unit of Time Warner announced that the two companies would shut down UPN and The WB, and combine the networks' respective programming to create a new "fifth" network called The CW. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and the Warner Bros. Block Communications purchased the station outright in 2001, creating the first television duopoly in the Louisville market that year, the station was rebranded as "Great 58," becoming one of the few full-time UPN affiliates not to incorporate any network branding during its tenure with the network. The station became a charter affiliate of the United Paramount Network ( UPN), when the network launched on January 16, 1995. WFTE also aired the police procedural series NYPD Blue during the 1994–95 season as ABC affiliate WHAS-TV (channel 11) declined to carry the program, as many ABC affiliates in the Southern United States did when it premiered, but would later cede to viewer and advertiser pressure to carry it when the show gained traction in the national ratings. Martin sold the license in 1993 to another Salem businessman, Tom Ledford, who worked with WDRB to program the station under one of the earliest local marketing agreements in existence.
It was originally licensed to Salem, Indiana businessman Don Martin, Jr. Branded on-air as "Big 58," it originally operated as an independent station. The station first signed on the air on March 16, 1994, as WFTE, with the call letters being an abbreviation of its channel number. Following the sale of channel 34's spectrum in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s incentive auction, the Campbellsville station ceased broadcasting on Octo(with its license canceled on October 31) its channels are now broadcast solely through channel 58 on that station's license. Despite Salem being WBKI's city of license, the station maintains no physical presence there.īlock formerly operated a CW affiliate with the WBKI-TV call sign on channel 34, licensed to Campbellsville, Kentucky, under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with owner LM Communications, LLC. Both stations share studios on West Muhammad Ali Boulevard (near US 150) in downtown Louisville, while WBKI's transmitter is located in rural northeastern Floyd County, Indiana (northeast of Floyds Knobs).
WBKI is owned by Block Communications alongside Fox affiliate WDRB (channel 41). It is the only full-power Louisville-area station licensed to the Indiana side of the market. WBKI (channel 58) is a television station licensed to Salem, Indiana, United States, serving the Louisville, Kentucky area as an affiliate of The CW and MyNetworkTV.