WIBW-TV

WIBW-TV

Topeka, Kansas United States
Branding	WIBW-TV 13 (general) 13 News (newscasts) My Network Topeka (on DT2)
Slogan	Kansas' News Leader
Channels	Digital: 13 (VHF) Virtual: 13 (PSIP)
Subchannels	13.1 CBS 13.2 MyNetworkTV/Me-TV
Translators	44 (UHF) Topeka
Affiliations	CBS (exclusive since 1983; primary until 1983)
Owner	Gray Television (Gray Television Licensee, LLC)
First air date	November 15, 1953 (1953-11-15)
Call letters' meaning	Indiana Broadcast Works (original owner of WIBW-AM's predecessor in Logansport, Indiana)
Sister station(s)	KAKE
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 13 (VHF, 1953–2009) Digital: 44 (UHF, 2002–2009)
Former affiliations	All secondary: DuMont (1953–1955) NBC (1953–1967) ABC (1953–1983)
Transmitter power	27 kW
Height	413 m
Facility ID	63160
Transmitter coordinates	39°0′21.8″N 96°2′58.3″W / 39.006056°N 96.049528°W / 39.006056; -96.049528
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Profile CDBS
Website	www.wibw.com

WIBW-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Topeka, Kansas. It broadcasts a digital signal on VHF channel 13 and its digital translator on UHF channel 44. Both operating frequencies are transmitted in Maple Hill. Owned by Gray Television, the station has studios at Southwest Commerce Place next to the interchange (I-70, I-470, US 40, US 75 and K-4).

History

WIBW-TV, the second television station in Kansas, debuted on November 15, 1953. It was originally owned by the family of the late Senator Arthur Capper along with the Topeka Daily Capital and WIBW-AM 580. The station carried programming from all four networks at the time but was a primary CBS affiliate. Although Topeka was originally part of the Kansas City market, the Cappers persuaded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make Topeka its own market. While the city itself and its close-in suburbs receive the Kansas City stations very well, some parts of Northeastern Kansas get a marginal signal at best. The TV station's original studio was located on Wanamaker Road in west Topeka, near the Menninger Clinic. That building was severely damaged by fire on January 5, 2012.^[1]

It was the only commercial station in town for fifteen years. This was largely because the only other VHF frequency in the Topeka area, channel 11, had been designated as noncommercial; that allocation eventually became KTWU, which took to the air in 1965. However, area viewers did not have to worry about missing their favorite shows since the Kansas City stations all decently cover Topeka and started appearing on cable in the rest of the market in the 1960s. It lost DuMont when that network shut down in 1955, lost NBC when KTSB (now KSNT) signed-on in 1967, and lost ABC when KLDH (now KTKA) signed-on in 1983.

In 1957, Capper Publications merged with Stauffer Publications, owner of Topeka's other newspaper, the Topeka State Journal. The two newspapers, which later merged as the Topeka Capital-Journal, and WIBW-AM-FM-TV remained the flagships of Stauffer Publications (later renamed Stauffer Communications) until 1995 when the company merged with Morris Communications of Augusta, Georgia. As a condition of the sale, Morris had to sell Stauffer's television holdings. Most of the former Stauffer television holdings, including WIBW, were sold to Benedek Broadcasting in 1996. In 2002, Benedek merged with this station's current owner, Gray Communications, now Gray Television. The radio stations are still owned by Morris today along with the Capital-Journal.

It has dominated the market for as long as records have been kept. Not surprisingly, it has many firsts in the market. It was the first to broadcast in color and use microwave LNC live trucks, and is the only Topeka station with an ENG live truck.

WIBW is one of the few stations west of the Mississippi River whose call sign begins with the letter "W". This dates to WIBW-AM's roots as a station in Logansport, Indiana. It moved to Topeka in 1927. The move was sponsored by Capper, who added a "W" to the initials of the Indiana station's owner, Indiana Broadcast Works. However, the "W/K" divide for call signs was not always the Mississippi River, and Kansas was on the eastern side of the original call divide. Thus it would have been perfectly acceptable to have a "W" in Kansas in any event.

On May 23, 2012, a man broke into the WIBW studio lobby, stabbed two station employees and bit another employee. The station's sales manager Roger Brokke and sales associate Greg Palmer received non-life-threatening leg injuries in the attack. The attacker, identified as 48-year-old Ray Miles, was upset because WIBW news director Jon Janes was unable to help him with a problem involving the Department of Veterans Affairs. Miles was arrested on suspicion of six counts, including aggravated battery and burglary.^[2][3][4]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel	Video	Aspect	PSIP Short Name	Programming[5]
13.1	1080i	16:9	WIBW-HD	Main WIBW-TV programming / CBS
13.2	480i	4:3	WIBW-DT	MyNetworkTV / Me-TV

Beginning on September 18, 2006, its second digital subchannel signed-on with programming from MyNetworkTV (a network launched by Fox parent News Corporation) and a secondary affiliation with Colours TV. The subchannel later affiliated with This TV, which was eventually dropped on September 10, 2012 and replaced with Me-TV (both Me-TV and This TV are owned by Weigel Broadcasting).^[6]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WIBW-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, on February 16, 2009, the day to the prior to the original date in which full-power television stations in the United States were set to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later rescheduled for June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 44 to VHF channel 13.^[7][8][9] But since the transition, some viewers in the urban areas are having difficulty receiving their signal over-the-air on channel 13. The FCC granted WIBW a construction permit for a fill-in digital translator on their pre-transition channel 44.^[10] The translator serves the immediate part of the city and the nearby areas west of Topeka from the same transmitter as the main signal. It is still the only commercial station in Topeka on the VHF band (PBS affiliate KTWU is on channel 11).

News operation

WIBW-TV broadcasts a total of 26½ hours of local news per week (with 4½ hours on weekdays, and two hours each on Saturdays and Sundays).

The station's practice is to broadcast its 13 News at 6 PM Sunday even if preempted by sports by moving it to the D2 subchannel. News programming is also on the subchannel during the time that its primary channel is air network programming at 7-9 a.m. and 9 p.m. weekday.^[11]

WIBW, along with co-owned Wichita ABC affiliate KAKE-TV and Cox Communications, were one of two partners in "Kansas Now 22", a cable channel that aired throughout Kansas. WIBW and KAKE would originate five minute segments of taped news every fifteen minutes then an additional three-minute taped weather segment. The two stations had alternating time slots for both news and weather segments. Live news or weather bulletins from KAKE in Wichita would interrupt normal taped operations on the channel. This service ended on January 2, 2009. The channel was relaunched on January 28, 2009 as "Kansas 22" with content originating from LIN Media-owned NBC affiliate stations KSNW and KSNT.

On February 23, 2012, beginning with its 6:00 p.m. newscast, WIBW-TV became the first television station in Northeast Kansas to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition.

Former on-air staff

• Gary Bender
• Kevin Harlan (1979 summer sports intern, now at CBS Sports and Westwood One radio)
• Mike Jerrick (now at Fox News Channel)
• Gordon Jump
• Bill Kurtis
• Steve Physioc
• Devin Scillian (now at WDIV in Detroit, Detroit and a children's author)
• Fred White (also former-broadcaster of Kansas City Royals baseball games)

Awards

WIBW-TV has won numerous awards for numerous newscasts and reporting.^[12]
Here are the awards that WIBW-TV has won:

2013 Heartland Chapter Emmy Awards^[12]

Evening Newscast
13 News at 6, 12/17/2012
Jon Janes, News Director

2013 Heart of America, Society of Professional Journalists^[12]

Gold Awards

Silver Awards

Feature
Long-Lost Love
Melissa Brunner & Doug Brown

News Program
13 News at 6
13 News Team

2011–2012 KAB Awards^[12]

1st Place Awards

2010–2011 KAB Awards^[12]

Station of the Year
WIBW-TV

1st Place Awards

Honorable Mentions

References

External links

• Official website
• WIBW-DT2 "My Network Topeka"
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WIBW-TV

Television stations in northeastern Kansas, including Topeka Reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television Local stations KTWU (11.1 PBS, 11.2 MHz WorldView/PBS Kids, 11.3 Enhance (Create/PBS Encore)) WIBW-TV (13.1 CBS, 13.2 MNTV/This) KKSU-LP 21 (Ind.) KSQA (22.1 ZUUS Country, 22.3 Bounce TV) KSNT (27.1 NBC, 27.2 KTMJ-CD) K31BW 31 (silent) K33IC 33 (TBN) KTMJ-CD 43 / KTLJ-CA 6 / KMJT-LP 15 / KETM-CA 17 (Fox) KTKA-TV (49.1 ABC, 49.2 Weather, 49.3 The CW) Adjacent locals Kansas City WDAF-TV (4.1 Fox, 4.2 Antenna) KCTV (5.1 CBS) KMBC-TV (9.1 ABC, 9.2 Me-TV) KCPT (19.1 PBS, 19.2 PBS-HD, 19.3 Create) KMCI-TV (38.1 Ind., 38.2 Bounce) KSHB-TV (41.1 NBC, 41.2 Cozi TV) Omaha KMTV-TV (3.1 CBS, 3.2 LWN) WOWT (6.1 NBC, 6.2 AccuWeather) KETV (7.1 ABC, 7.2 Me-TV) St. Joseph KQTV (2.1 ABC) KTAJ-TV (16.1 TBN, 16.2 Church, 16.3 JUCE TV, 16.4 Enlace, 16.5 Smile) Defunct stations K25DS 25 (TBN) See also Wichita TV Kansas City TV St. Joseph TV Tulsa TV Omaha TV Lincoln TV Joplin TV

Television stations in Kansas City Reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television Local stations WDAF (4.1 Fox, 4.2 Antenna TV) KCTV (5.1 CBS) KMBC (9.1 ABC, 9.2 Me-TV) KCPT (19.1 PBS, 19.2 PBS Encore, 19.3 Create) KCWE (29.1 The CW, 29.2 Movies!) KCDN-LD 35 (DS) KMCI (38.1 Ind., 38.2 Bounce) KSHB (41.1 NBC, 41.2 Cozi TV) K45IO (45.1 HSN) KUKC-LP 48 (UNI) KPXE (50.1 ION, 50.2 Qubo, 50.3 Life, 50.4 Ion Shop, 50.5 QVC Over Air, 50.6 HSN) KSMO (62.1 MNTV, 62.2 MundoFox) Local cable channels Fox Sports Kansas City Time Warner Cable Sports Channel 6 News Lawrence Adjacent locals St. Joseph KQTV (2.1 ABC) KTAJ (16.1 TBN, 16.2 Church, 16.3 JUCE TV, 16.4 Enlace, 16.5 Smile) KBJO-LD (21.1 The CW) KNPN-LD (26.1 Fox, 26.2 News-Press 3 NOW, 26.4 TMD) Sedalia KMOS (6.1 PBS, 6.2 PBS HD, 6.3 Create/MHz) Topeka KTWU (11.1 PBS, 11.2 MHz/PBS Kids, 11.3 Create/PBS Encore) WIBW (13.1 CBS, 13.2 MNTV/Me-TV) KSNT (27.1 NBC, 27.2 Fox) KTKA (49.1 ABC, 49.2 WX, 49.3 The CW) Defunct stations KUJH-LP 14 (Ind.) KCTY 25 (DuMont) See also St. Joseph TV Topeka TV Omaha TV Des Moines TV Columbia/Jefferson City TV

CBS Network Affiliates in the state of Kansas KOAM 7.1 (Pittsburg) KWCH 12.1 / KBSD 6.1 / KBSH 7.1 / KBSL 10.1 (Wichita / Dodge City / Hays / Colby) WIBW 13.1 (Topeka) See also ABC CBS CW Fox ION MyNetworkTV NBC PBS Other stations in Kansas

Gray Television ABC network affiliates KAKE KGNS 1 KJCT KNOE 1 KOLO KSFY / KABY / KPRY WBKO WHSV WJRT WTOK WTVG WVAW CBS network affiliates KALB 1 KGWN / KSTF KKTV KNOE KNPL KOLN / KGIN KVLY 1 KWTX / KBTX KXII WCAV WCTV / WSWG WECP WIBW WIFR WIYE WKYT / WYMT WRDW WSAW WSVF WTVY WVLT The CW network affiliates 1 KBTX KJCT KMTF KNOE KSFY / KABY / KPRY KWTX WBKO WJHG WKYT WQCW WSWG WTOK WTVG WYMT Fox network affiliates KEVN / KIVV KIIT KNDX / KXND KXII 1 WAHU WBKO 1 WOVA WSVF MyNetworkTV affiliates 1 KKTV KSNB KXII WAHU WCTV WECP WHSV WIBW WITN WRDW WSAW WSAZ WSWG WTOK WTVY WIYE WVLT NBC network affiliates KALB KCWY KFYR / KQCD / KMOT / KUMV KGNS KKCO KNOP KSNB KTVH KVLY WEAU WILX WITN WJHG WMTV WNDU WOWT WRGX WSAZ WTAP Telemundo affiliates 1 KGNS KKCO Acquisitions Benedek Broadcasting Hoak Media 1 These stations (except for KMTF & WQCW) broadcast these networks on their digital subchannels.