WTVQ-DT (channel 36) is a television station in Lexington, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with ABC and MyNetworkTV.

On October 8, 1965, WBLG-TV, Inc. filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission to build a new television station on channel 62, the last commercial frequency available in the Lexington market.

White already owned local radio station WBLG (1300 AM) and would act as the entity's new president and general manager.

[5] Meanwhile, the WBLG-TV partnership acquired land at the intersection of Winchester Pike and Bryant Road (now Man o' War Boulevard), which would serve as the new studio and transmitting facilities for the station.

[6] As the area surrounding the proposed site was primarily agricultural in nature, having previously been used as a farm, the land needed to be rezoned before construction could begin.

[9] The station launched at 9:30 a.m. on June 2, 1968, as an ABC affiliate, broadcasting from the highest above sea level tower in Kentucky.

[10] Lexington's then-Mayor Charles Wylie was on hand with White and daughter Barbara to throw the switch that brought the station on the air.

Starr had owned WCYB-TV in Bristol, Virginia, and radio stations in Arkansas, California, Kansas, New Jersey, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas; it was also in the process of purchasing KHVH-AM-TV in Honolulu at the same time.

[20] In 1975, WTVQ became the first television station in Lexington to experiment with 24-hour operations when it aired Blockbuster Movie Madness, which delivered four feature films from the late-evening hours right through the next morning.

The station noted that channel 62 suffered from technical interference and signal quality issues due to its higher position on the dial.

While objections were lodged from potential station owners in the Louisville and Florence areas, they were rejected by the FCC, believing that the public would be better served by having WTVQ on channel 36.

[28] The deal had been held up as Buckley and three other company principals were being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for defrauding and misleading investors.

Buckley agreed to pay back $1.4 million in cash and stock to shareholders and not serve as a director of any publicly traded company for five years.

WTVQ, now under Shamrock, began to prepare for its move to channel 36 by making station wide changes that included the firing of then-general manager Jeff Evans (blamed on heavy turnover in the months following Shamrock's takeover of the station), the first building expansion in the station's history with new equipment (estimated to cost between $1.3 to $2 million), a $300,000 investment into the news department, an expansion of the 5:30 p.m. evening news from a half-hour to a full hour, and a "major emphasis on public affairs and community involvement".

[30][31] Morale in the newsroom was high; newly hired news director Clark Edwards noticed that "people were going about their jobs with a new drive after the change".

[32] Longtime weatherman Frank Faulconer, the only on-air personality remaining after the resignations, left for WKYT to help launch the station's new morning show, where he had hoped to "finish out my career".

[33] Faulconer worked at WKYT for exactly two days in February before returning to WTVQ and resuming his usual weeknight weather duties.

Station officials were concerned that he had been falsifying details about his background – specifically claiming that he had held a doctorate degree in political science.

Twenty-eight-year-old weekend anchor Tom Howell died when his car collided with a city sanitation truck that ran a stop sign.

[44] In June 1981, due to a poor showing in the May ratings book, the station dropped Nightline and replaced it with reruns of All in the Family.

[45] General manager Bill Service noted that the reruns ABC had previously been programming in the timeslot fared better locally than Nightline was.

[46] The station underwent a $2 million renovation starting in 1985 that doubled the existing office space and created all-new technical facilities.

[48] On several occasions throughout its history, the ABC network has studied the possibility of moving its affiliation away from WTVQ, even going so far as to enter into discussions with rival stations about relocating its programming there.

[58] In 2004, WTVQ, along with Media General ABC affiliates WJBF and WMBB, preempted an uncut Veteran's Day broadcast of the 1998 movie Saving Private Ryan, citing uncertainty over whether the film's obscenities would cause FCC repercussions in light of new commission policy.

It included a news anchor who walked into the newsroom and threw his hat onto a coat rack to begin the evening's newscast.

The Lexington Herald skewered the station in 1980, just before the move to channel 36, for a "seemingly weak commitment to thorough, accurate news coverage".

[73] It maintained that position for much of the decade, but ratings declined as Lindgren took extended off-air absences to treat colon cancer;[74] he died in January 2001 at the age of 55.

[76] Morris dropped the station's 5 p.m. newscast shortly after taking over in order to air the syndicated show Judge Judy in hopes of increasing ratings and concentrating news resources elsewhere.

[77] In 1976, WTVQ began producing Happy's Hour, a weekday afternoon children's show that was the last of its kind to air on Lexington television.

Due to shifting economics and program philosophies in the local television industry at the time, as well as an ownership change, Happy's Hour quietly faded away in 1979.