KWGN-TV
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| KWGN-TV | |
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| Denver, Colorado | |
| Branding | CW 2 Colorado (general) News 2 (news programming) |
| Slogan | Colorado's Very Own Colorado Watches 2 |
| Channels | Analog: 2 (VHF) |
| Affiliations | The CW |
| Owner | Tribune Company (KWGN, Inc.) |
| First air date | July 18, 1952 |
| Call letters’ meaning | World's Greatest Newspaper (named after sister station WGN-TV; refers to the owner of both stations, namely the Chicago Tribune) |
| Former callsigns | KFEL-TV (1952-1955) KTVR (1955-1963) KCTO (1963-1966) |
| Former affiliations | DuMont (1952-1955) independent (1955-1995) The WB (1995-2006) |
| Transmitter Power | 100 kW (analog) 1000 kW (digital) |
| Height | 339 m (analog) 318 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 35883 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | cw2.trb.com |
KWGN-TV, channel 2, is a television station in Denver, Colorado, owned by the Tribune Company and affiliated with the CW Television Network. Its studios are located in Greenwood Village, just outside of Denver, and its transmitter is located on Lookout Mountain near Golden.
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[edit] History
The station first went on the air on July 18, 1952 as KFEL-TV, the first television station 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. In 1963, the call letters changed to KCTO.
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 fourth television station property after WGN-TV, WPIX in New York, and KDAL-TV (now KDLH) in Duluth, Minnesota, which Tribune sold in 1978.
From 1976 to 1983, KWGN-TV identified on air as Frequency 2 KWGN-TV[citation needed], 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 signed on.
KWGN turned down the Fox affiliation in 1986, which instead went to KDVR. KWGN affiliated with The 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.
KWGN launched a weekday morning newscast in the late 1990s, titled "WB2day" (later renamed "WB2 Morning News", now known as "News2 This Morning"), which originally aired from 6-9 AM. A few years later, it began airing at 5 AM. It was accompanied with an 11 AM newscast, which began airing in the late 1990's, but was canceled in 2000, and never returned until September 11, 2006.
On January 24, 2006, the WB and UPN networks announced they would merge into a new network, 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 new network signed a 10-year affiliation deal with most of Tribune's WB stations, including KWGN. The CW debuted on September 18, 2006. Former UPN station KTVD, owned by the Gannett Company, joined My Network TV, when that network began two weeks earlier. Its news programming, which was previously branded as "WB2 News", was renamed "News2" in August 2006 as a result of the merger.
[edit] Personalities
[edit] Current On-Air Staff
Anchors
- Ernie Bjorkman, weekday evening anchor
- Vida Urbonas, weekday evening anchor
- Mat Garcia, weekend evening anchor
- Laura Main, weekend evening anchor
- Tom Green, weekday morning anchor (5:30 A.M. - 9:00 A.M.)
- Natalie Tysdal, weekday morning and midday anchor (5:30 A.M. - 9:00 A.M.)
- Chris Parente, weekday morning anchor (5:00 A.M. - 5:30 A.M.)
- Kellie MacMullan, weekday morning anchor (11 AM), reporter (5-9 AM)
Reporters
- Colin Campbell, general assignment reporter
- Mat Garcia, general assignment reporter/weekend anchor
- Laura Main, general assignment reporter/weekend anchor
- Vinita Nair, general assignment reporter
- Greg Nieto, general assignment reporter
- Chris Parente, general assignment reporter/features reporter/morning anchor
- Eli Stokols, general assignment reporter
- Jann Tracey, general assignment reporter
- Dave Young, general assignment reporter and Unit2 Consumer Reports
Meteorologists
- Dave Fraser, chief meteorologist/weekday evening meteorologist
- Angie Austin, weekday morning meteorologist
- Jason Boyer, weekend meteorologist
- Sunny Roseman, fill-in meteorologist
Sports Anchors/Reporters
- Marc Soicher, weeknight sports anchor
- Lisa Holbrook, weekend sports anchor
- Zubin Mehenti, sports editor/reporter/fill-in anchor
[edit] Past Personalities
- Beverly Weaver, (1990s)
- Steve Saunders, weekend anchor (1980s-1990s), now at KMGH-TV in Denver
- Joe Brown, Sports Reporter (2001-2004)
- Wendy Brockman, weeknight anchor (1999-2004)
- Casey Curry, weekend weather anchor (2002-2005, now at KTRK-TV in Houston)
- Jaime Marti, weekend anchor (2000-2004)
- Chris Riva, Sports Director (2002-2005, now at KCRA/KQCA in Sacramento)
- Blake Olson, Sports Reporter (2003-2005)
- Asha Blake, weeknight anchor (2004-2007)
[edit] News/Station Presentation
[edit] Newscast Titles
- Region 2 News (1977-1981)
- TV-2 Eyewitness News (1981-1983)
- Channel 2 News (1983-1996)
- Denver's 2 News (1996-1998)
- WB 2 News (1998-2006)
- News 2 (2006-present)
[edit] Station Slogans
- It's Happening on Channel 2 (1976-1981)
- TV-2 Entertains You (1981-1983)
- TV-2 Eyewitness News: Denver's Choice for News (1981-1983; used on news promos)
- You've Got a Friend on Denver's 2 (1983-1986)
- Denver's Very Own Channel 2 News (1986-1995; used on news promos)
- Denver's 2 is Yours (1986-1989)
- Denver's 2: You're Watching Us (1989-1994)
- Denver's Very Own WB 2 NEWS (1994-1995)
- Colorado's Very Own (1995-present; possibly an adaptation of sister station WGN-TV's slogan, "Chicago's Very Own")
- Colorado Watches 2 (2006-present)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official Site
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KWGN
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KWGN-TV
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