{{Short description|Television station in Mobile, Alabama}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox television station | callsign = WKRG-TV | city = | logo = WKRG-TV logo.png | logo_size = 200px | image = | image_size = 175px | branding = WKRG 5; ''WKRG News 5'' | digital = 20 (UHF) | virtual = 5 | subchannels = | affiliations = {{ubl|'''5.1:''' CBS|''for others, see {{section link||Technical information and subchannels}}''}} | airdate = {{start date|1955|9|5}}<ref name=by1995>{{cite book|title=Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1999|year=1999|page=B-51|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1999/B-TV-BC-YB-1999..pdf|access-date=February 24, 2012}}</ref> | location = {{ubl|Mobile, Alabama|Pensacola, Florida}} | country = United States | callsign_meaning = Kenneth R. Giddens (station founder) | former_callsigns = | former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 5 (VHF, 1955–2009)|'''Digital:''' 27 (UHF, 1999–2019)}} | owner = Nexstar Media Group | licensee = Nexstar Media Inc. | sister_stations = WFNA | former_affiliations = | erp = 961 kW | haat = {{convert|578|m|ft|abbr=on}} | facility_id = 73187 | coordinates = {{coord|30|41|20.4|N|87|49|50.6|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}} | licensing_authority = FCC | website = {{URL|https://www.wkrg.com/}} }}
'''WKRG-TV''' (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Mobile, Alabama, United States, serving southwest Alabama and northwest Florida as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Gulf Shores, Alabama–licensed CW owned-and-operated station WFNA (channel 55). The two stations share studios with several radio stations owned by iHeartMedia on Broadcast Drive in southwest Mobile; WKRG-TV's transmitter is located in unincorporated Baldwin County near Spanish Fort, Alabama.
==History== WKRG-TV first signed on the air September 5, 1955.<ref name=by1995/> The station was founded by the architect and movie theater owner Kenneth R. Giddens, who also put WKRG radio (710 AM, now WNTM, and 99.9 FM, now WMXC) on the air. Owing to the radio station's ties with the CBS Radio Network, WKRG-TV has served as the market's CBS affiliate from its sign-on. It is the only commercial station in the market that has never changed its primary affiliation. WKRG-TV originally operated from studios located on St. Louis Street in downtown Mobile until around 1982, when it relocated its operations to an area near the Bel Air Mall, which Giddens also had a hand in developing. The TV station operates on the bottom floor while the radio stations operate on the second and third floors of the building.
Giddens originally had a 20% stake in WKRG-TV, and the other stakes were held by local businesses and colleges.<ref>{{Cite web |title=not found |url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1957-1958%20TV/AL-MT-BC%20TV%20Annual%201957-58.pdf}}{{dead link|date=May 2026|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> On April 4, 1958, Giddens sold 50% of the station to ''Mobile Press-Register'', Inc.<ref>{{Cite web |title=section A TV Broadcasting Yearbook 1963 |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1963/section%20A%20TV%20Broadcasting%20Yearbook%201963.pdf}}</ref> He regained full control of the station in 1966.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A TV Broadcasting Yearbook 1967-2 |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1967/A%20TV%20Broadcasting%20Yearbook%201967-2.pdf}}</ref>
For years, WKRG-TV was the only locally owned station in the Mobile–Pensacola–Pascagoula area. This changed after the death of Giddens in 1993. The radio stations were sold off in 1994, although they remain housed in the same building as the television station. Spartan Communications purchased WKRG-TV in 1998; the station then came under the ownership of Media General after it purchased Spartan in 2000. The station celebrated its 60th year of broadcasting in 2015.
In 2007, WKRG entered into a radio partnership with Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia), in effect re-establishing ties with former sister stations WNTM and WMXC, as well as WKSJ-FM (94.9 FM) and WRKH (96.1 FM). The radio stations were previously partnered with NBC affiliate WPMI-TV (channel 15), an association that ended as a result of Clear Channel selling its television stations (including WPMI) to Newport Television in 2008.
Between the early 1980s and 2012, WKRG served as the default CBS affiliate for the eastern half of the Pascagoula–Biloxi, Mississippi market as that market did not have a CBS affiliate of its own; WKRG was available to cable subscribers in Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi, and usually serves the area's "B" CBS station behind New Orleans affiliate WWL-TV. This changed in 2012, when ABC affiliate WLOX signed an affiliation agreement to carry CBS programming on one of its digital subchannels.
On March 21, 2014, LIN Media entered into an agreement to merge with Media General in a $1.6 billion deal. Because LIN had already owned Fox affiliate WALA-TV and CW affiliate WFNA (channel 55), and WKRG and WALA rank among the four highest-rated stations in the Mobile–Pensacola market in total day viewership, the companies were required to sell either WKRG or WALA to another station owner in order to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as planned changes to those rules regarding same-market television stations which would prohibit sharing agreements.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Littleton |first=Cynthia |date=March 21, 2014 |title=TV Station Mega Merger: Media General, LIN Set $1.6 Billion Deal |url=https://variety.com/2014/tv/news/tv-station-mega-merger-media-general-lin-set-1-6-billion-deal-1201141567/ |access-date=January 25, 2024 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Times |first=Joe Flint Joe Flint is a former staff writer for the Los Angeles |date=March 21, 2014 |title=Media General acquiring LIN Media for $1.6 billion |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-lin-media-general-merge-20140321-story.html |access-date=January 25, 2024 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=January 25, 2024 |title=TV News Check |url=https://tvnewscheck.com/ |access-date=January 25, 2024 |website=TV News Check |language=en}}</ref> On August 20, 2014, Media General announced that it would keep WKRG and WFNA, and sell WALA to Meredith Corporation.<ref name=tvnc-walameredith>{{cite news|title=Media General, LIN Sell Stations In 5 Markets|url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/78615/media-general-lin-sell-stations-in-5-markets|access-date=August 20, 2014|work=TVNewsCheck|date=August 20, 2014}}</ref><ref name=b&c-saletohearst>{{cite news|last1=Malone|first1=Michael|title=Media General, LIN Divest Stations in Five Markets|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/currency/media-general-lin-divest-stations-five-markets/133323|access-date=August 20, 2014|work=Broadcasting & Cable|date=August 20, 2014}}</ref>
On September 8, 2015, less than nine months after the previous purchase was approved and finalized, Media General announced that it would acquire the Meredith Corporation for $2.4 billion, with the combined group to be renamed Meredith Media General if the sale had been finalized. Because Meredith recently acquired WALA as a required divestment from the LIN Media acquisition, and the two stations continue to rank among the four highest-rated stations in the Mobile–Pensacola market in total day viewership, the companies would once again have been required to sell either WKRG or WALA to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as recent changes to those rules regarding same-market television stations that restrict sharing agreements; sister station WFNA could have legally been acquired by Meredith Media General either by maintaining its new duopoly with WKRG or reuniting it with WALA, as its total day viewership ranks below the top-four ratings threshold.<ref>{{cite web|title=Media General Acquiring Meredith For 2.4 Billion|url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/88230/media-general-acquiring-meredith-for-24b|website=TVNewsCheck|publisher=NewsCheck Media|date=September 8, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=TV Station Mega Merger: Media General Sets $2.4 Billion Acquisition of Meredith Corp.|url=https://variety.com/2015/tv/news/tv-station-meredith-media-general-merger-1201587744/|author=Cynthia Littleton|periodical=Variety|publisher=Penske Media Corporation|date=September 8, 2015|access-date=September 9, 2015}}</ref> However, on January 27, 2016, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Media General, resulting in the termination of Meredith's acquisition by Media General. The merger with Nexstar reunited WKRG with Panama City sister station WMBB, which was sold by Media General in 2008 to Hoak Media and eventually was acquired by Nexstar after Hoak merged with Gray Television, the owner of its closest competitor, which required its sale.
==Programming== Shows that aired on WKRG in the past include ''Woman's World'',<ref name="Chamber of Commerce">http://www.mobilechamber.com/view/2005/5-2005.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714105851/http://www.mobilechamber.com/view/2005/5-2005.pdf |date=July 14, 2011 }} page 7, 8 The Business View May 2005 Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce</ref><ref>Lanier, Kim. "Television cook Estella Payton dies at age 95." Mobile Press-Register [Mobile, Alabama] December 16, 1999: B1.</ref><ref>"The Mobile version of Julia Child and Martha Stewart. Had a long run cooking show on channel Five (formerly one of only two channels in the City)." [http://www.mobile.org/pdf/stats/Culture.pdf Culture "Cul-cha"; How to Speak Mobile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518065449/http://www.mobile.org/pdf/stats/Culture.pdf |date=May 18, 2008 }} Connie Bea and Estelle Mobile Bay Convention and Visitor's Bureau</ref><ref>Herman W. Land Associates Inc. ''Television and the Wired City a Study of the Implications of a Change in the Mode of Transmission'' 1968, July (1111) ASIN: B000RL0X18</ref> ''The Popeye Show'',<ref>page 8 The Business View May 2005 Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce</ref> ''Rosie's Place'' and ''Small Fry News'', a show featuring local fifth graders.<ref name="Chamber of Commerce"/> WKRG-TV was also the longtime home of ''Congressional Report'' from 1973 to 2006, billed as the longest-running program of its kind in the nation, featuring local members of Congress giving viewers a local perspective of Washington, D.C., and the central Gulf Coast from their standpoint.
On September 7, 2017, a video of WKRG meteorologist Alan Sealls covering Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Jose, and Hurricane Katia went viral on Reddit and YouTube.<ref>{{cite web |last=Vultaggio |first=Maria |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/who-alan-sealls-hurricanes-irma-jose-katia-update-weatherman-goes-viral-2587407 |title=Who Is Alan Sealls? Hurricanes Irma, Jose And Katia Update From Weatherman Goes Viral |date=September 7, 2017 |work=International Business Times |access-date=September 8, 2017}}</ref>
===Notable former on-air staff=== * Jack Drees * Estella Payton * Alan Sealls * Mel Showers * John Edd Thompson
==Technical information and subchannels== The station's signal is multiplexed: {| class="wikitable" |+Subchannels of WKRG-TV<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WKRG#station|title=RabbitEars TV Query for WKRG|website=RabbitEars|accessdate=September 26, 2025}}</ref> ! scope = "col" | Channel ! scope = "col" | Res. ! scope = "col" | Short name ! scope = "col" | Programming |- ! scope = "row" | 5.1 | 1080i || WKRG-HD || CBS |- ! scope = "row" | 5.2 | rowspan=3| 480i || ION TV || Ion |- ! scope = "row" | 5.3 | WKRGANT || Antenna TV |- ! scope = "row" | 5.4 | CourtTV || Court TV |- style="background-color:#DFEBF6; border-top: 2px solid #003399;" ! scope = "row" | 55.1 | 1080i || WFNA-TV || The CW (WFNA) |} {{legend|#DFEBF6|Broadcast on behalf of another station}}
WKRG replaced the Retro Television Network with MeTV on its third digital subchannel in September 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/2011/09/15/54029/metv-beefs-up-roster-with-10-new-stations|title=Me-TV Beefs Up Roster With 10 New Stations|website=TVNewsCheck|date=September 15, 2011}}</ref>
On September 25, 2025, Antenna TV replaced MeTV on WKRG 5.3.<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 22, 2025 |title=Antenna TV Gulf Coast to air classic shows (details, schedule) {{!}} WKRG.com |url=https://www.wkrg.com/mobile-county/antenna-tv-gulf-coast-to-air-classic-shows-details-schedule/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250822205331/https://www.wkrg.com/mobile-county/antenna-tv-gulf-coast-to-air-classic-shows-details-schedule/ |archive-date=August 22, 2025 |access-date=August 26, 2025 |work=WKRG News 5 |language=en-US}}</ref> Antenna TV is also owned by Nexstar.
===Analog-to-digital conversion=== WKRG-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 5, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 27, using virtual channel 5.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds |access-date=March 24, 2012 |archive-date=August 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829004251/http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{official website|https://www.wkrg.com/}}
{{PensacolaMobileTV}} {{Alabama TV}} {{Florida English TV}} {{Mississippi TV}} {{NXST TV}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wkrg-Tv}} Category:1955 establishments in Alabama Category:Antenna TV affiliates Category:CBS affiliates Category:Court TV affiliates Category:Ion Television affiliates Category:Nexstar Media Group Category:Television channels and stations established in 1955 KRG-TV