| Cheyenne, Wyoming | |
|---|---|
| Branding | CBS NewsChannel 5 Northern Colorado 5 (on KGWN-DT2) |
| Slogan | Your Station (general) Committed to Northern Colorado (on KGWN-DT2) |
| Channels | Digital: 30 (UHF) |
| Subchannels | 5.1 CBS 5.2 NOCO5 5.3 The CW |
| Translators | 19 K19FX Laramie, WY |
| Owner | SagamoreHill Broadcasting of Wyoming/Northern Colorado, LLC |
| Founded | March 22, 1954 |
| Call letters' meaning | Greater Wyoming Network |
| Former callsigns | KFBC-TV (1954-1975) KYCU-TV (1975-1986) |
| Former channel number(s) | 5 (VHF analog, 1954-2009) |
| Former affiliations | ABC (primary 1954-1965, joint primary with CBS 1965-1976, secondary 1976-1988) NBC (secondary, 1954-1987) DuMont (secondary, 1954-1955) The CW (via The CW Plus, on KGWN-DT2) |
| Transmitter power | 459 kW |
| Height | 162 m |
| Facility ID | 63166 |
| Website | kgwn.tv |
| Scottsbluff, Nebraska | |
|---|---|
| Channels | Digital: 29 |
| Subchannels | 10.1 CBS |
| Owner | (SagamoreHill Broadcasting of Wyoming/Northern Colorado, LLC) |
| Founded | August 7, 1955 |
| Call letters' meaning | ScoTtsblufF |
| Former channel number(s) | 10 (VHF analog, 1955-2009) |
| Transmitter power | 2.7 kW |
| Height | 235 m |
| Facility ID | 63182 |
KGWN-TV, channel 5, is the CBS-affiliated television station for Cheyenne, Wyoming. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 (virtual channel 5.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in unincorporated Laramie County, west of Cheyenne, between I-80/US 30 and WYO 225. The station can also be seen on Bresnan Communications channel 5 and in high definition on digital channel 705.
Owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting, KGWN has studios on East Lincolnway/East 14th Street/I-80 Business/US 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.
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In Wyoming, KGWN can also be seen over-the-air on repeater K19FX channel 19 in Laramie from a transmitter in unincorporated Albany County near the northwestern boundary of Medicine Bow National Forest. This analog signal has a construction permit to perform a "flash-cut" to a low-powered digital signal. KGWN operates the area's cable-exclusive CW affiliate "KCHW" (call sign used unofficially). Known on-air as Cheyenne CW, it receives all programming through The CW Plus. "KCHW" can only be seen on Bresnan Communications channel 2 and in Nebraska on Charter channel 18 and Allo Communications channel 2. KGWN provides sales and promotional duties for the station.
KSTF in Scottsbluff, Nebraska operates as a semi-satellite of KGWN. It is a full-time simulcast except for separate local commercials. The station broadcasts a standard definition digital signal on UHF channel 29 (virtual channel 10.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter along N-71 at the Scotts Bluff and Sioux County line. The station can also be seen in Nebraska on Charter channel 6. Although master control and most internal operations are based out of KGWN's facilities, KSTF maintains a sales office on North 10th Street/N-17 Business in Gering, Nebraska. There is no separate web address for the station, but Nebraska-specific coverage is provided through KGWN's website.
Since KGWN's transmitter is close to the Colorado border, it provides city-grade coverage of much of Northern Colorado including Fort Collins, Loveland, and Greeley. It also provides grade B coverage as far south as Longmont and Boulder. KGWN has long claimed Northern Colorado as part of its primary coverage area even though the region is part of the Denver market. It is been carried on cable systems in Fort Collins, Loveland, and Greeley alongside Denver's KCNC-TV. Additionally, many cable systems on the Wyoming side of the Denver market carry both stations.
KSTF does not air its digital signal in high definition. There is, however, an HD feed of KGWN offered on Charter digital channel 785 and Allo channel 305 in Nebraska. On KGWN-DT2 is another standard definition semi-satellite serving Northern Colorado. Known on-air as Northern Colorado 5, this can also be seen on US Cable digital channel 5 as well as Comcast digital channel 8 (in Fort Collins/Loveland) and digital channel 14 (in Greeley).
Although identified as a separate outlet in its own right, KGWN-DT2 clears all network programming as provided through its parent. All syndicated shows are also seen although some are seen at a different time. The station airs separate on-air identifications and local commercials. Even though KGWN-DT2 maintains its own studios on East Mountain Avenue in downtown Fort Collins, master control and some internal operations are based out of KGWN's facilities.
| Channel | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | 720p | 16:9 | KGWN Programming / CBS |
| 5.2 | 720p | 16:9 | Northern Colorado 5 |
| 5.3 | 480i | 4:3 | The CW |
| 10.1 (KSTF) | 480i | 4:3 | KGWN Programming / CBS |
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 Tribune and Wyoming Eagle (later merged as Wyoming Tribune Eagle) and KFBC radio. 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. This may have seemed unusual as Cheyenne has always been a rather small market. In most other small DMAs, ABC was usually relegated to secondary status due to being the smallest and weakest network. However, KFBC-AM 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 primary affiliation to CBS. The McCrakens sold KYCU to Stauffer Communications in 1987, who switched its call sign to the current KGWN-TV.
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. 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. 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 current owner SagamoreHill.
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 eighteen 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. Finally on July 11, 1976, KEVN signed-on in Rapid City and took over that market's CBS affiliation. 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.
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. 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.
KGWN is the only television station based in Cheyenne. Although KTWO and KCWY are based in Casper, both feature reporters who focus their coverage on Cheyenne and the surrounding areas. 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 shut down KSTF's news department entirely. CW Plus affiliate "KCHW" offers the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz on weekdays from 5 until 8. KGWN does not air a full two-hour weekday morning show. It also does not offer local news weeknights at 5 and 6. On weekends, the station only airs news at 10.
Anchors
Weekends
Storm Tracker 5 Meteorologists
Sports
Reporters
In 2005, KGWN established a Northern Colorado Bureau in Fort Collins. This provided another source of local news coverage in the area in addition to stations based in Denver.
KGWN-DT2 maintains local reporters based in Fort Collins who contribute Northern Colorado-specific content to the show. Monday through Thursday mornings from 6 to 6:30, the station simulcasts local radio station KCOL-AM 600. Weekday mornings at 6:30, there is a local weather forecast segment which repeats several times during the half hour. KGWN-DT2 does not simulcast any newscasts from its parent station.
Anchors
Reporters
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