WBKB-TV is the CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

-affiliated television station

Television station

A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...

 for the Alpena

Alpena, Michigan

Alpena is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Alpena County. It is considered to be part of Northern Michigan. The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary is located in the city. The population was 10,483 at the 2010 census...

 area of Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

's Northern

Northern Michigan

Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan , is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan...

 Lower Peninsula

Lower Peninsula of Michigan

The Lower Peninsula of Michigan is the southern of the two major landmasses of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is surrounded by water on all sides except its southern border, which it shares with Ohio and Indiana. Geographically, the Lower Peninsula has a recognizable shape that many people...

. It broadcasts a high definition

High-definition television

High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...

 digital signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter south of Hubbard Lake near M-72

M-72 (Michigan highway)

M-72 is a state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan, running from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan across the northern part of the Lower Peninsula. The highway connects M-22 in Empire with US Highway 23 in Harrisville. It is one of only three Michigan state trunklines that cross the Lower...

 in Alcona County

Alcona County, Michigan

Alcona County is a county of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the population is 11,719. Its county seat is Harrisville. Alphabetically it is the first county in Michigan, as its flag states "First of the 83".-History:...

. The station can also be seen on Charter

Charter Communications

Charter Communications is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 4.7 million customers in 25 states. By revenues, it is the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, behind Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications...

 channel 10 and in high definition on digital channel 781. Owned by Thunder Bay Broadcasting Corporation, the station has studios on North Bagley Street in Alpena. Syndicated

Television syndication

In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...

 programming on WBKB includes: Wheel of Fortune

Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)

Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, which premiered in 1975. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a large wheel. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that...

, Jeopardy!

Jeopardy!

Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...

, Ellen

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...

, and Dr. Phil

Dr. Phil (TV series)

Dr. Phil is a reality/talk television show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002...

.

It operates the area's primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV

MyNetworkTV

MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...

 affiliate on a second digital subchannel as well as Charter channel 13. Syndicated programming on WBKB-DT2 includes: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (US game show)

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is an American television quiz show which offers a maximum prize of $1,000,000 for correctly answering 14 consecutive multiple-choice questions of random difficulty. Until 2010, the format required contestants to correctly answer 15 consecutive questions of increasing...

, Entertainment Tonight

Entertainment Tonight

Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...

, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (U.S. syndicated game show)

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? is a daily syndicated version of the former primetime American quiz game show of the same name that aired on Fox. It ran from September 21, 2009 to March 24, 2011 and was produced by Mark Burnett, and, like the primetime version, was hosted by Jeff Foxworthy...

, and The Dr. Oz Show

The Dr. Oz Show

The Dr. Oz Show is an American syndicated television talk show, hosted by Dr. Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon and teaching professor at Columbia University who became famous for his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show from 2004 until 2009....

. Programming from MyNetworkTV airs weeknights from 10 to midnight. WBKB is the only commercial television station in one of the smallest media market

Media market

A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...

s in the United States.

History

The station first went on-the-air September 22, 1975 as the first of two stations in Alpena to sign-on that year (the other being WCMU-TV

WCMU-TV

WCMU-TV, channel 14 is a Public Broadcasting Service member Public television station for much of the northern portion of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, with a coverage area spanning three television markets and small portions of several others. The network is based at Central Michigan...

 satellite WCML that launched in November). WBKB has always been a CBS affiliate. The Alpena market consists of Alpena

Alpena County, Michigan

Alpena County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 29,598. The county seat is Alpena. It is considered to be part of Northern Michigan.It was founded originally in 1840 as Anomickee County...

 and Alcona Counties and is the third smallest media market in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is also served by portions of the Northern Michigan

Northern Michigan

Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan , is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan...

 (Traverse City

Traverse City, Michigan

Traverse City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was 14,674 at the 2010 census, with 143,372 in the Traverse...

, Cadillac

Cadillac, Michigan

Cadillac is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is the county seat of Wexford County. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 10,000. The city is situated at the junction of US 131, M-55 and M-115...

, and Sault Ste. Marie

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Sault Ste. Marie is a city in and the county seat of Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is in the north-eastern end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on the Canadian border, separated from its twin city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, by the St. Marys River...

) as well as the Mid-Michigan

Flint/Tri-Cities

The Flint/Tri-Cities Region or Saginaw Valley is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The region is composed of the area surrounding Flint, Michigan, the Tri Cities, the Saginaw Bay and Saginaw River . Flint's population is 102,434; it is the seventh largest city in Michigan...

 (Bay City

Bay City, Michigan

Bay City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and is the principal city of the Bay City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Saginaw-Bay City-Saginaw Township North...

, Saginaw

Saginaw, Michigan

Saginaw is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw was once a thriving lumber town and manufacturing center. Saginaw and Saginaw County lie in the Flint/Tri-Cities region of Michigan...

, Midland

Midland, Michigan

Midland is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan in the Tri-Cities region of the state. It is the county seat of Midland County. The city's population was 41,863 as of the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area....

, and Flint

Flint, Michigan

Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...

) markets. The station originally aired a digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter at the station's studios. After the switch to digital-only broadcasting on June 12, 2009, it moved its digital signal to channel 11.

In November 2009, WBKB added a new second digital subchannel to serve as the area's primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV affiliate. WFUP in Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt, Michigan

Vanderbilt is a village in Otsego County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 587 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all land.-Demographics:...

, which is a full-time satellite of WFQX-TV

WFQX-TV

WFQX-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for the northern Lower and eastern Upper Peninsulas of Michigan. Licensed to Cadillac, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter at studios on 130th Avenue/Dighton Road in Tustin on Grove Hill...

 in Cadillac, had been the default Fox affiliate for the Alpena area. WFUP served over-the-air viewers while WFQX was offered on Charter systems and these options are still available. At one point in time, that station even operated a repeater (W31BO channel 31) in the city. As for MyNetworkTV, WNEM-DT2

WNEM-DT2

WNEM-DT2 is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for the Flint/Tri-Cities market in Michigan. It is a second digital subchannel of CBS affiliate WNEM-TV that is owned by the Meredith Corporation. Over-the-air, the station broadcasts a digital signal on UHF channel 22.2 from a transmitter...

 in Bay City was and continues to be offered on Charter.

Legacy of WBKB call sign

The WBKB call letters originally belonged (from 1946 until 1953) to channel 4 in Chicago. That station was owned by the Balaban and Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

 and is now CBS owned-and-operated affiliate WBBM-TV

WBBM-TV

WBBM-TV, virtual channel 2 , is the CBS owned-and-operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. WBBM-TV's main studios and offices are located in The Loop section of Chicago, as part of the development at Block 37, and its transmitter is atop the Willis Tower.-History:WBBM-TV traces its history...

. WBKB then transferred to Chicago's ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 owned-and-operated station on channel 7 from 1953 to 1968 until it was renamed WLS-TV

WLS-TV

WLS-TV, virtual channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The station operates their full power digital operations on UHF channel 44, with their digital fill-in translator on VHF channel...

.

Shortly after Stephan Marks acquired WBKB, a local newscast called UGN News (Upper Great Lakes News) Network debuted originating from both this station and sister channels WBUP

WBUP

WBUP is the ABC-affiliated television station for Michigan's Central Upper Peninsula licensed to Ishpeming. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 10 from a transmitter in Humboldt Township. The station can also be seen on Charter channel 10 and in high definition on digital...

/WBKP

WBKP

WBKP is the CW-affiliated television station for Michigan's Central Upper Peninsula licensed to Calumet. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 5 from a transmitter on Tolonen Hill in Atlantic Mine. The station can also be seen on Charter channel 2...

 in Marquette

Marquette, Michigan

Marquette is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Marquette County. The population was 21,355 at the 2010 census, making it the most populated city of the Upper Peninsula. Marquette is a major port on Lake Superior, primarily for shipping iron ore and is the home of Northern...

. The broadcast featured news and weather from the entire Upper and Northern Lower Peninsulas. In 2006, coverage centered on the Lower Peninsula and now originates from WBKB. Local news currently airs weeknights at 6 and 11 as well as weekends at 11.

General Manager

• Cher Allen

News team

• Tom Murphy - News Director weeknights/weekends at 11
• Lauren Fahrenkong- Weather Anchor
• Jeff Schaffer - Sports Anchor
• Paul Gerke - Sports Anchor

External links

• WBKB-TV channel 11