KOKI-TV
KOKI-DT3 is the Escape-affiliated third digital subchannel of KOKI-TV, broadcasting in widescreen standard definition on UHF digital channel 22.3 (or virtual channel 23.3 via PSIP). On cable, KOKI-DT3 is available on Cox Communications channel 69. On July 17, 2014, Katz Broadcasting announced it had signed an agreement with Cox Media Group to carry Escape on the group's television stations in Tulsa and Charlotte (as well as sister network Grit in Orlando). KOKI-TV launched a digital subchannel on virtual channel 23.3 as an affiliate of Escape on August 18, 2014.
KOKI-TV
KOKI-TV signed on the air on October 26, 1980, a date chosen by Lavenstein at the suggestion of marketing and promotions manager Richard Enderwood, as it coincided with Enderwood's birthday. It was the first commercial television station to sign on in the Tulsa market since NBC affiliate KVOO-TV (channel 2, now KJRH-TV) signed on 26 years earlier on December 5, 1954, and the first independent station to begin operation in a market that, on paper, had a large enough population to provide suitable viewership for an independent station since the early 1970s. The station (which was then branded as "Tulsa 23," accompanied by a futuristic logo in which the numerical 23 was construed as the "LS" in Tulsa) originally operated from studio facilities located on East 46th Place (between Memorial Drive and Sheridan Road) in southeast Tulsa, which was fitted with used transmission equipment previously owned by other television stations within the U.S. The station operated on a lean budget, maintaining a general entertainment programming format that featured a mix of classic sitcoms, westerns and drama series, cartoons, and a limited amount of sports and religious programs. The Tulsa 23 partnership purchased programming at low cost, and tailored its schedule to appeal to older and rural demographics, leaving much of the higher-rated and more recent syndicated content to be acquired by its network-affiliated competitors, KJRH, CBS affiliate KOTV (channel 6) and ABC affiliate KTUL (channel 8). KOKI was opportunistic on occasion and picked up broadcast rights to college and major league sporting events.