WKEF

Encyclopedia : W : WK : WKE : WKEF

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WKEF is a broadcast television station in Dayton, Ohio, affiliated with the ABC network. It broadcasts on channel 22. WKEF is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group with its transmitter is located in Dayton. It is the sister station of Fox Broadcasting Company affiliate WRGT-TV channel 45 in Dayton.

History

Channel 22 signed on August 22, 1964 as WONE-TV. They had an independent general entertainment schedule. ABC though wanted some of their shows to air locally in Dayton though an ABC affiliate out of Cincinnati 45 miles south and Columbus 60 miles east reached Dayton. As such, in 1965 WONE TV took ABC prime time shows and sports and whatever ABC shows that WKRC TV in Cincinnati did not run. WONE had no local newscasts at the time.

In 1965 the station was sold to Springfield Television (owner of WWLP in Springfield, Massachusetts), and renamed WKEF. By the end of the 1970s ABC was unhappy with the Cincinnati/Dayton arrangement. ABC affiliates in Cincinnati and Columbus were preempting decent amounts of daytime programming, late night shows and some of the weekend kids shows. ABC wanted a station in Dayton that could run all of the ABC preempted shows and be able to reach Cincinnati and Columbus. Plus they wanted a station that had local news.

So on January 1, 1980 when WDTN's affiliation contract with NBC expired, WDTN (Channel 2) took the opportunity to take ABC affiliation to take advantage of the network's popularity at the time (with shows such as Happy Days). WKEF was then left to sign on with NBC, WDTN's former network. WDTN agreed to run ABC's entire schedule except for the 2 & 3 p.m. weekday soaps which run in both Columbus and Cincinnati. NBC went to WKEF and unlike its ABC deal WKEF now ran NBC's entire schedule.

In 1984, the Springfield Television group (WKEF, WWLP and KSTU in Salt Lake City, Utah) was sold to Adams Communications.

In 1998, WKEF was sold to Sinclair in a group deal. Sinclair was already managing WRGT owned by Sullivan. In 2001 Sinclair also bought WRGT.

On August 30, 2004 WDTN again took the opportunity to sign up with the more popular network, dropping ABC to switch back to NBC. Thus, as of August 2004, WKEF became an ABC affiliate again. WKEF now runs the entire ABC schedule,while owned by Sinclair Broadcasting and their newscast contains some elements of Sinclair's "NEWS CENTRAL" Programming.

Ratings wise, it had always been in 3rd place for their newscasts. On some nights (usually Sundays because of ABC programming) there are times that WKEF is 2nd place to WHIO-TV. But overall, it has been a distant third since their newscast start in 1979. On June 5,2006, WKEF debuted a morning newscast, which will help them compete with WHIO and WDTN's news departments.

External links

• [DaytonsNewsSource.com]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for WKEF-TV]

Broadcast television in the Dayton market  [(Nielsen DMA #59)]
WDTN 2 (NBC) - WHIO 7 (CBS) - WPTO 14 (PBS) - WPTD 16 (PBS) - WKEF 22 (ABC) (The Tube on DT2) - WBDT 26 (The WB/The CW) - WRCX-LP 40 (Ind.) - WKOI 43 (TBN) - WRGT 45 (Fox) - W66AQ 66 (The WB/My Network TV)
Local cable television channels
WHIO 17/6 (UPN)
See also: Broadcast television in the , , , , and markets

 

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