- WKRG-TV
Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WKRG-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan = Coverage You Can Count On
station_branding = WKRG News 5
analog = 5 (VHF)
digital = 27 (UHF)
subchannels = 5.1CBS 5.2 Weather radar
other_chs =
affiliations =CBS
network =
founded =
airdate =1955 [The "Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook" saysSeptember 5 , while the "Television and Cable Factbook" saysAugust 29 .]
location =Mobile, Alabama /Pensacola, Florida
callsign_meaning = Kenneth R. Giddens
(WKRG's founder)
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Media General, Inc.
licensee = Media General Communications Holdings, LLC
sister_stations =
former_affiliations =
effective_radiated_power = 100 kW (analog)
1000 kW (digital)
HAAT = 581 m (analog)
499 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 73187
coordinates = coord|30|41|20.5|N|87|49|50.8|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.wkrg.com www.wkrg.com]WKRG-TV has been the CBS television station in
Mobile, Alabama and Pensacola,Florida since its inception in1955 . The station was founded by architect and movie theater ownerKenneth R. Giddens who also put WKRG AM and FM radio on the air as well.The 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 in the Bel Air area, which Giddens also played 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 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 the station in 1998, andMedia General purchased Spartan in 2000.In
2002 , the focus of the station switched to weather and news, and the channel's slogan was edited 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."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 stationWPMI until Clear Channel divested its television stations in 2008 toProvidence Equity Partners .WKRG is also available to cable subscribers in Biloxi and
Gulfport, Mississippi , and is usually the area's "B" CBS station behind WWL inNew Orleans .Digital television
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