Establishment
In late 1995 and early 1996, several groups filed to build stations on the channel 19 allocation in Muskogee, southeast of Tulsa: KM Communications, Northwest Television, and Natura Communications.[1][2][3] The groups merged their bids into Tulsa Channel 19 LLC in a settlement window for mutually exclusive applications opened by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and were granted a construction permit on August 27, 1998. On March 9, 1999, Larkspur, California–based Tulsa Communications LLC purchased a 51 percent controlling stake in KWBT for $4.59 million; the sale was finalized on June 1, 1999.[4]
The programming of The WB had generally been unavailable to many Tulsa viewers since its launch in 1995. While Superstation WGN—a service uplinked by Tulsa-based United Video—aired WB programming nationally, the Tele-Communications Inc. cable system in Tulsa had not carried the channel since the end of 1996.[5] Further, The WB and United Video mutually agreed to drop WB programming from the superstation feed in 1999 to reduce redundancy with the growing roster of WB affiliates and preemptions of WGN's sports programming.[6]
Channel 19 debuted as KWBT ("WB Tulsa"), the market's first full-time WB affiliate, on September 12, 1999. It offered WB series as well as syndicated programs. In its premiere week, the station aired reruns of WB programs previously unseen in Tulsa, such as 7th Heaven and Dawson's Creek.[7][8] KWBT was initially placed on cable channel 19 but moved to channel 12 in 2000 after the station reached a deal with Rogers State University, whose KRSC-TV occupied cable channel 12, to switch in exchange for scholarships and internships for the university's communications students.[9] The parent company of KWBT, Cascade Communications, also established the university's first endowed chair, named for company founder Greg Kunz.[10] Cascade transferred master control operations from its Tulsa facilities to its corporate office in Tucson, Arizona, in early 2004, resulting in eight layoffs.[11]
KWBT carried the ABC late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! from April 2003 to April 2004; Tulsa's ABC affiliate, KTUL, had declined to air the program and aired syndicated shows in the time slot it would otherwise occupy.[12][13]
