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WBKP (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Calumet, Michigan, United States, serving the Central and Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan as an affiliate of The CW Plus. It is owned by Morgan Murphy Media alongside Ishpeming-licensed ABC affiliate WBUP (channel 10); Morgan Murphy also provides services to WJMN-TV (channel 3) through joint sales and shared services agreements with owner Sullivan's Landing, LLC. The three stations share studios on Wright Street in west Marquette; WBKP's transmitter is located on Tolonen Hill near unincorporated Painesdale in Adams Township.
Since WBKP cannot be seen over the air in Marquette, it is also carried on the second digital subchannels of WBUP (whose transmitter is situated south of Ely Township in unincorporated Marquette County) and WJMN (whose transmitter is located in northern Delta County).
More specifically, ABC was originally seen on WLUC through a secondary nature from its sign-on in 1956 until 1992 at which point ABC began to be carried as a primary affiliation. WLUC dropped its ABC affiliation in 1995 which ushered in WBKP as the next ABC outlet. Originally, WBKP was locally owned by the Scanlan family as sister to Traverse City's ABC affiliate WGTU (and its full-time satellite WGTQ in Sault Ste. Marie) as well as CBS affiliate WBKB-TV in Alpena. At its sign-on, WBKP was the first station in the market to broadcast in stereo and remain on-the-air 24 hours a day.
In August 1997, in order to cover Marquette proper, it launched a repeater station, W28BX. This could be seen on UHF channel 28 and this low-power over-the-air signal was very weak so it could only be picked up in that city and Negaunee. In September 2001, the station moved its studios to the Marquette Mall. However, four employees remained based at the Calumet facility which then began operating as a bureau. In the spring of 2003, WBKP replaced the low-power repeater with full-time satellite WBUP in Ishpeming. This aired a full-powered analog signal on VHF channel 10 and covered a larger broadcasting radius. At this point, WBKP/WBUP took the on-air branding "ABC 5&10".
In January 2004, the Scanlan family sold WBKP/WBUP and WBKB to Lake Superior Community Broadcasting, a company owned by Stephen Marks of Maryland. In July 2007, the two stations split in order to establish separate brandings, with WBKP becoming a CW affiliate (as part of The CW Plus) while WBUP remained with ABC. However, both WBKP and WBUP continued to carry the two networks over their digital signals.
In September 2023, it was announced that The Marks Group would sell its Michigan broadcasting properties—WBKP, WBUP, WBKB-TV, and radio stations in Houghton and Iron River—to Morgan Murphy Media for $13.375 million. The sale was completed on December 4.
Seeking to fill a void in a market supposedly capable of supporting two television newsrooms, WBKP initially offered local news weeknights at 6 and 11. After moving from Calumet to Marquette in September 2001, the station introduced a new set, a new graphics package, and an updated logo. However, in March 2002, WBKP shut down its news operation due to low ratings and budget cuts. This move was also due in part to the continual dominance of WLUC which has always operated a much larger news department and maintained consistent viewership.
Shortly after acquired WBKP/WBUP, a second attempt at airing newscasts was launched. This time, shows known as UGN News (with "UGN" meaning "Upper Great
After becoming a separate station and the primary producer of newscasts, WBUP re-branded its newscasts to ABC 10 News NOW. In December 2007, the ABC affiliate began producing the market's first prime time newscast on WBKP. Known as CW 5 News NOW, this thirty-minute program is seen weeknights at 10. On September 8, 2009, rival WLUC added a half-hour local newscast seen at the same time to its Fox-affiliated second digital subchannel. Since there is no weather department, all weather segments originate from WBKB's studios in Alpena and are taped in advance. In order to cover the Keweenaw Peninsula, WBUP also operates an advertising sales office and news bureau on East Montezuma Avenue in Houghton (sharing a building with radio sister stations WOLV, WHKB, and WCCY). Like all CW Plus stations, WBKP aired the nationally syndicated weekday morning show, The Daily Buzz, until its cancellation on April 17, 2015.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is multiplexed:
+Subchannels of WBKP
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! scope = "col" Res.
! scope = "col" Aspect
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Analog-to-digital conversion
WBKP shut down 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 relocated from its pre-transition VHF channel 11 to VHF channel 5. Since it was granted an original construction permit after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997, the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. While transmitting in analog, its signal could be received across Lake Superior in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and the surrounding areas in Canada.
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