KWGN-TV
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KWGN-TV is the WB Television Network affiliate in Denver, Colorado, USA. It broadcasts its analog signal on VHF channel 2 (55.25 MHz video / 59.75 MHz audio) and its digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter located in Golden, Colorado. The station is owned by the Tribune Company.
The station airs first-run WB shows, cartoons from Kids' WB, sitcoms, news, first-run talk and reality shows, court shows, and movies.
History
The station first went on the air on July 18, 1952 as KFEL-TV. It was also the first commercially licensed television in Colorado. The station was originally owned by Gene O'Fallon. It was a DuMont affiliate, but carried shows from other networks as well. KFEL became an independent station after the DuMont network's collapse. When Gotham Broadcasting bought the station in 1955, the call letters were changed to KTVR-TV. By the early 1960s, the call letters changed to KCTO-TV.
Tribune Broadcasting, then known as WGN Continental Broadcasting, acquired the station in 1966, and changed its call letters to KWGN-TV after its sister station, WGN-TV in Chicago. KWGN was Tribune's third TV station property after WGN-TV and WPIX in New York.
From 1976 to 1983, KWGN-TV identified on air as Frequency 2 KWGN-TV, which inspired the name of a Peruvian television station. From 1983 to 1995, it called itself "Denver's 2."
As an independent station, KWGN offered a general entertainment format consisting of cartoons, off-network sitcoms, old movies, and dramas. It also aired a 9pm newscast (and still does to this day). In the 1970s, KWGN became a superstation available on many cable systems in the West. It is still available on nearly every cable system in Colorado and Wyoming, as well as several cable systems in Nebraska and Kansas. It is also carried on Dish Network's superstation package, and has substantial over-the-air viewership in Colorado Springs. It was the only independent station in the market until 1983, when KDVR-TV signed on.
KWGN turned down the Fox affiliation in 1986, which instead went to KDVR. KWGN affiliated with WB in early 1995, as did most of Tribune's independent stations. Since the WB only provided a few hours of network programming a day, KWGN's existing lineup was largely unaffected.
Fox approached Tribune in 1996 for an affiliation with KWGN. Even though Fox already owned KDVR (which it had planned to sell off), KWGN was still a more desirable option as an affiliate, given its longer history and its news department (both of which KDVR lacked). That plan did not materialize, and KWGN remained a WB affiliate.
KWGN launched a weekday morning newscast in the late 1990s, titled "WB2day" (later renamed "WB2 Morning News").
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 (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. The merger would take effect on-the-air in September 2006, and KWGN-TV was announced as the Denver affiliate. Current UPN station KTVD, owned by the Gannett Company, will join My Network TV.
Newscasts
Weekdays- WB2 Morning News - 5:00 - 9:00AM
- WB2 News at 9:00 - 9:00 - 10:00PM
- WB2 News at 9:00 - 9:00 - 10:00PM
News Sharing Agreement
KWGN has a unique agreement with Denver NBC affiliate KUSA-TV under which it shares news stories, video, tips, and, at times, resources such as live trucks. The agreement was developed in anticipation of a six-year Interstate construction project, known as "T-Rex," which threatened to effectively cut off traffic on Interstate_25, the major north-south artery through the Denver metro area. With KUSA located in downtown Denver and KWGN in the southern suburb of Greenwood Village, the plan called for each station to cover news in their half of the metro area and then exchange video via a microwave link.
The T-Rex project proved to be less of a hinderance to travel than expected, but the sharing agreement worked well. A potential stumbling block is on the horizon, as KUSA's parent, Gannett, has purchased unaffiliated station KTVD and has announced plans to produce a 9pm newscast on that station, which would directly compete with KWGN's 9pm product.
Old logos
External links
| Broadcast television in the Denver market [(Nielsen DMA #18)] | ||
|---|---|---|
| KWGN 2 (The WB/The CW) - KCNC 4 (CBS) - KRMA 6 (PBS) - KMGH 7 (ABC) - KUSA 9 (NBC) - KBDI 12 (PBS) - KTNE 13 / KRNE 12 (PBS/NET) - KTVD 20 / KUPN 3 (UPN/MNTV) - KDEN 25 (TMD) - KDVR 31 / KFCT 22 (Fox) - KDVT 36 (TFU) - KRMT 41 (DS) - KCEC 50 (UNI) - KPXC 59 (i) | ||
Note: Networks in parenthesis indicate affiliations starting September 2006. Also, stations in bold are cable-only stations.
| KWGN 2 (, The CW) - "KWGJ" 5 / 13 / K39AF 39 (, ND)1 | |
| 1The CW and My Network TV affiliations have already been decided in this market. | |
| '''See also: , , , , , and stations in Colorado | |
| Superstations in List_of_television_stations_in_North_America_by_media_market>North American markets | |
|---|---|
| United States: KTLA | KWGN | WAPA | WGN | WKAQ | WPIX | WSBK | WTBS | WWOR | |
|
Mexico: Multimedios Television | XEFB | XEW | XHDF | XHGC | XHIMT
| |
| See Also: | List of American Over-The-Air Networks | Local American TV Stations (W) | Local American TV Stations (K) | | Local Canadian TV Stations | | Local Mexican TV Stations | | North American TV | | |
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