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WIBW-TV

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WIBW-TV is the CBS affiliate in Topeka, Kansas. It broadcasts on channel 13 and is owned by Gray Television. Its transmitter is located near Maple Hill, Kansas.

History

WIBW, the second television station in Kansas, debuted on November 15, 1953. It was owned by Capper Publications, publisher of the Topeka Daily Capital, along with WIBW-AM 580. It carried programming from all three networks, but was a primary CBS affiliate. Capper persuaded the Federal Communications Commission to make Topeka its own market. While Topeka and its close-in suburbs receive the Kansas City stations very well, some parts of northeastern Kansas get a marginal signal at best.

Channel 13 was the only station in Topeka for 12 years. However, Topeka viewers didn't have to worry about missing their favorite shows, since the Kansas City stations all decently cover Topeka and started appearing on cable in the rest of the market in the 1960s.

In 1957, Stauffer Publications, owner of Topeka's other newspaper, the Topeka State Journal, bought Capper Publications. The two newspapers, which later merged as The Topeka Capital-Journal, and WIBW-AM-FM-TV remained the flagships of Stauffer Publications (later renamed Stauffer Communications) until 1995, when it merged with Morris Communications Corporation of Augusta, Georgia. As a condition of the sale, Morris had to sell Stauffer's television holdings. Most of the former Stauffer television holdings, including WIBW-TV, were sold to Benedek Broadcasting in 1996. In 2002, Benedek merged with WIBW's current owner, Gray Communications, now Gray Television (The radio stations are still owned by Morris today along with the Capital-Journal.).

Beginning in the Fall of 2006, the station's DT2 subcarrier added programming from My Network TV, a network launched by Fox parent News Corporation.

As it is the only station in Topeka on a VHF channel number (other than PBS affiliate KTWU, which is on channel 11), it's not surprising that WIBW has held the #1 spot in the market since its 1953 launch.

Currently, Wheel of Fortune airs on WIBW. Jeopardy!, on the other hand, airs on rival ABC affiliate KTKA (Topeka is one of the very few markets to carry Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune on separate stations).

Kansas Now 22

WIBW, along with Wichita ABC affiliate KAKE and Cox Communications, also is part of a Kansas cable network, Kansas Now 22. WIBW and KAKE show repeats of their newscasts on this channel along with occasional live and taped news and weather updates.

Trivia

WIBW is one of the few stations west of the Mississippi River whose call sign begins with the letter W. There are two explanations for this anomaly. One dates to WIBW-AM's roots as a station in Logansport, Indiana. It moved to Topeka in 1927. The move was sponsored by Daily Capital owner and Kansas Senator Arthur Capper, who added a W to the initials of the Indiana station's owner, Indiana Broadcast Works.

However, the W/K divide for call signs was not always the Mississippi River, and Kansas was on the eastern side of the original call divide. Thus it was perfectly acceptable to have a W in Kansas.

Past On-Air Personalities

Logos

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