WOWK-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Tri-States and Kanawha Valley area of West Virginia that is licensed to Huntington which is the second largest market (in terms of area) east of the Mississippi River. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter northwest of Milton. Due to the nature of VHF signals, this cannot be seen in the Kanawha Valley or Charleston. However, WOWK is offered on Comcast channel 12 and high definition on digital channel 782 (in Huntington) as well as Suddenlink channel 13 and in high definition on digital channel 113 (in Charleston).

Owned by West Virginia Media Holdings, it is the flagship of the company and has historically had studios in downtown Huntington and secondary facilities in Charleston. On August 23, 2011, the station announced that it was closing both its current facilities and moving into a space in the Charleston Town Center, a shopping mall in downtown Charleston, and maintaining only a small sales and news office in Huntington. FCC requirements, however require it to remain licensed to Huntington. The move is to take place in early 2012.^[1][2]

Syndicated programming on WOWK includes: Inside Edition, Dr. Phil, The Doctors, and Rachael Ray.

Digital programming [link]

The station's digital channel is multiplexed.

History [link]

The station went on-air October 2, 1955 as WHTN-TV (for HunTingtoN) an ABC affiliate owned by the Greater Huntington Theater Corporation. After only a year, it was bought by Cowles Communications. WHTN swapped affiliations with WCHS-TV and became a CBS station for the first time in 1958. It went back to ABC in 1962 and stayed with that network for 24 years. Cowles sold the station to Gateway Communications in 1974. A year later, it changed its call letters to the current WOWK-TV to reflect the three states it serves (Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky). In 1986, it changed affiliations again returning to CBS.

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 with SJL Broadcasting in 2000. SJL sold it to West Virginia Media Holdings in 2002. WOWK-TV ended analog operations on VHF channel 13 in 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States. The station then returned to channel 13 for its post-transition operations.^[3] On January 25, 2009, an ice storm destroyed the temporary UHF channel 47 digital transmitter. Rather than repair it for two more months of service, the station shut down its analog transmission early and brought its digital 13 transmitter on-line.

Under federal must-carry rules, broadcasters can either allow cable TV systems in their market to carry their signals for free or charge a fee under retransmission consent provisions. On December 3, 2008, it was announced that Inter Mountain Cable (IMC), a cable provider serving parts of Eastern Kentucky, announced that it would drop WOWK from its lineup unless an agreement was reached over retransmission consent.^[4] According to The Mountain Eagle, this dispute caused concern among officials in the city of Fleming-Neon, Kentucky where IMC holds the cable television franchise.^[5] The city council in Fleming-Neon have stated that the removal of WOWK will violate IMC's franchise agreement.^[5]

News operation [link]

This station's newscasts have long rated a poor third in the market behind NBC affiliate WSAZ-TV and ABC affiliate WCHS, in no small part because it does not cover events in Ohio or Kentucky, which constitute about one-third of the market. For a time in the 1990s, it was the highest-rated station in the northern portion of the market (Charleston and Kanawha Valley), but it is now again last in the entire market and in the Charleston sub-market. WOWK-TV airs the market's only 7pm newscast. The station also airs a 5pm newscast, which debuted on October 18, 2010. It provides all weather forecasts for WVNS-TV as well as weekend weather for WBOY-TV and WTRF-TV.

On May 16, 2011, WOWK expanded its morning newscast to a 4:30 A.M. start time. It is 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.

The station announced on August 5, 2011 that 17 year veteran evening anchor Sandra Cole had decided not to renew her contract. Cole ended her tenure at the station on September 30, 2011. From October, 2011 until January, 2012, the station did not have an evening anchor. Kelly Brennan, Stacy Moniot, Dana Arquilla, and Scott Roberts filled the evening slots during the interim period. On February 1, 2012, the station placed April Kaull, former news director, in the 6pm and 11pm slots, with Kelly Brennan becoming the 5pm and 7pm anchor.

West Virginia Media Holdings produces a half-hour newscast, called West Virginia Tonight Live, weeknights at 5:30. It airs simultaneously on all company-owned stations from a newsroom in Morgantown.

Local HD [link]

West Virginia television has been seeing newscasts moving to high definition.

On May 29, 2011, WTAP in the Parkersburg market launched the first HD newscast in the state. On June 26, 2011, WTAP sister-station WSAZ launched the first HD broadcast in the Huntington-Charleston market. WOWK has moved into their new facilities, and on Saturday May 5, 2012 WOWK launched high definition newscasts. Sister station WTRF on December 29, 2011 at 12 PM Launched the first true High Definition newscast in the Wheeling/Steubenville market. WTRF was the first station in the West Virginia Media Holdings Group to have a local High Definition newscast.

News team [link]

Anchors

• Jack Kane - weekday mornings, noon, and reporter (Charleston)
• Don Hammond - weeknights at 6:00, 7:00 and 11:00pm
• April Kaull - weeknights at 6:00 and 11:00pm
• Kelly Brennan - weeknights at 5:00pm, reporter
• Dana Arquilla - "West Virginia Tonight Live"
• Marques White - weekends and reporter

StormTracker 13 Meteorologists

• Spencer Adkins (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seal of Approval) - Chief seen weeknights
• Bryan Hughes - weekday mornings and noon
• Kristin Ketchell - meteorologist

Sports

• Scott Roberts - sports anchor and reporter
• John Sabol - sports anchor

Reporters

• Bray Cary - West Virginia Media Holdings President and Chief Executive Officer
  • Decision Makers host
• Randy McKinney - Chief Photographer
• Elbert Mosley - Senior Photojournalist
• Sarah Lieu - executive producer
• Kenney Barnette - photographer
• Anthony Lewis - photojournalist
• Ben Moore - photojournalist
• Adrian Mosby - photojournalist
• Nicky Walters
• David Iversen
• Gil McClanahan
• Jessie Shafer

References [link]

External links [link]

• WOWK-TV website
• WOWK-TV mobile
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WOWK-TV