| Mobile, Alabama-Pensacola, Florida | |
|---|---|
| Branding | WKRG News 5 |
| Slogan | Coverage You Can Count On |
| Channels | Digital: 27 (UHF) Virtual: 5 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 5.1 CBS 5.2 Weather radar 5.3 Me-TV |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | Media General, Inc. (Media General Communications Holdings, LLC) |
| First air date | August 29, 1955 |
| Call letters' meaning | Kenneth R. Giddens (WKRG's founder) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 5 (VHF, 1955-2009) |
| Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
| Height | 499 m |
| Facility ID | 73187 |
| Website | www.wkrg.com/ |
WKRG-TV, virtual channel 5 (digital channel 27), is the CBS-affiliated television station for Mobile, Alabama, Pensacola, Florida, and Pascagoula/Biloxi, Mississippi; and has been the network's affiliate in the area since its inception on August 29, 1955. The station was founded by the architect and movie theater owner Kenneth R. Giddens, who also put the WKRG AM and FM radio stations on the air.
Contents |
The station's digital channel (UHF 27) is multiplexed:
Digital channel
| Virtual Channel |
Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | Main WKRG-TV programming / CBS |
| 5.2 | 480i | 4:3 | Doppler radar |
| 5.3 | Me-TV[1] |
On June 12, 2009, WKRG-TV has left channel 5 and moved to channel 27 when the analog to digital conversion completed.[2]
WKRG replaced RTV with Me-TV, a digital broadcast network owned by Weigel Broadcasting and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, featuring sitcoms and dramas from the 1950s to the 1980s, which took the place of RTV on digital subchannel 5.3 on September 26, 2011, as part of a groupwide affiliation agreement with Media General; the channel replaced RTV on some Media General-owned stations in other markets.[3]
The television and radio stations were located on St. Louis Street in downtown Mobile until around 1980, when they were relocated to an area near the Bel Air Mall, which Giddens also had a hand in developing. The television station operates on the bottom floor and the radio stations operate on the second and third floors of the building.
For years, WKRG-TV was the only locally owned station in the Mobile-Pensacola-Pascagoula area. This changed after the death of Giddens in 1993. First, the radio stations were sold, yet they still operated in the same building (and still do today under current owner Clear Channel). Spartan Communications purchased WKRG-TV in 1998, and Media General purchased Spartan in 2000.
The station debuted a new slogan in July 2004: News 5, Coverage You Can Count On, in conjunction with WKRG's 50th year in broadcasting.
In 2007, WKRG developed a radio partnership with Clear Channel Communications reuniting the television station with its formerly owned stations WMXC Lite Mix 99.9 (formerly WKRG-FM) and WNTM News Radio 710 (formerly WKRG-AM), as well as WKSJ 95KSJ and WRKH 96.1 The Rocket. Ironically, these stations were co-owned with competing station WPMI until Clear Channel divested its television stations in 2008 to Newport Television.
WKRG is also available to cable subscribers in Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi, and is usually the area's "B" CBS station behind WWL in New Orleans.
Current programs broadcast by WKRG-TV, airing in addition to CBS programming include: Family Feud, The Big Bang Theory, The Andy Griffith Show, Cold Case Files, Heartland, Without A Trace, Cold Case, Today's Homeowner and The Unit.
Past shows that aired on WKRG include Woman's World,[4][5][6][7] The Popeye Show,[8] Rosie's Place and Small Fry News, a show featuring local fifth graders.[4] WKRG-TV was also the longtime home of Congressional Report from 1973 to 2006, billed as the longest running program of its kind in the nation, featuring local congressmen giving viewers a local perspective of Washington, D.C. and the central Gulf Coast from their congressman’s standpoint.
In 2002, the focus of the station switched to weather and news, and the channel's slogan was changed to reflect it: WKRG 5 became WKRG News 5 (based on the station's NewsCenter branding in the 1980s and 1990s), and it was touted as Mobile's "Weather Authority". On October 18, 2010, WKRG became the second television station in the Mobile-Pensacola market and the first Mobile-based station to launch local newscasts in High Definition starting with their 6pm show.
At one time, WKRG broadcast news at 7am on weekdays, pre-empting the first hour of The Early Show, as well as a 9am weekday news broadcast. The 7am newscast was cancelled in 2008 at CBS's request to air both hours of The Early Show, and the 9am show was cancelled in 2009 due to low viewership and staff reductions by parent company Media General.
Anchors
Weather team
Sports team
Reporters
Photojournalists
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