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| |
|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Branding | KOCB |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| KOKH-TV | |
| History | |
First air date | November 1, 1979 |
Former call signs | KGMC (1979–1990) |
Former channel number(s) | Analog: 34 (UHF, 1979–2009) |
Call sign meaning | "Oklahoma City Broadcasting" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 50170 |
| ERP | 900 kW |
| HAAT | 457.6 m (1,501 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 35°32′58.2″N 97°29′19.1″W / 35.549500°N 97.488639°W |
| Translator(s) | see § Translators |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | kocb |
KOCB (channel 34) is an independent television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Fox affiliate KOKH-TV (channel 25). The two stations share studios and transmitter facilities on East Wilshire Boulevard and 78th Street on the city's northeast side.
Channel 34 began broadcasting as KGMC on November 1, 1979. It was majority-owned by the General Media Corporation of Rockford, Illinois, and the second of three new independent stations to begin broadcasting in Oklahoma City over a twelve-month period. For most of the 1980s, KGMC was the second-rated independent in the market behind KOKH. Ted Baze, the general manager and minority owner, became sole owner in 1983 before selling a majority stake to Ivan Boesky, who was later penalized for insider trading. This led to a Federal Communications Commission investigation into the station's broadcast license, ushering in several years of ownership uncertainty for the station. During this time, an attempt to consolidate Oklahoma City's independent stations fell through, with proposals for two separate buyers for channel 34 failing to materialize. The station went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, during which rival independent KAUT and KGMC's lender threatened to foreclose and take the station off the air.
The station changed its call sign to KOCB in June 1990 and emerged from bankruptcy in March 1991 under Baze. The ownership of Superior Communications, from 1993 to 1996, brought upgraded programming and an affiliation with UPN upon its January 1995 launch. Sinclair Broadcast Group entered Oklahoma City by buying KOCB in 1996; the station switched to The WB in 1998 as part of a group agreement, and Sinclair began managing KOKH-TV that year. KOCB affiliated with The CW upon the merger of UPN and The WB in 2006, but the network moved to KAUT in 2023 at the same time Sinclair gained CW affiliations in two other markets.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for KOCB". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.