| Springfield/Holyoke, Massachusetts | |
|---|---|
| Branding | Pioneer Valley CW |
| Slogan | TV to Talk About |
| Affiliations | The CW (via The CW Plus) |
| Founded | late-1998 |
| Call letters' meaning | The WB (previous affiliation) |
| Former affiliations | The WB (via The WB 100+, 1998-2006) |
"WBQT" is the CW-affiliated television station for the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. The call letters are fictional since it is a cable-exclusive station and part of The CW Plus which is a special CW feed airing on cable and/or over-the-air on a digital signal. The station does not have an actual owner and has a signal provided to cable companies through a closed circuit satellite feed. WBQT can be seen on Charter channel 13 and Comcast channel 16. Like all CW Plus affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, it offers the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz on weekday mornings from 6 until 9.
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WBQT began in late-1998 alongside the launch of The WB 100+ and its cable-only affiliates. As a WB 100+ station, it was one of the few in the group that was not aligned with an established over-the-air station in the market. This practice currently continues with the station being a CW affiliate as part of The CW Plus. WBQT did not initially replace out-of-market WB affiliates (such as WPIX from New York City, WBNE from Hartford, and WLVI-TV from Boston) on local cable systems.
In 1999, WBQT was taken off AT&T Broadband systems serving the majority of the Springfield/Holyoke market. When Comcast took over AT&T's cable system in 2001, the company began a push to expand WBQT's reach. In late-2001, it replaced out-of-market WB affiliates on most systems with near total replacement taking place by 2003. Throughout the station's affiliation with The WB, it was known on-air as "Pioneer Valley's WB 16" (named after its channel location) and had its own logo.
On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced the two networks would shut down and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. During months of confusion, it was unknown what would happen to WBQT. Some WB 100+ stations in the United States were being shut down as a result of over-the-air stations adding The CW as a secondary affiliation or on a new digital subchannel. There was no over-the-air UPN affiliate in the Springfield/Holyoke market that would have most likely taken the CW affiliation as a result of WBQT being cable exclusive. By then, WBNE (now WCTX) had been serving the Pioneer Valley as the default UPN affiliate on cable.
There was an early-2006 sign-on of low-powered W28CT broadcasting from the summit of the old Mount Tom Ski Area in Holyoke. After a short period of time, the station's call letters were changed to WXCW-CA. In August 2006, the call letters changed again to WFXQ-CA. The station (now WFXQ-CD) is currently a full-time repeater of NBC affiliate WWLP and co-owned by the LIN TV Corporation.
In late-Summer 2006, it was announced WBQT would become Springfield's CW affiliate. It was to be a part of The CW Plus, a similar operation to The WB 100+. The station began airing promotions of the new network with WBQT's branding becoming "Pioneer Valley CW". There was also a new CW logo given to the station. The official merge of The WB and UPN occurred on September 18. By this point, the new CW logo was airing on all on-air promos and WBQT started using its new branding. As a result of joining The CW, a new web address was created for the station. As a WB affiliate, it did not have a website. The new web address is formatted in a generic website for CW Plus stations featuring a programming grid with WBQT's updated logo being present.
Although its two cable channel locations are seen in the logo, the station does not identify them as part of its branding. The CW remains the only network not offered over-the-air in Springfield.
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