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WKRN-TV
WKRN-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are located on Murfreesboro Road (U.S. Routes 41 and 70S) on Nashville's southeast side, and its transmitter is located in Forest Hills, Tennessee.
The station first signed on the air on November 29, 1953, as WSIX-TV, broadcasting on VHF channel 8; it was the second television station in Nashville. WSIX-TV was originally licensed to WSIX, Inc., which was owned by Louis and Jack Draughon, along with WSIX (980 AM). Initially licensed to nearby Springfield, WSIX radio was launched on January 7, 1927, and based in the Draughon brothers' 638 Tire and Vulcanizing Company auto supply business in downtown Springfield. The "638" was the auto supply business' mailing address and did not allude to the assigned frequency for the radio station, nor would it for the television station. The station's original studio facilities were located on Old Hickory Boulevard, south of Nashville at the transmitter site, which was shared with WSIX-FM.
Originally a CBS affiliate that shared the ABC affiliation with WSM-TV (channel 4, now WSMV), it became a full-time ABC affiliate after only one year when WLAC-TV (channel 5, now WTVF) signed on and took the CBS affiliation due to WLAC radio's long history as a CBS radio affiliate. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. In 1961, WSIX-AM-FM-TV moved to a new studio located at 441 Murfreesboro Road, where the television station remains located today.
The current WKRN studio facility is where the Wilburn Brothers' television program was produced during the 1960s and 1970s (however, WSM-TV had the rights to air the show in the Nashville market). WSIX-TV, however, did not have much luck against WSM-TV and WLAC-TV. Part of the problem was a weak signal, as its transmitter was short-spaced to channel 8 in Atlanta – occupied first by WSB-TV (currently occupied by WGTV). WSIX-TV 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 the WSIX stations to General Electric in 1966. In 1973, GE agreed to a deal with Nashville's PBS member station, WDCN-TV (now WNPT), then on channel 2, to swap frequencies. GE participated in the channel trade because the analog channel 2 facility was better suited for a network affiliate as opposed to a non-commercial educational station. The swap occurred on December 11, 1973, at 9 pm, in the middle of prime time programming, between that night's Movie of the Week, The Cat Creature, and Marcus Welby, M.D.. At the same time, the station's calls were switched to WNGE (for "Nashville's General Electric") to emphasize both a fresh start on channel 2, and to end any confusion (especially for those households with Nielsen diaries) regarding call letters which never resided on channel 6 (WSIX-FM and AM remained unchanged). This was only the third facility swap in American television history.
In 1979, General Electric almost filed to sell WNGE to Nashville Television Inc., a subsidiary of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company during a proposed General Electric merger with Cox Broadcasting, with its new group being led by president William J. Kennedy, for $25 million, but the deal apparently fell through due to a lack of Federal Communications Commission approval.
General Electric pared down its broadcasting holdings during the early 1980s (possibly in preparation for its purchase of then-NBC parent company RCA in late 1985), selling WNGE to Knight Ridder Newspapers in 1983. The new owners changed the calls on November 29 to the current WKRN-TV. Knight Ridder sold off all of its television stations in 1989, at which point channel 2 (along with its sibling WTEN in Albany, New York, which Knight Ridder purchased in 1977) was sold to Young Broadcasting. Merely by coincidence, the call letters reflect the former Young Broadcasting flagship outlet, KRON-TV in San Francisco.
Like all other ABC affiliates that were owned by Young Broadcasting, WKRN preempted ABC's broadcast of the movie Saving Private Ryan in 2004.[citation needed]
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WKRN-TV
WKRN-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are located on Murfreesboro Road (U.S. Routes 41 and 70S) on Nashville's southeast side, and its transmitter is located in Forest Hills, Tennessee.
The station first signed on the air on November 29, 1953, as WSIX-TV, broadcasting on VHF channel 8; it was the second television station in Nashville. WSIX-TV was originally licensed to WSIX, Inc., which was owned by Louis and Jack Draughon, along with WSIX (980 AM). Initially licensed to nearby Springfield, WSIX radio was launched on January 7, 1927, and based in the Draughon brothers' 638 Tire and Vulcanizing Company auto supply business in downtown Springfield. The "638" was the auto supply business' mailing address and did not allude to the assigned frequency for the radio station, nor would it for the television station. The station's original studio facilities were located on Old Hickory Boulevard, south of Nashville at the transmitter site, which was shared with WSIX-FM.
Originally a CBS affiliate that shared the ABC affiliation with WSM-TV (channel 4, now WSMV), it became a full-time ABC affiliate after only one year when WLAC-TV (channel 5, now WTVF) signed on and took the CBS affiliation due to WLAC radio's long history as a CBS radio affiliate. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. In 1961, WSIX-AM-FM-TV moved to a new studio located at 441 Murfreesboro Road, where the television station remains located today.
The current WKRN studio facility is where the Wilburn Brothers' television program was produced during the 1960s and 1970s (however, WSM-TV had the rights to air the show in the Nashville market). WSIX-TV, however, did not have much luck against WSM-TV and WLAC-TV. Part of the problem was a weak signal, as its transmitter was short-spaced to channel 8 in Atlanta – occupied first by WSB-TV (currently occupied by WGTV). WSIX-TV 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 the WSIX stations to General Electric in 1966. In 1973, GE agreed to a deal with Nashville's PBS member station, WDCN-TV (now WNPT), then on channel 2, to swap frequencies. GE participated in the channel trade because the analog channel 2 facility was better suited for a network affiliate as opposed to a non-commercial educational station. The swap occurred on December 11, 1973, at 9 pm, in the middle of prime time programming, between that night's Movie of the Week, The Cat Creature, and Marcus Welby, M.D.. At the same time, the station's calls were switched to WNGE (for "Nashville's General Electric") to emphasize both a fresh start on channel 2, and to end any confusion (especially for those households with Nielsen diaries) regarding call letters which never resided on channel 6 (WSIX-FM and AM remained unchanged). This was only the third facility swap in American television history.
In 1979, General Electric almost filed to sell WNGE to Nashville Television Inc., a subsidiary of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company during a proposed General Electric merger with Cox Broadcasting, with its new group being led by president William J. Kennedy, for $25 million, but the deal apparently fell through due to a lack of Federal Communications Commission approval.
General Electric pared down its broadcasting holdings during the early 1980s (possibly in preparation for its purchase of then-NBC parent company RCA in late 1985), selling WNGE to Knight Ridder Newspapers in 1983. The new owners changed the calls on November 29 to the current WKRN-TV. Knight Ridder sold off all of its television stations in 1989, at which point channel 2 (along with its sibling WTEN in Albany, New York, which Knight Ridder purchased in 1977) was sold to Young Broadcasting. Merely by coincidence, the call letters reflect the former Young Broadcasting flagship outlet, KRON-TV in San Francisco.
Like all other ABC affiliates that were owned by Young Broadcasting, WKRN preempted ABC's broadcast of the movie Saving Private Ryan in 2004.[citation needed]