WDKA

---

title: "WDKA" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1997-establishments-in-kentucky", "charge!-(tv-network)-affiliates", "court-tv-affiliates", "dabl-affiliates", "mynetworktv-affiliates", "the-nest-(tv-network)-affiliates", "mass-media-in-paducah,-kentucky", "roar-(tv-network)-affiliates", "sinclair-broadcast-group", "television-channels-and-stations-established-in-1997", "television-stations-in-the-paducah–cape-girardeau–harrisburg-market"] description: "Television station in Paducah, Kentucky" topic_path: "arts/film" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WDKA" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Television station in Paducah, Kentucky ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox television station"]

Field	Value
callsign	WDKA
city	Paducah, Kentucky
logo	WDKA My 49.svg
logo_size	160px
branding	My 49 WDKA
digital	25 (UHF)
virtual	49
translators	KBSI 23.2 Cape Girardeau, MO
affiliations
country	United States
founded	October 2, 1989
airdate
location
callsign_meaning	Paducah (soundalike "K" substituting for "C")
former_channel_numbers
owner
licensee	Paducah Television License LLC
operator	Sinclair Broadcast Group via SSA
sister_stations	KBSI
former_affiliations
erp	1,000 kW
haat	327 m
facility_id	39561
coordinates
licensing_authority	FCC
website
::

| callsign = WDKA | city = Paducah, Kentucky | logo = WDKA My 49.svg | logo_size = 160px | branding = My 49 WDKA | analog = | digital = 25 (UHF) | virtual = 49 | subchannels = | translators = KBSI 23.2 Cape Girardeau, MO | affiliations = | network = | country = United States | founded = October 2, 1989 | airdate = | last_airdate = | location = | callsign_meaning = Paducah (soundalike "K" substituting for "C") | former_callsigns = | former_channel_numbers = | owner = | licensee = Paducah Television License LLC | operator = Sinclair Broadcast Group via SSA | sister_stations = KBSI | former_affiliations = | erp = 1,000 kW | haat = 327 m | class = | facility_id = 39561 | coordinates = | licensing_authority = FCC | website =

WDKA (channel 49) is a television station licensed to Paducah, Kentucky, United States, serving as the MyNetworkTV affiliate for Western Kentucky's Purchase region, Southern Illinois and Southeastern Missouri, and Northwest Tennessee. It is owned by the Community News Media subsidiary of Standard Media alongside Cape Girardeau, Missouri–licensed Fox affiliate KBSI (channel 23); Sinclair Broadcast Group operates the two stations under a shared services agreement (SSA). WDKA and KBSI share studios on Enterprise Street in Cape Girardeau; WDKA's transmitter is located in Vienna, Illinois.

In addition to its own digital signal, WDKA is simulcast in standard definition on KBSI's second digital subchannel (23.2) from a transmitter north of Cape Girardeau in unincorporated Cape Girardeau County.

History

WDKA began broadcasting on June 5, 1997. It was a UPN affiliate broadcasting an analog signal on UHF channel 49. In 2000, WDKA switched affiliations with low-powered station WQTV-LP (licensed to Murray, Kentucky) and repeater WQWQ-LP to become an affiliate of The WB. In September 2006, The WB and UPN merged to become The CW, and WQTV-LP was announced to become The CW affiliate for Paducah in advance of the merger. As a result, WDKA became affiliated with MyNetworkTV when it launched on September 5.

On August 30, 2014, WDKA became a charter affiliate of Sinclair's ad-hoc syndicated television network, the American Sports Network. ASN provided Ohio Valley Conference basketball and Conference USA football and basketball games to the station's viewers. The ASN's programming content replaced Southeastern Conference football and basketball broadcasts from ESPN Plus-oriented SEC TV, which was run from 2009 until 2014, which was discontinued because of the launch of the pay TV-exclusive SEC Network.

On March 3, 2016, WDKA Acquisition Corporation (owned by Paul T. Lucci) filed to sell WDKA to Sinclair's subsidiary WDKA Licensee, LLC. Sinclair bought the station for $1.9 million. The sale was completed on September 1, 2017. Sinclair would continue to own WDKA and KBSI until both were sold to Community News Media for $28 million in a transaction that closed in 2021.

On July 22, 2025, Sinclair announced that it had re-purchased the non-license assets of WDKA and KBSI, with an option to re-acquire the stations' broadcast licenses.

On September 22, 2025, it was announced that Rincon Broadcasting Group would be buying WDKA and KBSI along with the other stations owned by Standard Media for $50 million, pending FCC approval.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed: ::data[format=table title="Subchannels of WDKA{{cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WDKA#station|title=RabbitEars TV Query for WDKA|website=[[RabbitEars]]|accessdate=December 9, 2024}}"]

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming	49.1	49.2	49.3	49.4	49.5	49.6	49.7
720p	16:9	MyTV	MyNetworkTV
480i	Charge!	Charge!
Roar	Roar
TheNest	The Nest
Dabl	Dabl
CourtTV	Court TV
CHSN	Chicago Sports Network
::

Analog-to-digital conversion

WDKA shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 49, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 50, using virtual channel 49.

Spectrum reallocation

In October 2019, WDKA reallocated its digital signal onto UHF channel 25 as a result of the station's participation in the FCC's spectrum incentive auction.

References

References

1. (June 7, 1997). "WDKA-Channel 49 on air with UPN programming". The Paducah Sun.
2. [http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2014/07/17/sinclair-broadcast-launch-american-sports-network.html "Sinclair Broadcasting Launches the American Sports Network"]. Baltimore Business Journal.
3. [http://www.tvtechnology.com/prntarticle.aspx?articleid=271329 "Sinclair Launches Sports Network"]. TVTechnology. July 17, 2014. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
4. [http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1691106&Service=TV&Form_id=322&Facility_id=39561 Ownership Report for Commercial Broadcast Stations - Federal Communications Commission]
5. (March 3, 2016). "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
6. [https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=101722629&qnum=5120&copynum=1&exhcnum=1 Asset Purchase Agreement - Federal Communications Commission]
7. [http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1765769&Service=DT&Form_id=905&Facility_id=39561 Consummation Notice], ''CDBS Public Access'', [[Federal Communications Commission]], Retrieved September 6, 2017.
8. (November 12, 2020). "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
9. Jacobson, Adam. (January 20, 2021). "FCC OK's Sinclair Duo's Spin To Soo Kim". Radio and Television Business Report.
10. (July 22, 2025). "Sinclair Acquires Assets of WDKA in Paduca ''(sic)'', KY and KBSI in Cape Girardeau, MO". [[Sinclair Broadcast Group]].
11. Ellis, Jon. (September 22, 2025). "Lincoln ABC Affiliate Sold as Rincon Buys Standard Media Stations".
12. "RabbitEars TV Query for WDKA".
13. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::