Call letters of the
Orlando,
FL WB affiliate. WKCF began life as WKCF TV68 in 1989 when the station began broadcasting next door to competitor
WOFL FOX 35. An independant network at first, the station aired
syndicated programming and sported an afternoon
cartoon block featuring shows such as
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show. The station was not included on local
cable lineups until the 1990s when the
FCC mandated that
cable systems must carry all local stations. 1990 saw the start of WKCF broadcasting the
Orlando Magic basketball away games. In 1991 the station swapped positions on the dial with a local college channel and became WKCF 18. The station lost
Orlando Magic rights to a local competitor,
WRBW 65, in 1999.
When the WB network started up in the mid 1990s WKCF jumped on board, became an affiliate, and began calling itself WB18. Ratings climbed over the years and today the station still airs WB programming as well as popular syndicated reruns such as Friends, Seinfeld, and Everybody Loves Raymond. In fact, the station dropped its nightly 10pm newscast in favor of running extra episodes of Seinfeld and Raymond in September 2002. By Summer 2003 the station decided that That '70s Show was the wave of the comedy future and scheduled it at 6pm and 10pm, displacing the Seinfeld/Everybody Loves Raymond back-to-back juggernaut to midnight. In 2003 That '70s Show was pushed back to 11pm to allow The King of Queens reruns to shine in the 10:00 spot.
WKCF went digital in May 2002 as it began broadcasting a high definition signal video loop with 1080 lines of resolution. The video includes excerpts from the John Glenn Shuttle Mission, local footage shot by WKCF staff of Orlando and the surrounding areas, and movie trailers from some of WKCF's movies. The high definition signal can be received over the air on channel 18-1 with a DTV receiver or on channel 1180 of Bright House Networks of Orlando's service. Eventually this signal became a high definition version of regular WKCF programming.
References:
http://www.rogersimmons.com/tv/tv18.htm
http://www.wb18.com