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KOCB (channel 34) is a
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...
, United States, affiliated with
The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
. It is owned by
Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...
alongside
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
affiliate KOKH-TV (channel 25). The stations' studios and transmitter facilities are co-located on East Wilshire Boulevard and 78th Street on the city's northeast side.


History


As an independent station

The UHF channel 34 allocation in Oklahoma City was contested between two groups that competed for the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC)'s approval of a
construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
to build and
license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to operate a new television station.
Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...
–based General Media Corporation filed the initial application on January 24, 1977. Later, on April 12, Oklahoma City Broadcasting, Inc.—majority owned by veteran television station manager and production director Ted F. Baze (who served as station manager at
WPHL-TV WPHL-TV (channel 17) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group and has studios in the Wynnefield section of West Philadelphia; it maintains a ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
at the time of the filing, and, as channel 34's original
vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
and
general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
, appeared in some on-air promotions), and co-founded with Oklahoma City-based businessman James H. Milligan and local real estate broker Ina Lou Marquis—filed a separate application. The FCC granted the permit to General Media (which would own the station through a direct subsidiary, Seraphim Media Corp.) on March 2, 1979, shortly after Seraphim reached an agreement with Oklahoma City Broadcasting that gave the latter a 20% ownership stake in the station in exchange for the Baze-led group dismissing its license application. Shortly after obtaining approval for the permit and license, the General Media/Baze consortium chose to request KGMC (which was chosen as a reference to Seraphim's corporate parent) as the television station's call letters. The station first signed on the air at 7:00 a.m. on October 28, 1979; KGMC's first broadcast was a half-hour religious program hosted by evangelists Tony and Susan Alamo, which aired as part of the station's initial schedule. It was the fifth commercial television station and second UHF station to sign on in the Oklahoma City market, as well as the second
independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
to launch in the market (and in Oklahoma, more broadly). Because Blair Broadcasting had converted educational independent KOKH-TV (channel 25, now a
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
affiliate) to a commercial entertainment format four weeks earlier on October 1, KGMC narrowly missed being the first commercial station to have signed on in the market since
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
affiliate
KOCO-TV KOCO-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Hearst Television. Its studios and transmitter are located on East Britton Road (Historic Route 66)—between North Kelley ...
(channel 5) debuted 25 years earlier (as Enid-based KGEO-TV) on July 2, 1954. (KGMC would gain another independent competitor when the
Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...
-controlled Golden West Broadcasters signed on
KAUT Kaut is a surname of German origin. Notable people with this surname include: * Ellis Kaut (1920–2015), German author * Helena Kaut-Howson, British theatre director * Martin Kaut (born 1999), Czech ice hockey player See also * KAUT-TV KAUT- ...
hannel 43on October 15, 1980, a station which initially launched with programming from subscription television service Video Entertainment Unlimited /nowiki>VEU">VEU.html" ;"title="/nowiki>VEU">/nowiki>VEU/nowiki> seven nights a week and on weekend afternoons; three weeks later on November 3, KAUT expanded its schedule to include an afternoon rolling news block and a limited amount of syndicated entertainment programs on weekdays during the daytime hours.) The station originally operated from studio and office facilities located at 1501 Northeast 85th Street (near Britton Road and Eastern Avenue, southeast of KOCO's present-day studio facilities) in northeastern Oklahoma City. Originally broadcasting daily from 6:30 a.m. until 1:00 a.m., KGMC-TV initially maintained a programming format consisting of a mix of animated cartoon">cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
, classic sitcoms, Western (genre), westerns and drama series, religious broadcasting, religious programs and some older feature film, movies. Baze elected to based its programming acquisitions around the success of the chosen syndicated programs in other markets with independent stations. The station's feature film schedule—which initially consisted of two presentations per day Sunday through Friday and up to five each Saturday, with commercial breaks during its prime time presentations (airing at 8:00 p.m. Monday through Saturdays at the time) limited to nine minutes of advertising per film—also periodically included themed weeks of films centering around specific movie genres or classic film actors. On December 7, 1982, Oklahoma City Broadcasting purchased 80% of Seraphim Media for $5.2 million in stock, in exchange for increasing the Baze-led group's interest in KGMC to 85%; the transaction received FCC approval on February 16, 1983, and was finalized on April 20. Then, in August 1983, Baze sold 85% of Oklahoma City Broadcasting to the Beverly Hills Hotel Corp. (owned by
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
financier
Ivan Boesky Ivan Frederick Boesky (born March 6, 1937) is a former American stock trader who became infamous for his prominent role in an insider trading scandal that occurred in the United States during the mid-1980s. He was charged and pled guilty to insid ...
) for $7 million. The transfer was approved by the FCC on October 21, and was finalized on December 9. On September 3, 1986, three months before he was sentenced to a three-year prison term on
stock fraud Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information, frequently resulting in los ...
and
insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider information ...
charges, Boesky transferred direct control of KGMC-TV to his wife, Seema Boesky. Investigations launched by the FCC and the
Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
into the transfer and other potential improprieties concerning the Boeskys' ownership of KGMC revealed that the transfer was not disclosed until mid-December, that the Boeskys did not seek FCC approval of the transfer before its consummation, and that they had effective control of the license through a voting trust created two years before Ivan purchased the station that was never disclosed to the FCC. Seema—who blamed the issue on "too many layers of lawyers" being involved in the family's business interests—in requesting that the FCC withhold considering revocation of the license, proposed selling KGMC to a minority-owned group per the FCC's "distress sale" policy (which allowed stations at risk of losing their license to be purchased by a qualified minority buyer at a discount) in proposals seeking to dissolve Beverly Hills Hotel Corp.


Financial troubles and stability

Despite just barely ranking as a top-40 Nielsen market at the time, the Oklahoma City market did not have enough television-viewing households to support what were essentially three independent stations, nor was there a supply of programming on the syndication market that could sufficiently fill their respective schedules. By the late 1980s, channel 34 was suffering financially, having rarely turned a profit, and incurring debt on programming and operational expenses. In the summer of 1988,
Visalia, California Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...
-based
Pappas Telecasting Companies Pappas Telecasting Companies was a diversely organized broadcasting company headquartered in Visalia, California, United States. Founded in 1971, it was one of the largest privately held broadcasting companies in the country, with its stations r ...
proposed a deal with Busse Broadcast Holdings (a trust company created independently of Gillett Holdings in the name of broadcasting executive
George N. Gillett Jr. George Nield Gillett Jr. (born October 22, 1938) is an American businessman. Originally from Wisconsin, he lives in Vail, Colorado. Biography Gillett graduated from Lake Forest Academy in 1956. He attended Amherst College and is a 1961 graduate ...
's children) to purchase KOKH. KOCB's financial situation led it to get involved in the complex $30-million asset transfer proposal, in which Pappas would have acquired the programming inventories of both KGMC and KAUT (including channel 43's Fox affiliation rights) and integrate many of their acquired programs onto channel 25's schedule, solidifying KOKH's status as the market's dominant independent. Simultaneously, Seraphim Media would donate the license and certain intellectual assets of KGMC to the
Oklahoma Educational Television Authority The Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA) is a state network of PBS member television stations serving the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The authority operates as a statutory corporation that holds the licenses for all of the PBS stati ...
(OETA)—with the intent of converting it into a
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
member station—for $1 million, with Pappas acquiring equipment and property assets owned by the station for an additional $1 million.
Heritage Media Heritage Media Corporation (NYSE: HTG) was a media company which owned television and radio stations across the United States, as well as in-store and direct marketing companies. It was based in Dallas, Texas, from 1987 to 1997. History Heritage ...
(through its Rollins Communications subsidiary) would sell KAUT to a religious broadcaster in turn, which would convert that station to a non-commercial religious format.
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Henry Bellmon Henry Louis Bellmon (September 3, 1921 – September 29, 2009) was an American Republican Party (United States), Republican politician from the U.S. State of Oklahoma. A member of the Oklahoma Legislature, he went on to become both the 18th a ...
voiced concerns with OETA's involvement in the transaction, suggesting that the purchase of a second Oklahoma City station would result in the authority, which had reported to the legislature that it had limited appropriations to adequately operate its existing state network as it stood, constantly requesting additional state funding. On August 17, 1988, OETA submitted an FCC application to purchase KGMC, after—in advance of a fundraising deadline set for that date—Pappas offered to provide a $1 million contribution toward purchasing the station, contingent upon the company completing the KOKH purchase. OETA would restructure the plan after its Board of Directors voted against the KGMC proposal the following month. On November 1, 1988,
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
-based Maddox Broadcasting Corp. (an
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
-owned group run by media executive Chesley Maddox) announced it would buy KGMC from General Media for $3.6 million, including certain intellectual assets that Pappas Telecasting would not acquire under the asset proposal (consisting of transmitter facilities, studio equipment and licenses) worth $2.6 million. Concurrently, Heritage Media announced it would sell KAUT to the OETA for $1 million (along with assets worth $7.75 million and a non-compete agreement worth $500.000). Pappas would also lease the KAUT transmitter facility to OETA for 25 years for an annual operating fee of $1, and contribute an additional $1 million should the acquisition have been completed. Per the plan, KGMC, under Maddox ownership, planned to carry between 15 and 18 hours of Home Shopping Network (
HSN HSN, an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Qurate Retail Group, which also owns catalog company Cornerstone Brands. Based in the Gateway area of St. Petersburg, Flor ...
) programming (which, via its Home Shopping Spree broadcast service, was already airing as overnight filler programming on the station) and six hours of religious programs per day, along with some children's and barter-syndicated entertainment programs. Although OETA planned to fund the conversion of channel 43 partly through start-up grants (including a $75,000 award by KOCO-TV management), in a move that hamstrung its attempt to acquire KAUT, the
Oklahoma Legislature The Legislature of the State of Oklahoma is the state legislative branch of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The Oklahoma House of Representatives and Oklahoma Senate are the two houses that make up the bicameral state legislature. There are 101 sta ...
incorporated stipulations into the bill appropriating OETA's funding for FY1990 that prohibited the use of state funds "for any operational or capital expense of the proposed second educational television channel in Oklahoma City" and from proposing any additional funding to finance the acquisition if it did not obtain sufficient funding from private sources. In late January 1989, Busse management denied Pappas's request to extend the completion deadline for the purchase past its scheduled January 31 deadline. The entire transaction fell through on February 3, when Busse formally terminated the purchase agreement with Pappas. Just three days earlier, the FCC had also dismissed the respective transfer applications for KGMC and KAUT. All three stations continued competing as entertainment-based independents until August 1991, when Heritage initiated a downscaled version of the aborted Pappas proposal, taking over the operations of KOKH and moving the Fox affiliation rights and many syndicated programs carried by KAUT—which Heritage donated to OETA, in turn resulting in its conversion into a PBS station—to channel 25. Whereas KOKH remained relatively profitable and KAUT had been experiencing a modest uptick in its ratings under its Fox affiliation, KGMC struggled mightily. On February 9, 1989, amid unsustainable debt totaling $9.168 million, Oklahoma City Broadcasting filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...
. Separately, Baze sought to acquire control of the station's license and the controlling stock interest held by Boesky; the FCC granted approval of the transfer on January 5, 1990. In March 1991, the
U.S. Bankruptcy Court United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy c ...
for the Western District of Oklahoma approved Oklahoma City Broadcasting's reorganization plan, in which the company would pay most of its creditors in full with interest within 21 months of its signing. On September 24, 1990, the station's call letters were changed to KOCB, in reference to parent licensee Oklahoma City Broadcasting; the base "OCB" letters were alternatively used for the station's promotional slogan, "Oklahoma City's Best," which it used from that point until January 1998. (The KGMC call letters are now used by an
Estrella TV Estrella TV () is an American Spanish-language broadcast television network owned by the Estrella Media subsidiary of HPS Investment Partners, LLC. The network primarily features programs, the vast majority of which are produced by the network ...
-affiliated television station in
Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...
.) During this time, KOCB adopted a very sophisticated on-air look for an independent station in a mid-sized market, using CGI graphics of near network-quality. On January 24, 1993, the station became a charter affiliate of the
Prime Time Entertainment Network The Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN) was an American television network that was operated by the Prime Time Consortium, a joint venture between the Warner Bros. Domestic Television subsidiary of Time Warner and Chris-Craft Industries. Fi ...
(PTEN), a syndication service operated as a joint venture between
Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...
and Chris-Craft/United Television. For most intents and purposes, however, KOCB formally remained an independent station, as PTEN never expanded its drama-centric programming schedule beyond its regular Wednesday night lineup. On September 18, 1993, Oklahoma City Broadcasting sold KOCB to
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
-based Superior Communications, Inc. (owned by broadcasting executives Albert M. Holtz and eventual
Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...
founder Perry A. Sook, the latter of whom also served as KOCB's president and general manager during Superior's stewardship of the station) for $11 million. The sale to Superior received FCC approval on October 15 of that year.


Network affiliation


As a UPN affiliate

On October 22, 1994,
Paramount Television The original incarnation of Paramount Television was the name of the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, that was responsible for the production of Viacom television programs, until it changed its name ...
and Chris-Craft/United Television announced that they had reached an agreement with Superior for KOCB to serve as the Oklahoma City charter affiliate of the United Paramount Network (
UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which prod ...
). Once it affiliated with the fledgling Paramount/Chris-Craft-owned network at its launch on January 16, 1995, KOCB—which retained the "TV-34" branding it implemented the year prior, at which time the station adopted a logo and graphics package originally created for then-independent
KTVT KTVT (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States, broadcasting CBS programming to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Independent statio ...
(now a
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
owned-and-operated station) in
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
–
Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
in 1993—continued to fill the 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. time slot with feature films and some first-run syndicated programs. (UPN offered prime time programs only on Monday and Tuesday nights at launch, before expanding to additional nights between September 1996 and September 1998, when it began programming a five-night-a-week schedule through the extension of its offerings to Thursday and Friday nights.) Alongside UPN prime time programming and a blend of cartoons and a few live-action children's shows acquired via the syndication market and ''
The Disney Afternoon The Disney Afternoon (later known internally as the Disney-Kellogg Alliance when unbranded), sometimes abbreviated as TDA, was a created-for-syndication two-hour programming block of animated television series. It was produced by Walt Disney T ...
'' syndication block (which had moved to channel 34 from KOKH the year prior), KOCB initially carried some recent off-network sitcoms and drama series, movies in late-night and on weekends (including the ''UPN Movie Trailer'', a supplemental weekend film package that premiered in September 1995, and was eventually replaced by a same-week repeat block of drama and reality series aired by the network), and some first-run syndicated shows. PTEN programming continued to air on Wednesdays until UPN expanded its programming to that night in September 1995, when KOCB shifted the service's schedule to Saturday nights (where it would remain until PTEN ceased operations in September 1997) to accommodate UPN's plans to expand its prime time schedule to additional weeknights over the latter half of the 1990s. The station's children's programming inventory expanded in September 1995, when UPN launched a competitor to
Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized as FOX KIDS) was an American children's block programming, programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channel ...
,
UPN Kids ''UPN Kids'' was an American children's programming block that aired on UPN from September 10, 1995 to September 5, 1999. Airing on Sunday mornings, the block aired for one hour (10:00 to 11:00am), then two hours the following year (9:00 to 11: ...
(which began with a Sunday morning block, before expanding to include a weekday morning block in September 1997). On March 4, 1996, the
Hunt Valley, Maryland Hunt Valley is an unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States, near the site of the Maryland Hunt Cup Steeplechase. It lies just north of the city of Baltimore, along York Road (Maryland Route 45), parallel to Intersta ...
-based
Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...
acquired KOCB and Fox affiliate
WDKY-TV WDKY-TV (channel 56) is a television station licensed to Danville, Kentucky, United States, serving the Lexington area as an affiliate of the Fox network. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group and maintains studios on Euclid Avenue in Le ...
in
Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...
from Superior Communications for $63.5 million; the cash and stock transaction was approved by the FCC on April 26, and was finalized two weeks later on May 8.


As a WB affiliate

On July 14, 1997, Sinclair and Time Warner announced the signing of a ten-year, $84-million agreement to switch the affiliations of KOCB and five other stations that Sinclair either owned directly or operated through
local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...
s with Glencairn, Ltd. (now
Cunningham Broadcasting Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation is an owner of broadcast television stations in the United States. The company currently owns fifteen stations – eight affiliated with Fox, three affiliated with The CW, two affiliated with ABC, and two affili ...
)—UPN affiliates WPTT-TV (now
MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
affiliate
WPNT WPNT (channel 22) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Fox affiliate WPGH-TV (channel 53). Both stations share studios on Ivory Avenue ...
) in Pittsburgh,
WNUV WNUV (channel 54) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of Fox/MyNetwo ...
(now a CW affiliate) in
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
WSTR-TV WSTR-TV (channel 64), branded on-air as Star 64 (stylized as STAR64), is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Deerfield Media, which maintains joint sales and shared services agr ...
(now a MyNetworkTV affiliate) in
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, KRRT (now CW affiliate
KMYS KMYS (channel 35) is a television station licensed to Kerrville, Texas, United States, serving the San Antonio area as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Dabl. It is owned by Deerfield Media, which maintains joint sales and shared se ...
) in
San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...
and independent station WBSC-TV (now MyNetworkTV affiliate
WMYA-TV WMYA-TV (channel 40) is a television station licensed to Anderson, South Carolina, United States, broadcasting the digital multicast network Dabl to Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting and ope ...
) in
Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...
—to
The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...
, in exchange for extending existing contracts for its WB affiliates in
Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
(
WVTV WVTV (channel 18) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with The CW and owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. The station's studios are located on Calumet Road in the Park Place office park near the I-41/US 45 ...
) and
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
(
WTTO WTTO (channel 21) is a television station licensed to Homewood, Alabama, United States, serving the Birmingham area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WABM (channel 68) and ABC aff ...
). UPN attempted to block Sinclair's affiliation pact with The WB through lawsuits that co-parent Paramount/
Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...
filed in the Baltimore City Circuit Court (near Sinclair's suburban Hunt Valley headquarters) and the
Los Angeles County Superior Court The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Los Angeles County, which includes the city of Los Angeles. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The ...
, on grounds that Sinclair had struck the deal without notifying UPN in writing that it would terminate the affiliations on the affected stations. A summary judgment issued by the Baltimore circuit court in favor of Sinclair on December 8, 1997, allowed the stations to begin switching to The WB starting on January 15, 1998. The planned WB switch elicited complaints from ''
Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' fans who would lose the ability to watch '' Star Trek: Voyager'' as UPN had yet to line up another station to replace KOCB as its Oklahoma City affiliate. Many area residents that did not have either an outdoor antenna to attempt to receive UPN affiliates from
Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...
(KTFO-TV ow MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYT-TV">KMYT-TV.html" ;"title="ow MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYT-TV">ow MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYT-TV or Sulphur, Oklahoma">Sulphur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
 ( KOKT-LP, now defunct) or a satellite subscription to either Dish Network">KUOK">KOKT-LP, now defunct) or a satellite subscription to either Dish Network or PrimeStar (both of which carried New York City owned-and-operated station WWOR-TV [now MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station] as a default UPN feed) had to resort to acquiring episodes of ''Voyager''—as well as other UPN shows—through
tape trading Tape trading is an unofficial method of distribution of musical or video content through the postal system, which was prominent in the 1980s and 1990s. Although most commonly used to distribute and publicize limited-release musical demo tapes in ...
during the second half of the 1997–98 season. On January 8, 1998, two weeks before KOCB switched to The WB, Viacom's
Paramount Stations Group Paramount Stations Group (sometimes abbreviated as PSG) was a company that controlled a group of American broadcast television stations. The company existed from 1991 until 2001. History Paramount Communications, the then-parent company of Para ...
subsidiary reached an agreement to purchase KTLC from the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority—which planned to use the proceeds from the sale, which was made possible because OETA maintained the commercial classification of the channel 43 broadcast license after the Heritage Media donation, to fund the construction and sign-on of the digital broadcast transmitters of KETA-TV and its repeaters before an FCC-mandated deadline in December 2003—for $23.5 million. Channel 34—which, accordingly, adopted "WB34" as its branding—became the market's WB affiliate on January 18, 1998, allowing area viewers who did not have a cable or satellite subscription to watch that network's programs for the first time. (Dating to the network's January 1995 launch, The WB had been available locally on
Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...
, Multimedia Cablevision, and other local
cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
and
satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
providers through the
superstation ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a terrestrial television, br ...
feed of
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
affiliate
WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...
ater conventional basic cable channel WGN America, now NewsNation">NewsNation.html" ;"title="ater conventional basic cable channel WGN America, now NewsNation">ater conventional basic cable channel WGN America, now NewsNation) UPN programming would not return to the Oklahoma City market until June 15, when Paramount converted channel 43 into UPN owned-and-operated station KPSG (which would later revert to its original KAUT-TV call letters on December 12). Channel 43 was originally scheduled to join UPN on June 1, but its switch back to a general entertainment format was postponed until June 13, and then to June 15 because of technical difficulties and delays in finalizing the Paramount sale (the issues leading to the second postponement were unrelated to a tornado outbreak that hit central Oklahoma on the evening of the 13th). On February 4, 1998, three days after Sullivan Broadcast Holdings finalized its purchase of KOKH, a deal necessitated by Sinclair's existing ownership of KOCB, Sinclair exercised an option to purchase channel 25 from Sullivan for $60 million. (Sinclair would later purchase Sullivan's 13 other television stations for $100 million in cash and debt on February 24; this separate transaction was finalized on July 1.) Under the terms of the deal, Sinclair entered into a time brokerage agreement (TBA) with Sullivan—which the company retained as a separate entity to operate KOKH and three other Sullivan-owned Fox affiliates,
WTAT-TV WTAT-TV (channel 24) is a television station in Charleston, South Carolina, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. The station is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, a partner company of the Sinclair Broadcast Group. However, although Sin ...
in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
,
WVAH-TV WVAH-TV (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Charleston, West Virginia, United States, serving the Charleston–Huntington, West Virginia, Huntington media market, market as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Decades (TV n ...
in
Charleston, West Virginia Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...
and
WRGT-TV WRGT-TV (channel 45) is a television station in Dayton, Ohio, United States, affiliated with the digital multicast network Dabl. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Sinclair Broadcast Gr ...
in
Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...
—to assume operational responsibilities for KOKH. This arrangement placed KOCB, affiliated with lower-rated The WB, in the unusual position of being the senior partner in a virtual duopoly with a Big Four network affiliate. (A Big Four affiliate normally serves as the senior partner in most virtual or legal duopolies involving an affiliate of a mid-major or smaller network.) In March 1998, under a sale option exercised by the latter group, Sinclair announced its intent to sell KOKH and the rights to the TBA involving KOCB to Glencairn, Ltd. The family of Sinclair founder Julian Sinclair Smith—led by his widow, Carolyn Smith, who would assume full control of Glencairn from founder and original president Edwin Edwards, a former Sinclair executive, two years later—owned 97% of Glencairn's stock, which would have effectively made the KOKH/KOCB operation a
duopoly A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicit ...
in violation of FCC rules of the time. Glencairn—which was to be paid with Sinclair stock for the purchases—owned eleven television stations throughout the United States that Sinclair operated under local marketing agreements, and subsequently announced plans to sell five of its stations to Sinclair outright. This prompted
Rainbow/PUSH Rainbow/PUSH is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization formed as a merger of two nonprofit organizations founded by Jesse Jackson; Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) and the National Rainbow Coalition. The organizations pursue socia ...
, a
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
organization headed by
Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senator ...
, to file petitions asking the FCC to deny approval of the transaction, citing concerns over a single company holding two broadcast licenses in one market and arguing that Glencairn passed itself off as a minority-owned company—Edwards, who was also principal owner of Glencairn, is
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
—while acting as an arm of Sinclair, and used the LMA to gain control of the station. On November 17, 1999, Sinclair restructured the deal to acquire KOKH from Sullivan Broadcasting directly as part of a $53.2 million cash and debt forgiveness acquisition involving four other stations—
Mission Broadcasting Mission Broadcasting, Inc. is a television station group that owns 20 television stations in 17 markets in the United States. The group's Chair is Nancie Smith, the widow of David S. Smith, who founded the company in 1996 and died in 2011. All but ...
-owned UPN affiliates
WUXP-TV WUXP-TV (channel 30) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside dual Fox/ CW affiliate WZTV (channel 17); it is also sister to Dabl affiliate W ...
(now a MyNetworkTV affiliate) in Nashville and WUPN-TV (now MyNetworkTV affiliate
WMYV WMYV (channel 48) is a television station licensed to Greensboro, North Carolina, United States, serving the Piedmont Triad region as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Winston-Salem–licensed ABC aff ...
) in
Greensboro Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...
,
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
, and
Montecito Broadcast Group Lilly Broadcasting, LLC is a privately owned American broadcasting company owned and operated by the Lilly Brothers’ Brian Lilly and Kevin Lilly. The company was founded in September 1999 with the purchase of WENY-TV (ABC) and WENY-FM & AM ra ...
-owned independent station KFBT (now CW affiliate
KVCW KVCW (channel 33) is a television station in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, affiliated with The CW and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside NBC affiliate KSNV (channel 3). Both stations share studios on Foremaster Lan ...
) in
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
—along with acquiring five Glencairn stations—WB affiliates KRRT (now CW affiliate KMYS) in San Antonio and WVTV (now a CW affiliate) in Milwaukee, and UPN affiliates WBSC-TV (now MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYA-TV) in
Anderson, South Carolina Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 28,106 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, and the city was the center of an urbanized area of 75,702. It is one of the prin ...
,
WRDC WRDC (channel 28) is a television station licensed to Durham, North Carolina, United States, serving the Research Triangle area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Raleigh-licensed CW affiliate WLFL ...
(now a MyNetworkTV affiliate) in
Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...
–
Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...
and
WABM WABM (channel 68) is a television station in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Homewood-licensed CW affiliate WTTO (channel 21) and low-power ABC affiliate WB ...
(now a MyNetworkTV affiliate) in Birmingham—in an all-stock purchase worth $8 million. The Glencairn transaction was dismissed by the FCC per Sinclair's request on July 23, 2001; the sale of the Sullivan stations to Sinclair was approved by FCC on December 10 and was finalized on December 14, resulting in KOKH and KOCB becoming the Oklahoma City market's first legal television duopoly. Although it voted to approve the Sullivan purchase, the FCC issued a $40,000 fine against Sinclair on grounds it controlled Glencairn in violation of the agency's local ownership rules. However, as noted in a 2003 ruling on the matter by the
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate cou ...
, the issue involving KOKH was rendered somewhat moot, as on August 5, 1999, the FCC began allowing broadcasters the ability to form duopolies between television stations, provided that eight independent owners remain in a market once a duopoly is formed and one of the properties does not rank among the market's four highest-rated stations. However, as noted in a 2003 ruling on the matter by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the issue involving KOKH was rendered somewhat moot, as on August 5, 1999, the FCC began allowing broadcasters the ability to form duopolies between television stations, provided that eight independent owners remain once a duopoly is formed and only one of the stations ranks among the four highest-rated in the market. Channel 34 subsequently vacated its original Northeast 85th Street facility, and relocated its operations south-southwest to KOKH's studio on East Wilshire Boulevard and Northeast 78th Street. In September 2002, KOCB changed its branding to "The WB Oklahoma City," de-emphasizing its UHF channel 34 allocation in part because many central Oklahoma residents viewed the station primarily on cable or satellite. (Most area cable providers—including Cox Communications, which moved the station to that slot in October 1995 in a slot swap with
USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
(which moved to the station's former slot on Cox channel 34)—carry KOCB on channel 11.)


As a CW affiliate

On January 24, 2006, WB network parent Time Warner (through its
Warner Bros. Entertainment Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
division) and UPN parent company
CBS Corporation The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, and t ...
announced that they would dissolve the two networks to create
The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
, a joint venture between the two media companies that initially featured programs from its two predecessor networks as well as original first-run series produced for the new network. On May 2, 2006, in a joint announcement by the network and Sinclair, KOCB was confirmed as The CW's Oklahoma City charter affiliate. Since the network chose its charter stations based on which of them among The WB and UPN's respective affiliate bodies was the highest-rated in each market, KOCB was chosen to join The CW over KAUT-TV as it had been the higher-rated of the two stations at the time of the agreement's signing (the station had ranked as The WB's most-watched station overall during the 2004–05 season). Incidentally, KAUT was erroneously mentioned as one of several former soon-to-be-former UPN affiliates owned by
CBS Television Stations CBS News and Stations (formerly CBS Television Stations) is a division of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global that owns and operates a group of American television stations. , Paramount owns 28 stations, broken down as follows: ...
that would join The CW at its launch, a statement that was later retracted on account of
Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...
having sold channel 43 to
The New York Times Company The New York Times Company is an American mass media company that publishes ''The New York Times''. Its headquarters are in Manhattan, New York City. History The company was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones in New York City. T ...
on September 14, 2005, four months prior to the CW launch announcement. KAUT's status was left undetermined until August 22, when an email sent by station management confirmed that KAUT would become the market's affiliate of MyNetworkTV, for which News Corporation announced its formation on February 22 as a new joint network venture between its then-sibling subsidiaries
Fox Television Stations Fox Television Stations, LLC (FTS; alternately Fox Television Stations Group, LLC), is a group of television stations located within the United States, which are owned-and-operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Fox Corp ...
and
Twentieth Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Comp ...
(the former is now part of
Fox Corporation Fox Corporation (stylized in all-caps as FOX Corporation) is a publicly traded American mass media company operated and controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Incorporated ...
, and the latter now operates as a unit of
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
by way of Disney's 2019 acquisition of
21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., doing business as 21st Century Fox (21CF), was an American multinational mass media corporation that was based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was one of the two companies formed on June 28, 2013, f ...
) that was created to primarily a network programming option (in lieu of converting to a general entertainment independent format) for UPN and WB stations that were not chosen to affiliate with The CW. KOCB officially remained a WB affiliate until September 17, 2006; it affiliated with The CW when that network debuted the following day on September 18, at which time the station changed its on-air branding to "The CW Oklahoma City". (The station's branding changed again to "CW34" in August 2007.) KAUT, meanwhile, had joined MyNetworkTV upon that network's September 5 launch. On August 25, 2007, a cable feeding KOCB's transmitter facility failed during a broadcast of a
Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...
-
Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...
NFL preseason game, leaving the station off the air for the better part of two weeks. KOCB's analog and digital signals remained
dark Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lum ...
until 3:00 p.m. on August 29, only for the transmitter to fail again that night around 12:00 a.m. The station's direct
fiber optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to ...
studio feed that was fed to headends operated by Cox Communications was only interrupted for a short time. KOCB's over-the-air signal returned to the air about two weeks later (on September 10) in time for the start of The CW's Fall 2007 prime time schedule. On March 5, 2012, KOCB and KOKH became the final two Oklahoma City television stations to begin carrying syndicated programs, station promos and commercials in high definition (rebroadcasts of KOKH's newscasts continued to be broadcast in 4:3
standard definition Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...
until August 2013, when that station upgraded its newscast production to HD). On May 8, 2017, Sinclair entered into an agreement to acquire
Tribune Media Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...
—which had owned NBC affiliate KFOR-TV and independent station KAUT-TV since December 2013—for $3.9 billion plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in Tribune-held debt. Because Sinclair and Tribune each owned two television stations in the Oklahoma City market, with KFOR and KOKH both ranking among the market's four highest-rated stations in total day viewership, the companies were required to sell either KOKH or KFOR (and optionally, KOCB and KAUT) to another station owner in order to comply with FCC local ownership rules. On April 24, 2018, in an amendment to the Tribune acquisition through which it proposed the sale of certain stations to both independent and affiliated third-party companies to curry the DOJ's approval, Sinclair announced that it would sell KOKH-TV and eight other stations—Sinclair-operated
WRLH-TV WRLH-TV (channel 35) is a television station in Richmond, Virginia, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, it has studios on Westmoreland Street in the North Side area of Richmond, and its transmitte ...
in
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...
,
KDSM-TV KDSM-TV (channel 17) is a television station in Des Moines, Iowa, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. The station is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and has studios on Fleur Drive in Des Moines; its transmitter is located in Allem ...
in
Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...
,
WOLF-TV WOLF-TV (channel 56) is a television station licensed to Hazleton, Pennsylvania, United States, serving Northeastern Pennsylvania as an affiliate of the Fox network. It is the flagship property of locally based New Age Media, LLC, and is co-ow ...
(along with LMA partners
WSWB WSWB (channel 38) is a television station licensed to Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the CW affiliate for Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is owned by MPS Media, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with New Age M ...
and
WQMY WQMY (channel 53) is a television station licensed to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, United States, serving Northeastern Pennsylvania as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by locally based New Age Media, LLC, alongside Hazleton-licensed Fox a ...
) in
Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...
/
Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the secon ...
and
WXLV-TV WXLV-TV (channel 45) is a television station licensed to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Piedmont Triad region. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Greensboro-licensed MyNetworkTV ...
in Greensboro–
Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...
– High Point, and Tribune-owned
WPMT WPMT, virtual channel 43 (Ultra high frequency, UHF digital terrestrial television, digital channel 36), is a Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox-network affiliate, affiliated television station city of license, licensed to York, Pennsylvania, United ...
in
Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the List of c ...
and
WXMI WXMI (channel 17) is a television station licensed to Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, serving West Michigan as an affiliate of the Fox network. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains studios on Plaza Drive (near M-37) o ...
in
Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...
—to Standard Media Group (an independent broadcast holding company formed by
private equity firm A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leve ...
Standard General to assume ownership of and absolve ownership conflicts involving the aforementioned stations) for $441.1 million. Sinclair did not include KOCB in the sale, intending to place it in a new legal duopoly with KFOR-TV as well as form a virtual triopoly involving KFOR and KAUT, which—due to FCC rules that prohibited common ownership of more than two full-power stations in a single market—was to have been sold to affiliate company
Howard Stirk Holdings Armstrong Williams (born February 5, 1962) is an American political commentator, entrepreneur, author, and talk show host. Williams writes a nationally syndicated conservative newspaper column, has hosted a daily radio show, and hosts a nationa ...
for $750,000, pursuant to shared services and joint sales agreements to which Sinclair would have entered to assume operational responsibilities for KAUT-TV following the sale's completion. Under a transitional services agreement, Sinclair would have also continued to operate KOKH for six months after the sale's completion, before handing over operational responsibilities to Standard Media. Less than one month after the FCC voted to have the deal reviewed by an
administrative law judge An administrative law judge (ALJ) in the United States is a judge and trier of fact who both presides over trials and adjudicates claims or disputes involving administrative law. ALJs can administer oaths, take testimony, rule on questions of evid ...
amid "serious concerns" about Sinclair's forthrightness in its applications to sell certain conflict properties, on August 9, 2018, Tribune announced it would terminate the Sinclair deal, effectively terminating the Standard Media deal and keeping both KOKH ''and'' KOCB under Sinclair's purview. Tribune also filed a
breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party ...
lawsuit in the
Delaware Chancery Court The Delaware Court of Chancery is a court of equity in the American state of Delaware. It is one of Delaware's three constitutional courts, along with the Supreme Court and Superior Court. Since 2018, the court consists of seven judges. The chie ...
, alleging that Sinclair engaged in protracted negotiations with the FCC and the DOJ over regulatory issues, refused to sell stations in markets where it already had properties (such as KAUT-TV), and proposed divestitures to parties with ties to Sinclair executive chair David D. Smith that were rejected or highly subject to rejection to maintain control over stations it was required to sell. (Tribune—which retained ownership of KFOR and KAUT in the interim—would later sell most of its assets to the Nexstar Media Group.)


Subchannel history


KOCB-DT2

KOCB-DT2 is the
TBD To be announced (TBA), to be confirmed (TBC), to be determined or decided or declared (TBD), and other variations, are placeholder terms used very broadly in event planning to indicate that although something is scheduled or expected to happen, a ...
-affiliated second
digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
of KOCB, broadcasting in
widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
standard definition on UHF digital channel 33.2 (or virtual channel 34.2). KOCB originally launched a digital subchannel on virtual channel 34.2 on
April 1 Events Pre-1600 * 33 – According to one historian's account, Jesus Christ's Last Supper is held. * 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne. *1081 – Alexios I Kom ...
, 2006, to serve as an affiliate of
The Tube Music Network The Tube Music Network, Inc., or The Tube, was an American digital multicast television network. The network was a fully owned subsidiary of The Tube Media Corp., an independent company that was founded by David Levy in 2003. The Tube focused cl ...
, through a groupwide agreement encompassing many of Sinclair's network-affiliated and independent stations; however, Sinclair dropped the network from KOCB and its sister stations elsewhere in the U.S.—and decommissioned the 34.2 subchannel—in December 2006, due to disagreements between Sinclair and network parent The Tube Media Corp. over compliance of newly enacted FCC requirements for digital subchannels (the network ceased operations eleven months later, on October 1, 2007). KOCB relaunched its DT2 subchannel on October 4, 2010, as an affiliate of
TheCoolTV TheCoolTV was a digital broadcast television network and online music video "jukebox" streaming service owned by Cool Music Network, LLC of Lawrence, Kansas. History As a digital broadcast television network Launched in March 2009, the networ ...
; it would later be pulled from the station on August 31, 2012, after Sinclair decided to drop the music video network from 32 of its then-approximately 70 stations nationwide. Following a two-year sabbatical, KOCB-DT2 was brought back on-air on July 1, 2014, now as an affiliate of the classic movie network
GetTV getTV is an American digital multicast television network owned by the Sony Pictures Television Networks subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television. Originally formatted as a movie-oriented service, the network has since transitioned into a genera ...
, through a channel lease agreement that involved 33 of Sinclair's stations. On February 28, 2017, KOCB-DT2 disaffiliated from GetTV to become a charter affiliate of the Sinclair-owned digital content network TBD.


KOCB-DT3

KOCB-DT3 is the
Comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...
-affiliated third digital subchannel of KOCB, broadcasting in widescreen standard definition on UHF digital channel 33.3 (or virtual channel 34.3). On October 31, 2015, KOCB launched a digital subchannel on virtual channel 34.3, to serve as an affiliate of Comet, a science fiction-focused network owned by Sinclair in conjunction with
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
.


KOCB-DT4

KOCB-DT4 is the
Dabl Dabl () is an American lifestyle-oriented digital multicast television network owned by the CBS Media Ventures subsidiary of Paramount Global. The company's formerly-owned other subchannel network, Decades, through CBS News and Stations was l ...
-affiliated fourth digital subchannel of KOCB, broadcasting in widescreen standard definition on UHF digital channel 33.4 (or virtual channel 34.4). On October 28, 2019, KOCB launched a digital subchannel on virtual channel 34.4, to serve as an affiliate of lifestyle-focused network Dabl. Because network parent
CBS Media Ventures CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Television Distribution, Inc. and CBS Paramount Domestic Television, Inc.) is an American television distribution company owned by CBS Studios, part of CBS Entertainment Group, a division of Paramount Glob ...
uses subchannel-leasing arrangements—a structure which, like with
Ion Mystery Ion Mystery (formerly Escape and Court TV Mystery, stylized as ESCAPE and MYSTERY; formerly branded on-air as Mystery) is an American digital subchannel#Commercial networks, free-to-air television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiar ...
on KAUT-DT3 and KSBI-DT4 locally, has often resulted in duplicative affiliates for a single network within the same market—as an affiliation clearance method for Dabl, KOCB-DT4 shares the Dabl affiliation with KFOR-DT4, which has carried the network since it launched on September 9, 2019. (From KOCB-DT4's launch until November 18, 2019, an error with reprogramming digital transmission codecs to add KOCB-DT4 caused the station's DT2 and DT3 feeds to mistakenly be flagged in the AFD #1001 aspect ratio descriptive, effectively causing both feeds to be horizontally compressed into an anamorphic 4:3 mode instead of TBD and Comet's native 16:9 format—by effect, causing archive and paid programs from both networks that were originally produced in the 4:3 format to be shown with horizontal
pillarbox The pillarbox effect occurs in widescreen video displays when black bars (mattes or masking) are placed on the sides of the image. It becomes necessary when film or video that was not originally designed for widescreen is shown on a widescreen ...
ing.)


Programming

In addition to carrying the entire CW network schedule, syndicated programs featured on KOCB () include ''
The Steve Wilkos Show For the talk show hosted by Steve Harvey, see Steve (talk show) ''The Steve Wilkos Show'' is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Steve Wilkos. The series is a spin-off of the long-running ''Jerry Springer'' show. ''The Steve Wilko ...
'', ''
Judge Jerry ''Judge Jerry'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by Jerry Springer, who previously hosted ''Jerry Springer'' from 1991 to 2018. The series began its run in first-run syndication on September 9, 2019, and was dist ...
'', ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'', ''
You Bet Your Life ''You Bet Your Life'' is an American comedy quiz series that has aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show deb ...
with
Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009 ...
'', ''
Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...
'', ''
Daily Mail TV The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper and online newspaper, news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman ...
'', ''
Two and a Half Men ''Two and a Half Men'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS for twelve seasons from September 22, 2003, to February 19, 2015. Originally starring Charlie Sheen in the lead role alongside Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, the ...
'', ''
2 Broke Girls ''2 Broke Girls'' (stylized ''2 Broke Girl$'') is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 19, 2011, to April 17, 2017. The series was produced for Warner Bros. Television and created by Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cumm ...
'', ''Nick Cannon'', '' Funny You Should Ask'', '' 25 Words or Less'', ''
The National Desk ''The National Desk'' (''TND'') is a daily American television news program produced by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. The program premiered nationally on January 18, 2021, and utilizes the journalistic resources of Sinclair's news operations thro ...
'' (distributed by corporate parent Sinclair) and ''
Family Feud ''Family Feud'' is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson. It features two families who compete to name the most popular answers to survey questions in order to win cash and prizes. The show has had three separate runs, the ...
''. In addition, KOKH produces ''OKCW'', a five-minute-long infotainment program—which premiered on May 27, 2019, and airs weeknights at 9:00 p.m.—highlighting events and businesses around central Oklahoma as well as upcoming CW prime time programs on the station. (The hosted wraparound segments are taped at the Wilshire Boulevard facility soundstage that houses KOKH's main news set, and as such, are recorded earlier in the day to avoid conflicting with the live production and broadcast of ''Fox 25 News at 9:00''.) Until September 8, 2017, channel 34 aired
The CW Daytime The CW Daytime is the former unofficial branding for an afternoon programming block that was broadcast on The CW. It was originally branded as Daytime WB, which aired on one of its predecessors, The WB, from January 2, 2006 to September 15, 2006. T ...
(then consisting of ''
The Robert Irvine Show ''The Robert Irvine Show'' is an American daytime talk show hosted by Robert Irvine and produced by Tribune Studios and Irwin Entertainment. The show premiered on The CW on September 12, 2016, as part of their late afternoon timeslot, and repl ...
'', replaced by reruns of ''
Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician. He hosted the tabloid talk show ''Jerry Springer'' between September 30, 1991 and July 26, 2018, an ...
'' in September 2018) in the network's recommended 3:00 p.m. time slot; on September 11, the block was moved to 1:00 p.m. (two hours earlier than was common on most CW affiliates), where it remained until the network turned over that hour to its affiliates—in exchange for adding prime time programming on Saturday nights—in September 2021. On November 10, 2005, KOCB and KOKH became the flagship stations for the
Oklahoma Lottery The Oklahoma Lottery is an American lottery that is operated by that state's government. The Lottery, which began ticket sales on October 12, 2005, is a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). Players must be 18 or older. History In ...
, which held its televised Pick 3 and Cash 5 evening drawings at the duopoly's Wilshire Boulevard studios during the run of the duopoly's contract with the Oklahoma Lottery Commission. The drawings—which were
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
on KOCB—aired nightly at 9:20 p.m. on both stations; channel 25 aired them on tape delay on nights when the prime time newscast was delayed due to
Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...
event overruns. Reductions to the Oklahoma Lottery Commission's budget would result in the televised draws being replaced with drawings conducted via
random number generator Random number generation is a process by which, often by means of a random number generator (RNG), a sequence of numbers or symbols that cannot be reasonably predicted better than by random chance is generated. This means that the particular out ...
at the Oklahoma Lottery offices in July 2009. From when Oklahoma became a participant in the multi-state drawing in January 2006 until the stations stopped carrying all lottery results in 2013, KOKH/KOCB also aired live
Powerball Powerball is an American lottery game offered by 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). From its inaugural drawing on April 19, 1992, unti ...
drawings each Wednesday and Saturday evening (live drawings for
Mega Millions Mega Millions (originally known as ''The Big Game'' in 1996 and renamed, temporarily, to ''The Big Game Mega Millions'' six years later) is an American multi-jurisdictional lottery game; as of January 30, 2020, it is offered in 45 states, the Di ...
—of which Oklahoma became a participant in January 2011—were only available in the Oklahoma City market through WGN America, which discontinued national carriage of the live Powerball and Mega Millions drawings in 2013).


Sports programming

From 1992 to 2000, KOCB served as the broadcast home for the
Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run ...
and
Oklahoma State Cowboys The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Stillwater. ...
under respective agreements with the
University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...
's Sooner Sports Network and
Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
's Cowboys Sports Network syndication services; the station typically broadcast between five and eight Soo ners,
Cowboys A cowboy is a professional pastoralist or mounted livestock herder, usually from the Americas or Australia. Cowboy(s) or The Cowboy(s) may also refer to: Film and television * ''Cowboy'' (1958 film), starring Glenn Ford * ''Cowboy'' (1966 film), ...
and
Cowgirls A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...
regular season basketball games each annually during the run of the contract, as well as various magazine and analysis programs involving the two universities'
foot The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...
ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used f ...
and basketball teams. From
1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
to
1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
and from
1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
to
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
, KOCB carried regular season
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
games featuring the Texas Rangers (produced by KTVT in Dallas–Fort Worth). In addition, in
1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
, the station held the local syndication rights to broadcast MLB games involving the
Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...
(distributed by
KSMO-TV KSMO-TV (channel 62) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate KCTV (channel 5). Both stations share studios on Shawnee Mission Parkway in ...
in
Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
, which Sinclair owned alongside KOCB from 1996 to 2005). From 1998 to 2014, the station also aired
college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...
games from the
Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
that were syndicated by
ESPN Plus ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, in partnership with ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Compa ...
; KOCB aired between ten and twelve regular season games each year as well as games from the first three rounds of the
Big 12 men's basketball tournament The Big 12 men's basketball tournament (known since its inception in 1997 under sponsorship agreements as the Phillips 66 Big 12 men's basketball tournament) is the championship men's basketball tournament in the Big 12 Conference. It is a single- ...
, with most college basketball telecasts airing on Saturday afternoons with occasional weeknight prime time games. From
2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
to
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
, KOCB held the local broadcast rights to
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
preseason games from the Dallas Cowboys through the team's Silverstar Network syndication service. The station, which assumed the preseason telecast rights to the team from KFOR (which re-assumed rights to the team's preseason games, analysis programs and specials in
2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
), carried roughly between three and five prime time game telecasts annually. (Prime time telecasts of Big 12 and Cowboys games resulted in WB/CW prime time shows being rescheduled to air on weekend afternoons or weekend evening slots that neither network programmed, often preempting movies normally scheduled between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m.) In August 2014, KOCB became a charter outlet of the
American Sports Network American Sports Network (ASN) was a sports brand owned by the U.S. television station owner Sinclair Broadcast Group through its Sinclair Networks subsidiary. Formed in July 2014, the multicast network component of ASN produced broadcasts of sp ...
(ASN), a Sinclair-owned ad hoc syndication service that mainly carries
college sports College athletics encompasses non-professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games. World University Games The first World University Games were held in 1923. There were originally called the ''Union Nationale des É ...
events (this effectively relegated local broadcasts of Big 12 basketball games, including those involving the Oklahoma Sooners and Oklahoma State Cowboys, to
Fox Sports Oklahoma Bally Sports Oklahoma is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group (a joint-venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios), and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel provides statewide ...
and select national cable sports networks such as
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
). KOCB mainly carried
college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...
and basketball games as well as
auto races Auto may refer to: * An automaton * An automobile * An autonomous car * An automatic transmission * An auto rickshaw * Short for automatic * Auto (art), a form of Portuguese dramatic play * ''Auto'' (film), 2007 Tamil comedy film * Auto (play), ...
carried by the service on its main channel; prior to KOCB-DT2's conversion into a TBD affiliate, that subchannel served as an alternate feed of the service, carrying college basketball games not carried on the main channel 34.1 and college baseball games (most of these ancillary events are now carried by ASN successor
Stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
, which is affiliated with the DT3 subchannel of sister station KOKH). In August 2021, KOCB debuted a local version of Sinclair's ''Friday Night Rivals''
high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...
franchise, consisting of weekly telecasts of
Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) is an organization which organizes secondary school athletics and activities competitions at the state level. Derald Glover is its president. The OSSAA is a member of the National Federat ...
(OSSAA)-sanctioned regular season games (airing in place of The CW's Friday lineup, which is shown immediately following the telecasts).


Newscasts and local programming

For the first 34 years of the station's existence, KOCB had never broadcast any local news programming; it was the only entertainment-based commercial television station in the Oklahoma City market to have never regularly air newscasts produced specifically for the station. (As an independent station, news programming on KOCB mainly came from syndicated series like the '' Independent Network News'', which moved to KAUT in October 1982, and the opening news segment of ''
The 700 Club ''The 700 Club'' is the flagship television program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing each weekday in syndication in the United States and available worldwide on CBN.com. The news magazine program features live guests, daily news, con ...
'', which KOCB aired from the station's October 1979 launch until September 1994.) On February 3, 1980, KOCB premiered ''OKC Forum'', a weekly public affairs talk show—which aired on Sunday nights, with a rebroadcast the following Saturday morning—that focused on prominent people, issues and events in the Oklahoma City area; following a 4½-year run, the program was discontinued after the August 25, 1985, broadcast. In June 2005, starting with that year's
Major League Baseball All-Star Game The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and National ...
, channel 34 began serving as an alternate carrier of sister station KOKH's 9:00 p.m. newscast, the ''Fox 25 Primetime News at Nine'', during situations when Fox Sports event coverage—and, rarely, network prime time film presentations—overran into the timeslot on channel 25. The condensed half-hour editions of the newscast usually air on KOCB when KOKH televises the MLB All-Star Game, select postseason games (particularly during the
World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
) and, occasionally, during prime time NFL preseason telecasts. (KOKH elects to air its late newscast following most Fox Sports telecasts shown on Saturday nights—including
college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...
—and, as of September 2019, during the network's ''
Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to 20 ...
'' broadcasts.) Eventually, on August 30, 2010, channel 34 began to air a rebroadcast of the ''Fox 25 Primetime News at Nine'' (renamed ''Fox 25 News at 9:00'' in 2021) at midnight Monday through Friday nights. (Paid programming or episodes of ''
The Andy Griffith Show ''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American situation comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color. The ...
'' occasionally fill the program's second half-hour when sporting events abbreviate the event-delayed edition of the newscast on KOKH to a half-hour broadcast.)


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's digital signal is
multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
:


Analog-to-digital conversion

KOCB discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 34, on February 17, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television (which Congress had moved the previous month to June 12). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 33, using PSIP to display KOCB's
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
as 34 on digital television receivers.


Translators

To reach viewers throughout the 34 counties comprising the Oklahoma City
Designated Market Area A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...
, KOCB extends its over-the-air coverage area through a network of six low-power digital translator stations – all of which transmit using PSIP virtual channel 34 – encompassing much of
Western Oklahoma On a simple east/west basis, Western Oklahoma is popularly considered that part of the state west of I-35. I-35 creates a north/south line through the approximate center of the main body of the state (i.e., without regard for the Oklahoma Panhandle ...
that distribute its programming beyond the range of its broadcast signal. ;Notes:


References


External links


cwokc.com
– KOCB official website
okcfox.com
– KOKH-TV official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Kocb The CW affiliates TBD (TV network) affiliates Comet (TV network) affiliates Dabl affiliates Sinclair Broadcast Group Television channels and stations established in 1979 OCB 1979 establishments in Oklahoma