Lynn Martin enters TV

[KyDXIn]

A full power license on channel 19 (WBKI) is a valuable resource, especially in light of FCC efforts at recovering spectrum and re-packing the TV broadcast band.

Such a resource might have a certain appeal to broadcasters with assignments at the high-end of the UHF band (say channel 49 and 51).

Channels 49 and 51, otherwise known as 41 and 58 (WDRB and WMYO)?

 

[knowbetter]

Well color me surprised. I figured they'd been moving to Chestnut Street. Wonder what this means for WHAS news on WBKI now? And knowing how Lynn operates, WDRB/WMYO will be footing the bill for all this, too.

Unfortunately, I am not really surprised at all, as this is "just the latest trend" in station owners getting more and more signals, in areas that could potentially be better served by other groups and owners. As much as I could not even begin to imagine how terrible any TV station owned and operated by LM might be, it would likely present some opportunities for someone as a neutral programming source or unaffiliated owner. (there were days that you had competition in media markets, and creative people who came up with new ideas on how to make something work)

Now, with the consolidation of TV stations, DTV channels/sub-channels etc, all under one owner/managers control, we seem to be simply repeating some of the really stupid Clear Channel, and Cumulus moves in radio to TV. For the most part, these stations are not doing anything with their additional channels, but they seem bent on making sure that any other "main channels", fall under the control of the same folks who seem to be screwing up what was already available...

But, back to the main subject, These "deals", as far as the purchase, and the agreements to operate, are usually done well in advance of the purchase, the source of the money, although presumed to be from the "buyer", has always been questionable, and the "lack of control of the station after the purchase" has always seemed "smelly" to me. This is so reminiscent of the minority and female front men used to purchase stations years ago.

I guess some things will never change

 

[Bengalsfan]

But, back to the main subject, These "deals", as far as the purchase, and the agreements to operate, are usually done well in advance of the purchase, the source of the money, although presumed to be from the "buyer", has always been questionable, and the "lack of control of the station after the purchase" has always seemed "smelly" to me. This is so reminiscent of the minority and female front men used to purchase stations years ago.

It would be interesting to see who's financing this for Martin. I know he's not using any of his own money. Wonder if Block, the owners of WDRB/WMYO, have been able to slip him the money somehow in order for his name to be on the license?

I guess some things will never change

Well, now that radio has had the life squeezed out of it, time for them to move on to TV.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Good question. They have a LP station that is supposed to cover Louisville I thought. Not sure if they put it where Louisville, Lexington and Campbellsville can pick it up.

They had a Class A TV station. Channel 28, and it's companion digital channel, was sold to Word of God Fellowship in 2010. Word of God is a division of Marcus Lamb's Daystar TV. There has been applications to move it to Bardstown, but so far, nothing has become of them.

On a side note, the application to assign the license to Martin has yet to be filed with the FCC.

The LPTV station that carried WBKI was a blowtorch. I am 70 miles north of the tower farm and with an analog TV attached to my UHF TV hardline, the analog 28 had 10-20% snow...far better than the 1,000KW from south of Louisville.

 

[Bengalsfan]

Good question. They have a LP station that is supposed to cover Louisville I thought. Not sure if they put it where Louisville, Lexington and Campbellsville can pick it up.

They had a Class A TV station. Channel 28, and it's companion digital channel, was sold to Word of God Fellowship in 2010. Word of God is a division of Marcus Lamb's Daystar TV. There has been applications to move it to Bardstown, but so far, nothing has become of them.

On a side note, the application to assign the license to Martin has yet to be filed with the FCC.

The LPTV station that carried WBKI was a blowtorch. I am 70 miles north of the tower farm and with an analog TV attached to my UHF TV hardline, the analog 28 had 10-20% snow...far better than the 1,000KW from south of Louisville.

The megawatt south of Louisville was 66 miles south of Louisville...which is probably why you saw the Class A in the Knobs better.

 

[jb_ky]

Here is the FCC Filing... https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...xt=25&appn=101505440&formid=314&fac_num=25173

 

[The King Bee]

I'm back from a Canadian work trip! Toronto and Montreal are great cities... anyway, about WBKI-I was surprised to see WHAS-TV's 10 pm news still on WBKI, even though the station's now on Channel 58.3 (RF Ch. 51). I wonder how long that will last? Perhaps until the end of the calendar month, replaced by a 12 Midnight replay of WDRB's 10 pm report (giving them news coveraage every 2 hours from 10 pm-2 am on WDRB, WBKI and WDRB again).

 

[Dan76]

I'm back from a Canadian work trip! Toronto and Montreal are great cities... anyway, about WBKI-I was surprised to see WHAS-TV's 10 pm news still on WBKI, even though the station's now on Channel 58.3 (RF Ch. 51). I wonder how long that will last? Perhaps until the end of the calendar month, replaced by a 12 Midnight replay of WDRB's 10 pm report (giving them news coveraage every 2 hours from 10 pm-2 am on WDRB, WBKI and WDRB again).

That's what I would do. They must be under some kind of contract to carry the WHAS 10 PM news for a certain period. No other reason to help out a competitor.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

I'm back from a Canadian work trip! Toronto and Montreal are great cities... anyway, about WBKI-I was surprised to see WHAS-TV's 10 pm news still on WBKI, even though the station's now on Channel 58.3 (RF Ch. 51). I wonder how long that will last? Perhaps until the end of the calendar month, replaced by a 12 Midnight replay of WDRB's 10 pm report (giving them news coveraage every 2 hours from 10 pm-2 am on WDRB, WBKI and WDRB again).

The one to emulate is WXIN 59 in Indy. Starting in Sept, local news 4AM-10AM, 4PM-7PM and 10PM-11PM every weekday. Class act.