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|---|---|
| City | Huntington, West Virginia |
| Channels | |
| Branding | WOWK 13;13 News |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | October 2, 1955 (70 years ago) (1955-10-02) |
Former call signs | WHTN-TV (1955–1975) |
Former channel numbers |
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Call sign meaning | Ohio,West Virginia,Kentucky (states served by the station's signal) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 23342 |
| ERP | 37 kW |
| HAAT | 408 m (1,339 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 38°30′21.1″N82°12′32.3″W / 38.505861°N 82.208972°W /38.505861; -82.208972 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WOWK-TV (channel 13) is atelevision station licensed toHuntington, West Virginia, United States, serving theCharleston–Huntingtonmarket as an affiliate ofCBS. Owned byNexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on Quarrier Street near theCharleston Town Center in downtown Charleston,[2][3] and its transmitter is located inMilton, West Virginia.
The station went on-air October 2, 1955, as WHTN-TV (for Huntington),[4] anABC affiliate owned by the Greater Huntington Theater Corporation. After only a year, the station was bought byMinneapolis-basedCowles Communications (unrelated to theSpokane, Washington–basedCowles Publishing Company). WHTN swapped affiliations withWCHS-TV and became a CBS station for the first time in 1958. In 1960, Cowles sold Channel 13 to Reeves Telecom. It went back to ABC in 1962 and stayed with that network for 24 years. Reeves Telecom sold the station to Gateway Communications (a company formed by employees of the former broadcasting division ofTriangle Publications) in 1974, becoming the company's only ABC affiliate, and the only station owned by Gateway that was not owned by Triangle prior to its acquisition.[5] The following March, it changed its call letters to the current WOWK-TV to reflect the three states it serves (Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky). On June 1, 1986, it changed affiliations again, returning to CBS. The swap brought channel 13 in-line with sister stationsWLYH inLancaster, Pennsylvania,WTAJ-TV inAltoona, Pennsylvania, andWBNG-TV inBinghamton, New York, which had recently renewed their CBS relationships.[6]
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 withSJL Broadcasting in 2000. SJL sold it toWest Virginia Media Holdings in 2002. After the sale to West Virginia Media, it sold its Huntington building to regional radio conglomerate Kindred Communications and moved its studio and offices to Charleston. WOWK retained anews bureau and advertising sales office for the southern portion for the market in what is now the Kindred Capital Building, and its transmitter is still located at the Milton location.
On November 17, 2015,Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it would purchase the West Virginia Media Holdings stations, including WOWK-TV, for $130 million. Under the terms of the deal, Nexstar assumed control of the stations through atime brokerage agreement in December 2015, with the sale of the license assets completed on January 31, 2017.[7] Nexstar CEOPerry A. Sook was a former employee of WOWK.[8] This made WOWK-TV reunite with former Gateway-owned sister stations WTAJ and WBNG.
On June 15, 2016, Nexstar announced that it has entered into an affiliation agreement withKatz Broadcasting for theEscape,Laff,Grit, andBounce TV networks (the last one of which is owned by Bounce Media LLC, whoseCOO Jonathan Katz is president/CEO of Katz Broadcasting), bringing one or more of the four networks to 81 stations owned and/or operated by Nexstar, including WOWK-TV. (Grit was available in Charleston on WCHS-DT3 until February 28, 2017, when it was replaced byTBD. It moved to WOWK in October 2017.)[9]
WOWK-TV airs the market's only 7 p.m. newscast. The station also airs a 5 p.m. newscast. It provided weather forecasts forWVNS-TV inBeckley–Bluefield until late 2016.
On May 16, 2011, WOWK expanded itsmorning newscast to a 4:30 a.m. start time. It was 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.
WOWK launched a 4 p.m. newscast titledGood Day at 4 on September 5, 2022. This is the second 4 p.m. newscast in the market.
WOWK produces a statewide evening newscast,Tonight Live at 5:30 pm (formerlyWest Virginia Tonight Live andWest Virginia Tonight), which is simulcast across all of the former West Virginia Media Holdings stations.Tonight Live is aired at 11:30 p.m. onWDVM-TV inHagerstown, Maryland (in theWashington, D.C. market).
Historically, WOWK's newscasts have ranked third in the market, behindWSAZ-TV and WCHS-TV. Generally, WOWK and WCHS-TV are stronger in the eastern half of the market, including Charleston. However, neither station does well in the western portion, including Huntington and the Ohio and Kentucky sides of the market.[citation needed]
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WOWKCBS | CBS |
| 13.2 | 480i | Mystery | Ion Mystery | |
| 13.3 | Grit | Grit | ||
| 13.4 | Rewind | Rewind TV | ||
| 3.4 | 480i | 16:9 | DABL | Dabl (WSAZ-TV) |
WOWK-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, in early 2009. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transitionUHF channel 47 to VHF channel 13.[11][12] On January 25, 2009, anice storm damaged the primary analog VHF channel 13 transmitter. Rather than repair it for two more months of service, the station shut down its analog transmission early and brought its digital channel 13 transmitter on-line.
The station's broadcast tower,WOWK Television Tower, is a 338.94-meter (1,112 ft)-tall guyed TV mast located in Huntington, West Virginia. The tower was built in 1975 and is currently the third-tallest structure in West Virginia. The tallest is theWVAH-TV tower inScott Depot, followed by the WSAZ-TV tower.[13][14]
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofWest Virginia | ||
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of West Virginia | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofOhio | ||
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Ohio | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the Commonwealth ofKentucky | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Kentucky | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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| ABC | .svg){kind=logo} | |
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| CBS | ||
| The CW |
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| Fox | ||
| MyNetworkTV | ||
| NBC | ||
| Other stations | ||
| TV network |
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| Other assets |
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| Acquisitions | ||
** Owned by third parties but operated by Nexstar through various agreements. | ||
