History
The station launched as WBLG-TV on September 7, 1968 and was located on channel 62. At the time, this was one of the highest full-power television channels assigned in the country. It was founded by Lexington area businessman Roy White and Reeves Broadcasting along with WBLG radio (AM 1300, now WLXG), and was the third commercial television station to begin broadcasting in the Lexington market.
From the first day of operation, and because of its radio sister's affiliation with ABC, WBLG was the ABC affiliate for central Kentucky. WKYT, the former primary affiliate with ABC, became the CBS affiliate. Reeves Broadcasting went into bankruptcy and eventually White ended up as the sole owner of WTVQ-TV. In 1974, the station changed its call letters to the current WTVQ-TV after White sold the TV station to Starr Broadcasting company, while White retained ownership of WBLG radio. Eventually, Starr Broadcasting also went into bankruptcy. In 1979, Shamrock Broadcasting purchased the station from Starr Broadcasting. Shamrock was wholly owned by Roy Disney, nephew of Walt and son of Walt's brother Roy. In 1980, Shamrock installed a new 1.5 million watt transmitter and moved WTVQ from channel 62 to channel 36 (channel 62 is now the home of WBLU-LP). The station underwent a major renovation in 1985 that doubled the existing office space and created all new technical facilities. On January 30, 1992, Park Broadcasting purchased WTVQ from Shamrock Broadcasting.
In July 1995, Park Communications was sold to Gary B. Knapp and Donald R. Tomlin, Jr. under the name Park Acquisitions. Media General purchased Park Acquisitions and its properties (including WTVQ) in January 1997. On February 26, 2002, it became central Kentucky 's first commercial television station to broadcast a digital television signal on UHF channel 40. Soon afterward, it became the area's first commercial digital television channel to broadcast programming in high definition. On October 29, 2007, Media General announced that it was exploring the sale of WTVQ. On January 22, 2008, the Lexington Herald-Leader mentioned the sale of the station. That headline was confirmed on March 7 when Media General announced it reached an agreement to sell WTVQ to Morris Multimedia for an undisclosed sales price. That price will likely be disclosed with either the FCC or SEC though a media consulting analyst in the $30–35 million dollar range. The sale became final on May 13. In June 2008, Morris Network named Chris Aldridge as General Manager of WTVQ. Aldridge previously served as the station's General Manager from 1992 until 1999. It was announced on October 31 that WTVQ would air the entire MyNetworkTV lineup on its second digital subchannel, replacing WBLU-LP. On January 1, 2009, WTVQ-DT2 officially became a full-time MyNetworkTV affiliate under the branding "MyTVQ2". It also simulcasted the 24-hour weather channel during overnights until April 2009. The station shutdown its analog signal at 11:59 P.M. on February 17. WTVQ-TV's official calls became WTVQ-DT on June 17, 2009.
On December 7, 2011, WTVQ replaced 24-hour weather on WTVQ-DT3 with Antenna TV.
Read more about this topic: WTVQ-DT
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