KSTW

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KSTW is the UPN station for Seattle, Washington, broadcasting on VHF channel 11. It is licensed to Tacoma, with studios in Renton. Its transmitter is located in Seattle. KSTW has the distinction of being the only UPN O&O on the VHF dial.

History

In 1958, Seattle's KIRO-TV channel 7 took to the air, also as a CBS affiliate. Both KIRO and KTNT carried CBS programming as a legal battle ensued over market exclusivity. KIRO became the sole CBS station for Seattle-Tacoma in 1961, leaving KTNT as an independent station. KTNT was sold to Gaylord Entertainment Company in 1974 and changed its call letters to KSTW, for Seattle-Tacoma, Washington.

As an independent station, KSTW ran the traditional fare of cartoons, off-network sitcoms, westerns, old movies, and a local newscast. In 1993, KSTW agreed to become the WB affiliate for Seattle beginning in 1995, when the network was to begin operation.

However, in 1994, CBS found itself without an affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth when its longtime affiliate there, KDFW, switched to Fox. CBS approached Gaylord for an affiliation with its Dallas station, KTVT. KSTW was included as part of the agreement, and as a result, CBS returned to KSTW in 1995. (Some CBS shows like The Bold and the Beautiful which were pre-empted by KIRO had already been shown on KSTW starting in the fall of 1994.)

Even as a CBS affiliate, KSTW still ran a number of off-network sitcoms, and only had half-hour newscasts in the early morning, at noon, 6pm and 11pm. In 1996, Gaylord announced the sale of KSTW to Cox Communications. KSTW's sale was finalized in mid-1997. (Gaylord held on to KTVT until 1999, when it was sold to CBS outright.)

Cox had plans to expand the news department at KSTW and make it more competitive with the other stations in the market. However, the company found it to be a rather difficult task. At the same time, the Paramount Stations Group (a subsidiary of Viacom) was planning to buy KIRO-TV from Belo Corporation (which had acquired KING-TV in a merger with the Providence Journal) and convert it into a more traditional independent station; however, the group hesitated with the plan when it found out KIRO's news production was still doing very well in the ratings. As a result, a three-way swap was arranged, with KSTW going to Paramount/Viacom, KIRO going to Cox, and KMOV in St. Louis going from Paramount/Viacom (who was selling off all non-UPN stations) to Belo (of note, KMOV was a CBS O&O from 1958-86 as KMOX-TV). The two Seattle stations retained their respective syndicated programming, but swapped network affiliations once again, with KSTW becoming a UPN owned-and-operated station (O&O), and KIRO regaining its CBS affiliation.

KSTW's logo from June 30, 1997 until fall 2001

The deal was finalized on June 2, 1997, and KSTW began to air UPN programming a few weeks later, along with sitcoms, movies, cartoons and a few first-run syndicated shows. The station brought back its 10pm newscast and dropped its news production at all other time slots.

Viacom (which had been Paramount's parent company since 1993) acquired CBS in 2000, bringing CBS and KSTW under common ownership, and making KSTW and the aforementioned KTVT sister stations once again. The cartoons on KSTW had disappeared (as a result of UPN ending the Disney Kids block on weekdays in fall 2003), and more first-run syndicated talk and reality shows moved to KSTW.

On January 24, 2006, the WB and UPN networks announced they would merge. The newly combined network would be called The CW, the letters representing the first initial of its corporate parents CBS and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. The merger would take effect on-the-air in September 2006, and KSTW was announced as the Seattle affiliate. Current WB station KMYQ, owned by the Tribune Company, will be picked up as an affiliate of My Network TV.

KSTW is one of three former CBS affiliates that have since became UPN stations owned by CBS, along with WTVX in West Palm Beach, Florida and WPCW in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (when it was in Johnstown), incidentally, both of the latter stations will also become CW stations.

As KSTW 11, a CBS affiliate March 1995 - June 1997

An 11pm newscast as seen on KSTW in July of 1996

Programming

In the early 1970's KTNT was the home for the Seattle Supersonics of the National Basketball Association. However in the early 1990's the Sonics went back to KSTW until 1998.

Since 1976, KSTW had produced its own 10 p.m. newscast. Its news operation was shut down in 1998, however, as a result of cost-cutting measures mandated by Viacom, its parent company. News returned to the station in March 2003, as it began to carry a 10 p.m. newscast produced by KIRO 7. The production of the newscast went on a seven-month hiatus from late 2003 until 2004, and was cancelled outright in June 2005.

Currently, KSTW is the over-the-air TV station for the Seattle Mariners.

External links

• [KSTW UPN11 Homepage]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for KSTW]

.54 billion USD (2005) | Employees: Unknown at this time. | Stock Symbol: NYSE: [CBS] | Website: [www.cbscorporation.com]

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