WAPK-CD (channel 36) is a
low-power,
Class A television station licensed to
Kingsport, Tennessee, United States, serving the
Tri-Cities area as an affiliate of
MeTV. It is owned by Glenwood Communications Corporation alongside
Cozi TV affiliate
WKPT-TV (channel 19) and several radio stations. All of the stations share studios on Commerce Street in downtown Kingsport; WAPK-CD's transmitter is located on Holston High Point at
Holston Mountain in the
Cherokee National Forest.
Due to its low-power status, the broadcasting radius does not reach all of the Tri-Cities area. Therefore, the station is
simulcast in
16:9 widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...
standard definition on WKPT's second
digital subchannel in order to reach the entire
market. This relay signal can be seen on channel 19.2 from the same transmitter facility.
History
WAPK began service on April 30, 1989, as W30AP, identified on-air as "WAP-TV". Programming was standard
independent fare with classic television sitcoms, sports, old movies, and cartoons plus repeats of WKPT's newscasts. On January 16, 1995, WAP became a charter affiliate of
UPN. Shortly afterward, W30AP was renamed WAPK-LP in April 1995. In May 2002, the station attained Class A status and changed to the call sign WAPK-CA. In 2003, WAPK moved from UHF channel 30 to channel 36. WAPK became a
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...
affiliate at the network's inception on September 5, 2006. In recent years, WAPK has been carried on
cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
in
Harlan, Kentucky, which is within the
Knoxville media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television station, television and radio broadcasting, ra ...
.
The station was issued its license for digital operation on October 10, 2014, at which point it changed its call sign to WAPK-CD.
Following the announcement that WKPT-TV would lose its
ABC affiliation to the DT2 subchannel of
WJHL-TV, it was announced that much of WAPK's programming, including MyNetworkTV, would move to WKPT-TV, and that WAPK would switch to programming from a digital network,
later revealed to be
MeTV, WJHL-DT2's former affiliation. The switch over took place on February 1, 2016.
The station's fourth channel is expected to carry
Heroes & Icons.
After WKPT-TV dropped MyNetworkTV in favor of
Cozi TV, the
Laff affiliation was transferred from WAPK-CD's third subchannel to WKPT's third subchannel (which had previously carried Cozi TV); the move came as a result of Holston Valley Broadcasting opting to refocus WKPT and WAPK entirely around "nostalgia-based programming", stating that MeTV outrates ABC Tri-Cities in most time periods.
The CD3 subchannel then subsequently became an affiliate of
Bounce TV, a TV network targeting an African-American audiences.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
multiplexed:
Translators
The station can also be seen on these repeaters. The main signal on channel 16 is the origination for many of the cable companies that carry WAPK. Holston also uses the signal as the source for all of WAPK's channels via a series of
ATSC receivers that directly feed the transmitters.
* 7
Kingsport
* 19
Kingsport
References
External links
*
{{Virginia TV
1989 establishments in Tennessee
Bounce TV affiliates
Grit (TV network) affiliates
Heroes & Icons affiliates
APK-CD
APK-CD
MeTV affiliates
Television channels and stations established in 1989
APK-CD