WYCW

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WYCW
Asheville, North Carolina Greenville / Spartanburg / Anderson, South Carolina
Branding	Carolinas CW 9/18/2006
Channels	62 (UHF) analog, 45 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	The CW
Owner	Media General
Founded	June 15, 1987
Call letters meaning	We're Your CW Station (a nod to its future affiliation, and possibly a nod to former owner Pappas)
Former callsigns	WASV-TV (1987-2006)
Former affiliations	Independent (1987-1997) The WB (1997-1999)UPN (1997, secondary until 1999-2006)
Website	www.carolinascw.com/

WYCW is the CW affiliate licensed to Asheville, North Carolina, serving the Greenville, SC/Spartanburg, SC/Asheville television market. It's owned by Media General, owners of local CBS affiliates WSPA-TV and WNEG-TV, and is operated out of WSPA's facilities. WYCW's transmitter is located near Zirconia, North Carolina.

The station runs a general entertainment format consisting of off-network sitcoms, first-run prime time shows from CW, talk shows, reality shows, court shows and some children's programming. It also runs a 10 p.m. newscast produced by WSPA.

[edit] History

WYCW began operation on June 15, 1987 as WASV-TV, a locally owned station. It was licensed as a full power station, but operated at low power, initially simulcasting Christian programs from WGGS. The station began to run infomercials and shop-at-home programming in the early 1990s.

The station was sold in 1995 to Pappas Telecasting (which previously owned WHNS Channel 21), and began to transmit at full power in 1996. At that time, Pappas agreed to become a subordinate owner for WASV, with Spartan Broadcasting (owner of WSPA-TV) taking control of the station's programming and airtime. Spartan subsequently moved the WB affiliation (previously carried on WSPA as a secondary affiliation) to WASV in October 1997. The station also began to carry programming from UPN; however, it treated the WB as its primary affiliation. The station identified on air as The New 62' from 1997 to 2002, then as Super62 from 2002 until early 2004.

From 1998 to 2000, WASV aired sporting events pre-empted from CBS and NBC (that CBS affiliate WSPA-TV and NBC affiliate WYFF-TV locally pre-empted in favor of local programming, special reports or yearly telethons).

The WB affiliation moved to WBSC channel 40 on September 6, 1999, becoming an UPN affiliate as UPN62.

WASV continued its local marketing agreement with WSPA-TV even after the latter was sold to Media General in 2000. The station was purchased outright by Media General in 2001.

In its first year from 1997-1998, WASV signed off every night around 12-1 a.m. until 6-7 a.m.. Later in 1998 they began 24/7 broadcasting by running Shop-At-Home in the overnight hours...since late 2005/early 2006, they have discontinued Shop-At-Home at night and now run reruns/movies/infomercials/other programming.

On March 2, 2006, it was announced that WBSC-TV (now WMYA-TV), the Sinclair Broadcast Group-controlled WB affiliate, would become an affiliate of My Network TV effective September of that year. Nearly four weeks later, on March 28, it was confirmed that WASV will join The CW network.

WASV officially changed its call letters to WYCW on April 22, 2006. However, it will continue to use its previous WASV call letters on-air until UPN officially shuts down in September. In September, it will rebrand itself as CW Carolinas.

[edit] External links

• WYCW homepage
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WYCW

Broadcast television in the Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville market  (Nielsen DMA #36)
WYFF 4 (NBC) - WSPA 7 (CBS) - WGTV 8 (PBS/GPB) - WLOS 13 (ABC) - WGGS 16 (Rel./TBN) - WHNS 21 (Fox) - WNTV 29 / WNEH 38 / WRET 49 (PBS/SCETV) - W31AZ 31 / W50CL 50 / W50CZ 50 (TBN) - WNEG 32 (CBS) - WUNF 33 (PBS/UNC-TV) - WMYA 40 (MNTV) - WYCW 62 (The CW) - WAEN-LP 64 (A1)