KWBM

KWBM
Harrison, Arkansas/Springfield, Missouri
United States
City Harrison, Arkansas
Branding Daystar
Fox 5 (on 49.1)
Channels Digital: 31 (UHF)
Virtual: 31 (PSIP)
Subchannels (see article)
Affiliations Daystar (O&O, 2009–present)
Owner Daystar Television Network
(Word of God Fellowship, Inc.)
Founded May 22, 1998
First air date January 26, 2001 (2001-01-26)
Call letters' meaning The WB
Missouri
(reflecting former affiliation)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
31 (UHF, 2001–2009)
Former affiliations The WB (2001–2006)
MyNetworkTV (2006–2009)
Transmitter power 191 kW
Height 339 m (1,112 ft)
Facility ID 78314
Transmitter coordinates 36°42′18″N 93°3′46″W / 36.70500°N 93.06278°W / 36.70500; -93.06278
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website www.daystar.com

KWBM, virtual and UHF digital channel 31, is a Daystar owned-and-operated television station serving Springfield, Missouri, United States that is licensed to Harrison, Arkansas. The station is owned by Word of God Fellowship, Inc. KWBM's offices are located on Enterprise Avenue in southeast Springfield, and its transmitter is located in rural Taney County, just northeast of Forsyth.

History

The station first signed on the air on January 26, 2001; it originally served as the market's affiliate of The WB. The station was founded by the Equity Broadcasting Corporation. Prior to the station's sign-on, southwestern Missouri residents could only receive WB network programs on cable and satellite through Chicago-based superstation WGN, which carried WB programming nationally from the network's January 11, 1995 launch; the network was unavailable in the market between the period when WGN dropped WB programming in October 1999[1] [2] and KWBM launched. The station formerly operated two low-power translator stations: KBBL-LP (channel 56) in Springfield (which adopted the calls on July 14, 2006; coincidentally, the KBBL calls were used fictionally as the radio station in the fictional town of Springfield on the animated series The Simpsons), and KNJE-LP (channel 58) in Aurora.

On January 24, 2006, the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner and CBS Corporation announced that the two companies would shut down The WB and UPN and combine the networks' respective programming to create a new "fifth" network called The CW. [3] [4] One month later on February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced the launch of a new "sixth" network called MyNetworkTV, which would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. [5] [6] The CW affiliation was awarded to low-power UPN affiliate K15CZ (channel 15); KWBM became the market's MyNetworkTV when the network launched on September 5, 2006.

On December 8, 2008, Equity Media Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; it then began to sell off its television station properties. KWBM was sold to at auction to religious broadcaster Daystar (through its Word of God Fellowship subsidiary) in early 2009; the MyNetworkTV affiliation later moved to upstart station KRBK (channel 49; now a Fox affiliate) when that station launched on August 1, 2009.

Digital programming

Channel Video Aspect PSIP short name Programming [7]
31.1480i4:3KWBMMain KWBM programming / Daystar
49.1720p16:9KRBKSimulcast of KRBK / Fox
49.2480i4:3METVSimulcast of KRBK-DT2 / MeTV

Daystar leases the second and third subchannels of KWBM to Koplar Communications to extend the signal coverage of Fox affiliate KRBK, which does not cover Springfield proper with their main signal licensed to Osage Beach, Missouri. What would usually be channel 31.2 instead remaps as a virtual channel to KRBK's channel 49.1 via PSIP. KWBM also transmits KRBK's MeTV subchannel as 49.2.[8]

Because it was granted an original construction permit after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997, [9] the station did not receive a companion channel for its digital signal. Instead, at the end of the digital conversion period for full-power television stations, On June 12, 2009, KWBM would have been required to turn off its analog signal and turn on its digital signal (called a "flash-cut") almost one month later on July 3.

The termination of KWBM's analog signal resulted in the station being dropped from satellite providers Dish Network and DirecTV, due to the lack of unique local programming from the main Daystar national feed, and a revocation of the station's retransmission consent agreement after the sale from Equity to Daystar. Mediacom, Suddenlink and Charter Communications continue to receive a direct satellite feed of the station, and Daystar maintains carriage of the station on those systems via must-carry declaration.

KBBL-LP and KNJE-LP, as low-power stations, were not required to cease analog transmissions upon the 2009 transition deadline, but were required to move their channel positions as their channel allocations were among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition. These stations were not sold to Daystar as part of its purchase of KWBM. The FCC cancelled KNJE-LP's license on August 6, 2010 and deleted the KNJE-LP call sign from its database; KBBL is currently dark with a construction permit to build digital transmitter facilities on UHF channel 24.

References

  1. ↑ WGN Drops WB, Adds Movies, Sitcoms, Multichannel News, September 20, 1999. Retrieved June 22, 2013 from HighBeam Research.
  2. ↑ Last night Dawson's last ? WGN ceases to air WB programming, The Charleston Gazette, October 7, 1999. Retrieved June 22, 2013 from HighBeam Research.
  3. ↑ 'Gilmore Girls' meet 'Smackdown'; CW Network to combine WB, UPN in CBS-Warner venture beginning in September, CNNMoney.com, January 24, 2006.
  4. ↑ UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network, The New York Times, January 24, 2006.
  5. ↑ "News Corp. to launch new mini-network for UPN stations". USA Today. February 22, 2006. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  6. ↑ News Corp. Unveils MyNetworkTV, Broadcasting & Cable, February 22, 2006.
  7. ↑ http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KWBM#station
  8. ↑ "KWBM HARRISON, AR". RabbitEars. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  9. ↑ Final Digital TV (DTV) Channel Plan from FCC97-115
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