WBKO (channel 13) is a television station in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with ABC, Fox, and The CW Plus.

The station was sold the next year and new transmission facilities built, emerging as the only source of television news and information for much of south-central Kentucky for most of its history.

[12][13][14] Construction of studios and a transmission facility began in early 1961 at a site 12.5 miles (20.1 km) north of Bowling Green, near Hadley, on U.S.

When the sun came up, the transmitter engineer saw that the WLTV tower was leaning 15 degrees, having bowed in the middle, after an estimated 48 sticks of dynamite were set off at the base of the station's 603-foot (184 m) mast.

Windows shook at the transmitter building, where debris from the explosion punctured holes in the roof, and in two surrounding homes; as the engineer had already left for the night, there were no injuries.

WLTV had in recent months become known for editorials on crime in the Bowling Green area,[20] including those related to a local car-theft ring.

With the microwave link to the Armory studios severed, equipment was carted back up to the transmitter site to permit limited local broadcasts,[20] and a makeshift antenna out of chicken wire was tested.

[24] The damaged mast was purposely brought down October 1,[25] permitting workers to begin erecting a temporary 150-foot (46 m) tower; an antenna was shipped by air freight from California.

[27][28] In February 1970, Argus reached a deal to sell WLTV to Professional Telecasting Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of the Lincoln International Corporation of Louisville.

[34][35] In May 1976, Lincoln International sold WBKO to Bluegrass Media, a company led by general manager Clyde Payne and a group of local businessmen; [36] the sale was approved in July.

[41] 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.

[1]: 313  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.

[43] 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.

The early 2000s recession dented ad sales and caused the company to be unable to pay interest on a set of bonds issued in 1996, prompting a filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

In 2008, it was the second-highest-rated ABC affiliate in a market ranked above 100,[54] and in 2018, it accounted for 76.1 percent of all local TV advertising revenue in Bowling Green.