 in 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States
DTV transition in the United States
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...
. The station then returned to channel 13 for its post-transition operations. On January 25, 2009, an ice storm destroyed the temporary UHF channel 47 digital transmitter. Rather than repair it for two more weeks of service, the station shut down its analog transmission early and brought its digital 13 transmitter on-line.
Under federal must-carry
Must-carry
In cable television, governments apply a must-carry regulation stating that locally-licensed television stations must be carried on a cable provider's system.- Canada :...
rules, broadcasters can either allow cable TV systems in their market to carry their signals for free or charge a fee under retransmission consent
Retransmission consent
Retransmission consent is an option granted to US television stations as part of the law that granted such stations the option to elect must-carry rights. Under retransmission consent, a full-power US television station may elect to negotiate with a cable system operator for carriage of its...
provisions. On December 3, 2008, it was announced that Inter Mountain Cable (IMC), a cable provider serving parts of Eastern Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, announced that it would drop WOWK from its lineup unless an agreement was reached over retransmission consent. According to The Mountain Eagle
The Mountain Eagle (newspaper)
The Mountain Eagle is a local weekly newspaper published in Whitesburg, Kentucky. It is the main newspaper of Letcher County, Kentucky and one of the primary newspapers of Eastern Kentucky....
, this dispute caused concern among officials in the city of Fleming-Neon, Kentucky
Fleming-Neon, Kentucky
Fleming-Neon is a city in Letcher County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 840 at the 2000 census.-History:The city was established by the Elkhorn Coal Corporation which moved in to the area in 1913. Fleming was the location of the mine and named for its first president George W. Fleming...
where IMC holds the cable television franchise. The city council in Fleming-Neon have stated that the removal of WOWK will violate IMC's franchise agreement.
News operation
This station's newscasts have long rated a poor third in the market behind NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate WSAZ-TV
WSAZ-TV
WSAZ-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Huntington and Charleston, West Virginia. This area is the second-largest market in terms of area east of the Mississippi River consisting of 61 counties in Central West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and Southeastern Ohio. It broadcasts a high...
and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate WCHS, in no small part because it does not cover events in Ohio or Kentucky, which constitue about one-third of the market. For a time in the 1990s, it was the highest-rated station in the northern portion of the market (Charleston and Kanawha Valley), but it is now again last in the entire market and in the Charleston sub-market. WOWK-TV airs the market's only 7pm newscast. The station also airs a 5pm newscast, which debuted on October 18, 2010. It provides all weather forecasts for WVNS-TV
WVNS-TV
WVNS-TV is the CBS affiliate for Southern West Virginia that is licensed to Lewisburg. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 8 from a transmitter on Keeney's Knob between Alderson and I-64. Owned by West Virginia Media Holdings, the station has studios on Old Cline Road in...
as well as weekend weather for WBOY-TV
WBOY-TV
WBOY-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for North-Central West Virginia that is licensed to Clarksburg. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter east of downtown and U.S. 50. Owned by West Virginia Media Holdings, the station has studios on West...
and WTRF-TV
WTRF-TV
WTRF-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia and the Allegheny Plateau of Eastern Ohio that is licensed to Wheeling, West Virginia. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 7 from a transmitter in Bridgeport, Ohio. Owned by West...
. On May 16, 2011, WOWK expanded its morning newscast to a 4:30 A.M. start time. It is the first station in the market, as well as in the state, to do so. The morning news expansion is a growing trend across the United States. The station announced on August 5, 2011 that 17 year veteran evening anchor Sandra Cole had decided not to renew her contract. Cole ended her tenure at the station on September 30, 2011.
Local HD
West Virginia television has been seeing newscasts moving to high definition. On June 3, 2011, WTAP in the Parkersburg market launched the first HD newscast in the state. On June 26, 2011, WTAP sister-station WSAZ launched the first HD broadcast in the Huntington-Charleston market. West Virginia Media HoldingsWest Virginia Media Holdings
West Virginia Media Holdings is a media chain in West Virginia. It owns television stations in each of the four main media markets in the state, as well as a weekly newspaper....
plans to upgrade WOWK to high definition when the station moves to their new Charleston studios in March, 2012.
News team
Anchors- Jack Kane - weekday mornings, noon, and reporter (Charleston)
- Scott Roberts - weeknights at 5, 6, and reporter (Charleston)
- Kelly Brennan- weeknights at 6, 7, 11, and reporter (Huntington)
- Dana Arquilla - "West Virginia Tonight Live"
- Crissy Clutter - weekends and reporter
StormTracker 13 Meteorologists
- Spencer Adkins (Certified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast Meteorologist is a rating for meteorologists given by the American Meteorological Society.The Certified Broadcast Meteorologist program was established to raise the professional standard in broadcast meteorology and encourage a broader range of scientific understanding,...
and NWANational Weather AssociationThe National Weather Association is an American professional association with a mission to support and promote excellence in operational meteorology and related activities...
Seal of Approval) - Chief seen weeknights - Jared Hoffman (AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
Seal of Approval) - weekday mornings and noon - Brittany Rainey - weekends
- Ari Sarsalari - fill-in
Sports
- Amanda McCall - Director seen weeknights
Reporters
- Bray Cary - West Virginia Media Holdings President and Chief Executive Officer
- Decision Makers host
- April Kaull - West Virginia Media Holdings News Director and State Correspondent
- Randy McKinney - Chief Photographer
- Elbert Mosley - Senior Photojournalist
- Kelly Brennan
- Sarah Lieu - consumer
- Kenney Barnette - photographer
- Anthony Lewis - photojournalist
- Ben Moore - photojournalist
- Adrian Mosby - photojournalist
- Nicky Walters
- David Iversen
- Gil McClanahan