KBCW
Encyclopedia : K : KB : KBC : KBCW
KBCW "Bay Area's UPN" is currently a UPN-owned and operated television station based in San Francisco, California. Like UPN, KBCW is owned by the CBS Corporation, and is part of a duopoly with KPIX (channel 5). The station's signal is transmitted from Sutro Tower. Prior to being affiliated with UPN, the station was an independent station known on-air as KBHK: TV 44.
The station currently airs an 8:30am weekend morning newscast titled Eyewitness News on UPN Bay Area, produced by KPIX-TV's news staff.
History
KBCW has been on the air since January 2, 1968, making it the second commercial UHF station in the San Francisco Bay area after KICU, channel 36 San Jose (originally KGSC-TV). Originally transmitting under the call sign KBHK-TV (Kaiser Broadcasting/Henry Kaiser), it was originally owned by Kaiser Broadcasting, which owned other UHF stations in Los Angeles, Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston, and Cleveland. Kaiser later merged with Chicago's Field Communications in 1973. In 1977, Kaiser sold its interest in the stations to Field, making Field the sole owner of KBHK.KBHK had a typical independent schedule consisting of children's shows, off-network sitcoms, old movies, drama shows, and public affairs programming. Bay Area kids were introduced to Japanese anime such as Speed Racer, Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion.
Field later put its stations up for sale in 1982, and KBHK was sold to Chris-Craft Industries in 1983. The station continued with its format, and affiliated with UPN in 1995. The old sitcoms and cartoons were replaced with more recent sitcoms, talk shows, game shows, court shows, and reality shows.
When News Corporation purchased the Chris-Craft station group in 2001, it traded KBHK-TV to Viacom in exchange for KTXH in Houston and WDCA in Washington, D.C., creating a duopoly in San Francisco with KPIX. Since News Corp. also owned the Fox television network, the station trade-off also protected Cox Enterprises-owned KTVU as the Bay Area's Fox affiliate -- given the long-term commitment to the affiliation. By the time Viacom was also by then the owner of Detroit's WKBD, KBHK was effectively reunited with WKBD. Not only that, under new ownership, KBHK did relocate from its original long-time studios on California Street in the Nob Hill area to share facilities with KPIX on Battery Street.
On January 24th, 2006, it was announced that UPN and WB would be combining to form a new fifth television network, The CW, in September and that KBHK will become one of the first affiliates of The CW, while current WB station KBWB will go back to being an independent station, with KRON acquiring the My Network TV affiliation. The station is also considered an alternate CBS affiliate, and as such KBHK can air CBS programs if KPIX should preempt it in a news-related emergency.
To reflect the new affiliation, KBHK officially changed its call sign to KBCW on July 1 of that year.
Trivia
- Once KBCW becomes the new affiliate of The CW, the station will hold the distinction of being the Bay Area's only "Big Six" network station on the UHF dial.
- KBCW will be the first station in the Bay Area to be owned and operated by two different networks under CBS Corporation: UPN and the new The CW.
- KBCW began serving the Monterey Bay market with UPN programming since 2003 after KCBA and KION dropped it in their respective area due to the inconvenience of jointly carrying UPN programs while they're both primary full-time affiliates for Fox and CBS.
Previous logos
External links
| Broadcast television in the San Francisco Bay Area market [(Nielsen DMA #6)] | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Greater San Francisco Bay Area:
KTVU 2 (Fox) -
KRON 4 (Ind/MNTV) -
KPIX 5 (CBS) -
KGO 7 (ABC) -
KQED 9 (PBS) -
KNTV 11 (NBC) -
KDTV 14 (UNI)
KBWB 20 (The WB/Ind) -
KRCB 22 (PBS) -
KTSF 26 (Ind) -
KMTP 32 (Ind) -
KICU 36 (Ind) -
KCNS 38 (S@H/JTV) -
KTNC 42 (AZA) -
KBCW 44 (UPN/The CW) -
KSTS 48 (TEL) -
KFTY 50 (Ind) -
KTEH 54 (PBS) -
KKPX 65 (i) -
KFSF 66 (TFT) -
KTLN 68 (TLN) Ukiah-Mendocino County: KUNO 8 (AZA) - K17CG 17/K27EE 27 (Fox) - K21CD 21 (Ind) - K23CZ 23 (UPN/The CW) - K29DF 29 (PBS) - K41AF 41 (Ind/MNTV) K43AF 43 (CBS) - K43AH 45 (ABC) - K51AQ 51 (UPN/The CW) - K55GX 55 (PBS) - K67BV 67 (Ind) - K69DF 69 (PBS) | ||
| Local digital television channels | ||
| KCSM 43 (PBS) | ||
|
Local cable television channels
FSN Bay Area - Comcast SportsNet West | ||
|
Past broadcast stations
KQEC 32 (PBS) | ||
Note: Networks in parenthesis indicate affiliations starting September 2006.
|
KCOP 13 (, MNTV) -
KUVU-LP 17 (, MNTV) -
KRVU-LP 21 (, MNTV) -
KMAX 31 (, The CW) - KBCW 44 / K51AQ 51 (, The CW) - KUVI 45 (, MNTV) - XHDTV 49 (, MNTV) - KPSE-LP 50 (, MNTV) - KAIL 53 (, MNTV) | |
| See also: , , , , , , , , , , , , and stations in California | |
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