| ATSC 3.0 station | |
|---|---|
 | |
| |
| City | Suring, Wisconsin |
| Channels | |
| Branding | CW14 |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WLUK-TV | |
| History | |
| Founded | July 27, 1981[1] |
First air date | February 22, 1984 (41 years ago) (1984-02-22) |
Former call signs |
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Former channel numbers |
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Call sign meaning | "Wisconsin's CW 14" |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 73042 |
| ERP | 700 kW |
| HAAT | 360 m (1,181 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 44°24′32″N87°59′31″W / 44.40889°N 87.99194°W /44.40889; -87.99194 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | cw14online |
WCWF (channel 14) is atelevision station licensed toSuring, Wisconsin, United States, serving theGreen Bay area as an affiliate ofThe CW. It is owned bySinclair Broadcast Group alongsideFox affiliateWLUK-TV (channel 11). The two stations share studios onLombardi Avenue (US 41) on the line between Green Bay andAshwaubenon; WCWF's transmitter is located onScray Hill inLedgeview.
The station launched on February 22, 1984, asreligiousindependent station WSCO-TV, under the ownership of Northeastern Wisconsin Christian Television Incorporated. The station's formeranalog transmitter was located outside of the unincorporatedOconto County community ofKrakow, four miles (6 km) north ofPulaski onWIS 32. Financial problems would force the station off the air by 1987;VCY America would purchase the station's license that year[3] and return it to the air by 1993 as a sister station toMilwaukee'sWVCY-TV with religious andhome shopping programming. On April 30, 1997, Paxson Communications (nowIon Media Networks) purchased the station[4] and converted it to apaid programming format under Paxson's inTV service. On August 31, 1998, WSCO became a charterowned-and-operated station of Pax TV (later i: Independent Television, nowIon Television) under the newcall sign WPXG (for "Pax Green Bay").
On June 2, 1999, Paxson sold WPXG toACME Communications;[5] the station immediately became a primaryWB affiliate and changed its call sign to WIWB, originally branded as "WB 14" and later "Wisconsin's WB" (TheWPXG-TV callsign has been moved to a TV station inManchester, New Hampshire). Before it joined the network, WB programming in Northeastern Wisconsin was previously seen either through cable providers that carriedChicago-basedsuperstationWGN and/or Milwaukee'sWVTV or during off hours onUPN affiliateWACY-TV (channel 32;Kids' WB programming aired as part of WACY's children's lineup). WIWB also continued to air Pax programming in the mornings, overnights and weekends for a few years after ACME's purchase was finalized; it would drop that network by 2004, at which time the station's programming lineup adopted a more general entertainment format that was heavily reliant onsitcom reruns andcourt shows, in addition to WB programming. Pax TV's successor, Ion Television, would not return to the market over-the-air until November 2015, whenWBAY-TV launched it on their DT3 subchannel.
On January 24, 2006, theWarner Bros. unit ofTime Warner andCBS Corporation announced that the two companies would shut down The WB and UPN and combine the networks' respective programming to create a new "fifth" network calledThe CW.[6][7] Due to ACME's ownership by former WB executiveJamie Kellner, WIWB's pursuit of the CW affiliation was assumed to be a formality. Indeed, on March 9, 2006, ACME Communications affiliated most of their stations with The CW, including WIWB.[8] The station officially joined the network upon its September 18, 2006, launch. Prior to that date, it temporarily carried not only WB programs, but also shows from UPN after WACY-TV dropped UPN before that network's closure to joinMyNetworkTV. At the time, ACME decided not to change the callsigns of any of their WB-to-CW affiliates to avert any further confusion from the launch of the two new networks.
On June 4, 2010,LIN TV Corporation, owner of Green Bay'sFox affiliateWLUK-TV, as part of an agreement with ACME Communications in three markets where both companies owned stations, announced that it would begin to operate WIWB through separateshared services andjoint sales agreements; WLUK would provide WIWB with technical, engineering, promotional, administrative and other operational support services, as well as joint advertising sales for the two stations.[9] As part of its agreements with ACME, LIN TV had the option to purchase WIWB, an option it exercised in September 2010, purchasing not only WIWB but another CW station in a similar arrangement,Dayton, Ohio'sWBDT.[10] LIN TV included in its license transfer request to theFederal Communications Commission a "failing station waiver", an indication that the station was in an economically non-viable position and that FCC should relax ownership limits that apply to the Green Bay market so that Channel 14 could stay on the air; that limit (found in CFR§73.3555(b)(2) of the FCC's rules) permits ownership duopolies in markets with at least eight full-power stations, whereas Green Bay has only seven (Journal Communications would also seek a waiver in its 2012 purchase of WACY-TV, which has been operated through Journal-ownedWGBA-TV since 1994).[11][12]
In April 2011, the FCC approved the ownership transfer of WCWF from ACME to LIN TV, also applying the requested failing station waiver.[13] Additionally, the FCC denied a petition fromTime Warner Cable, the dominant cable provider in Northeast Wisconsin; the FCC dismissed as speculative TWC's claims that higher retransmission fees for WCWF, when paired with those for WLUK, would result from LIN TV's purchase of the station, and that LIN's collective retransmission plans for both stations did not violate FCC rules.[14] The sale of WCWF to LIN was consummated on May 20, 2011.[15]
Almost immediately after taking control of WIWB, LIN TV would make changes at the station, starting with relocating its operations from the Parkview Plazastrip mall in suburbanAshwaubenon to WLUK's studios on Lombardi Avenue. During August and September 2010, the station would undergo changes in both on-air branding (from "Wisconsin's CW" to "CW14") andcall sign (from WIWB to WCWF). Also in the fall of 2010, WCWF would upgrade syndicated programming tohigh-definition (which already occurs on WLUK), while both WCWF and WLUK would begin hourly cross-promotions of each other's programming.[16] In mid-November 2010, WCWF's website was switched from being managed by ACME's webhost, Desert Bloom Productions, to LIN Media Interactive (LIN Media's branding for EndPlay, formerly Fox Interactive Media).
On March 21, 2014, LIN Media entered into an agreement to merge withMedia General in a $1.6 billion deal. Because Media General already owned ABC affiliateWBAY-TV (which was acquired in 2013 as part of Media General's merger withYoung Broadcasting), the companies were required to sell either WLUK or WBAY to another station owner in order to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as planned changes to those rules regarding same-market television stations which would prohibit sharing agreements.[17][18][19]
On August 20, 2014, Media General announced that it would keep WBAY and sell WLUK and WCWF, along withWJAR inProvidence andWTGS inSavannah, toSinclair Broadcast Group in exchange for Sinclair stations inTampa Bay (WTTA),Harrisburg (WHTM) andColorado Springs (KXRM-TV andKXTU-LD).[20] As part of its acquisition, Sinclair announced it would seek a continuation of the FCC rules waiver allowing the joint ownership of WCWF and WLUK.[21] WHTM's sale of Media General was explored nearly two months earlier, and it was completed, nearly three months before the Media General/LIN deal was completed.[22][23] The sale was completed on December 19.[24]
WCWF is used as a "shadow station" for WLUK programming preempted due to extended breaking news or severe weather coverage, or network programming (mainlysports events) that overruns into or is scheduled to preempt regular programs; for example, 9 p.m. newscasts on WLUK that are preempted for Fox Sports broadcasts will air on WCWF (in prior years, WLUKleased access on a Time Warner Cable channel for its preempted newscasts).[25]
Beginning in 2016, the station acquired local rights to theWisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state basketball and hockey championships as part ofQuincy Media's statewide network of stations, taking over from longtime partner WACY-TV. Since March 2016, WCWF has aired twoNBA on ABC games during the first weekend in March in lieu of WBAY, which instead carries its annualtelethon for localcerebral palsy research and medical care.
In the summer of 2018, the station began to carry weekend home games for theMidwest League'sWisconsin Timber Rattlers, theGrand Chute–based Class A affiliate for the Brewers. The games are produced by WLUK for WCWF, and also air onWVTV-DT2 in Milwaukee.
From December 2008 to June 2010, WIWB featuredDaily Buzz inserts called "Buzzed Intothe (920)" (named for thetelephone area code for Green Bay and theFox Cities). "Buzzed" was patterned after then-sister stationWBUW's "Buzzed IntoMadison" and featured an on-air presenter (originally Kristen Rietz, later Kari Merchant) profiling positive stories and features on news, events, businesses and personalities in the Green Bay/Fox Cities area. "Buzzed Into the (920)" was dropped when WLUK took over WCWF's operations, although past installments are still available on the feature'sYouTube channel.
Existing local content on WCWF, in addition to the occasional WLUK news broadcast, includes a Sunday morning airing of thepolka music showPolka, Polka, Polka. LIN Media, after taking control of WCWF, would addsevere weather bulletins; the weeklyprep football highlight showHigh School GameTime in August 2011;[26] and, in late 2011,CW 14 Focus, aSunday morning localpublic affairs program that debuted in order to fulfill local programming requirements; it is hosted by WLUK reporter Robert Hornacek.[27]
Also added in 2011 was the position of "CW 14 Star", who represents the station on-air, online, and at community events. Maria Parmigiani was selected as the first "Star" during the first quarter of 2011, earning the job after an audition process, an appearance on WLUK'sGood Day Wisconsin, and an online voting process.[28] Parmigiani was succeeded by Katie Phernetton in 2013 after a similar audition and selection process.[29]
The station's ATSC 1.0 channels are carried on themultiplexed signals of other Green Bay television stations:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming | ATSC 1.0 host |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WCWF-CW | The CW | WLUK-TV |
| 14.2 | 480i | Comet | Comet | WFRV-TV | |
| 14.3 | Charge! | Charge! | WBAY-TV | ||
| 14.4 | Nest | The Nest | WACY-TV | ||
| 14.5 | QUEST | Quest | |||
| 14.6 | CONFESS | Confess (soon) |
On December 12, 2008, the station replaced its digital transmitter antenna due to a wavering signal and recommended that viewers perform a channel rescan to restore the WIWB's digital signal if they lost reception. WCWF (as WIWB) shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 14, on February 17, 2009, the original date on which full-power television stations in the United States were totransition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 21, usingvirtual channel 14.[34]
As part of theSAFER Act,[35] WCWF kept its analog signal on the air until March 4 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop ofpublic service announcements from theNational Association of Broadcasters. On May 6, 2009, due to the station's close proximity to theCanada–U.S. border, the U.S. FCC and theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued a conditional approval of WIWB'sconstruction permit to expand its coverage area by increasing power. The approval was needed in order to work with interference problems resulting fromPBS member stationWCMW acrossLake Michigan inManistee, Michigan, sharing channel 21 and to address the concerns of interference in local health care facilities'radiological equipment.[36] The increase in power was applied on September 8, 2009, and station officials asked viewers to rescan for the signal.
In mid-November 2011, the station experienced major problems with its transmitter and LIN's technical staff had to take the station off the air for several days to repair the problem. As there was no backupfiber optic link to Time Warner Cable, the station was not available to cable viewers either, and as neither of LIN's stations in Green Bay carried any subchannels at the time, WLUK was unable to offer WCWF's programming over a backup 11.2 signal. The station was unable to get permission from The CW to carry the two nights of network programming missed during the shutdown and referred viewers to the network's website andHulu to watch the missed shows.
| Channel | Res. | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | 720p | WBAY | ABC (WBAY-TV) |
| 5.1 | 1080p | WFRV | CBS (WFRV-TV) |
| 11.1 | 720p | WLUK | Fox (WLUK-TV) |
| 11.10 | 1080p | T2 | T2 |
| 11.11 | PBTV | Pickleballtv | |
| 11.20 | GMLOOP | GameLoop | |
| 14.1 | 1080p | WCWF | The CW |
| 26.1 | WGBA | NBC (WGBA-TV) |
WCWF originally planned to start ATSC 3.0 transmissions on October 27, 2021, to serve as the host of the1080p 3.0 signals of the market's commercial stations. With this, its subchannels are disbursed in ATSC 1.0 form in their existing quality among other Green Bay stations. The transition was later delayed at the last minute to January 25, 2022, several days after a hacking incident which affected Sinclair's operations nationwide.[39]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofWisconsin | ||
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** Owned by third parties and operated by Sinclair through various operating agreements. *** Owned by Sinclair and operated byMarquee Broadcasting. JV Joint venture. | ||||||||||||||||||
