WKOI-TV

WKOI-TV is a full-power television station licensed to Richmond, Indiana, and serving the Dayton, Ohio, television market. The station currently carries Ion Television programming and is part of Ion Media, which operates as a subsidiary of The E. W. Scripps Company. Although its city of license is in Indiana, WKOI-TV has historically served viewers across a broad regional area that includes western Ohio, eastern Indiana, northern Kentucky, the Miami Valley, and portions of the Cincinnati area. The station began broadcasting on May 11, 1982, as an independent outlet featuring religious programming. In 1986, Trinity Broadcasting Network acquired the station, after which WKOI-TV became a TBN-owned-and-operated station. During its TBN period, it carried almost the full TBN schedule, with a limited weekly break for locally oriented community public-affairs programming. Its original transmission facilities were located near Collinsville in Butler County, Ohio, on State Route 73. This site placed the transmitter within the Cincinnati television market even though Nielsen classified the station with the Dayton market because of its Richmond license. WKOI-TV underwent a major structural change following the Federal Communications Commission's 2016–2017 incentive auction. The station's over-the-air spectrum was sold in the auction for slightly more than $20 million, with the result that the station needed to vacate its former transmission arrangement. TBN entered an option agreement with Ion Media on November 14, 2017, covering WKOI-TV and three other TBN stations whose spectrum had been sold. Ion exercised that option on May 24, 2018, and the transaction was completed on September 25, 2018. As part of the post-auction transition, WKOI-TV began sharing the digital transmission facilities of WDTN, the Dayton NBC affiliate, on June 7, 2018. The channel-sharing arrangement moved the station's effective transmission facilities to southwest Dayton, where WDTN's transmitter is located on Frytown Road. At the same time, WKOI-TV ceased carrying the former TBN multicast lineup and began presenting Ion Television on virtual channel 43.1. WDTN had also temporarily carried Ion programming on virtual channel 2.3, but that simulcast ended on June 29, 2018, when WDTN's signal began carrying programming associated with sister station WBDT. For regulatory and operational purposes, WKOI-TV's designated main-studio facility is at Scripps Center in downtown Cincinnati, alongside other Ion stations. The station's current identity is therefore defined less by locally produced programming than by its role as a regional over-the-air outlet for Ion Television's schedule of syndicated entertainment, drama, and other acquired programming. Its transition from a TBN religious outlet to an Ion general-entertainment station reflects the consolidation and spectrum-reallocation trends affecting U.S. broadcast television.

WKOI-TV signed on May 11, 1982, as an independent station devoted primarily to religious programming. Four years later, Trinity Broadcasting Network acquired the station, turning it into a TBN-owned-and-operated outlet. During this period, WKOI-TV carried nearly the entire TBN schedule and made only a limited weekly departure for local community public-affairs programming. The station's original transmitter was located on State Route 73 in Milford Township, Butler County, Ohio, near Collinsville. Although this site was geographically within the Cincinnati television market and allowed the station to reach northern Kentucky, east-central Indiana, southwestern Ohio, Greater Cincinnati, and the Miami Valley, the station remained associated with the Dayton market for Nielsen purposes because Richmond, Indiana, was its city of license. WKOI-TV's ownership and technical structure changed following the FCC incentive auction. In 2017, its broadcast spectrum was sold for slightly more than $20 million. Because the station had sold its spectrum, TBN agreed in November 2017 to give Ion Media an option to acquire WKOI-TV's license along with those of three other affected stations. Ion exercised the option on May 24, 2018, and the transaction closed on September 25 of that year. On June 7, 2018, WKOI-TV left its former transmission configuration and began sharing the digital channel used by WDTN, the Dayton NBC affiliate. The new transmission facilities were located at WDTN's site on Frytown Road in southwest Dayton. The change also ended WKOI-TV's TBN multicast service. TBN, The Church Channel, JCTV, Enlace, Smile of a Child, and later related TBN services had previously occupied the station's digital subchannels; following the transition, Ion Television appeared on virtual channel 43.1. WDTN had briefly carried Ion on virtual channel 2.3, but that arrangement ended on June 29, 2018, when WBDT programming was added to the shared signal. The station completed its analog-to-digital transition on April 16, 2009. Its former analog service used UHF channel 43, while its pre-transition digital signal used UHF channel 39 and retained virtual channel 43. WKOI-TV's former translators included W20CL in Springfield, Ohio, and W36DG in Cincinnati. Both translators were subsequently sold to Word of God Fellowship, the owner of the Daystar Television Network; they later operated under different call signs. Today, WKOI-TV operates as an Ion Television station within Ion Media, which is owned by The E. W. Scripps Company. Its regulatory main-studio facility is located at Scripps Center in downtown Cincinnati, while its transmission operation is integrated with WDTN through the channel-sharing arrangement. The station's principal role is to provide Ion's national entertainment schedule to the Dayton-area over-the-air audience.

• 2018

  Ion acquisition closes

  [1]WKOI-TVen.wikipedia.org

  Ion Media completes its acquisition of the WKOI-TV license on September 25.

• 2018

  Channel-sharing operation begins

  [1]WKOI-TVen.wikipedia.org

  WKOI-TV begins sharing WDTN's digital transmission facilities and carries Ion Television on virtual channel 43.1.

• 2017

  Spectrum sold in FCC auction

  [1]WKOI-TVen.wikipedia.org

  The station's terrestrial spectrum is sold in the FCC incentive auction, prompting a later technical transition.

• 2009

  Analog transmission ends

  [1]WKOI-TVen.wikipedia.org

  WKOI-TV shuts down its analog UHF channel 43 signal and continues digitally on UHF channel 39 using virtual channel 43.

• 1986

  Trinity Broadcasting Network acquisition

  [1]WKOI-TVen.wikipedia.org

  TBN acquires WKOI-TV and operates it as a TBN-owned-and-operated station.

• 1982

  WKOI-TV signs on

  [1]WKOI-TVen.wikipedia.org

  The station begins broadcasting on May 11 as an independent outlet airing religious programming.

A regional broadcast outlet providing Ion Television's national general-entertainment schedule to viewers in and around the Dayton market through a channel-sharing transmission arrangement.

• Broadcast network programming · 2018

  Ion Television

  Ion Television is WKOI-TV's current primary programming service. The station distributes the Ion network over the air on virtual channel 43.1, serving viewers in the Dayton market through WDTN's shared digital transmission facilities. The service consists primarily of nationally distributed general-entertainment programming rather than a substantial locally produced schedule.

• Former multicast television services · 2009

  TBN digital multicast services

  Before its conversion to Ion Television, WKOI-TV's digital signal carried TBN and related religious services, including The Church Channel, JCTV, Enlace, and Smile of a Child. These services formed the station's principal digital lineup during its TBN ownership period and were discontinued when the station entered the WDTN channel-sharing arrangement.

• 2018

  Transition to WDTN channel sharingStrategy

  Background

  WKOI-TV's spectrum sale required a new method of over-the-air transmission, while Ion Media sought to continue operating the station in the Dayton market.

  Action taken

  WKOI-TV began sharing WDTN's digital channel and replaced its former TBN lineup with Ion Television on virtual channel 43.1.

  Aftermath

  The station continued operating as an Ion Television outlet, with transmission facilities in southwest Dayton and a regulatory main-studio facility at Scripps Center in Cincinnati.

  Source

• 2017

  Option agreement for WKOI-TV licenseM&A

  Background

  The station's spectrum had been sold through the FCC incentive auction, creating a need to determine how its broadcast license and programming operation would continue.

  Action taken

  Trinity Broadcasting Network granted Ion Media an option to acquire WKOI-TV and three other affected station licenses.

  Aftermath

  Ion later exercised the option, and the acquisition closed in September 2018.

  Source

1. 1WKOI-TVen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Ion Televisioniontelevision.com