WKUT-LD

WKUT-LD, UHF analog channel 64, is a low-powered TBN-affiliated television station licensed to Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. Owned by HC2 Holdings, the station was a sister station to Court TV affiliate WCZU-LD.

WKUT-LD
Elizabethtown, Kentucky
United States
CityElizabethtown (relocated from Bowling Green, Kentucky
ChannelsDigital: 32 (UHF)
(reapplying to broadcast on 20 (UHF))
Virtual: 25 (PSIP)
Programming
AffiliationsDefunct/Future station
Ownership
OwnerHC2 Holdings
(DTV America Corporation)
WCZU-LD, WKUW-LD
History
FoundedJanuary 2, 2007
First air date
January 2, 2007 (2007-01-02)
Last air date
2010 (2010)
Former call signs
WKUT-LP (January-February 2007)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
64 (UHF, 2007-2010)
TBN (2007-2010)
Call sign meaning
W KentUcky's TBN
Technical information
Facility ID168485
ClassLD (Low-power digital)
ERP13.5 kW
HAAT547 feet (167 m)
Transmitter coordinates36°57′37″N 86°32′49″W

This station is currently dark and silent, and it is therefore unknown when and if the station will sign back on the air. When and if WKUT signs on the air, it will broadcast on UHF channel 20, but through the use of PSIP, it will be displayed on tuners as virtual channel 25.[1] While the station is licensed to Bowling Green, the station is actually to be based in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.

History

As a TBN O&O translator

The station was originally licensed to Glasgow, Kentucky, located in Barren County, with the callsign WKUT-LP, broadcasting on analog UHF channel 64.[2] The station's construction permit was granted by the FCC on January 2, 2007. The signal mainly reached most of Barren County, southern Hart County (including Horse Cave), and pathetically small areas of eastern Warren and southeast Edmonson Counties (e.g. Hays, Rocky Hill, Pondsville), and never reached Bowling Green, the principal city of the local media market. The current WKUT-LD calls came on February 15, 2007 in an attempt to convert the station to digital. In 2010, the station went silent after being purchased by Budd Broadcasting, and the broadcast license was relocated to Bowling Green.

Before WKUT went silent, it was a very low-powered owned-and-operated translator of TBN, the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Currently, the nearest full-powered TBN station, however, is Hendersonville, Tennessee-licensed WPGD-TV. TBN also operated WKUW-LP on analog channel 60, which was also licensed to Glasgow, and at one time was licensed to Smiths Grove, until 2010 when they sold it to Budd Broadcasting, who relocated that station to White House, Tennessee, located within the Nashville media market, which is the home market for WPGD. WKUG-LP, which operated on analog channel 62, was also licensed to Glasgow and was also a TBN O&O translator, operating from 2002 until 2007.

Currently, WPGD serves as the default over-the-air TBN station for the Bowling Green media market, even though TBN, along with its associated sister multi-cast networks (e.g. The Church Channel, JUCE TV, Smile of a Child TV), is widely available on virtually all cable television systems. The area can also receive TBN via both major satellite TV providers (e.g. Dish Network and DirecTV). Some parts of the Bowling Green market could receive WPGD's signal with an antenna, mainly in Warren, Barren, and southern Butler Counties, along with parts of southern Edmonson County south of the Green River. Other than WPGD's southern Kentucky coverage, Scottsville-licensed WPBM-CD, which technically is in the Nashville market, is currently Bowling Green's only local religious station as they provide syndicated and locally produced religious programming.

Under DTV America ownership

In 2015, DTV America Corporation became the operator of both WKUT and WKUW-LD, with the license remaining with Budd Broadcasting.[3] With DTV America elected as WKUT's operator, this would make WKUT the in-market sister station to Court TV outlet WCZU-LD. On July 17, 2015, DTV America took full control of both WKUT and WKUW and now owns and operates the station outright.[4]

The elected site of WKUT-LD's new transmitter was located just off Blue Level Road on the western outskirts of Bowling Green just west of the Natcher Parkway, thereby sharing tower space with FM radio translator station W248CF.

Under HC2 ownership

In October 2017, WKUT was one of several dozen stations to be purchased by HC2 Holdings, with DTV America remaining the operator of the station. In the same year, the station has filed a construction permit, which allowed the station to relocate to the Louisville market, electing to transmit the digital signal from a tower located along Springfield Road just east of Elizabethtown. The construction permit’s conditions also include the station to broadcast its digital signal on UHF channel 20 due to channel repacking. In 2019, HC2 decided to move WKUT's transmission facility to a tower located on Bee Knob Kill along Kentucky Route 1158 in southern Meade County.

Digital channels
Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[5]
25.1 480i 4:3 WKUT-LD

References
  1. Digital TV Market Listing for WKUT-LD
  2. WKUT-LP, channel 64 of Glasgow, Kentucky - TV Station Listing DB by pro Content and Design
  3. Seyler, Dave. "DTV America, these Budds are for you". Radio+Television Business Report. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  4. http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=1667539
  5. http://www.rabbitears.info/tvq.php?request=items&facid=168485
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