Channels Digital: 14 (UHF) Transmitter power 3 kW Owner Gray Television City of license Bowling Green Last air date February 2016 | Former affiliations Laff Height 196 feet (60 m) Date founded 8 December 2009 Former affiliation Laff Sister station WBKO | |
Affiliations Silent (soon to be converted to low-powered translator of WBKO) First air date c. January 1, 2016 (original incarnation)
Early 2017 (future incarnation, as low-powered translator ABC affiliate WBKO) Affiliation Dark (soon to be converted to low-powered translator of WBKO) | ||
W14DG-D is a low-powered digital television station that is licensed to Bowling Green, Kentucky. The station broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 14. The station is owned by Gray Television.
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The station transmits its digital signal from a former AT&T Long Lines microwave tower located near the intersection of Grassland Road and State Highway 70 just northwest of Brownsville, in Edmonson County. That tower also previously served as WCZU-LD's transmitting site for its first few months on the air.
History
The construction permit for the station was issued by the FCC on December 8, 2009, under the ownership of Madison Avenue Ventures. In 2015, DTV America Corporation purchased the station and its license.
The station would be silent for six years until 2016, when W14DG-D became affiliated with the Katz Broadcasting-owned comedy-oriented Laff network. With Laff now available, W14DG-D is the second station in the Bowling Green market to be signed on by Sunrise, Florida-based DTV America Corporation, and was also the second station to sign on with programming from a digital multi-cast specialty network. W14DG was the second digital low-powered station located within the Bowling Green, Kentucky market upon signing on nearly two years after then-sister station WCZU-LD took to the air in 2014. W14DG-D also had the distinction to be the Laff network's second affiliate to be based in the state of Kentucky, the first being the DT2 subchannel of Louisville's WKYI-CD. Nashville, Tennessee-based WTVF also provides Laff programming on its third digital sub-channel, and is being carried by local cable systems in Bowling Green and Glasgow. Laff is also still available to users of outdoor antennas in portions of the Bowling Green market. W14DG-D went silent again after failed attempts to activate the PSIP system.
DTV America Corporation agreed to sell W14DG-D, along with seven additional stations in other markets, to Gray Television for $720,000 on July 28, 2016. The sale was approved in October 2016. The deal made W14DG-D a sister station to ABC affiliate WBKO. It is now said to become a low-powered repeater of WBKO in early 2017.
Coverage area
During its time as a Laff affiliate, W14DG-D could only be picked up in the central portions of the market upon inception, because the signal is oriented to the southwest from the transmitting site near Windyville. Locations within range of the signal include much of Warren County, including Bowling Green, as well as much of central and southern Edmonson County, including communities like Chalybeate, Asphalt, Wingfield, and Windyville. Coverage is limited in areas north of the transmitter, like in Lindseyville and Sweeden.