WHKY-TV Sold to SonLife Broadcasting

Hickory televison station, WHKY-TV, channel 14, is being sold. The buyer is SonLife Broadcasting, a Louisiana-based ministry headed by the Reverend Jimmy Swaggart. The transaction is expected to close during second quarter of this year.

The station is currently the oldest independent tv station in North Carolina. WCNC (Charlotte, channel 36) was the first when it signed on in 1967 as WCTU-TV, but it is now an NBC affiliate. WHKY-TV celebrated its 55th birthday on Tuesday--it began broadcasting on Valentine's Day in 1968.

In addition to its antenna on Bakers Mountain, the station also has a second tower (translator) near Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The station was part of a family-owned broadcasting business. The Long family operated WHKY radio beginning in 1940 and added WHKY-FM in the late 1950s. That station was sold in 1987 and most of its programming was geared to the Charlotte market. It currently operates as WLKO at 102.9 FM. The station added a low power FM signal at 102.3 FM a few years ago. Long Broadcasting will continue to operate the radio station.

SonLife plans to change the WHKY-TV call sign and programming will likely center on SonLife Broadcasting Network's programs already seen on many cable tv systems.

SonLife began as Jimmy Swaggart Ministries. In 1973, Swaggart proposed to television producers in Nashville, Tennessee a television program including Christian music and a sermon, after two attempts to create the half-hour program in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. They accepted, and within weeks the Jimmy Swaggart telecast was being seen around the United States.

In 1981, Swaggart launched a daily television program aired on CBN Cable (now Freeform), TBN, and the old PTL Network (now the Inspiration Network).

In 1988, Swaggart lost some of his broadcast rights following a prostitution scandal. In 1991, more local TV stations cancelled their contracts with him following a second prostitution scandal.

In 2010, Jimmy Swaggart Ministries launched a the 24 hour-a-day Sonlife Broadcasting Network on DirecTV, Dish, and various cable TV providers and broadcast stations.

SBN is available in the US through Free To Air (FTA) satellite television. It is also available in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

Future programming on the station's subchannels (14.1-14.7) will also likely be changed, but no announcement will be made until the transition of ownership is completed.