WKRN-TV
| WKRN-TV | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Nashville, Tennessee | |
| Branding | News 2 |
| Slogan | First. Fast. Accurate. |
| Channels | Analog: 2 (VHF) |
| Affiliations | ABC (Secondary through 1954) |
| Owner | Young Broadcasting, Inc. (WKRN, GP) |
| First air date | November 29, 1953 |
| Call letters’ meaning | Knight-Ridder Nashville (former owner) |
| Former callsigns | WSIX-TV (1953–1973) WNGE (1973–1983) |
| Former channel number(s) | 8 (1953–1973) |
| Former affiliations | CBS (1953–1954) |
| Transmitter Power | 100 kW (analog) 946 kW (digital) |
| Height | 411 m (both) |
| Facility ID | 73188 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 36°2′50.4″N 86°49′48.9″W / 36.047333, -86.83025 |
| Website | www.wkrn.com |
WKRN-TV channel 2 is the ABC affiliate in Nashville, Tennessee. Its transmitter is located in Brentwood, Tennessee. It brands itself as News 2.
Contents |
History
The station first signed on the air on November 29, 1953 as WSIX-TV, the second television station in Nashville. It broadcast on channel 8 and was owned by Louis and Jack Draughon along with WSIX-AM 980 (now WFYN-AM, a religious station). The calls came from the 638 Tire Company in nearby Springfield, where the Draughon brothers had started WSIX-AM in 1930; neither the radio nor the television stations have ever had the number six in their frequencies, which would explain it otherwise. Originally a CBS affiliate sharing ABC with WSM-TV (now WSMV), it became a full ABC affiliate after only one year when WLAC-TV (now WTVF) signed on and took the CBS affiliation due to WLAC's long history as a CBS radio affiliate. Its original studio was on Old Hickory Boulevard, just outside Nashville. In 1961, WSIX-AM-FM-TV moved to a new studio on Murfreesboro Road, where the TV station is located today.
WSIX-TV, however, did not have much luck against WSM and WLAC. Part of the problem was a weak signal, as its transmitter was short-spaced to channel 8 in Atlanta--occupied first by WLWA-TV (now WXIA-TV) and currently occupied by WGTV. WSIX was also hampered by a weaker network affiliation (ABC was not truly competitive with CBS and NBC until well into the 1970s).
The Draughons sold WSIX-AM-FM-TV to General Electric in 1966. In 1972, GE cut a deal with Nashville's PBS station, WDCN-TV (now WNPT), then on channel 2, to swap dial positions. GE did this because the channel 2 signal travels farther than the channel 8 signal under most conditions. The swap occurred on December 11, 1973, in the middle of evening prime-time programming. At the same time, even though General Electric still owned WSIX-AM-FM, it changed WSIX-TV's callsign to WNGE-TV (for Nashville General Electric), leaving the radio stations' callsigns intact. This was only the third facility swap in American television history.
Knight Ridder bought WNGE-TV in 1983 and changed the calls to the current WKRN-TV. Young Broadcasting, the current owners, bought the station in 1989. It is merely a coincidence that the call letters reflect Young Broadcasting's flagship outlet, KRON-TV in San Francisco. Like all other ABC affiliates owned by Young Broadcasting, WKRN preempted ABC's broadcast of the movie Saving Private Ryan in 2004.
Digital Television
The station's digital channel:
Digital channels
| Virtual Channel |
Physical RF Channel |
Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | 27.1 | 720p | 16:9 | Main WKRN programming/ABC HD |
| 2.2 | 27.2 | 480i | 4:3 | Nashville WX Channel |
In 2009, WKRN-TV will remain on its current pre-transition channel number, 27.[1] [2] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display WKRN-TV's virtual channel as 2.
News/Station Presentation
Newscast Titles
- WSIX-TV News (1953-1961)
- The Tennessee Report (1961-1965)
- The Six O'Clock Report/The Eleven O'Clock Report (1965-1968)
- Newsnight (1968-1969)
- Eyewitness News (1969-1972)
- The Big News (1972-1974)
- Dateline Today (1974-1976)
- Newswatch 2 (1976-1983)
- Channel 2 News (1983-1994)
- News 2 (1994-2008)
- News 2 in HD (2008-present)
Station Slogans
- 1973 to 1978: The Powerhouse!
- 1978 to 1981: 2 a New Beat
- 1981 to 1984: The News Specialists
- 1984 to 1986: Let's Get Involved
- 1986 to 1987: The Winner's Circle!
- 1987 to 1990: Something's Happening Here
- 1990 to 1996: On Your Side
- 1996 to 2001: Where Coverage Comes First!
- 2001 to now: First. Fast. Accurate.
- 2007 to now: A New Beat on 2.
Station Logos
 WNGE-TV logo, January 1980. |
References
External links
- WKRN-TV website
- Liberadio(!) Interview with Bob Mueller
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WKRN-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WKRN-TV
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