 | This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(November 2021) |
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| City | La Crosse, Wisconsin |
| Channels | |
| Branding | News 8 Now |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| Madison:WISC-TV/TVW | |
| History | |
First air date | August 1, 1954 (71 years ago) (1954-08-01) |
Former call signs | WKBT (1954–2009) |
Former channel numbers |
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Call sign meaning | Former TV sibling ofWKBH Radio, which shared ownership with a music store that soldKimballpianos (the store's slogan: "Kimball Brings Happiness") |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 74424 |
| ERP | 25.7kW |
| HAAT | 464.9 m (1,525 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 44°5′28″N91°20′17″W / 44.09111°N 91.33806°W /44.09111; -91.33806 |
| Translator(s) | see§ Translators |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WKBT-DT (channel 8) is atelevision station licensed toLa Crosse, Wisconsin, United States, serving the La Crosse–Eau Clairemarket as an affiliate ofCBS andMyNetworkTV. Owned byMorgan Murphy Media, the station maintains studios on South 6th Street in downtown La Crosse, and its transmitter is located on Silver Creek Road inGalesville, Wisconsin.
WKBT signed-on August 1, 1954, as a sister station to WKBH radio (AM 1410, nowWIZM).[2][3] In thecall sign, the "T" for "television" replaced the "H" to differentiate the stations. It originally carried programming from all four major networks (CBS,NBC,ABC, andDuMont) but has always been a primary CBS affiliate. It lost DuMont after that network shut down in 1956 and lost NBC in 1958 after La Crosse andEau Claire were collapsed into a singlemarket.
WKBT then shared ABC with NBC affiliateWEAU-TV (channel 13, based in Eau Claire) untilWXOW (channel 19) signed-on from La Crosse in 1970.[4]
On April 16, 1965, during the worst of the famous 1965 flood, the downtown La Crosse building that housed both WKBT and WKBH burned to the ground; WKBT would rebuild its current building on the same site. WKBT was sold to Harold F. Gross, a businessman fromLansing, Michigan, in 1970, who ownedWJIM-AM-FM-TV in that city. Gross Telecasting sold both stations to Backe Communications in 1984, following a licensing dispute involving WJIM-TV (which changed its call letters to WLNS-TV). Backe sold both stations toYoung Broadcasting in 1986. In March 2000, Young sold WKBT to current owner Morgan Murphy Media (ironically, the founding original owner of WEAU-TV from 1953 to 1962).
Throughout its history, WKBT's news operation has tended to favor their news coverage on their home city of La Crosse,Winona, Minnesota, and theCoulee Region, with a secondary emphasis on Eau Claire and theChippewa Valley, ceding to WEAU's geographical strength overall in Eau Claire. However, WKBT's weather coverage is balanced equally to cover the entire market.
WKBT's transmitter, in Galesville, is located about 30 miles (48 km) north of the channel 8 studios in order to provide a clear signal to the entire market. If put up next to Chicago'sWillis Tower (formerly known as theSears Tower), the WKBT transmitter would surpass the upper roof and fall just about 100 feet (30 m) short of the highest antenna on top.
On January 30, 2006, WKBT signed-on a new seconddigital subchannel to serve as the market'sUPN affiliate.Class A stationKQEG-CA had previously dropped its affiliation with the network at the end of the previous week.[5][6] As a result of UPN andThe WBmerging in September 2006, ABC affiliate WXOW (and itssemi-satelliteWQOW) gainedThe CW affiliation on digital subchannels. This was a result of their association with The WB through acable-only station ("WBCZ" on channel 15) throughThe WB 100+. Meanwhile, WKBT-DT2 joined the other new broadcast network, MyNetworkTV.
WKBT presently broadcasts 34 hours of local newscasts each week (with six hours each weekday and two hours each on Saturdays and Sundays).
In October 2012, WKBT was in the national spotlight when morning news anchor Jennifer Livingston addressed a viewer whocriticized her about her weight and issued an on-air commentary aboutbullying and being arole model.[7][8]
In the afternoon of February 11, 2013, WKBT-DT'sEmergency Alert System washijacked, airing a falseLocal Area Emergency message over the station's regular programming warning viewers of azombie apocalypse. Multiple other television stations had their EAS system hijacking with the same message on the same day, includingKRTV inGreat Falls, Montana,WBUP andWNMU inMarquette, Michigan, andKENW inPortales, New Mexico.[9][10]
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WKBT-HD | CBS |
| 8.2 | 720p | WKBT-DT | News8+/MyNetworkTV | |
| 8.3 | 480i | ION | Ion Television | |
| 8.4 | Dabl | |||
| 8.5 | 4:3 | QVC | ||
| 8.6 | HSN |
WKBT added digital subchannel 8.2 in January 2006, a channel originally affiliated with UPN before joiningMyNetworkTV the following September; it launched with only a weekend's notice afterKQEG-CD's UPN disaffiliation in the wake of the announcement of the UPN–WB merger into The CW.[5] The station would add a second subchannel, affiliated withIon in January 2017; a third subchannel, affiliated withDabl, signed on in September 2019.
On March 28, 2003, WKBT signed on its digital signal onUHF channel 41.[12] The station has been digital-only since February 17, 2009.
In the summer of 2011, WKBT became the first station in the market to air newscasts in16:9enhanced definitionwidescreen.
| City of license | Callsign | Channel | ERP | HAAT | Facility ID | Transmitter coordinates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elk Mound (Eau Claire) | WBDL-LD | 18 | 15 kW | 106.5 m (349 ft) | 130843 | 44°48′0.0″N91°27′57.0″W / 44.800000°N 91.465833°W /44.800000; -91.465833 (WBDL-LD) |
| La Crescent, Minnesota (La Crosse) | KQEG-CD | 23 | 225 m (738 ft) | 72207 | 43°44′53″N91°17′51″W / 43.74806°N 91.29750°W /43.74806; -91.29750 (KQEG-CD) | |
| Tomah | WPDR-LD | 35 | 232.4 m (762 ft) | 39628 | 43°53′50″N90°34′57″W / 43.89722°N 90.58250°W /43.89722; -90.58250 (WPDR-LD) |
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofWisconsin | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Wisconsin | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS |
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| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofMinnesota | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Minnesota | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS |
| |
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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