CW affiliate in Big Spring, Texas
KCWO-TV
(channel 4) is a
television station
licensed to
Big Spring, Texas
, United States, serving the
Permian Basin
area as an affiliate of
The CW Plus
. It is owned by
Gray Television
alongside
CBS
affiliate
KOSA-TV
(channel 7),
MyNetworkTV
affiliate
KWWT
(channel 30),
Telemundo
affiliate
KTLE-LD
(channel 20) and
The365
affiliate
KMDF-LD
(channel 22). The five stations share studios inside the
Music City Mall
on East 42nd Street in
Odessa
, with a secondary studio and news bureau in downtown
Midland
; KCWO-TV's transmitter is located on
US 87
north of Big Spring.
Until January 2019 as
KWAB-TV
, the station operated as a
satellite
of Odessa-licensed
NBC
affiliate
KWES-TV
(channel 9), then owned by
Raycom Media
. KWAB-TV's signal covered eastern parts of the Odessa?Midland
market
that received a marginal to non-existent
over-the-air
signal from KWES-TV, although there was significant overlap between the two stations'
contours
otherwise. KWAB-TV was a straight
simulcast
of KWES-TV; the only on-air references to the station were during
Federal Communications Commission
(FCC)-mandated hourly
legal identifications
. Aside from the transmitter, KWAB-TV/KCWO-TV does not maintain any physical presence locally in Big Spring. In conjunction with Gray's acquisition of Raycom and subsequent resale of KWES-TV to
Tegna Inc.
,
[2]
KWAB-TV was retained by Gray and converted into a stand-alone station; its main channel is simulcast in high definition on KOSA-TV's second digital subchannel to expand its broadcast range.
[3]
History
[
edit
]
KCWO began operations in January 1956 as KBST-TV, owned by the
Big Spring Herald
along with
KBST radio
(1490 AM).
[4]
The station carried programming from all three networks; however, it was hampered by the presence of
KMID-TV
(channel 2) in
Midland
, which carried NBC and some
ABC
programming, and
KOSA-TV
(channel 7) in Odessa, which carried CBS, which limited KBST's network programming. Consequently, the station had little success. The radio station was eventually sold to the Snyder Corporation (co-owned by Ted Snyder, who later acquired
KARN
in
Little Rock, Arkansas
, and B. Winston Wrinkle), while a half interest in KBST-TV was transferred to Dub Rogers' Texas Telecasting, owner of KDUB-TV in
Lubbock
(now
KLBK-TV
) and part-owner of KVER-TV in
Clovis, New Mexico
(now
KVIH-TV
). Rogers then changed the call letters of the station to KEDY-TV.
The studios and tower were located at the edge of
Howard College
campus at 2500 Kentucky Way. Local shows were produced on and off until the late 1960s. Otherwise, KEDY largely became a
semi-satellite
of KDUB. In 1961, Rogers sold his stations to Grayson Enterprises. Soon afterward, the station took the KWAB callsign (for
Webb Air Force Base
), and switched from simulcasting KDUB to KPAR-TV (now
KTXS-TV
) in
Sweetwater
. However, both KDUB and KPAR were primarily affiliated with CBS (though KPAR also had a secondary ABC affiliation), resulting at times in KWAB duplicating KOSA. Soon after Grayson's acquisition of KVKM-TV (now KWES-TV) in 1969, KWAB began to simulcast that station, alleviating the duplication.
Grayson Enterprises ran into license renewal trouble in 1968, 1971, 1974, and 1977 for some of its stations. These stations were accused of fraudulent billing, program and transmitter log fabrication, main studio violations, failure to make required technical tests, and other issues. The stations had their renewals deferred and hearings ordered as a result.
The case was settled in what was then described as a "distress sale", in which Grayson's stations were broken up and sold to minority-controlled groups (nowadays known as historically under-represented groups) at a reduced price. The parameters of such a sale were defined by this sell-off. As a result, Grayson sold both stations to Permian Basin Television Corporation in 1980.
KWES/KWAB swapped affiliations with KMID on September 5, 1982, and joined NBC. Permian Basin Television sold KWES and KWAB to MSP Television in 1985.
Drewry Communications
bought the stations in 1991. Drewry had planned to sell its stations to London Broadcasting in 2008;
[5]
however, by January 2009, the deal fell through.
[6]
For many years, the stations did some Big Spring production, most of which aired on a delayed basis.
Today in Big Spring
was recorded in Big Spring and fed back to the Midland studios over the company microwave system. This microwave link proved pivotal for KWES during the February 2008
Alon USA
refinery explosion, allowing the station to provide live skycam images and live pictures in the hours immediately after the blast.
KWES/KWAB lost rights to
LATV
on December 29, 2013, but they were able to gain the rights to
The CW
from
KWWT
. On June 12, 2014, KWES/KWAB's CW feed was made available to local
Dish Network
subscribers on Channel 10.
On August 10, 2015, Raycom Media announced that it would purchase Drewry Communications for $160 million.
[7]
The sale was completed on December 1.
[8]
On June 25, 2018, Gray Television announced it had reached an agreement with Raycom to merge their respective broadcasting assets (consisting of Raycom's 63 existing owned-and/or-operated television stations, including KWES and KWAB, and Gray's 93 television stations) under Gray's corporate umbrella. The cash-and-stock merger transaction valued at $3.6 billion?in which Gray shareholders would acquire preferred stock currently held by Raycom?required divestment of either KWES or KOSA due to FCC ownership regulations prohibiting common ownership of two of the four highest-rated stations in a single market (as well as more than two stations in any market). Gray announced it would retain KOSA, and sell KWES to an unrelated third party.
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
On August 20, it was announced that
Tegna Inc.
would buy KWES and sister station
WTOL
in
Toledo, Ohio
, for $105 million.
[2]
KWAB would be retained and converted to a CW+ affiliate, with a simulcast on KOSA's second digital subchannel.
[13]
The sale was completed on January 2, 2019.
[14]
Upon completion of the sale, the call letters were changed to KCWO (the "-TV" suffix was added on February 26, 2019).
[15]
Technical information
[
edit
]
Subchannels
[
edit
]
The station's signal is
multiplexed
:
Simulcast of subchannels of another station
Analog-to-digital conversion
[
edit
]
KCWO (as KWAB) shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 4, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States
transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts
under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition
UHF
channel 33, using
virtual channel
4.
[17]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Facility Technical Data for KCWO-TV"
.
Licensing and Management System
.
Federal Communications Commission
.
- ^
a
b
"TEGNA to Acquire the Leading Television Stations WTOL in Toledo, OH, and KWES in Odessa-Midland, TX"
.
Tegna Inc.
August 20, 2018
. Retrieved
August 20,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
"RESCAN: New channels coming to CBS7 lineup"
.
CBS7.com
.
Gray Television
. December 31, 2018
. Retrieved
December 31,
2018
.
- ^
"FCC History Cards for KWAB (KCWO-TV)"
(PDF)
.
- ^
"London Broadcasting Acquires KWES-TV"
.
KWES NewsWest 9
. Retrieved
October 22,
2009
.
- ^
"London adds a market, leaves a crater"
.
Television Business Report
. January 16, 2009. Archived from
the original
on June 21, 2009
. Retrieved
October 22,
2009
.
- ^
Jessell, Harry A. (August 10, 2015).
"Raycom Buying Drewry For $160 Million"
.
TVNewsCheck
. Retrieved
August 10,
2015
.
- ^
Raycom Media Completes $160 Million Acquisition of Drewry Communications
Broadcasting & Cable
, Retrieved December 1, 2015.
- ^
"GRAY AND RAYCOM TO COMBINE IN A $3.6 BILLION TRANSACTION"
.
Raycom Media
(Press release). June 25, 2018. Archived from
the original
on June 25, 2018
. Retrieved
December 31,
2018
.
- ^
Miller, Mark K. (June 25, 2018).
"Gray To Buy Raycom For $3.6 Billion"
.
TVNewsCheck
. NewsCheckMedia
. Retrieved
June 25,
2018
.
- ^
John Eggerton (June 25, 2018).
"Gray Buying Raycom for $3.6B"
.
Broadcasting & Cable
. NewBay Media.
- ^
Dade Hayes (June 25, 2018).
"Gray Acquiring Raycom For $3.65B, Forming No. 3 Local TV Group"
.
Deadline Hollywood
.
Penske Media Corporation
.
- ^
"FCC Filing: Gray Acquisition of Raycom Comprehensive Exhibit"
.
- ^
"Gray Completes Acquisition of Raycom Media and Related Transactions"
,
Gray Television
, January 2, 2019, Retrieved January 2, 2019.
- ^
"Call Sign History (KCWO-TV)"
.
CDBS Public Access
.
Federal Communications Commission
. Retrieved
February 27,
2019
.
- ^
RabbitEars TV Query for KCWO
- ^
"DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on August 29, 2013
. Retrieved
March 24,
2012
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Odessa/Midland area
|
- KMID 2
(.1
ABC
, .2
Laff
, .3
Mystery
, .4
Grit
)
- KCWO-TV 4
(.1
CW+
,
.2
TMD
,
.3
Ion
,
.4
The365
)
- KOSA-TV 7
(.1
CBS
,
.2
CW+
,
.3
TMD
, .4
H&I
, .5
Outlaw
)
- KWES-TV 9
(.1
NBC
, .2
Bounce
, .3
Crime
, .4
Quest
, .5
Nest
, .6
Shop LC
, .7
Get
)
- KUPB 18
(.1
UNI
, .2
LATV
, .3
Comet
, .4
Charge!
, .5
Court
, .6
TBD
)
- KTLE-LD 20
(.1
TMD
, .2
TXO
, .3
Ion
)
- KMDF-LD 22
(.1
The365
, .2
Cozi
, .3
Catchy
, .4
Sonlife
)
- KPEJ-TV 24
(.1
Fox
, .2
Estrella
, .3
REW
, .4
ANT
)
- KWWT 30
(.1
MNTV
, .2
MeTV
, .3
Catchy
, .4
Movies!
, .5
Cozi
)
- KFAW-LD 32
(.1
La 2
, .2
Anointing Winds TV
)
- KPBT-TV 36
(.1
PBS
, .2
PBS Kids
)
- KMLM-DT 42 / KPCB-DT 17
(x.1
GLC
)
|
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Outlying areas
| |
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Defunct/silent station
| |
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|
Other English-language television stations licensed to and serving the state of
Texas
|
---|
Shopping
affiliates
| |
---|
Independent
stations
| |
---|
Religious
stations
| |
---|
Ion Television
affiliates
| |
---|
Other network
affiliates
|
- KBTV-TV 4
(
Dabl
,
Port Arthur
)
- KGBT-TV
(4.2
REW
, 4.5
Mystery
,
Harlingen
)
- KYTX-DT 19.3
(
This
,
Longview
)
- KODF-LD 26
(HOT TV,
Britton
)
- KDAF-DT 33.2
(
ANT
,
Dallas
)
- KDAF-DT 33.3
(
Court TV
,
Dallas
)
- KMYS 35
ATSC 3.0
(
Dabl
,
Kerrville
)
- KIAH-DT 39.2
(
ANT
,
Houston
)
- KXLK-CD 40.4
(
Mystery
,
Austin
)
- KBPX-LD 46
(
The Country Network
,
Houston
)
- KTXD-TV 47
(
Stadium
,
Greenville
)
- KXAD-LD 51 (
Rev'n
,
Amarillo
)
- KAZD 55
(
SN1
,
Lake Dallas
)
- KTBU 55
(
Quest
,
Conroe
)
|
---|
Defunct
| |
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|