WLAP's UHF U-turn
The American Broadcasting Corporation (no relationship to the American Broadcasting Company, ABC), owner of Lexington radio station WLAP, applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in June 1952 for a new television station on the newly available ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 27 in Lexington.[1][2] A second application was filed for the channel by the West–Bingham Television Company, whose principals had no radio or television experience but owned a series of local businesses.[3] As a result, both of the allotted UHF television channels for Lexington each had two competing applications, which could have delayed the arrival of television to the city.[4]
This changed in 1953—not because of FCC action but because the owners of West–Bingham Television Company were exiting one of their local ventures. They had proposed to locate the station at the Ranch Motel on Winchester Road, but it was announced in June 1953 that they were selling the motel to a Florida couple. It was indicated that the completion of this sale would come alongside the withdrawal of their permit application.[5] The West–Bingham application was dismissed in November,[6] and the permit was granted on December 3, with WLAP officials claiming they would be on the air with Lexington's first TV station within six months.[7] Within days, grading began of a site at the intersection of the Northern Belt and Liberty Road.[8]
However, on February 19, 1954, WLAP announced it had put a halt to its television construction efforts. That day, in a full-page advertisement entitled "So The People May Know", the American Broadcasting Corporation laid out its reasons to suspend construction. The issues mostly concerned UHF. The firm believed that a UHF television station would have trouble reaching the promised service area, and it cited the difficulties of UHF television operations that had surrendered construction permits or left the air, making particular mention of the difficulties of KCTY in Kansas City and WROV-TV in Roanoke, Virginia.[9] Their announcement came the same day that Lexington radio station WVLK abandoned their application for channel 18 for similar reasons, leaving WLEX unopposed in its bid to start WLEX-TV on channel 18.[10]
"At this time, even with the fine cooperation and wishful thinking of the many interested parties, we believe an acceptable AREA-WIDE UHF television service from Lexington would be an economic imposition on everyone concerned."
WKXP-TV: Construction
Two years later, the sale of WLAP to Community Broadcasting Company—one of the largest sales in Kentucky broadcasting history to that time—included the unused WLAP-TV construction permit.[11][12] The new owners of WLAP announced they would build out the unused construction permit by September 1 and changed the call sign to WKXP-TV.[13] Program tests began September 23, with commercial operation beginning on September 30.[14] The station would not have any network affiliation at launch and was heavily dependent on a Warner Bros. film package to fill out its broadcast day.[15] Studios were in a Quonset hut on New Circle Road NE.[16]
The Taft years
The FCC authorized the sale to the Taft group on May 14, 1958, and on June 2, the call letters were changed to WKYT. The new ownership continued operating WKYT as a CBS affiliate[27] and began an expansion of the station's studios.[28] The various Taft broadcasting properties were consolidated under a new company, Taft Broadcasting, in 1959.[29]
In 1961, WKYT-TV switched network affiliations from CBS to ABC as part of a group affiliation agreement that also saw WKRC-TV and WBRC-TV in Birmingham, Alabama, convert to ABC; Taft cited good relations with the network at its existing ABC affiliate, WTVN-TV in Columbus, Ohio.[30] Among the station's programs was a Saturday dance show hosted by Nick Clooney. Clooney also did weekend news anchoring work, leading to a lengthy career as a news anchor across the United States.
Kentucky Central ownership
Kentucky Central Television, a subsidiary of the Kentucky Central Life Insurance Company, reached an agreement to acquire WKYT-TV in 1967 for $2.5 million. The deal was noteworthy because Kentucky Central had a pending application for what would have been Lexington's third station on channel 62, but it faced competition from another local group known as WBLG-TV Inc.; the purchase cleared the way for the construction of that station (now WTVQ-DT, channel 36).[31] Kentucky Central CEO Garvice Kincaid had also been part of the WVLK group that had attempted to purchase WKXP-TV in 1958. In its annual report, Taft noted that Lexington "represented by far the smallest market ... and in the opinion of management is also afforded less opportunity for growth and development than the possible acquisition of new property".[32]
Upon taking control, Kentucky Central began its own series of improvements. In 1968, the station returned to CBS and made plans for its current studio on Winchester Road. Later that year, WKYT was approved to build a new 1000 ft tower adjacent to the new studio. The facility featured the most powerful UHF transmitter in the Commonwealth, operating at 2.3 million watts.[33] The new building was occupied in October 1969. However, the most significant change in the early years under Kentucky Central was in management.
Gray ownership
In February 1993, the Kentucky state insurance commissioner seized Kentucky Central Life Insurance Company as a result of financial difficulties caused by a troubled portfolio of commercial mortgages.[39] In the wake of the state takeover, Kentucky Central's broadcast portfolio—consisting of WKYT-TV, WYMT, and WVLK AM and FM—was put on the market to raise cash for the company, as the stations represented the most saleable assets of the insurer and were highly successful properties;[40] Kentucky Central's board of directors had intended to sell the stations and other non–life insurance divisions as part of a salvage plan but ran out of time to implement it.[41] At the same time that inquiries were received from around the United States, Ralph Gabbard began to put together a consortium of investors to bid on WKYT and WYMT.[42] However, it was unclear if the stations would even be sold. The Kentucky insurance commissioner considered selling the entire company as a package; however, the combination of the radio and television stations was grandfathered, and under FCC rules of the time, no one buyer could purchase all four stations.[43]
