WZRB

WZRB

Columbia, South Carolina
Branding	CW 47
Channels	Digital: 47 (UHF)
Subchannels	47.1 The CW
Affiliations	The CW
Owner	Roberts Broadcasting Company (sale to Ion Media Networks pending) (Roberts Broadcasting Company of Columbia, SC, LLC)
First air date	January 1, 2005
Call letters' meaning	WZ Roberts Broadcasting
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 47 (2005-2009)
Former affiliations	UPN (2005-2006)
Transmitter power	240 kW
Height	192 m
Facility ID	136750
Transmitter coordinates	34°2′39″N 80°59′51″W / 34.04417°N 80.99750°W / 34.04417; -80.99750
Website	www.wzrb.tv

WZRB, channel 47, is The CW affiliate in Columbia, South Carolina, USA. It is owned by St. Louis-based Roberts Broadcasting and its transmitter is located in Columbia.

History

WZRB was launched on January 1, 2005, as a UPN affiliate. Because it was granted an original construction permit after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997, , the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Instead, during the week of January 19, 2009, before February 17, 2009, which was the end of the digital TV conversion period for most full-service stations, WZRB turned off its analog signal and turned on its digital signal (called a "flash-cut"). The station had indicated on its website that it would do its switch in the middle of January.

Up until WZRB's launch, Elgin-based WBHQ carried UPN programming on a secondary basis along with The WB programming. WZRB became the sixth commercial station to go on the air in the Columbia viewing area. When CBS and Warner Brothers announced on January 24, 2006 that the UPN and The WB would merge into a new network called The CW, WBHQ (now WKTC, and at the time a WB affiliate) and WZRB did not immediately announce which station would carry the network. In September 2006, WZRB became Columbia's The CW affiliate, and WKTC took the My Network TV affiliation.

On December 2, 2013, Roberts filed to sell WZRB to Radiant Light Ministries, a subsidiary of Tri-State Christian Television;^[1] however, on December 11, the United States bankruptcy court gave initial approval for a plan by Roberts' creditors to instead transfer WZRB and its sister stations, WRBU in St. Louis and WAZE-LP in Evansville, Indiana, to a trust with Ion Media Networks (a creditor in Roberts' chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings) as its beneficiary, with Roberts' attorney subsequently stating that Ion would purchase the three stations.^[2][3]

Digital television

WZRB turned off its analog signal during the week of January 19, 2009 and remained on channel 47.

On March 29, 2011, WZRB's license was initially cancelled by the FCC for failure to file for either a license to cover or an extension of its digital construction permit (the license for sister station WRBJ in Jackson, Mississippi was initially cancelled for the same reasons two days later). However, Roberts Broadcasting filed an appeal, stating that the licenses to cover were improperly filed upon the digital transition. The FCC agreed, and reinstated the licenses of the two stations on April 19. Roberts had to file for new licenses to cover.

Currently, WZRB is not carried in HD on Time Warner Cable or AT&T U-verse in the area. It is, however, carried on Dish Network and DirecTV.

References

External links

• WZRB Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WZRB
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WZRB-TV