KGWN-TV

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KGWN-TV / KSTF
KGWN-TV logo
Image:Kgwn_dt2_the_cw.jpg
KGWN: Cheyenne, Wyoming
KSTF: Scottsbluff, Nebraska
Branding CBS 5 NewsChannel
Slogan "your station", The Tri-State's News Leader
Channels Analog:
KGWN: 5 (VHF)
KSTF: 10 (VHF)

Digital:
KGWN: 30 (UHF)
KSTF: 29 (UHF)

Affiliations CBS
The CW (DT2)
Owner SagamoreHill Broadcasting, LLC
(SagamoreHill Broadcasting of Wyoming/Northern Colorado, LLC)
First air date KGWN: March 22, 1954
KSTF: August 7, 1955
Call letters’ meaning KGWN:
Greater
Wyoming
Network
KSTF: ScoTtsblufF
Former callsigns KGWN:
KFBC-TV (1954-1975)
KYCU-TV (1975-1986)
KSTF: none
Former affiliations All secondary:
NBC (1954-1987)
ABC (1954-1988)
DuMont (1954-1955)[1]
Transmitter Power KGWN:
100 kW (analog)
459 kW (digital)
KSTF:
240 kW (analog)
100 kW (digital)
Height KGWN:
189 m (analog)
162 m (digital)
KSTF:
256 m (both)
Facility ID KGWN: 63166
KSTF: 63182
Transmitter Coordinates KGWN:
41°6′0.3″N, 105°0′25.1″W
KSTF:
41°59′58.3″N, 103°40′32.6″W
Website www.kgwn.tv

KGWN-TV, also known as CBS5 Newschannel, is a CBS affiliate based in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting, and broadcasts on analog channel 5 and digital channel 30. KGWN also operates a satellite station, KSTF analog channel 10, digital channel 29 in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

KGWN uses the slogan "The Tri-State's News Leader", as the two stations cover southeastern Wyoming, northern Colorado and western Nebraska.

[edit] History

KGWN-TV signed on the air in 1954 as KFBC-TV, owned by the McCraken family along with the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle newspaper and KFBC radio. It is Wyoming's oldest television station. For many years, it was the only commercial station in eastern Wyoming, and as such carried programming from all four major networks[2]. However, it has always been a primary CBS affiliate.

In 1975, the Federal Communications Commission ruled that 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 Tribune-Eagle and KFBC-TV and sold the radio stations. Since the radio side was the original licensee, the TV station became KYCU-TV. The McCrakens in turn sold KYCU to Stauffer Communications in 1987, who switched its call letters to KGWN. By 1981 the station began to drop NBC from its lineup, but NBC programs appeared sporadically until 1987, when KKTU (now KDEV) signed on as a satellite of KTWO-TV in Casper. ABC disappeared from the schedule by 1988. Today the station continues as a CBS affiliate.

When Stauffer and Morris Communications merged in 1996, KGWN and most of the rest of Stauffer's television holdings went to Benedek Broadcasting. Benedek went bankrupt in 2001 (it eventually merged with Gray Television a year later), and KGWN went to Chelsey Broadcasting. In 2003, it was sold to SagamoreHill Broadcasting.

KSTF signed on in 1956. It aired its own newscasts and many local programs for many years. However, its local operations were progressively cut back from the 1990s onward until late 2004, when Sagamore Hill shut down KSTF's local newscasts. The station is now a semi-satellite of KGWN, except for commercials.

KGWN also had another satellite, KTVS channel 3 in Sterling, Colorado, which served the northeastern part of Colorado. In September 1999, Benedek sold off KTVS to Newsweb, who made it a satellite of Denver's KTVD. Since then, KTVS was re-called "KUPN".

KGWN-TV also operated three other semi-satellites: KGWC-TV, channel 14 in Casper, Wyoming; KGWR-TV, channel 13 in Rock Springs; and KGWL-TV, channel 5 in Lander. In 2003, Chelsey Broadcasting sold the station group in two pieces: KGWN and KSTF were sold to SagamoreHill; and KGWC, KGWR and KGWL were sold in a separate deal to Mark III Media, a group that included former KTWO-TV General Manager Mark Nalbone. After the Federal Communications Commission dismissed several objections to the sale, Mark III consummated the agreement to buy KGWC, KGWR and KGWL on May 31, 2006. These three stations now operate in Casper in the same facility as KTWO and KFNB. The two station groups are completely separate from each other and do not share resources.

In September 2006, KGWN began carrying The CW network on its digital subchannel.

[edit] Team

News Team

  • Tregg White
  • Robert Geha
  • Tara Vreeland
  • Kerri Hayden
  • Carey Proctor
  • Alex Hannum
  • Jaclyn Rostie
  • Justin Joseph
  • Chris Jose
  • Krista Watzel

Weather Team

  • Tim Jones
  • Doug Hall

Sports Team

  • Joe Leadingham
  • Ben Rosehart
  • Macradee Aegerter

[edit] External links