WKEF
WKEF is a broadcast
television station in
Dayton, Ohio, affiliated with the
ABC network. It broadcasts on channel 22. WKEF is owned by the
Sinclair Broadcast Group with its transmitter is located in Dayton. It is the sister station of
Fox Broadcasting Company affiliate
WRGT-TV channel 45 in Dayton.
Channel 22 signed on
August 22,
1964 as
WONE-TV. They had an independent general entertainment schedule. ABC though wanted some of their shows to air locally in Dayton though an ABC affiliate out of Cincinnati 45 miles south and Columbus 60 miles east reached Dayton. As such, in
1965 WONE TV took ABC prime time shows and sports and whatever ABC shows that WKRC TV in Cincinnati did not run. WONE had no local newscasts at the time.
In
1965 the station was sold to Springfield Television (owner of
WWLP in
Springfield, Massachusetts), and renamed
WKEF. By the end of the 1970s ABC was unhappy with the Cincinnati/Dayton arrangement. ABC affiliates in Cincinnati and Columbus were preempting decent amounts of daytime programming, late night shows and some of the weekend kids shows. ABC wanted a station in Dayton that could run all of the ABC preempted shows and be able to reach Cincinnati and Columbus. Plus they wanted a station that had local news.
So on
January 1,
1980 when
WDTN's affiliation contract with NBC expired, WDTN (Channel 2) took the opportunity to take ABC affiliation to take advantage of the network's popularity at the time (with shows such as
Happy Days). WKEF was then left to sign on with
NBC, WDTN's former network. WDTN agreed to run ABC's entire schedule except for the 2 & 3 p.m. weekday soaps which run in both Columbus and Cincinnati. NBC went to WKEF and unlike its ABC deal WKEF now ran NBC's entire schedule.
In 1984, the Springfield Television group (WKEF, WWLP and
KSTU in
Salt Lake City, Utah) was sold to Adams Communications. Adams has since broken up the group, selling WKEF to KT Communications L.P. in 1989, KSTU to
News Corporation's
Fox Television Stations Group in 1990 and WWLP to Brisette Broadcasting in 1992. KT Communications L.P., in turn, sold WKEF to Max Television (later Max Media) in 1995.
In 1998, WKEF was sold to Sinclair in a group deal. Sinclair was already managing WRGT owned by Sullivan. In 2001 Sinclair also bought WRGT.
On
August 30,
2004 WDTN again took the opportunity to sign up with the more popular network, dropping ABC to switch back to NBC. Thus, as of August
2004, WKEF became an ABC affiliate again. WKEF now runs the entire ABC schedule,while owned by Sinclair Broadcasting and their newscast contains some elements of Sinclair's "NEWS CENTRAL" Programming.
Ratings wise, it had always been in 3rd place for their newscasts. On some nights (usually Sundays because of ABC programming) there are times that WKEF is 2nd place to WHIO-TV. But overall, it has been a distant third since their newscast start in 1979. On
June 5,
2006, WKEF debuted a morning newscast, which will help them compete with WHIO and WDTN's news departments.
Image:WKEF 1984.jpg|WKEF in 1984 under the Adams ownership. The compass in the logo was used in the logos of all stations owned by Springfield Television.Image:WKEF as NBC.jpg|WKEF during its late stages as an NBC affiliate -- used until 2004.Image:Countdownabc22.jpg|Currently as an ABC affiliate -- since August 2004.*
WeekdaysABC 22 Good Morning! 5:00 a.m.-7:00 a.m. with updates during ABC's Good Morning America
ABC 22 Dayton's News Source at 6 6:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
ABC 22 Dayton's News Source at 11 11:00 p.m.-11:35 p.m.
*
WeekendsABC 22 Dayton's News Source at 6 6:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
ABC 22 Dayton's News Source at 11 11:00 p.m.-11:30 p.m.
*
DaytonsNewsSource.com
