WCWF

WCWF
Suring/Green Bay, Wisconsin
Branding CW14
Slogan TV to Talk About (adapted from network's national slogan)
Channels Digital: 21 (UHF)
Virtual: 14 (PSIP)
Subchannels 14.1 The CW
Owner LIN TV Corporation
(LIN of Wisconsin, LLC)
First air date February 22, 1984
Call letters' meaning Wisconsin's CW Fourteen
Sister station(s) WLUK-TV
Former callsigns WSCO (1984-1998)
WPXG (1998-1999)
WIWB (1999-2010)
Former channel number(s) 14 (UHF analog, 1984-2009)
Former affiliations Religious/WVCY-TV (1984-1987, 1993-1997)
inTV (1997-1998)
Pax TV (primary 1998-1999, secondary 1999-2005)
The WB (1999-2006)
UPN (September 2006, temporary CW transitional)
Transmitter power 800 kW
Height 332 m
Facility ID 73042
Website CW14online.com

WCWF ("CW14") is the CW-affiliated television station for the Fox River Valley area and Northeastern Wisconsin. Licensed to Suring, Wisconsin, WCWF broadcasts a high-definition digital signal on UHF channel 21 from a transmitter in Glenmore, Wisconsin. The station is owned by LIN TV Corporation, and is based alongside sister station WLUK-TV in studios at 787 Lombardi Avenue (US Business Hwy 41) in Green Bay.

Contents

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Digital programming

Channel Format Aspect Programming
14.1 1080i 16:9 main WCWF programming / The CW

WCWF broadcasts its digital television signal on its current pre-transition channel number, 21, although digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as 14 through the use of PSIP. On December 12, 2008, the station replaced their digital antenna due to a wavering signal and recommended that viewers do a channel rescan to restore the digital WIWB signal that may have been lost. It discontinued regular analog programming on February 17, 2009 looping a nightlight program of digital transition information and local DTV hotline numbers until March 4 when the station turned-off its analog transmitter. On May 6, 2009 due to the station's closeness to the Canadian border zone, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission issued a conditional approval of WIWB's construction permit to expand their coverage area by increasing power. The approval was needed in order to work with interference problems resulting from PBS member station WCMW from across the lake in Manistee, Michigan sharing channel 21 and to address the concerns of interference in local health care facilities' radiological equipment.[1] The increase in power was applied on September 8, 2009 and station officials asked viewers to rescan for the signal.

In mid-November 2011, the station experienced major problems with their transmitter and LIN's technical staff had to bring the station off-air for several days to repair the problem. As there was no backup fiber optic link to Time Warner Cable, the station was completely off-air, and as LIN carries no subchannels in Green Bay, WLUK was unable to offer WCWF's programming over a backup 11.2 signal. The station was unable to get permission from The CW to carry the two nights of network programming missed during the shutdown and referred viewers to the network's website and Hulu to watch the missed shows.

The station's former analog transmitter was located outside of the unincorporated Oconto County community of Krakow, four miles north of Pulaski on WIS 32.

History

The station launched on February 22, 1984 as WSCO-TV, airing religious programming under the ownership of Northeastern Wisconsin Christian Television Incorporated. Financial problems would force the station off the air by 1987; VCY America would purchase the station's license that year[2] and return it to the air by 1993 as a sister station to Milwaukee's WVCY-TV with religious and home shopping programming. On April 30, 1997, Paxson Communications purchased the station[3] and converted it to a paid programming format. In August 1998, WSCO became a charter owned-and-operated station of Pax TV under the new call sign WPXG (for "Paxson Green Bay").

On June 2, 1999, Paxon sold WPXG to ACME Communications[4] and the station immediately became a primary WB affiliate under the WIWB call sign, originally branded as "WB 14" and later "Wisconsin's WB". Before this network change, WB programming in Northeastern Wisconsin was previously seen either through cable systems that carried WGN and/or WVTV or during off hours on UPN affiliate WACY-TV (Kids' WB programming aired as part of WACY's children's lineup). WIWB also continued to air Pax programming during off hours (mornings, overnights, weekends) for a few years after ACME's purchase but would drop that network by 2004, at which time the station's programming lineup would become more of a general entertainment outlet, heavy on sitcom reruns and court shows, in addition to WB programming.

On March 9, 2006, it was announced that WIWB would become Green Bay's affiliate for The CW Television Network.[5] The channel officially joined the network on its September 18, 2006 launch although it temporary had dual affiliation of both of The CW's predecessors, carrying not only The WB but also shows from UPN after that network's Green Bay affiliate (WACY-TV) dropped the network before its closure to join MyNetworkTV.

On June 4, 2010, it was announced that LIN TV Corporation, owner of Green Bay's Fox affiliate WLUK-TV, would begin to operate WIWB through separate shared services and joint sales agreements, meaning that WLUK would provide WIWB with technical, engineering, promotional, administrative, and other operational support services, as well as joint advertising sales for the 2 stations.[6] (Two other stations in the Green Bay-Fox Cities market, Ace TV-owned WACY-TV and Journal Communications-owned WGBA, have a similar agreement that dates back to 1994.)

As part of its operations and sales agreements with ACME Communications, LIN TV had the option to purchase WIWB, an option it exercised in September 2010, purchasing not only WIWB but another CW station in a similar arrangement, Dayton, Ohio's WBDT.[7] LIN TV included in its license transfer request to the FCC a "failing station waiver," an indication that the station was in an economically non-viable position and that FCC should relax ownership limits that apply to the Green Bay market (CFR§73.3555(b)(2) of the FCC's rules) so that channel 14 could stay on the air. (Those same ownership limits prevented Journal from purchasing WACY-TV in 2004.)[8][9] Soon after LIN TV announced it was buying WIWB outright, it changed its call letters to WCWF.

In April 2011, the FCC approved the ownership transfer of WCWF from ACME to LIN TV, also applying the requested failing station waiver.[10] Additionally, the FCC denied a petition from Time Warner Cable, the dominant cable provider in Northeast Wisconsin; the FCC dismissed as speculative TWC's claims that that higher retransmission fees for WCWF, when paired with those for WLUK, would result from LIN TV's purchase of the station, and that LIN's collective retransmission plans for both stations did not violate FCC rules.[11] On May 20, 2011, WCWF sale was consummated.[12]

Almost immediately after taking control of WIWB, LIN TV would make changes at the station, starting with relocating its operations from the Parkview Plaza strip mall in suburban Ashwaubenon to WLUK's studios on Lombardi Avenue. During August and September 2010, the station would undergo changes in both on-air branding (from "Wisconsin's CW" to "CW14") and call letters (from WIWB to WCWF). Also in Fall 2010, WCWF would upgrade syndicated programming to high-definition (which already occurs on WLUK), while both WCWF and WLUK would begin hourly cross-promotions of each other's programming.[13] In mid-November 2010, WCWF's website was switched from being managed by Acme's webhost, Desert Bloom Productions, to LIN Media Interactive.

Programming

Current regular programming on WCWF features the full lineup of CW network programming; syndicated first-run shows such as The Daily Buzz, The People's Court and Judge Mathis; and reruns of such shows as The Office, Everybody Loves Raymond, Family Guy, and Friends. In September 2011, the station began to air Seinfeld in a trade with WLUK to strengthen the station's standing further. WCWF is also used as a "shadow station" for preempted WLUK programming; for example, 9 p.m. newscasts on WLUK that are preempted for Fox Sports broadcasts will air on WCWF (in prior years, WLUK leased access on a Time Warner Cable channel for its preempted newscasts).[14]

Locally-produced content

From December 2008 to June 2010, WIWB featured Daily Buzz inserts called "Buzzed Into the (920)" (named for the telephone area code for Green Bay and the Fox Cities). "Buzzed" was patterned after then-sister station WBUW's "Buzzed Into Madison" and featured an on-air presenter (originally Kristen Rietz, later Kari Merchant) profiling positive stories and features on news, events, businesses, and personalities in the Green Bay/Fox Cities area. "Buzzed Into the (920)" was dropped when WLUK took over WCWF's operations, although past installments are still available on the feature's YouTube channel as of March 2011. (That page also includes a logo montage that heralded WIWB's 2010 call sign change to WCWF.)

Existing local content on WCWF, in addition to the occasional WLUK news broadcast, includes Sunday morning airings of the polka music show Polka, Polka, Polka and the cooking show Mad Dog & Merril's Midwest Grillin (Mad Dog & Merril are long-time Northeast Wisconsin-based cooking experts). LIN TV, after taking control of WCWF, would add severe weather bulletins and, beginning in August 2011, the weekly prep football highlight show High School GameTime.[15] Also added in 2011 was the position of "CW 14 Star," who represents the station on-air, online, and at community events. Maria Parmigiani was selected as the first "Star" during the first quarter of 2011, earning the job after an audition process, an appearance on WLUK's Good Day Wisconsin, and an online voting process.[16]

References

External links