WXCW

WXCW

Naples/Fort Myers, Florida
Branding	TV 6 (general) WINK News Now (during WINK-TV-produced newscasts)
Channels	Digital: 45 (UHF)
Subchannels	46.1 The CW
Owner	Sun Broadcasting, Inc.
First air date	January 1, 1990
Call letters' meaning	Channel SiX (6) The CW
Former callsigns	WNPL-TV (1990-1995) WTVK (1995-2007)
Former channel number(s)	46 (UHF analog, 1990-2009)
Former affiliations	Independent (1990-1995) UPN (1995-1998) The WB (1998-2006)
Transmitter power	1,000 kW
Height	456 m
Facility ID	61504
Transmitter coordinates	26°47′8.3″N 81°47′45.8″W
Website	TV 6

WXCW is the CW-affiliated television station for Southwest Florida licensed to Naples. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 45 from a transmitter near the Charlotte and Lee County line. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 6 (hence the TV 6 branding) and in high definition on Comcast digital channel 236. It is owned by Sun Broadcasting.

Syndicated programming on the station includes: Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Anderson, and Dr. Phil. Along with ABC affiliate WZVN-TV, WXCW is one of two Fort Myers-based stations licensed to Naples.

History

The station began broadcasting on January 1, 1990 as WNPL-TV. As an Independent, it filled a void after WFTX-TV joined Fox four years earlier. The station was beset with problems early on, particularly with regard to finding programming. Despite this, from 1993 until 1998, the station carried Florida Marlins baseball games from WBFS-TV in Miami. It also aired Orlando Magic basketball during much of this time.

The situation changed on January 16, 1995 when the station joined UPN as a charter affiliate. It changed its call letters to WTVK in September of that year. Those calls were previously used on what is now WVLT-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee. The WNPL call sign was brought back in 2009 when a new radio station at AM 1460 signed-on to improve coverage of WPTK (1200 AM, now WINK). With a network backing it up, WTVK was able to get stronger programming and strengthen its signal. In 1998, the station's original local owners sold the station to ACME Communications, who swapped affiliations with the area's cable-only WB affiliate WSWF (now WNFM). It then adopted the on-air moniker "WB 6", after its channel location on cable.

On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that the networks would end broadcasting and merge to form The CW. On March 9, ACME announced that all of its WB stations, including WTVK, would affiliate with The CW. However, it was likely that the station would receive the CW affiliation in any event, since WNFM is a cable-only station (that station ultimately joined MyNetworkTV). On May 15, 2006, ACME announced that it would sell WTVK to Sun Broadcasting. The sale completed February 16, 2007 with the new owner changing the call sign to WXCW on March 2. On February 17, 2009, it ceased analog broadcasting and became an all-digital station transmitting its signal on channel 45 (re-routed to channel 46.1 through PSIP).

News operation

News open.

As an independent station, WNPL operated a news department, producing a weeknight prime time show entitled Channel 46 Ten O'Clock News. This originated from its original studios on Bonita Bay Boulevard in Bonita Springs along South Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41/SR 45). Due to low ratings and financial reasons, the broadcast was dropped and its news department was shut down.

On March 26, 2007, WINK-TV began producing a prime time newscast on WXCW. Right from the start, it emerged as a strong second place ranked broadcast.

On October 20, 2007, WXCW began broadcasting in local news and available programming in high definition.

On January 7, 2008, WXCW and expanded their local news presence to two hours in the morning. . As of October 31, the first 21 minutes of the nightly prime time show is commercial free. On August 24, 2009, WINK-TV expanded the 10 o'clock broadcast to an hour.

News team

All on-air staff on WXCW is provided by WINK-TV.

Anchors

• Stacey Adams - weeknights at 10
• Chris Cifatte - weeknights at 10
• Haley Hinds - weekends at 10 and reporter
• Jeremiah Jacobsen - weekends at 10 and reporter
• Lindsay Liepman - weekday mornings 7 - 9
• Rob Spicker - weekday mornings 7 - 9

SkyTracker Meteorologists

• Joey Sovine - meteorologist; weekday mornings
• Kira Miner - meteorologist; weekends at 10
• Scott Zedeker - meteorologist; weeknights at 10

Sports

• Clayton Ferraro - Director seen weeknights

Reporters

• David Bodden
• Robert Burns
• Maite De La Rosa
• Howie Grace - Charlotte County bureau
• Genevieve Judge
• Amber Lindke - Web editor and reporter
• Anjuli Lohn
• Erin Maloney
• Lauren Pastrana - morning traffic anchor and reporter
• Sarah Pusateri
• Nick Spinetto
• Renee Stoll - Collier County bureau
• Carlos Suarez
• Mike Walcher - Senior reporter
• Melissa Yeager - Call For Action

External links

• Official website
• WINK-TV website
• Program Information for WXCW at TitanTV.com
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WXCW
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WXCW-TV