WKCF

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Coordinates: 28°35′12.6″N 81°4′57.5″W / 28.586833°N 81.082639°W / 28.586833; -81.082639
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WKCF
FCC
Facility ID53465
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT510.8 m (1,676 ft)
Transmitter coordinates28°35′12.6″N 81°4′57.5″W / 28.586833°N 81.082639°W / 28.586833; -81.082639
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.wesh.com/cw18

WKCF (channel 18) is a

Daytona Beach–licensed NBC affiliate WESH (channel 2). The two stations share studios on North Wymore Road in Eatonville (with a Winter Park address); WKCF's transmitter is located in unincorporated Bithlo, Florida
.

History

In January 1988 to finish building the new station, Press sold WMOD to Blackstar Broadcasting (an

drama series. The station provided a city-grade signal to Orlando and a Grade B signal to Daytona Beach and Melbourne
. WKCF was branded on-air as "TV 68".

The station eventually moved from the strip mall to new facilities located on Courtland Street in Orlando. Press Broadcasting wanted to move WKCF's transmitter to the

Brevard County area on UHF channel 18. However, if that station moved to Bithlo, it would be able to boost its power to the maximum five million watts. The college agreed and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the swap. As a result, in 1992, WKCF moved to channel 18 which was reclassified as a commercial license and WRES moved to channel 68 as well as adopting the call sign WBCC (it is now WEFS
). After the switch, WKCF re-branded itself as "TV 18".

Soon after moving to channel 18, WKCF started producing a kids club program called The Buckaroo Club, hosted by Ranger Bob (aka Tim Trombitas né Kincaid,

NBA team's road games; it gradually added some home games as well, this was right around the time Shaquille O'Neal put the Magic on the map. In 1994, the station was rebranded as "18 WKCF". The station joined The WB
on January 11, 1995, as a charter affiliate. A year after it affiliated with the network, the station rebranded itself as "WB 18". For most of The WB's eleven-year run, WKCF was consistently the network's top affiliate. At one point, it was even the fourth-highest rated station in Central Florida.

In 1998, the studios of WKCF were moved to

hurricane impacts on several of its stations including Katrina (affecting WVUE), Ivan (affecting WALA), and Charley
(affecting WFTX and WKCF). The Emmis model was later discontinued as the company sold off the stations.

Former logo (2006-2024)

On January 24, 2006,

Hearst-Argyle Television for $217.5 million. The sale was finalized on August 31. This created the third duopoly in the Orlando market joining the Cox-owned duopoly of WFTV and WRDQ, and the Fox Television Stations–owned duopoly of WOFL and WRBW. As part of the move, WKCF moved its operations to the WESH facilities in Winter Park. It may now take on the responsibility of airing NBC programs when WESH is not able to so such as in the event of extended breaking news or severe weather coverage, special programming, or other scheduling conflicts.[5]

Until October 2008, WKCF was the only Hearst-owned station whose website was not powered by

megawatts power (which was sixty percent of its authorized five megawatt ERP) under special temporary authority
from the FCC. The station had applied to cease analog transmissions on the original February 17, 2009, date of the digital transition, but its application was rejected by the FCC.

On July 9, 2012, Hearst Television entered into a dispute with

TV Guide Network;[6] WKCF's subchannels were also similarly pulled and replaced with alternate programming.[7] The substitution of TV Guide Network in place of WKCF lasted until July 19, 2012, when a new carriage deal was reached between Hearst and Time Warner.[8]

News operation

Further information: WESH § News operation

Although not in a traditional

big three network
affiliate time period, Orlando has been very competitive in the 10 p.m. prime time slot over the years. WKCF was the first television station in the area to launch a prime time newscast. This effort was established in 1991 through a news share agreement with WCPX (now WKMG). Eventually, future sister station WESH would take over production duties of WKCF's broadcast. Meanwhile, in 1995, WFTV entered into the 10 p.m. news race with its own program on WRBW, which in 2000 moved to sister station WRDQ, where it remains today. Then in 1998, WOFL premiered the first half-hour independently-produced newscast outside of Orlando's big three network outlets; this program would be expanded to an hour on weeknights in the fall of 1999.

The first WESH-produced newscast for WKCF was cancelled in September 2002, due to increased competition from WOFL and WRDQ. From August 2004 to 2007, WKCF's studios were home to the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz, which would be seen on the station each weekday from 6 to 9 a.m. until its cancellation in 2015. After Hearst bought the station in 2007, the show moved its production to Disney's Hollywood Studios, while the program moved locally to WRDQ.

When WESH became a sister station to WKCF, it led to speculation channel 2 would bring back a 10 p.m. newscast to the station at some point. In January 2007, WESH began producing a two-hour extension of its weekday morning newscast on WKCF. This joined two other morning news broadcasts airing at the same time on WOFL (established in September 2000) and WRDQ (launched at the same time as WKCF's morning show). A simulcast of the 6 a.m. hour of WESH's weekday morning newscast would subsequently be added to the station. On November 1, 2007, WESH began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition, with the WKCF newscasts included in the upgrade. After a seven-year hiatus, WKCF resumed a nightly 10 p.m. newscast produced by WESH on August 31, 2009.[9] As of January 2015, the 5 a.m. hour of WESH's weekday morning newscast is now simulcast on WKCF.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is

multiplexed
:

Subchannels of WKCF[10]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
18.1 1080i
16:9
 WKCF The CW
18.2 480i TCrime True Crime Network
18.3 Estrell Estrella TV
2.1 1080i 16:9 WESH NBC (WESH)
2.2 480i MeTV MeTV (WESH-DT2)
2.3 Story Story Television (WESH-DT3)
  Broadcast on behalf of another station

During the George Zimmerman trial in 2013, WKCF's second digital subchannel, in addition to its then-This TV affiliation, was used to carry NBC Daytime and WESH's daytime syndicated programming to accommodate trial coverage on WESH.[11] Hearst's contract with This TV's then-parent company Tribune Broadcasting ran out at the end of 2017, and WKCF-DT2 switched to carrying programming from Justice Network (now True Crime Network) on January 1, 2018.[12]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WKCF ended programming on its analog signal, on

UHF channel 18, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[13] The station's digital signal continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition UHF channel 17, using virtual channel
18.

WKCF was one of three stations in the Orlando area (along with WKMG-TV and WOFL) to participate in the "Analog Nightlight" program, which lasted until WKCF's analog transmitter was shut down permanently on July 12, 2009.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WKCF". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ Moyer, Matthew. "Remembering circa-'90s TV horror host the GraveMaster, briefly Orlando's answer to Elvira". Orlando Weekly. Retrieved June 4, 2023.
  3. CNNMoney.com
    , January 24, 2006.
  4. ^ UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network, The New York Times, January 24, 2006.
  5. ^ "GO 386 - August 22, 2021".
  6. ^ "Orlando Sentinel: "WESH off Bright House; Pennsylvania station is substitute", July 10, 2012". Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
  7. ^ "Tampa Bay Times: "Hearst dispute with Bright House pulls WMOR-Ch. 32 and digital THIS TV off Tampa Bay cable system", July 10, 2012". Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved February 1, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. ^ Broadcasting & Cable: "Hearst TV, Time Warner Cable End Viewer Blackout", July 19, 2012.
  9. ^ "Martha Sugalski, Jim Payne to anchor 10 p.m. news on Channel 18". Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2009.
  10. ^ "Digital TV Market Listing for WKCF". RabbitEars.Info. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  11. ^ Boedeker, Hal (June 21, 2013). "George Zimmerman trial to rearrange daytime lineup". The Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
  12. ^ Boedeker, Hal (January 2, 2018). "WKCF 18.2: Justice Network replaces This TV - Orlando Sentinel". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  13. ^ List of Digital Full-Power Stations
  14. ^ http://www.fcc.gov/DA-09-1303A2.pdf [permanent dead link]

External links

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