| Casper, Wyoming | |
|---|---|
| Branding | CBS 14 |
| Channels | Digital: 14 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | Mark III Media, Inc. |
| First air date | August 12, 1980 |
| Call letters' meaning | Greater Wyoming Casper (after former sister station, KGWN-TV) |
| Former callsigns | KCWY-TV (1980-1986) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 14 (UHF, 1980-2009) Digital: 15 (UHF, 2002-2009) |
| Transmitter power | 53.3 kW |
| Height | 562 m |
| Facility ID | 63177 |
KGWC-TV channel 14 is the local CBS affiliate for Casper, Wyoming, owned by Mark III Media. Programming is repeated on its satellite stations, KGWL-TV digital channel 7 (virtual channel 5) in Lander, and KGWR-TV channel 13 in Rock Springs. Operations for the three stations are based in Casper, in the same studios as ABC affiliate KTWO-TV, Fox affiliate KFNB and The CW Television Network affiliate K26ES.
KGWC is one of the few stations in the country that signs off at night every night, doing so at 1:30 am. Its repeaters KGWL and KGWR stay on air, but freeze up on the last image transmitted by KGWC.
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KGWC signed on August 12, 1980 as KCWY-TV, the second television station in western Wyoming. In 1982, KCWY began operating satellite stations to expand its reach; it bought KTUX-TV in Rock Springs, which had signed on October 21, 1977, and renamed it KWWY-TV, and in September started a second satellite, KOWY, in Lander. All three stations adopted their current call letters on January 1, 1987 (the KCWY calls are now located on channel 13 in Casper), and were grouped together as the "Wyoming News Network" until June 2000, when then-owner Benedek Broadcasting closed much of the Casper operation and made the stations semi-satellites of KGWN-TV, the CBS affiliate in Cheyenne. The stations were sold to Chelsey Broadcasting in 2002, following Benedek's bankruptcy.[1]
In 2003, Chelsey Broadcasting sold the KGWN stations in two separate sales. KGWN and Scottsbluff, Nebraska satellite KSTF were sold to SagamoreHill Broadcasting, while KGWC, KGWL, and KGWR were sold separately to Mark III. After a lengthy approval process at the Federal Communications Commission due to several objections to the sale (primarily concerning whether the sale would effectively put the stations under common ownership with KFNB and KTWO-TV[2]), Mark III officially consummated the sale on May 31, 2006. KGWC and its satellites then returned to operating separately from KGWN.
KGWL and KGWR began broadcasting digital television service in February 2009. KGWL opted to transmit its digital signal on channel 7 (its analog signal had operated on channel 5), while KGWR flash-cut on channel 13. KGWC had operated a digital signal on channel 15 for some time before then, but moved it to channel 14 after shutting down its analog transmitter.
KGWC does not currently produce any local news. The station first ceased its news operation upon consolidating with KGWN-TV in June 2000.[1] Local news, produced partly in cooperation with KTWO-TV, returned in 2004 under the NewsChannel 14 branding, but was again eliminated on January 3, 2006 due to poor viewership.[3]
| Station | City of license | Channels (Digital) |
First air date | Former callsigns | ERP (Digital) |
HAAT (Digital) |
Facility ID | Transmitter Coordinates |
| KGWL-TV | Lander | 7 (VHF) | September 19821 | KOWY (1982-1986) | 26.8 kW | 113 m | 63162 | |
| KGWR-TV | Rock Springs | 13 (VHF) | October 21, 1977 | KTUX (1977-1982) KWWY-TV (1982-1986) |
14.2 kW | 495 m | 63170 |
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