WDCW
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| WDCW | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Washington, D.C. | |
| Branding | The CW Washington |
| Channels | Analog: 50 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | The CW |
| Owner | Tribune Company (WDCW Broadcasting, Inc.) |
| First air date | November 1, 1981 |
| Call letters’ meaning | Washington D.C.'s CW |
| Former callsigns | WCQR (1981-1985) WFTY (1985-1995) WBDC-TV (1995-2006) |
| Former affiliations | independent (1981-1995) The WB (1995-2006) The Tube (2006-2007 on DT2) |
| Transmitter Power | 4168 kW (analog) 125 kW (digital) |
| Height | 252.5 m (both) |
| Facility ID | 30576 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | thecwdc.trb.com |
WDCW, channel 50, is the CW-affiliated television station for Washington, D.C. Its transmitter is located in the Brightwood neighborhood of the city.[1] Owned by Tribune Broadcasting, the station has studios on Wisconsin Avenue Northwest in the Glover Park neighborhood of the city.
The station offers a lineup of off-network sitcoms, cartoons from The CW4Kids, CW prime time, syndicated talk / court / reality shows, and overnight paid programming. There is no news or sports on the station, although it does air a public affairs show called The Inner Loop on Sunday mornings at 10:30.
[edit] History
The Channel 50 license was first assigned to WGSP. That station ran test patterns for a while early in 1972 but never actually signed on.
On April 6, 1981, channel 50 finally signed on as WCQR. Beginning on November 1, WCQR aired SuperTV subscription programming at night and live pictures of Washington D.C. from above its broadcasting tower by day. Early in the day, WCQR also ran some very basic computer still images with some music behind it called "Morning Muse". The live pictures were soon replaced with programming from the Financial News Network.
Hill Broadcasting purchased both channel 50 and WHLL-TV (now WUNI) in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1985. On July 1, channel 50's call letters were changed to WFTY. The station then became a full-time independent station in early 1986. Initially, the station ran a lineup of classic off-network sitcoms, dramas, cartoons, movies, and some religious shows. However, it was airing mostly religious, infomercials, low budget but copyrighted movies, and a few off-network dramas by 1988. Ratings were very low including the programming costs. WFTY did pick up a few cartoons for the weekday 7 to 9 A.M. slot in June of 1990 when WTTG dropped its children's block for a morning newscast.
In 1993, WFTY (along with WHLL) were purchased by the Jasas Corporation. In the Fall of that year, WFTY added more cartoons, barter sitcoms, some low priced syndicated shows, and cut back on paid programming. On January 11, 1995, WFTY became a charter affiliate of The WB. On September 6, the call letters were changed to WBDC to reflect its status as Washington D.C.'s WB affiliate. In 1996, Tribune Broadcasting began managing the station and in 1999 purchased the station outright from the Jasas Corporation.
On January 24, 2006, the WB and UPN announced that they would cease broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents which would be CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. During this announcement, it was revealed that WBDC would become Washington D.C.'s CW affiliate.
On February 22, News Corporation announced that they would start up another new broadcast television network called MyNetworkTV. This new network, which would be sister to FOX, would be operated by FOX Television Stations and its syndication division, Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming independent. It was also created to compete against The CW. UPN affiliate WDCA was announced as becoming a MyNetworkTV affiliate.
On May 1, 2006, WBDC changed its call letters to the current WDCW to reflect the coming switch. On July 20, the station began airing a promotional item that featured a new logo and the station's new branding The CW Washington. The station's web address changed to "thecwdc.com". WDCA began airing MyNetworkTV on September 5 while WDCW began airing The CW on September 18.
Until it ceased operations on October 1, 2007, WDCW offered The Tube (a 24-hour digital music channel) on its second digital subchannel. It was also broadcast on digital cable systems including Comcast channel 207, Verizon FiOS channel 863, and Cox channel 804.
[edit] References
- ^ "Digital Signal Sources", The Washington Post, 2008-05-20.
[edit] External links
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