KGWN-TV
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KGWN-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Cheyenne, Wyoming. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 (or virtual channel 5.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in unincorporated Laramie County (west of Cheyenne) between I-80/U.S. 30 and WYO 225. Owned by Gray Television, KGWN has studios on East Lincolnway/East 14th Street/I-80 Business/U.S. 30 in Cheyenne.
Syndicated programming on the station includes Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Wheel of Fortune, Judge Judy, and Dr. Phil among others. It operates a digital fill-in translator, K19FX-D channel 19, in Laramie from a transmitter in unincorporated Albany County near the Medicine Bow National Forest's northwestern boundary.
KSTF in Scottsbluff, Nebraska operates as a semi-satellite of KGWN. This station broadcasts a standard definition digital signal on UHF channel 29 (or virtual channel 10.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter along N-71 at the Scotts Bluff and Sioux County line. It can also be seen locally in Nebraska on Charter channel 6. KSTF does not broadcast over-the-air in high definition; however, the station is in the process of upgrading the microwave link between KGWN and KSTF from analog to digital, which will allow KSTF to begin high definition broadcasting.[1] An HD-feed of KGWN is available in Scottsbluff on Charter digital channel 785. The station is a full-time simulcast of KGWN except for preempting Dr. Phil and Wheel of Fortune on weeknights in favor of Entertainment Tonight and Recipe.tv. (Dr. Phil and Wheel of Fortune are available to Scottsbluff viewers on KDUH-TV, a satellite of Rapid City, South Dakota-based KOTA-TV.) KSTF also airs separate legal identifications and local commercial inserts during all programming. Although KSTF's master control and most internal operations are based out of KGWN's Cheyenne facility, it maintains an advertising sales office on North 10th Street/N-71 Business in Gering, Nebraska. There is no separate web address for KSTF, but Nebraska-specific headlines are provided through KGWN's website.
Digital channels
As of November 17, 2014 KGWN has dropped the second CBS feed, as described below, and now carries KCWY-DT 13.1 (NBC out of Casper) on its 5.2 sub channel. All mention of Northern Colorado 5 is long gone. Having added KCWY-DT/NBC to its sub channels means that Fort Collins/Greeley/Loveland can receive a strong signal of all of five major over-the-air broadcast networks.
As of September 2008, KGWN broadcast a separate CBS feed on its second digital subchannel that specifically focused on Northern Colorado. Although Northern Colorado is part of the Denver market, KGWN has long claimed Northern Colorado as part of its primary coverage area, since its transmitter is close to the Colorado border. It provides city-grade coverage of Fort Collins, Loveland, and Greeley. It also provides grade B coverage as far south as Longmont and Boulder. It has long been carried on cable systems in Fort Collins, Loveland, and Greeley alongside Denver's CBS affiliate (originally KMGH-TV and now network owned-and-operated KCNC-TV). Additionally, many cable systems in Wyoming carry both KGWN and KCNC.
Although identified as a separate outlet in its own right (Northern Colorado 5), KGWN-DT2 was actually operated as another semi-satellite of KGWN. It cleared all network programming as provided through its parent as well as syndicated shows although some programs were seen at a different time. KGWN-DT2 also aired separate identifications and commercials. At part of its programming focus on Colorado, the station aired a separate newscast weeknight at 10 (see below). On December 19, 2013, KGWN announced that it would close "Northern Colorado 5," citing the inability to make the service "a viable long-term operation."[2]
KGWN operates the area's CW affiliate on a third digital subchannel, which carries the branding Cheyenne CW. The channel is carried on Bresnan Communications channel 2 and in Nebraska on Charter channel 18. KGWN's semi-satellite KSTF does not offer any subchannels; however, planned upgrades to the microwave link connecting the stations will allow KSTF to eventually add the CW subchannel.[1]
| Channel | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | 720p | 16:9 | Main KGWN Programming / CBS |
| 5.2 | KCWY-TV / NBC | ||
| 5.3 | 480i | 4:3 | "Cheyenne CW" |
History
KGWN
The station signed-on March 22, 1954 as KFBC-TV airing an analog signal on VHF channel 5. It was owned by the McCraken family along with the Wyoming State Leader-Tribune and Wyoming Eagle (later merged as Wyoming Tribune Eagle) and KFBC radio (1240 AM). It is Wyoming's oldest television station. For over 30 years, it was the only commercial station in eastern Wyoming. As such, it carried programming from all four major networks of the time (CBS, NBC, ABC, and DuMont). However, it was initially a primary ABC affiliate. That may have seemed unusual as Cheyenne has always been a rather small market. In most other small markets, ABC was usually relegated to secondary status due to being the smallest and weakest network. However, KFBC radio had been an ABC Radio affiliate for many years. Additionally, there had been some speculation Cheyenne would eventually be collapsed into the Denver market since the area is only a few miles from the Colorado border.
In 1975, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled if a city had only one newspaper, one television station, one AM radio station, and one FM radio station they could not be owned by the same person. The McCrakens' media holdings were one of only a few covered by this ruling. They opted to keep the newspapers and KFBC-TV, and sold KFBC radio. The radio side kept the KFBC calls, while the television station became KYCU-TV. Shortly afterward, it switched its primary affiliation to CBS and dropped all ABC programming. However, Cheyenne viewers were still able to view the full schedules of all the three major networks because, for many years, cable systems supplemented the area with Denver stations.
The McCrakens sold KYCU to Stauffer Communications in 1987, who switched its call sign to the current KGWN-TV on New Year's Day that year. The station began phasing out NBC programming in the early-1980s, dropping the network entirely in 1987 when KKTU (now KQCK) signed-on as a satellite of KTWO-TV in Casper. ABC programming disappeared from the schedule by 1988. When Stauffer and Morris Communications merged in 1996, KGWN and most of the rest of Stauffer's television holdings went to Benedek Broadcasting. That company went bankrupt in 2001 (it merged with Gray Television a year later) and KGWN was sold to Chelsey Broadcasting. In 2003, the station was acquired by SagamoreHill Broadcasting.
Semi-satellites
KSTF signed-on August 7, 1955 as a semi-satellite of what was then KFBC-TV. In 1958, KOTA-TV in Rapid City, South Dakota put its own satellite station on-the-air in Scottsbluff, KDUH. During the next twelve years, there was a great amount of confusion among Scottsbluff viewers especially when the two stations aired the same program simultaneously. Both had unusual "joint primary" affiliations with ABC and CBS from 1965 onwards. Although KFBC/KSTF slightly favored ABC and KOTA/KDUH slightly favored CBS, it did not help the duplication problem. However, in 1970, KDUH, along with KOTA, dropped CBS for NBC; KYCU/KSTF took advantage of the situation and devoted more of its time to CBS programming until becoming a full affiliate with the network in 1988.
On December 28, 1963, KTVS in Sterling, Colorado signed-on as another semi-satellite serving Northeastern Colorado. In September 1999, Benedek sold that station to the Newsweb Corporation which made it a satellite of Denver's KTVD. In 2000, Benedek ended most local operations at KGWC-TV in Casper and its two satellites: KGWR-TV (in Rock Springs) and KGWL-TV (in Lander). The three stations became semi-satellites of KGWN. In 2003, Chelsey Broadcasting agreed to sell all three to Mark III Media (a group that included former KTWO-TV General Manager Mark Nalbone). After the FCC dismissed several objections to the sale, Mark III consummated the agreement to buy the stations on May 31, 2006.
Recent changes
On September 18, 2006, KGWN began carrying programming from The CW on a new second digital subchannel. This was dropped in September 2008 in favor of a standard definition simulcast of the main signal targeted towards Northern Colorado. The CW programming continued to be seen on area cable systems. On April 29, 2009, the carriage contract of KGWN and "Cheyenne CW" expired. This led to SagamoreHill Broadcasting making the demand Bresnan Cable remove the two channels, resulting in approximately 30,000 customers (reported as 80% of their viewership) losing access to local CBS and CW programming. The dispute hinged on the amount SagamoreHill wanted to charge Bresnan for the rights to carry the stations.
KGWN waged a propaganda campaign in the days leading up to the end of the contract attempting to change Bresnan Cable customers to Dish Network. KGWN refused to post any comments on its site regarding customers who did not wish to see the contract renewed despite news coverage of the dispute having elicited numerous such comments [Reference needed]. On May 8, 2009, the stations were restored to the Bresnan system. In December 2011 The CW programming was added to subchannel 5.3 and NOCO 5 programming on subchannel 5.2 was improved to 720p.
In May 2013, SagamoreHill Broadcasting reached a deal to sell KGWN and KSTF, along with KGNS-TV in Laredo, Texas, to Yellowstone Holdings, a subsidiary of Frontier Radio Management.[1][3][4] On November 4, 2013, Gray Television announced a deal to acquire Yellowstone Holdings for $23 million. KGWN-TV will be operated under a local marketing agreement by Gray until the closure of the deal.[5] The acquisition will reunite KGWN with most of its former Stauffer/Benedek stablemates. The sale was competed on December 31.[6]
News operation
KGWN is the only television station with a news department based in Cheyenne. Although KTWO and KCWY-DT both have studios in Casper, those outlets feature reporters who focus their coverage on Cheyenne and the surrounding area. For many years, KSTF aired its own local newscasts and separate programs covering Scottsbluff. However, its local operations were progressively cut back from the 1990s until late-2004 when SagamoreHill finally shut down KSTF's news department entirely. The Nebraska semi-satellite currently simulcasts all newscasts from KGWN but with a separate title opening.
CW affiliate KGWN-DT3 offers the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz on weekdays from 6 until 8. KGWN does not air a full two-hour weekday morning show, local news weeknights at 5 and/or 6, as well as early evening news on weekends unlike most other CBS affiliates.
In 2005, KGWN established a Northern Colorado Bureau in Fort Collins. This provided another source of local news coverage in the area besides stations based in Denver. On September 15, 2008, this operation was expanded after KGWN-DT2 launched a weeknight 35 minute newscast in partnership with the Independent News Network (INN). Known as Northern Colorado 5 News at 10, the broadcast was recorded in advance from INN's production facility on Tremont Avenue in Davenport, Iowa. The news anchor, meteorologist, and sports anchor were provided by the centralized news operation and other personnel from INN filled-in as necessary.
At some point in time, production of Northern Colorado 5 News at 10 moved to a secondary set at KGWN's studios in Cheyenne and was no longer outsourced to the Independent News Network. Although the program was still taped in advance, it now featured anchor personnel from KGWN while three reporters based locally in Fort Collins contributed Northern Colorado-specific content to the broadcast. In addition, there were weekday morning local weather cut-ins during CBS This Morning that were taped at KGWN's facility but with a focus on Northern Colorado. Weekday mornings from 6 to 6:30, KGWN-DT2 simulcast local radio station KXBG (97.9 FM). Following at 6:30, there was a local weather forecast segment which repeats several times during the half hour. The Colorado-focused station did not simulcast any newscasts from its parent station. "Northern Colorado 5" was discontinued on December 19, 2013.[2]
References
- ^ a b c Nelson, Brandon (July 10, 2013). "KGWN-KSTF TV station sold to Calif. company". Scottsbluff Star-Herald. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
- ^ a b Hughes, Trevor (December 19, 2013). "Fort Collins TV station NoCo5 goes off the air". The Coloradoan. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
- ^ Malone, Michael (May 31, 2013). "Yellowstone Buys Laredo, Cheyenne Stations For $20.5 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
- ^ "APPLICATION FOR CONSENT TO ASSIGNMENT OF BROADCAST STATION CONSTRUCTION PERMIT OR LICENSE". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. May 30, 2013. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
- ^ "Gray Buying Yellowstone Stations". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
- ^ Consummation Notice, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved 2 January 2014