KCWI-TV

KCWI-TV
Ames/Des Moines, Iowa
United States
City Ames, Iowa
Branding KCWI, The CW Iowa (general)
Local 5 News (WOI-produced newscasts)
Slogan We Are Iowa
Channels Digital: 23 (UHF)
Virtual: 23 (PSIP)
Subchannels 23.1 The CW / ABC (alternate)
23.2 Escape
23.3 Bounce TV
23.4 Quest
Affiliations The CW (2006–present)
Owner Nexstar Media Group
(Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.)
First air date January 20, 2001 (2001-01-20)
Call letters' meaning The CW Iowa
Sister station(s) WOI-DT
Former callsigns KPWB-TV (2001–2006)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
23 (UHF, 2001–2009)
Former affiliations Primary:
The WB (2001–2006)
Secondary:
UPN (2001–2003)
Transmitter power 246 kW
Height 610 m (2,001 ft)
Facility ID 51502
Transmitter coordinates 41°49′48″N 93°36′54″W / 41.83000°N 93.61500°W / 41.83000; -93.61500
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.weareiowa.com

KCWI-TV is a CW-affiliated television station serving Des Moines, Iowa, United States that is licensed to Ames. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on virtual and UHF channel 23 from a transmitter located in Alleman, Iowa. KCWI-TV is owned by Nexstar Media Group as part of a duopoly with ABC affiliate WOI-DT (channel 5), also licensed to Ames. The two stations share studios on Westown Parkway in West Des Moines. On cable, KCWI-TV is available on Mediacom channel 9 in standard definition and on digital channel 809 in high definition.[1]

History

As a WB affiliate

Channel 23 first signed on the air on January 20, 2001 under the callsign KPWB-TV (the KPWB calls were originally used by KMAX-TV in Sacramento, California during that station's 1995 to 1998 tenure as a WB affiliate under Pappas Telecasting ownership, before later becoming a UPN owned-and-operated station and then joining The CW). The station originally maintained a primary affiliation with The WB and a secondary affiliation with UPN. KPWB dropped UPN programming in 2003, carrying the full WB primetime and Kids' WB lineups during the remainder of the station's tenure with the network. Prior to the station's launch, this area had been without programming from The WB; from 1995 to 1999, The WB programming was available on Des Moines-Ames cable systems via the former superstation feed of WGN-TV in Chicago.[2][3][4][5]

Older KPWB logo, used from 2001 to 2006.

As a CW affiliate

On January 24, 2006, Time Warner and CBS Corporation announced the shutdowns of The WB and UPN effective that September. In place of these networks, both companies decided to form The CW, a new service that combined the most popular programming from both UPN and The WB with new series produced specifically for the network.[6] Just over one month later on February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced that it would start up MyNetworkTV, a sister network to Fox, which would be operated as a joint venture between Fox Television Stations and Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB-affiliated stations that were not selected to join The CW another option besides becoming an independent station.[7]

It seemed very likely that KPWB would become The CW's Des Moines affiliate, as NBC affiliate WHO-TV (channel 13) had a secondary affiliation with UPN. On March 16, 2006, Pappas Telecasting signed an affiliation agreement to make KPWB the market's CW affiliate. A few months later, MyNetworkTV announced that it would affiliate with a new station also owned by Pappas, KDMI (then on channel 56), which began broadcasting that network on September 5, 2006. On September 18, 2006, the date that The CW officially launched, KPWB changed its call letters to KCWI-TV to reflect its new affiliation. In 2013, the station's logo switched from the generic version that The CW had used since its inception to a version utilizing the station's call letters (this version is also being used by The CW's San Francisco O&O, KBCW-TV).

After MyNetworkTV converted to a programming service in September 2009, KDMI dropped the affiliation in favor of joining This TV. WWE SmackDown, which aired on MyNetworkTV at the time, moved to KCWI airing in a Saturday primetime slot; the station stopped airing the show on September 11, 2010, three weeks before the agreement to carry the show ended with the October 2010 move of SmackDown to Syfy. As a result of KDMI dropping the MyNetworkTV affiliation, Des Moines was the largest Nielsen media market without an over-the-air affiliate of the service until KDMI rejoined MyNetworkTV on October 3, 2011, though that station began carrying the service's programming four hours later than most MyNetworkTV affiliates upon rejoining the service (Nexstar Broadcasting Group-owned WLMT in Memphis also aired SmackDown in a manner very similar to KCWI after MyNetworkTV's original Memphis affiliate WPXX-TV dropped the programming service; WLMT's second digital subchannel eventually affiliated with the service after SmackDown moved to Syfy).

On October 24, 2014, Pappas reached a deal to sell KCWI-TV to Nexstar Broadcasting Group for $3.5 million. The deal separated the station from KDMI, but created a new duopoly with ABC affiliate WOI-DT (channel 5), by coincidence also licensed to Ames.[8] Shortly after the sale was announced, Harry and Stella Pappas sued to block the deal, arguing that the price undervalued KCWI.[9] The deal was approved by the FCC on December 19, 2014, but the completion of the deal was placed on hold due to the lawsuit. The sale was formally completed on March 14, 2016,[10] with Nexstar announcing shortly after that KCWI would leave its downtown Des Moines studios and consolidate operations with WOI at that station's West Des Moines facilities as of April 1.[11]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[12]
23.11080i16:9KCWI-HDMain KCWI-TV programming / The CW
23.2480i4:3ESCAPEEscape
23.3BOUNCEBounce TV
23.4QUESTQuest

Analog-to-digital conversion

KCWI-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 23, on June 12, 2009, and "flash-cut" its digital signal into operation UHF channel 23.[13][14] Because it was granted an original construction permit after the Federal Communications Commission finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997, the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Due to this abnormality, the station's digital signal was carried as a subchannel of now former sister station KDMI.

Programming

In addition to CW network programming, syndicated programs seen on KCWI include The Middle, Family Guy, The King of Queens and Modern Family. The station also airs select Chicago Cubs baseball games which were carried by WGN beginning in the 2016 season.

Since KCWI is a sister station to WOI, it is responsible for airing ABC programming when WOI is unable to or otherwise chooses not to air a program due to weather/emergency updates or local specials.

On August 24, 2016, KCWI launched an affiliation with Escape on its DT2 subchannel and Bounce on its DT3 subchannel.

Newscasts

KCWI presently broadcasts a total of 18½ hours of local newscasts each week (a three-hour local weekday morning newscast from 7 to 10 a.m. and a nightly half hour newscast at 9 p.m.). KCWI did not broadcast any news programming until April 2012, when the station debuted a three-hour morning news and interview show called Great Day on KCWI, now airing four hours Monday-Fridays from 6 to 10 a.m. since September 2013. In addition to news, weather, sports and traffic reports, Great Day features guest interviews, animal segments, comedians, music and various videos. The station did not previously offer a primetime newscast following CW network programming, with syndicated sitcom reruns airing instead during the 9 p.m. timeslot. When Nexstar completed its sale of the station, the show's name was changed to The KCWI23-HD Morning Show.

On April 11, 2016, KCWI's morning show was changed once again, this time to CW Iowa Live airing from 7 to 10 a.m. with the 6 a.m. hour now being occupied by infomercials to avoid competition with WOI-DT's morning show. The newly revamped show retained Jackie Schmillen and Lou Sipolt, but meteorologist Jason Parkin was let go as a result of the changes made; the show also retains the variety show feel of Great Day with some local segments by WOI's news team. The following week, on April 18, KCWI began airing a nightly half-hour 9 p.m. newscast also produced by WOI and also competes against the WHO-DT produced newscast on Fox affiliate KDSM-TV and KCCI's half-hour newscast that it airs on its MeTV subchannel.

References

  1. ↑ Channel Lineup: Altoona, Bondurant, Carlisle, Des Moines, Hartford, Norwalk, Pleasant Hill, Polk Co., Waukee & West Des Moines, IA
  2. ↑ Time Warner Takes Crucial Step Toward New Network Television: A pact with superstation WGN-TV gives it access to 73% of homes. Analysts say that will still leave gaps., Los Angeles Times, December 4, 1993. Retrieved 12-10-2010.
  3. ↑ Linda Moss (September 20, 1999). "WGN Drops WB, Adds Movies, Sitcoms". Multichannel News. Cahners Business Information. Retrieved June 22, 2013 – via HighBeam Research.
  4. ↑ MaryWade Burnside (October 7, 1999). "Last night Dawson's last ? WGN ceases to air WB programming". The Charleston Gazette. The Daily Gazette Company. Retrieved June 22, 2013 – via HighBeam Research.
  5. ↑ Jim Rutenberg (May 17, 2000). "TV NOTES; A Mix for WB". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  6. ↑ UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network, The New York Times, January 24, 2006.
  7. ↑ Fox to Launch My Network TV, News Corporation, February 22, 2006.
  8. ↑ "Application For Consent To Assignment Of Broadcast Station Construction Permit Or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. November 3, 2014. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  9. ↑ Malone, Michael (November 19, 2014). "Pappas Files Suit to Block KCWI Des Moines Sale". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
  10. ↑ Consummation Notice, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, 16 March, 2016, Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  11. ↑ Meinch, Timothy (March 21, 2016). "KCWI-TV has new owner, morning show changes planned". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  12. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KCWI
  13. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  14. ↑ Final Digital TV (DTV) Channel Plan from FCC97-115
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