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| History | |
First air date | September 26, 1953 (71 years ago) (1953-09-26) |
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| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 4686 |
| ERP | 115kW |
| HAAT | 160 m (525 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 32°19′39″N88°41′28″W / 32.32750°N 88.69111°W /32.32750; -88.69111 |
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Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WTOK-TV (channel 11) is atelevision station inMeridian, Mississippi, United States, affiliated withABC,MyNetworkTV andThe CW Plus. The station is owned byGray Media, and maintains studios on 23rd Avenue in Meridian'sMid-Town section; its transmitter is located on Crestview Circle (alongMS 145/Roebuck Drive) inunincorporatedLauderdale County, south of the city.
WTOK-TV began broadcasting on September 26, 1953,[2] as the second television station in Mississippi and the first on the VHF band. WTOK was originally owned by Southern Television Corporation founded by Robert F. Wright, and its first program was a football game betweenDartmouth andHoly Cross.[3]WJTV inJackson had started broadcasting in January of that year on aUHF frequency. WTOK started as a primaryCBS affiliate but carried programming from ABC,NBC, andDuMont as well. DuMont folded in 1955 and NBC went to WHTV (channel 24, nowWMDN) when that station resumed broadcasting in 1972 (via its status as asatellite ofTupelo's WTWV, nowWTVA). It became an exclusive ABC affiliate on April 1, 1980, sending CBS to WHTV when WTVA's owners decided to convert it into a separate station. ABC had become the highest-rated network in the nation by this time and wanted a station that would clear all of its programming.[4] Wright also ownedThe Meridian Star, and was forced to sell channel 11 to the Hobby family ofHouston in 1981 as a result of FCC action six years earlier prohibiting cross-ownership between a town's only newspaper and TV station.[5] In 1983, the Hobbys reorganized their broadcast holdings asH&C Communications after they sold off theHouston Post. H&C then sold WTOK to United Broadcasting, who also ownedKARK-TV inLittle Rock, Arkansas, in 1984.
Although most media markets were allocated two VHF commercial channels and one VHF noncommercial channel, what would become of the Meridian media market was sandwiched betweenColumbus–Tupelo (channels2,4, and 9) to the north, Jackson (channel 3 and later channel 12) to the west,Hattiesburg–Laurel (channel 9, later 7) andMobile (channels3,5, and10) to the south, andBirmingham (channels6,10, and13) andMontgomery (channels8 and12) to the east. This created a "doughnut" in East Central Mississippi where there was onlyone VHF license available. WTOK-TV was fortunate enough to gain that license, and consequently became the only station to serve the Meridian area until WHTV started in 1968 (however, that station went off the air in 1970, for a year and a half); WMAW (a Mississippi Public Broadcasting station) would not sign on until 1972.
WTOK also served as a partialFox affiliate in the mid-1990s, carryingNFL broadcasts as well as selected Fox programming in late night time-slots, after ABC programming had ended for the day. In 1988, then-owner United Broadcasting was taken over by investment firmMerrill Lynch, who then sold its three stations off to separate buyers. That year, Benedek Broadcasting bought WTOK. When Benedek's parent company went bankrupt in 2002, current owner Gray Television bought most of the Benedek portfolio, including WTOK.
WTOK-TV has been digital-only since June 12, 2009.[6]
On June 25, 2018, Gray Television announced it would acquire Montgomery, Alabama–basedRaycom Media for $3.65 billion. The deal would give WTOK-TV new sister stations in Raycom's virtualtriopoly of NBC affiliate WLBT, Fox affiliateWDBD and MyNetworkTV affiliateWLOO in Jackson.[7][8] In addition, the sale would give Gray ownership of at least one station in nearly every television market in Mississippi (the exceptions being Greenville and the adjacent Columbus-Tupelo market). The FCC approved the sale on December 20, and the sale was consummated on January 2.
On December 30, 2023, WTOK-TV parent company Gray Television announced it had reached an agreement with theNew Orleans Pelicans to air 10 games on the station during the2023–24 season.[9]
On September 17, 2024, Gray and the Pelicans announced a broader deal to form the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network, which will broadcast nearly all 2024–25 Pelicans games on Gray's stations in theGulf South, including WTOK-TV.[10]
WTOK-DT2, branded on air as "myTOK2", is theMyNetworkTV-affiliated seconddigital subchannel of WTOK-TV, broadcasting in16:9widescreenstandard definition on channel 11.2.
The station signed on inearly 2006 as themarket's first locally based Fox affiliate. Known on-air as "Fox Meridian", it could also be seen onComcast channel 10 and in high definition on digital channel 434. WTOK had previously served as a partial Fox affiliate in the mid-1990s, carryingNFL broadcasts as well as selected Fox programming in late-night time-slots. Access to the rest of the network's programs was provided on cable at first viaWDBB inTuscaloosa, Alabama, then viaFoxnet after WDBBswitched its affiliation to The WB in 1996.
Starting September 5, 2006, it began airing programming from Fox's new sister programming service MyNetworkTV. Shows from that service aired Monday through Friday nights from 9 until 11 in adelayed arrangement. After NBC affiliateWGBC (channel 30) acquired the area's Fox affiliation in late 2008, WTOK-DT2 became branded as "myTOK2" to reflect the station's shift to a primary MyNetworkTV affiliation. At this point, overnight programming fromThe Sportsman Channel was dropped and Jewelry Television took its place. It also moved from Comcast channel 10 to channel 2 and surrendered the digital channel 434 allotment to WGBC.
In October 2017, the over-the-air feed of "myTOK2" was upgraded into a 16:9 widescreen standard-definition picture format; it could not be upgraded into720p HD, most likely due to bandwidth limitations prohibiting WTOK from transmitting all three of its feeds in HD simultaneously.[11] "myTOK2" had previously been offered in480i4:3 standard definition. In autumn 2018, Gray Television opted out of an HD upgrade to its 11.2 subchannel, instead deciding to addIon Television to channel 11.4.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion with: further on its history of the news operation. You can help byadding to it.(September 2014) |
WTOK-TV has long been the dominant station in Eastern Mississippi due to its status as the only VHF station in the area. From 1991 to 1994, WTOK was even the only over-the-air commercial station in town after both of its rivals went off-the-air. After WMDN shut down its news department in 2005, WTOK would be the only source of full-length local newscasts in the market until 2012. Unlike most ABC affiliates, it does not air full two-hour morning or midday newscasts during the week. WTOK-DT2 rebroadcasts the 6 a.m. hour ofGood Morning Meridian weekday mornings at 7:30 andNewsCenter 11 at 10 every night at midnight. On April 25, 2012, WTOK-TV began broadcasting local newscasts in high definition for the first time.
In 2016, WTOK-TV was recognized by theAssociated Press for best breaking news coverage and best breaking weather coverage.
The station's digital signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WTOK-HD | ABC |
| 11.2 | 480i | myTOK2 | MyNetworkTV | |
| 11.3 | 720p | WTOK-CW | Meridian CW 8 | |
| 11.4 | 480i | WTOKION | Ion Television | |
| 11.5 | WTOK365 | The365 | ||
| 11.6 | Cozi | Cozi |
In 2021, Gray launched a low-power station, WOOK-LD on Channel 15. The channel originally relayed WTOK's main channel on 15.3, its Circle TV feed on 15.2, a weather and traffic stream on 15.4, and is planning additional programming on channels 15.1 and 15.5. By March 2023, WOOK began carryingHeroes and Icons on channel 15.2 andStart TV on channel 15.3, removing the redundant coverage of Circle and WTOK. In April 2023, WOOK launchedTelemundo on channel 15.1, removing channel 15.5.[citation needed]
