KUOK - History

History

KUOK originally signed on in 2002 as an affiliate of Pax (now Ion Television); after being acquired by Equity Broadcasting Corporation, the station changed its affiliation to Univision on May 8, 2004, becoming the full-power flagship station of the six station statewide network called "Univision Arkansas-Oklahoma"; KUOK and the three low-power stations it acquired to become translators of the network (KWDW-LP, now KUOK-LP; KCHM-LP, now KUOK-CD; and Sulphur-based KOKT-LP), originally relayed Univision programming across Oklahoma via a simulcast from sister station KLRA-LP (channel 58), Little Rock's Univision affiliate. In the first months of operation, the Univision Oklahoma stations ran a direct simulcast from KLRA-LP including local commercials from the Little Rock area and KLRA-LP's station IDs (the Oklahoma City repeaters identified only though fine print-style IDs at the bottom of the screen during the top and bottom of each hour).

In March 2005, KUOK, though still programmed via satellite from Equity's home office in Little Rock, began ended the KLRA-LP simulcast and began carrying Univision programming off a separate feed with local advertising and station promotions added. Prior to KUOK and its translators affiliating with Univision, the Spanish-language network was only receivable via local cable providers such as Cox Communications, running programming from Univision's national broadcast feed; these providers now carry KUOK on a clearer signal compared to its over-the-air coverage in most areas of central and south central Oklahoma.

On June 25, 2008, Equity announced that it was selling Univision Oklahoma to Luken Communications, LLC. In December of that year, Equity Media Holdings filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and offers by Luken Communications to acquire Equity-owned stations in six markets were later withdrawn. KUOK and its translators were sold at auction to the Tyler Media Group on April 16, 2009, thus creating a duopoly with Telemundo affiliate KTUZ-TV.