| Sierra Vista / Tucson, Arizona Lordsburg, New Mexico |
|
|---|---|
| Branding | Tucson CW 58 |
| Channels | Digital: 44 (UHF) Virtual: 58 (PSIP) |
| Affiliations | The CW LATV (DT2) |
| Owner | Journal Broadcast Group, Inc. |
| First air date | January 1, 1999 |
| Call letters' meaning | The WB Arizona (after previous affiliation) |
| Sister station(s) | KGUN |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 58 (UHF, 1999-2009) |
| Former affiliations | The WB (1999-2006) |
| Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
| Height | 319 m |
| Facility ID | 35095 |
| Website | www.tucsoncw58.com |
KWBA-TV, virtual channel 58, is the affiliate of The CW network in Tucson, Arizona. The station broadcasts on digital channel 44, and is licensed to Sierra Vista, Arizona. KWBA signed on the air January 1, 1999 and is owned by the Journal Broadcast Group.
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KWBA-DT broadcasts its digital signal on UHF digital channel 44.
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
| Virtual channel |
Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 58.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | main KWBA-TV programming / The CW (HD) |
| 58.2 | 480i | 4:3 | LATV; Spanish-language entertainment programming (SD) |
In 2006, KWBA began multicasting LATV on digital subchannel 58.2. LATV is provided by KJLA-TV in Los Angeles. This station also serves the New Mexico Bootheel.
The station began November 22, 1996 with a construction permit granted to KM Communications to serve Sierra Vista and Tucson on analog channel 58. The call letters were originally KAUC, but in August 1997, the station changed their call letters to KWBA to reflect their affiliation deal with The WB. KWBA began broadcasting under Program Test Authority on January 1, 1999 and was licensed on May 24, 1999. Also in May 1999, KM Communications transferred the station to Cascade Broadcasting Group. It switched to The CW on September 18, 2006. KWBA is one of the former WB affiliates to retain its "WB" callsigns after affiliating with The CW (KSWB-TV San Diego, which became Fox on July 31, 2008 was the other, along with WSWB-TV in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, although "SWB" doesn't mean its former WB affiliation, but its broadcast area).
KWBA broadcast the games of the Arizona Diamondbacks in cooperation with KTVK in Phoenix until 2008, when FSN Arizona secured an exclusive 10-year deal with the franchise. The station resultingly lost audience share.
On March 18, 2008, Journal Broadcast Group announced plans to buy KWBA from Cascade for undisclosed terms, creating a duopoly with Journal-owned ABC affiliate KGUN-TV (channel 9).[1] On June 3 of that year, the Federal Communications Commission issued a failing station waiver[2] which allowed Journal to buy KWBA, which blamed the loss of broadcast Arizona Diamondbacks baseball rights and continued financial losses as the reason for the sale. In the waiver, Journal said it would launch a newscast produced by KGUN on the station. The acquisition was completed on July 23, 2008.
Syndicated programming currently featured on KWBA-TV includes: Judge Judy, Frasier, Without a Trace, Friends, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, TMZ on TV, Bones and Swift Justice with Jackie Glass. KWBA is also the broadcast home of University of Arizona Wildcats sporting events.
In 2003, KWBA entered into an agreement with local CBS affiliate KOLD-TV and launched a 9 p.m. newscast in April of that year; Fox affiliate KMSB-TV soon followed with their own 9 p.m. newscast. KWBA's 9 p.m. newscast was short-lived, as it went off the air in December 2005 after the contract with KOLD-TV expired. In September 2008, KGUN began rebroadcasting its 6 p.m. newscast on KWBA at 9 p.m. KGUN began producing a live weeknight-only 9 p.m. newscast for KWBA-TV on March 9, 2009.
KGUN does not produce an extension of its weekday morning newscast on KWBA, instead the station carries the syndicated morning news program The Daily Buzz on weekday mornings from 7-9 a.m., only airing two hours of the three-hour program.
Anchor
Weather team
KWBA features additional news personnel from KGUN. See that article for a complete listing.
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