branding nashville s news 2 slogan first . fast . accurate . channels digital 27 uhf virtual 2 psip subchannels 2.1 abc 2.2 metv 2.3 justice network affiliations abc secondary until 1954 owner media general sale to nexstar broadcasting group pending young broadcasting of nashville llc first air date november 29 1953 ; 62 years ago 1953 11 29 call letters meaning knight ridder nashville former owner former callsigns wsix tv 1953 1973 wnge tv 1973 1983 former channel number s analog 8 vhf 1953 1973 2 vhf 1973 2009 former affiliations dt1 cbs 1953 1954 dt3 live well network 2012 2015 transmitter power 1000 kw height 411 metres 1 348 ft facility id 73188 transmitter coordinates coordinates 36 08 34 n 86 44 46 w 36.1428 n 86.7460 w 36.1428 ; 86.7460 36 02 50 n 86 49 49 w 36.04733 n 86.83025 w 36.04733 ; 86.83025 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website wkrn.com wkrn tv virtual channel 2 uhf digital channel 27 is an abc affiliated television station located in nashville tennessee united states . the station is owned by media general . wkrn tv s studios and offices are located on murfreesboro road u.s. routes 41 and 70s on nashville s southeast side and its transmitter is located in forest hills tennessee . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.1.1 wkrn dt2 2.1.2 wkrn dt3 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable former on air staff 5 availability 5.1 out of market coverage 6 references 7 external links history edit the station first signed on the air on november 29 1953 as wsix tv broadcasting on vhf channel 8 ; it was the second television station in nashville . the station was originally owned by louis and jack draughon along with wsix radio 980 am now wyfn . the call letters came from the 638 tire company in nearby springfield where the draughon brothers had started wsix in 1930 ; neither the radio nor the television stations have ever had the number six in their frequencies which would explain it otherwise . originally a cbs affiliate that shared the abc affiliation with wsm tv channel 4 now wsmv it became a full time abc affiliate after only one year when wlac tv channel 5 now wtvf signed on and took the cbs affiliation due to wlac radio s long history as a cbs radio affiliate . during the late 1950s the station was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 1 the station s original studio facilities were located on old hickory boulevard just outside nashville . in 1961 wsix am fm tv moved to a new studio located at 441 murfreesboro road where the television station remains located today . the current wkrn studio facility is where the wilburn brothers television program was produced during the 1960s and 1970s however wsm tv had the rights to air the show in the nashville market . wsix tv however did not have much luck against wsm tv and wlac tv . part of the problem was a weak signal as its transmitter was short spaced to channel 8 in atlanta occupied first by wlwa tv now wxia tv and currently occupied by wgtv . wsix tv was also hampered by a weaker network affiliation abc was not truly competitive with cbs and nbc until well into the 1970s . the draughons sold the wsix stations to general electric in 1966 . in 1973 ge agreed to a deal with nashville s pbs member station wdcn tv now wnpt then on channel 2 to swap frequencies . ge participated in the channel trade because the analog channel 2 facility was better suited for a network affiliate as opposed to an non commercial educational station . 2 the swap occurred on december 11 1973 at 9 p.m. in the middle of evening prime time programming between the movie of the week the cat creature and marcus welby m.d. . 3 4 at the same time even though general electric still owned wsix am fm wsix tv s call letters were changed to wnge tv for nashville general electric . this was only the third facility swap in american television history . general electric pared down its broadcasting holdings during the early 1980s though it would purchase nbc in 1986 selling wnge tv to knight ridder in 1983 . the new owners changed the calls on november 29 to the current wkrn tv . knight ridder sold off all of its television stations in 1989 at which point young broadcasting bought the station along with its sibling wten in albany new york . it is merely a coincidence that the call letters reflect the former young broadcasting s flagship outlet kron tv in san francisco . like all other abc affiliates that were owned by young broadcasting wkrn preempted abc s broadcast of the movie saving private ryan in 2004 . on june 6 2013 media general announced that it would acquire young broadcasting in an all stock deal . 5 the merger was completed on november 12 2013 6 resulting in wkrn and its knoxville sister station wate tv becoming sister stations of johnson city based wjhl tv . however less than two years after that merger was finalized the station s ownership appeared as though it was once again put into flux as on september 8 2015 media general announced that it would acquire the meredith corporation for 2.4 billion with the combined group to be renamed meredith media general once the sale was finalized . because meredith already owned wsmv and the two stations rank among the four highest rated stations in the nashville market in total day viewership the companies would have been required to sell either wsmv or wkrn to comply with fcc ownership rules as well as recent changes to those rules regarding same market television stations that restrict sharing agreements . 7 8 9 10 the overlap issue was rendered moot later as the deal collapsed and on january 27 2016 it was announced that the nexstar broadcasting group would buy media general for 4.6 billion . wkrn will become part of nexstar media group 11 and along with its tennessee siblings become stablemates to fellow abc affiliate watn tv and cw affiliate wlmt in memphis . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 12 2.1 720p 16 9 wkrn dt main wkrn tv programming abc 2.2 480i 4 3 metv metv 2.3 justice justice network wkrn dt2 edit main article wkrn dt2 in 2008 wkrn began broadcasting a 24 hour weather channel on a second digital subchannel branded as the nashville weather channel or nashville wx channel . it aired local and regional weather information on a cycle with a few commercials and updated short weather casts from the news 2 stormtracker weather team . the nashville wx channel was discontinued and replaced with me tv on february 1 2016 . 13 wkrn dt3 edit on august 26 2012 wkrn began carrying the live well network on its third digital subchannel . 14 originally announced to launch on july 18 2012 lwn s carriage on the new subchannel was part of an agreement announced in january 2012 between young broadcasting and live well network in which the network will be carried as a digital multicast service on young owned stations in seven markets . 15 16 live well network was scheduled to be shut down in january 2015 but abc decided to continue broadcasting the live well network for an estimated two to three months beyond the reported january 15 2015 shut down date . 17 on may 29 2015 comcast reported that they had been informed by media general that as of may 30 2015 media general would discontinue carrying live well network on their channels including wkrn . 18 on may 30 2015 wkrn began broadcasting the nashville wx channel on wkrn dt3 the same feed as they carry on wkrn dt2 . on december 30 2015 wkrn began broadcasting the justice network on wkrn dt3 . analog to digital conversion edit wkrn tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 2 on june 12 2009 the official date in 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 . 19 20 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 2 . programming edit syndicated programming on wkrn tv include wheel of fortune extra live with kelly and michael rules of engagement and the closer among others . the station has an agreement with the tennessee titans to broadcast bridgestone titans on 2 the team s coach s show that originally aired from 8 to 9 p.m. tuesday evenings pre empting abc programming in that timeslot during the nfl season which featured low rated and critically derided sitcoms for the majority of the 2000s . the show now airs monday and saturday evenings at 6 30 p.m. pre empting wheel of fortune in that timeslot during football season . wkrn tv is the nashville home and the flagship station of the tennessee titans preseason television network which broadcasts titans preseason football during the month of august and sometimes the very early parts of september . 21 22 these games often prompt wkrn to broadcast the night s abc primetime programming on a tape delay in the overnight hours of the adjacent morning . wkrn tv also simulcasts espn s monday night football any time the tennessee titans are involved in a monday night match up during the regular season . the station received heavy criticism from viewers in november 2009 for not airing v at the network s original timeslot . v then aired early wednesday mornings after jimmy kimmel live . 23 wkrn claimed the 13 year agreement to air the coach s show would not allow for the moving of that show to accommodate high demand network programming without notice months in advance . however in the past the program has moved at times to accommodate other high demand programs such as dancing with the stars during the early portion of the season and network holiday programming . the station also reversed a plan to air v over nashvillewx on digital channel 2.2 at 8 p.m. on tuesdays the day before the premiere . wkrn s sister station in green bay wbay tv also faced the same situation with a locally produced football program covering the green bay packers but after a week moved that program to air before primetime to accommodate v. news operation edit wkrn tv presently broadcasts 33 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with six hours on weekdays four hours on saturdays and four hours on sundays . in addition the station produces a half hour public affairs program this week with bob mueller which airs sundays at 11 00 p.m. wkrn is the only big three network affiliate in nashville that does not run an hour long newscast at 6 p.m. although its early evening on weekdays begin at 4 p.m. including abc world news tonight at 5 30 p.m. before the advent of satellite technology in the 1980s the vanderbilt television news archive taped all abc news broadcasts from the airwaves of wsix wnge wkrn . some of the recordings prior to that time include local cut ins to abc coverage of national elections which represent the only preservations of the station s news broadcasts of that time . the station s two main evening news anchors bob mueller and anne holt have been associated with wkrn since the early 1980s . on october 11 2011 wkrn began broadcasting its