TV station in Alexandria, Louisiana (2000?2021)
KWCE-LP
(channel 27) was a
low-power
analog
television station
in
Alexandria, Louisiana
, United States, which operated from 2000 to 2021. In its latter years, it was owned by
Cox Media Group
as an affiliate of
MeTV
; it had common ownership with
ABC
affiliate
KLAX-TV
(channel 31). KWCE-LP's operations were last housed at KLAX-TV's studios on England Drive/
LA 498
in Alexandria; the station's transmitter was located on Bayou Maria Road in
Pineville
.
KWCE-LP did not broadcast a
digital
signal of its own, and there were no plans to convert the station's signal to digital. In addition, the analog station's low-power
signal contour
was limited to the immediate Alexandria area.
[3]
Therefore, in order to reach the entire
market
, KWCE-LP was
simulcast
in
widescreen
standard definition
on KLAX-TV's second
digital subchannel
, which eventually became its permanent over-the-air conduit.
Cox Media Group surrendered KWCE-LP's
broadcast license
to the
Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) for cancellation on February 1, 2021.
[4]
The former KWCE-LP continues under KLAX-TV's license.
History
[
edit
]
Plans for a new TV station in Central Louisiana occurred in the early 1990s. Tiger Eye Broadcasting of
Miami, Florida
, held the license for K36DS. In mid-2000,
state representative
Woody Jenkins
purchased K36DS and launched it as Alexandria's first standalone
UPN
affiliate; prior to 2000, UPN's programming was carried on a secondary basis by KLAX-TV. The station went by the
call letters
"KCLA", even though the official call sign remained K36DS; this practice was similar to Jenkins' Baton Rouge station,
KBTR-LP
, which went by "WBTR" in order to be in line with other Baton Rouge television stations.
Despite the UPN affiliation, KCLA was unable to attain cable coverage in the Central Louisiana area. On March 1, 2002, Pollack/Belz Broadcasting purchased KCLA from Woody Jenkins, and the station gained cable carriage in the region. At the time, KCLA also aired programming from
America One
and
UATV
on a secondary basis, similar to WBTR, but programming from those two networks soon disappeared after the acquisition. Pollack-Belz changed the call sign of the station to KWCE-LP in 2004.
When UPN and
The WB
ceased operations in 2006, KWCE opted to become an affiliate of
Retro TV
, while
The CW
went to
KBCA
and
MyNetworkTV
affiliated with
Fox
affiliate
WNTZ
on a secondary basis. The station also moved to channel 27 to avoid interference with nearby Fox affiliate
KARD
of Monroe, which broadcasts digitally on channel 36 and whose signal reaches much of the Alexandria market. When KLAX upgraded to high definition in 2012, KWCE was moved to a subchannel of channel 31 and affiliated with MeTV.
Pollack/Belz Broadcasting agreed to sell KWCE-LP and KLAX-TV to Lost Coast Broadcasting, a subsidiary of
Northwest Broadcasting
, for $3.5 million on April 6, 2018.
[5]
The sale was completed on August 31.
[6]
In February 2019,
Reuters
reported that
Apollo Global Management
had agreed to acquire the entirety of Brian Brady's television portfolio, which it intends to merge with
Cox Media Group
(which Apollo is acquiring at the same time) and stations spun off from
Nexstar Media Group
's purchase of
Tribune Broadcasting
, once the purchases are approved by the FCC.
[7]
[1]
[8]
In March 2019 filings with the FCC, Apollo confirmed that its newly-formed broadcasting group, Terrier Media, would acquire Northwest Broadcasting, with Brian Brady holding an unspecified minority interest in Terrier.
[8]
In June 2019, it was announced that Terrier Media would instead operate as Cox Media Group, as Apollo had reached a deal to also acquire Cox's radio and advertising businesses.
[9]
The transaction was completed on December 17.
[10]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Apollo Global Management Acquires Cox's Television Stations Plus Radio & Newspapers In Dayton"
.
RadioInsight
. February 15, 2019
. Retrieved
February 15,
2019
.
- ^
"Facility Technical Data for KWCE-LP"
.
Licensing and Management System
.
Federal Communications Commission
.
- ^
"Facility Details ≪ Licensing and Management System Admin ≪ FCC"
.
- ^
"Cancellation Application"
.
Licensing and Management System
.
Federal Communications Commission
. February 1, 2021
. Retrieved
February 17,
2021
.
- ^
"Application For Consent To Assignment Of Broadcast Station Construction Permit Or License"
.
CDBS Public Access
.
Federal Communications Commission
. June 8, 2018
. Retrieved
June 11,
2018
.
- ^
Consummation Notice
,
CDBS Public Access
,
Federal Communications Commission
, Retrieved September 5, 2018
- ^
"EXCLUSIVE-Apollo nears $3 billion deal to buy Cox TV stations -sources"
from
CNBC
(February 10, 2019)
- ^
a
b
Jessell, Harry A. (March 6, 2019).
"Cox TV Valued At $3.1 Billion In Apollo Acquisition"
.
TVNewsCheck
. NewsCheckMedia LLC
. Retrieved
March 6,
2019
.
- ^
Jacobson, Adam (June 26, 2019).
"It's Official: Cox Radio, Gamut, CoxReps Going To Apollo"
.
Radio & Television Business Report
. Retrieved
June 26,
2019
.
- ^
"Cox Enterprises Announces Close of Cox Media Group Sale to Affiliates of Apollo Global Management"
, prnewswire.com, December 17, 2019, Retrieved December 17, 2019.
|
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Stations
|
- "K04SA-D"
.
(4.1 URBT TV, 4.2 Queue, see also
this section
)
- KALB-TV
(5.1
NBC
, 5.2
CBS
, 5.3
CW+
, 5.4
The365
, 5.5
Grit
, 5.6
Oxygen
)
- K25PZ-D
(25.1
CW+
(repeat of 5.3))
- KLPA-TV 25
(25.1
PBS
/
LPB
, 25.2
PBS World
, 25.3
Create
)
- K29NX-D
(29.1
Buzzr
, 29.2
Crime
, 29.3
Quest
, 29.4
Movies!
)
- KLAX-TV
(31.1
ABC
,
31.2
MeTV
, 31.3
Ion
)
- KBCA
(41.1
H&I
, 41.2
ANT
, 41.3
Start
, 41.4
Cozi
, 41.5
Story
)
- WNTZ-TV
(48.1
Fox
/
MNTV
, 48.2
Bounce
, 48.3
Mystery
, 48.4
Laff
)
|
---|
Distant stations
|
- KNOE-TV
(8.1
CBS
, 8.2
ABC
, 8.3
CW+
/
MNTV
, 8.4
The365
, 8.5
Crime
, 8.6
Quest
)
- KLFY-TV
(10.1
CBS
, 10.2
Dabl
, 10.3
Ion
, 10.4
Laff
)
- KARD
(14.1
Fox
, 14.2
Bounce
, 14.3
Grit
, 14.4
ANT
)
|
---|
Defunct
| |
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|