KOKI-TV
KOKI-TV, virtual channel 23 (UHF digital channel 22), is a Fox-affiliated television station licensed to Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. The station is owned by the Cox Media Group subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, as part of a duopoly with MyNetworkTV-affiliate KMYT-TV (channel 41); KOKI and KMYT are, in turn, co-owned with local radio stations KRMG (740 AM and 102.3 FM), KRAV-FM (96.5), KWEN (95.5 FM) and KJSR (103.3 FM), as well as local cable television provider Cox Communications.
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.