KWWL (TV)

KWWL

Waterloo/Cedar Rapids/Dubuque /Iowa City, Iowa
Branding	KWWL 7 (general) Iowa’s NewsChannel 7 (newscasts)
Slogan	Iowa’s News Channel We've Got You Covered
Channels	Digital: 7 (VHF)
Subchannels	7.1 NBC-HD 7.2 This TV 7.3 Me-TV
Translators	7 (VHF) Dubuque (construction permit)
Affiliations	NBC
Owner	Quincy Newspapers, Inc. (KWWL Television, Inc.)
First air date	November 29, 1953
Call letters' meaning	Keep Watching WaterLoo or Waterloo Way Leads
Former callsigns	KWWL-TV (1953–1983)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 7 (1953–2009) Digital: 55 (2003–2009)
Former affiliations	DuMont (1953-1956) RTV (on DT2, 2009-2011)
Transmitter power	21.8 kW
Height	527 m
Facility ID	593
Transmitter coordinates	42°24′2.5″N 91°50′36.9″W
Website	www.kwwl.com

KWWL is the NBC-affiliated television station in Waterloo, Iowa, and serves as the primary NBC affiliate for the northeastern third of the state of Iowa, including 21 counties and the larger cities of Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque and Iowa City. The station operates on VHF channel 7. KWWL is owned by Quincy Newspapers. Its transmitter is located at the AFLAC Tower north of Rowley, Iowa.

The station's studios are located in Waterloo, Iowa. KWWL also operates newsrooms and sales offices in Cedar Rapids and Dubuque. Syndicated programs aired by KWWL include Dr. Phil, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, The Doctors and Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

Digital television

In addition to its primary digital channel, KWWL operated KWWL StormTrack7 on their second digital subchannel. After NBC bought The Weather Channel, NBC Weather Plus network feeds ended in December 2008; the station now carries This TV Network on the subchannel. KWWL also transmitted The Tube digital music video channel until the network ceased operations on October 1, 2007. It later carried classic programming from Retro Television Network on DT3. On April 27, 2011, the station replaced RTV programming in favor of This TV's sister network, Me-TV.

Digital channels

Channel	Video	Format	Programming
7.1	1080i	16:9	Main KWWL programming / NBC HD
7.2	480i	4:3	This TV; movies, children's programming and select classic television series
7.3			Me-TV; classic television series

Analog-to-digital transition

On February 17, 2009, KWWL returned to channel 7 when the analog to digital conversion completed and the "KWWL" callsign was legally transferred from the now-defunct analog channel 7 to the new digital channel 7, with the "KWWL-DT" callsign being permanently discontinued. However, the PSIP identifier still identifies KWWL's main channel on 7.1 as "KWWL-DT."

On November 1, 2010, the FCC granted KWWL a construction permit for a 300-watt digital fill-in translator on channel 7 (the same frequency as their main channel). The translator will serve the immediate part and areas northwest of Dubuque.

History

When the Federal Communications Commission opened up bids for channel 7 in Waterloo, it was obvious that the license would either go to Sonderling Broadcasting, owner of KXEL (AM 1540), or R.J. McElroy and his Black Hawk Broadcasting Company, owner of KWWL (AM 1330, now KWLO). After a long legal battle, Black Hawk won the license, and KWWL-TV signed on for the first time on November 29, 1953—a Thanksgiving Day present to eastern Iowa.

The station was originally affiliated with NBC and the DuMont Television Network. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.

In 1980, Black Hawk agreed in principle to merge with Forward Communications. However, the FCC told Black Hawk and Forward that it would have to sell either KWWL-AM-FM or channel 7. The KWWL stations had been grandfathered under a 1970s FCC rule banning common ownership of radio and television stations. When Forward decided to keep the radio stations, Black Hawk sold channel 7 to Aflac just before the merger closed. In 1997, Aflac sold its entire broadcasting division, including KWWL, to Raycom Media.

In 2006, Raycom sold KWWL and a handful of other stations following its purchase of The Liberty Corporation in late 2005. Quincy Newspapers became owner of KWWL on July 1, 2006. The merger made QNI the owner of four of the NBC affiliates serving Iowa, along with flagship station WGEM-TV in Quincy, Illinois; KTIV in Sioux City and KTTC in Rochester, Minnesota.

News operation

On April 11, 2010, KWWL became the first station in eastern Iowa and the first QNI station to broadcast its newscasts in high definition. At this time, its updated its logo, removing the large blue circle that surrounded the 7.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• The Shell Oil Newsreel (1953-1956)
• The Eastern Iowa News Report (1956-1960)
• KWWL-TV News (1960-1966)
• The 6 o'clock Report/The 10 o'clock Report (1966-1970)
• Channel 7 News (1970-1976)
• NewsCenter 7 (1976–1992)
• KWWL News (1992–2010)
• Iowa's NewsChannel 7 (2010–present)

Station slogans

• "Eastern Iowa's Complete Information News Service" (1970s–early 1980s)
• "Iowa’s NewsChannel" (1992–present; primary slogan)
• "Coverage You Can Count On" (1999–2004; news slogan)
• "Eastern Iowa's Only Local News in High Definition" (2010–2012)
• "Eastern Iowa's First Local News in High Definition" (2012)
• "We've Got You Covered" (2012–present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

News team

Current on-air staff

Anchors

• Natasha Chughtai - weekday mornings and noon
• Jason Carter - weekday mornings and noon
• Ron Steele - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Tara Thomas - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Danielle Wagner - weekend mornings; also weeknight reporter
• Bob Waters - weekend evenings; also weeknight reporter

Storm Track 7 Weather

• Mark Schnackenberg (member, AMS; member, NWA) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Denice Pelster - meteorologist; weekend mornings
• Jeff Kennedy (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekend evenings (former chief meteorologist)
• Eileen Loan - meteorologist; weekday mornings and noon

Sports team

• Rick Coleman - sports director; weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
• Mark Woodley - sports anchor; weekend evenings

Reporters

• Jason Epner - Iowa City reporter
• Becca Habegger - Tri-States reporter
• Lauren DeWitt- Tri-States reporter
• Michael Crowe- general assignment reporter
• Nikki Newbrough - general assignment reporter
• Ally Crutcher - general assignment reporter
• Michelle Corless- Cedar Rapids reporter

Former on-air staff

• Paul Burmeister - sports anchor/reporter (now at NFL Network)
• Chris Carter - morning and noon anchor (contract not renewed in 2010)
• Bobbi Earles - weeknight anchor
• Craig Johnson - chief meteorologist (later meteorologist for Good Day Iowa on KFXA, currently Executive Director of Iowa Academy of Science)
• Ann Kerian - weeknight anchor
• Sunny Layne - weekday mornings and noon (left to be closer to family)
• Jennifer Hildreth - meteorologist; weekend mornings. (now at KGAN)
• Ian Leonard - chief meteorologist (now at KMSP-TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul)
• Bryan Lessly - sports director
• Liz Mathis - weeknight anchor (later at KCRG, currently employed by Four Oaks in Cedar Rapids)
• Trace Regan - reporter (now professor of journalism and department chair at Ohio Wesleyan University)
• Mark Steines (later became a correspondent, and eventually, co-host of the syndicated newsmagazine Entertainment Tonight from August 24, 1995 to July 27, 2012; now co-host of Hallmark Channel's Home & Family)
• Tami Wiencek - weekend anchor/reporter (later a Republican state representative for the 21st district of Iowa)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

References

1. Lipps, Rick and Weaver, Tim. KWWL Station History (http://www.kwwl.com/Global/story.asp?S=277765) Date Accessed: July 30, 2005. Waterloo: KWWL.

External links

• KWWL Web Site
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KWWL
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KWWL-TV