WKCF

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WKCF
Clermont, Florida/Orlando, Florida
Branding	CW18
Slogan	Your Home For Laughs
Channels	18 (UHF) analog, 17 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	CW
Owner	Hearst-Argyle Television
Founded	1988
Call letters meaning	W K Clermont, Florida, city of license or W Knights of Central Florida
Former affiliations	Independent ,The WB
Website	cw18tv.com

WKCF (CW18) is the CW network affiliate serving the Orlando/Daytona Beach/Melbourne, Florida television market. It is licensed to Clermont, Florida. The station is owned by Hearst-Argyle Television. Its transmitter is located in Bithlo, Florida.

WKCF offers a general entertainment format consisting of sitcoms, reality/talk shows, court shows, first run prime time programming from The CW, cartoons from Kids' WB, and some movies.

[edit] History

WKCF first went on the air in November of 1988. The station originally broadcast on channel 68. It was owned by Press Broadcasting, which previously owned WMOD channel 43 (now WOTF-TV). Indeed, WKCF's early programming lineup consisted of shows previously shown on WMOD. The station provided a grade A signal to Orlando, and a grade B signal to Daytona Beach and Melbourne, unlike WMOD, which had no signal in Daytona Beach and a weak signal in Orlando. It was branded as "TV 68".

In 1991, Press Broadcasting approached the Brevard Community College, owner of educational station WBCC channel 18, about a channel swap. Channel 18 had the potential to provide the full market with a much stronger signal than channel 68 (WBCC was a construction permit for relatively low power serving the Brevard County area but could move to the Bithlo antenna fatm with 5 million watts; channel 68, at the time broadcasting from a tower in Orange Park, could not be moved into Bithlo and still reach city of license Clermont with a city-grade signal as required by FCC regulations). The college agreed, and the FCC approved the swap. As a result, in 1992, WKCF moved to channel 18 (which was re-classified as a commercial license), and WBCC moved to channel 68 (which was re-classified as an educational license). The station was then re-branded as "TV 18".

WKCF started producing a Kids Club program called "The Buckaroo Club" hosted by Ranger Bob. Despite low ratings, it seemed most people in Central Florida knew who Ranger Bob was. The show was on the air from 1992 to 1994. A reunion show was aired on WKCF in 2004.

Another move that put WKCF on the map was partnering up with the Orlando Magic and broadcasting many of their On-the-Road games during the Shaq years. Later, WKCF became an official network affiliate, the partnership with the Orlando Magic hindered the growth more than helped, and the contract was not renewed.

In 1994 the station was rebranded as "18-WKCF".

WKCF joined the WB network in January 1995 as a charter affiliate. A year after the network affiliation was in place, WKCF rebranded itself as "WB18". It would often be labeled as the #1 WB affiliate in the country.

WKCF was sold to Emmis Communications in 1998 for $200 million cash.

WKCF was the first television station in the Orlando area to air a 10pm newscast. It launched in 1991, and was originally produced by WCPX (now WKMG). Later on, WESH took over the production of the newscast. It was cancelled in September 2002, in response to increased competition from WOFL and WRDQ/WFTV. In 2004, the station became the home to The Daily Buzz, a nationally syndicated morning program (previously produced at WBDT in Dayton, Ohio).

In January 2006 The WB and UPN announced that they would merge into a new network The CW. On March 1, Emmis officials confirmed that WKCF would affiliate with The CW in the fall once The WB ceases operations in September 2006.[1]

On May 8, 2006 Emmis announced the sale of WKCF to Hearst-Argyle Television for $217.5 million. The sale was finalized on August 31, 2006. This has created a duopoly for Hearst-Argyle, as they already owned local NBC affiliate WESH. WKCF has relocated from their recent studio location and is now housed inside the WESH Studios. This move has lead to specultaion that WESH could bring back a 10PM newscast on the station. [2] Emmis will keep its 50% share of the syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz. Emmis will maintain ownership of the old WKCF building; where the Daily Buzz will continue their operation for the time being. [3] [4]

WKCF may take on the responsibility of airing NBC programs when WESH is not able to such as in a news-related emergency.

For the time being, WKCF is the only Hearst-Argyle owned station whose web site is not powered by Internet Broadcasting.

[edit] Logos

Logo under WB affiliation

Current CW logo

[edit] External links

• WKCF CW18 Homepage
• WKCF MySpace Page
• Ranger Bob - Buckaroo Club web page
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WKCF