The early years as WBKO
Professional Telecasting opted to rebuild WLTV's transmission facility at a site to the south of Bowling Green, near Richardsville, instead of to the north. This was because many Bowling Green TV antennas were pointed south to receive Nashville stations.[30] In order to complement the technical overhaul, the owners also filed to change the call letters to WBKO.[31] On January 3, 1971, WBKO adopted the new call sign. The following month, the station activated the new transmission facility, which had come as part of hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital improvements.[32][33]
In May 1976, Lincoln International sold WBKO to Bluegrass Media, a company led by general manager Clyde Payne and a group of local businessmen; [34] the sale was approved in July. Under Bluegrass ownership, WBKO made plans to build new studio facilities in 1981 on the site of a former drive-in movie theater.[35][36] However, these never came to fruition. The Payne group sold WBKO in 1983 to Benedek Broadcasting, with Payne remaining as general manager.[37] In December 1985, the station relocated to its current studio facility on Russellville Road; ABC programming began to be received via satellite soon afterwards.[38]
Payne was a long-lasting leader at WBKO and a national figure, serving on the board of directors of the National Association of Broadcasters and as president of the ABC affiliates board.[39] In 1977, Arbitron classified Bowling Green as its own area of dominant influence for the first time, carving it out of Nashville; WBKO was the only commercial station in the new ADI.[40] Nielsen Media Research followed suit in 1985, constituting the Bowling Green designated market area. Payne led the station through the start of the first competing local commercial outlet in Bowling Green, WQQB (channel 40, later WKNT and now WNKY), in December 1989. He also refused to air NYPD Blue when ABC debuted the show in 1993; while there were 48 affiliates that refused to air it, Payne was their most visible representative, appearing on an episode of Donahue, where he was jeered at for telling the New York studio audience that the show "just doesn't work in Bowling Green".[41] The following year, Payne decided to preempt She TV, a sketch comedy show that only ran for a few weeks, due to nudity in the first episode of that program.[42] In 1997, with television content ratings now a reality, Payne opted to begin carrying Blue on WBKO; WKNT had been airing the program in the interim.
In 1998, as part of a group deal with Benedek,[45] WBKO and local cable providers started "WBWG" (later known as "WB12"), a local feed of The WB 100+ Station Group for the Bowling Green area, with WBKO providing sales and promotional opportunities to the venture.[46][47] It also replaced WKRN-TV on cable.[48]
