WYMT-TV

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Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the station formerly known as WKYH-TV. For the radio station licensed to nearby
Paintsville, see WKYH
.

WYMT-TV
  • kW
  • 710 kW (CP)[1]
HAAT
  • 397.6 m (1,304.5 ft)
  • 478 m (1,568 ft) (CP)[1]
Transmitter coordinates37°11′38″N 83°10′52″W / 37.19389°N 83.18111°W / 37.19389; -83.18111
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.wymt.com

WYMT-TV (channel 57) is a

KY 15 bypass in Hazard, and its transmitter is located south of the city in the Perry County community of Viper
.

Although identifying as a separate station in its own right, WYMT is actually considered a

semi-satellite of WKYT-TV (channel 27) in Lexington. As such, it clears all network programming as provided through its parent station but airs a separate offering of syndicated programming; there are also separate local newscasts, commercial inserts and legal station identifications. Master control
and some internal operations are based at WKYT's facilities on Winchester Road in Lexington.

History

As an NBC affiliate

The station began broadcasting on 

UHF channel 57 as WKYH-TV (meaning "Kentucky, Hazard") on October 20, 1969.[4] It initially operated as an independent station until acquiring an NBC affiliation in 1970.[4]: 304 [5] With the station's founding, Hazard became one of the smallest towns in the nation with its own television station as the town had a population of 5,000 at that time.[4]: 303  Initially, WKYH maintained studios in downtown Hazard, and transmitted its signal from a tower located at the headquarters of the local cable system.[4]
: 303  Prior to its inception, some counties in southeastern Kentucky were among the last remaining parts of the country unable to clearly receive a commercial television signal over the air. Kentucky Educational Television had set up locally based WKHA (channel 35) the year before; as such, it represented a highly unusual instance where public television was made available to an audience before that of a commercial broadcaster. Although this area is considered part of the Lexington market, none of that city's television signals covered the area at the time. Lexington was an all-UHF market, and UHF stations don't get good reception in rugged terrain even in the best conditions. This part of Appalachia has long been one of the poorest in the nation, and many people still couldn't afford to buy a television set. Such conditions made the Lexington stations unwilling to set up even low-power translators in this area. Instead, WKYH was founded by local businessman Bill Gorman, who, in addition to building and owning the Hazard-area cable television company since 1965[4]: 303 , also operated a closed-circuit local access channel for the system.[4]: 304  Gorman would also serve as mayor of Hazard from 1978 until his death in October 2010.[6] Martin Ogrosky served as News Director and in other positions along with William "Bill" Helton, William "Bill" Gorman Jr., and others.

In keeping with the region's strong musical traditions, country, bluegrass, and Southern Gospel music constituted a good part of WKYH's early local programs.[4]: 304  These shows lasted well into the 1980s (in the case of the Goins Brothers, as late as 1994) after country-music programs had fallen out of favor even on other Southern stations. Religious programming from local ministers and churches was shown almost daily in the early years as well, not just on Sundays as was the norm elsewhere then.

Throughout its entire run as WKYH, the station's on-air look was very primitive, even by small-market standards. Much of its equipment had been bought as surplus from other stations and was usually in a poor state of repair after as much as two decades of use. This was especially true of the transmitter; in June 1980, the station was forced off the air for more than two weeks after the transmitter's

microwave system failed, WKYH was forced to switch to and from WLEX or WCYB's signal, usually with less-than-satisfactory results. When this happened, WKYH sometimes aired WLEX or WCYB's commercials or station IDs when it was unable to cover them up in time. As such, the station never thrived, even when cable TV arrived in the area. This situation allowed WKYH to relate to NBC during the period when that network was presided over by Fred Silverman
.

New ownership to present

In June 1985, Gorman sold the station to Bluegrass Broadcasting, a unit of

FCC-mandated digital transition
of 2009. For several years after, non-HD programming aired stretched out until technical upgrades allowed those programs to air in HD. As of February 17, 2009, WYMT broadcasts exclusively in digital.

WYMT remains the only full-power commercial station in Hazard; cable or satellite is necessary to receive any other major commercial network affiliates. WYMT is not carried on satellite television because Hazard is part of the Lexington market; since satellite providers have a right not to carry a duplicate network affiliate in the same market due to bandwidth limitations, WKYT is the sole CBS station available on satellite. Gray Television applied to the FCC to carve out a unique satellite carriage area for WYMT alone, including the easternmost portion of the Lexington market and Kentucky counties assigned to the Tri-Cities,

Knoxville, and Charleston–Huntington markets. DirecTV and Dish Network argued it would be technically and economically infeasible, as they would be required to create a new spot beam for this particular area, and cited their right to refuse carriage. The FCC agreed with the satellite companies, and ruled against Gray on May 16, 2018.[13]

WYMT-DT2

WYMT-DT2's former logo.

In 2009, WYMT-DT2 was launched as a standard-definition simulcast of WKYT. The simulcast ended on August 1, 2014, when that simulcast was replaced by the

subchannel. In early 2017, This TV was replaced with the Weigel Broadcasting-operated Heroes & Icons
network.

Programming

Sports programming

WYMT and WKYT regularly broadcast

Lincoln Financial Sports) from the 1980s until 2009, when Raycom lost the SEC syndication rights.[15] In 2009, the station began carrying the ESPN Plus-operated syndication service SEC TV (formerly SEC Network), which ceased operations in 2014 because of the launch of the new SEC Network, which is the cable- and satellite-only channel operated by ESPN.[16]

From 2014 to 2019, WYMT-DT2 served as the local home of Raycom's ACC Network, the syndicated package of Atlantic Coast Conference football and basketball. This ended with the launch of ESPN's pay TV-only ACC Network in August 2019.

Locally produced programs

  • Appalachian Wireless Sports Overtime
  • Issues & Answers: The Mountain Edition
  • Sports Overtime Saturday Night

Newscasts

In the 1970s and 1980s as WKYH, the newscasts were known as 57 NewsService.

The first newscast as WYMT was broadcast on the evening of October 21, 1985.

standard definition until a master control upgrade in 2022. In addition to its main studios, WYMT operates one news bureau in downtown Pikeville
.

WYMT also acts as WKYT's news bureau in the Eastern Kentucky Coalfields region; a number of WKYT reporters appear on WYMT. Indeed, WYMT is the only commercial station with any presence at all in this part of the market.

In WYMT weather segments, it uses regional National Weather Service radar data presented on-screen in a system called "Live Pinpoint Doppler". WKYT at one time operated its own weather radar called "Live First Alert Defender".[18] Sports Overtime is WYMT's weekly sports show that airs on Friday nights from August to April which covers high school athletics. A Saturday edition focusing on college sports aired from 2006 to 2008, and returned in 2013 with the return of weekend news. On April 15, 2014, the station began broadcasting its newscasts in HD, using robotic HD cameras, and introducing new graphics and music.[19]

Notable former on-air staff

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is

multiplexed
:

Subchannels of WYMT-TV[20]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
57.1 1080i
16:9
 WYMT-TV CBS
57.2 720p H&I Heroes & Icons
57.3 480i Outlaw
Outlaw

Analog-to-digital conversion

WYMT-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 57, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 12,[21] using virtual channel 57.

WYMT coverage area

WYMT serves 20 counties[22] in the eastern part of Kentucky. It also serves several counties in southwest Virginia and western West Virginia, and appears on cable television in Claiborne County, Tennessee. It primarily serves the eight easternmost counties of the Lexington market (including Perry County, home to Hazard itself). However, its claimed coverage area includes portions of three additional DMAs. The easternmost counties (Pike, Floyd, Martin, Johnson, and Lawrence) are in the Huntington–Charleston, West Virginia market (home territory for sister station and NBC affiliate WSAZ-TV). Letcher and Leslie counties in Kentucky, along with three county-level jurisdictions in Virginia—Wise and Dickenson counties and the independent city of Norton—are in the Tri-Cities, Tennessee–Virginia DMA. WYMT also claims Bell, Harlan, and McCreary counties as part of its coverage area, these are part of the Knoxville market (home territory for sister station and fellow CBS affiliate WVLT-TV).

References

  1. ^ a b c "Channel Substitution/Community of License Change". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. September 1, 2021. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
  2. ^ "Report and Order", Media Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, January 27, 2022, Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  3. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WYMT-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  4. ^
    ISBN 9781879688933
    – via World Radio History.
  5. ^ "Directory of Radio Stations in the United States and Canada". Broadcasting Yearbook 1974. Washington, DC: Broadcasting Publications, Inc. 1974, A-22. [1]
  6. ^ "Longtime Hazard Mayor Bill Gorman Dies at 86." WYMT.com. Gray Television. October 9, 2010. Archived from the original October 12, 2010. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
  7. ^ White, Susan (October 14, 1985). "Hazard has high hopes for station". Newspapers.com. Lexington Herald-Leader. p. C3. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  8. ^ "WKYH-TV 57 (Now WYMT), Hazard KY - Sign-off 31 August 1985".
  9. ^ WKYH TV Hazard Kentucky Sign Off. WOBZTV9. October 20, 2008. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021 – via YouTube.
  10. ^ "Directory of Radio Stations in the United States and Canada". Broadcasting Yearbook 1986. Washington, DC: Broadcasting Publications, Inc. 1986, C-26. [2]
  11. ^ WYMT's First Newscast (October 21, 1985) -- via YouTube.
  12. ^ "Directory of Radio Stations in the United States and Canada". Broadcasting Yearbook 1987. Washington, DC: Broadcasting Publications, Inc. 1987, C-26. [3]
  13. ^ "Gray Television Licensee, LLC, for Modification of the Television Market for WYMT-TV, Hazard, Kentucky" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. May 16, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  14. ^ "UK IMG Sports Network Affiliates". UKAthletics.com. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  15. ^ 1997 SEC Basketball Schedule. Jefferson Pilot Sports. Archived from the original January 5, 1997. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
  16. ^ "Affiliate List". Southeastern Conference. Retrieved September 23, 2010.
  17. ^ WYMT's First newscast. WYMT Television. October 19, 2016. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021 – via YouTube.
  18. ^ "First Alert Defender". WKYT-TV. Retrieved October 2, 2010.
  19. ^ "Neil Middleton shares about WYMT Mountain News HD". www.wkyt.com. Archived from the original on April 16, 2014.
  20. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WYMT
  21. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved March 24, 2012.
  22. ^ "WYMT Market Information". WYMT-TV. September 14, 2006. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved February 25, 2010.

External links

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