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|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Branding | The CW Nebraska |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| KNHL,KOLN/KGIN,KSNB-TV | |
| History | |
First air date | August 9, 1999 (26 years ago) (1999-08-09) |
Former call signs |
|
Former channel numbers | Analog: 18 (UHF, 1999–2011) |
Call sign meaning | The CW,Huskers |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 21165 |
| ERP | 15kW |
| HAAT | 112.7 m (370 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°49′17″N96°39′44″W / 40.82139°N 96.66222°W /40.82139; -96.66222 |
| Translator(s) |
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| Links | |
Public license information | LMS |
KCWH-LD (channel 18) is alow-power television station inLincoln, Nebraska, United States, affiliated withThe CW Plus. It is owned byGray Media alongsideCBS affiliatesKOLN/KGIN (channels 10 and 11) in Lincoln andGrand Island andNBC affiliateKSNB-TV (channel 4) inYork. KCWH-LD is broadcast from a tower at the KOLN studios on North 40th Street in Lincoln.
For most of its history, KCWH-LD, under the call sign K18CD, served as atranslator for KSNB-TV, whose signal was weak in Lincoln until its transmitter was moved to the KOLN tower nearBeaver Crossing in 2022. It signed on in 1999, when KSNB-TV broadcastFox programming; in 2009, the parent station left the air, only intermittently broadcasting until shortly before Gray acquired it in 2013. K18CD-D, now a digital station, continued to provide a rebroadcast of KSNB-TV, which broadcastMyNetworkTV programming before becoming the regional NBC affiliate in 2014. In 2018, after the station lost its tower in a collapse, Gray converted the station into a standalone CW+ affiliate, simulcast onKNHL (channel 5) inHastings and the second subchannel of Fox affiliateKIIT-CD (channel 11) inNorth Platte.
The originalconstruction permit for a translator station on channel 18 in Lincoln was granted on January 4, 1988,[2] and issued thecall sign K18CD.[3] It was one of two translators that had been issued for the rebroadcast of KSNB-TV, at the time one of theABC affiliates in theNebraska Television Network (NTV); the other was K22CX (channel 22).[4] K22CX began broadcasting in 1994.[5] This service fulfilled a longstanding ambition of the network to expand to Lincoln andLancaster County, which had nearly twice as many TV households as theTri-Cities area.[6] However, the Lincoln translator attracted little interest locally, and NTV was not added on cable there.[7]
AfterPappas Telecasting took over the operations of NTV in 1996, it switched KSNB-TV from ABC to Fox in September, simulcasting with NTV-managedKTVG-TV inGrand Island.[8][9] KSNB-TV was never owned directly by Pappas; because its signal overlapped with Pappas-ownedKPTM inOmaha, Pappas assigned the right to buy the station to Colins Broadcasting Company.[10][11] The sales of NTV to Pappas and KSNB to Colins were approved by the FCC on February 17, 1999, and completed on May 24.[12][13] In August 1999, Colins applied for a license to cover for the station, indicating it had started broadcasting.[14] By 2001, KSNB-TV was broadcast from channel 18 and from channel 22.[15]
On June 12, 2009, Pappas converted KCWL-TV, an affiliate ofThe CW it managed in Lincoln, to Fox Nebraska asKFXL-TV,[16] which in turn was simulcast as a subchannel from the NTV stations.[17] This fulfilled an ambition of Pappas that dated to the late 1990s.[18] With Fox network coverage shifted to KFXL and the NTV transmitters, the operating agreements Pappas held to run KSNB-TV and KTVG-TV ended. The time brokerage agreement between Pappas Telecasting and Colins Broadcasting Corporation, expired on November 30, 2009; that station, along with the two translators in Lincoln owned by Colins, shut down on December 1. (KSNB-TV'sBeatrice translator, K17CI, had already left the air on June 12, 2009.)[19] On December 19, 2011, the station converted to digital operations as K18CD-D.[3] By then, the Colins stations were broadcasting intermittently with programming from theThree Angels Broadcasting Network.[20]
Gray Television filed to buy KSNB-TV and its Lincoln translators from Colins Broadcasting in 2012. The Lincoln–Hastings–Kearney market has only five full-power stations (KOLN/KGIN and KHGI/KWNB are both counted as single stations for ratings and regulatory purposes), not enough to legally permit a duopoly. Colins and Gray sought a failing station waiver to allow the acquisition to move forward.[21][a] After the FCC granted the assignment of the license to Gray, the sale was officially completed on February 25, 2013.[23] KSNB-TV then became "10/11 Central Nebraska", aMyNetworkTV affiliate, in 2013.[24][25] KSNB-TV's programming changed again when Gray acquired the assets and NBC affiliation ofKHAS-TV inHastings in 2014; this programming moved to KSNB-TV.[26][27]
On October 20, 2017, the 500-foot (150 m) tower in Lincoln leased by K18CD-D and KFXL-TV collapsed, rendering the translator out of commission.[28] On May 18, 2018, the call letters were changed to KCWH-LD.[3] It returned to the air on September 26, 2018,[29] transmitting from the KOLN studios;[30] on October 1, Gray announced that KCWH-LD had become the market's CW affiliate and would be simulcast on subchannels of KNHL in Hastings and KIIT-CD in North Platte.[31][32] There had not been a CW affiliate broadcast in the market since KCWL-TV became KFXL-TV in 2009.[16]
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18.1 | 720p | 16:9 | CW HD | The CW Plus |
| 18.3 | 1080i | KOLN-DT | CBS (KOLN/KGIN) |
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofNebraska | ||
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Nebraska | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent |
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| PBS |
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| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
