WTNZ

WTNZ (channel 43) is a television station in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Lockwood Broadcast Group alongside independent station WKNX-TV (channel 7). Both stations share studios on Executive Park Drive (along I-75/I-40) in Knoxville's Green Valley section, while WTNZ's transmitter is located on Sharp's Ridge in North Knoxville. History Knoxville Family Television, Limited Partnership, was granted a construction permit on November 3, 1982, to build a station on Knoxville's channel 43; the proposal from Knoxville Family beat out another by Marvin E. Palmquist, who owned WQRF-TV in his hometown of Rockford, Illinois. Channel 43 had previously been used for several years by WBIR-TV as a UHF relay to aid areas in the city of Knoxville that did not receive a satisfactory picture on VHF and was discontinued upon an upgrade to the VHF facility. From studios on Central Street, WKCH-TV made its debut on the evening of December 31, 1983—with introductory remarks that then had to be repeated because the audio was not broadcast the first time. It was the city's first independent station (WINT-TV was on the air in Crossville, but its plans to move into Knoxville were delayed by more than a decade). It was also the first new full-market commercial station in Knoxville since WBIR-TV signed on 27 years earlier. Like a number of other independent stations, management affairs were primarily controlled by Media Central, which provided consulting and other services to independent stations and owned much of channel 43. Media Central's independent stations, WKCH-TV included, spurned Fox when it launched in 1986, but it joined the network the next year.