WPCW
Encyclopedia
WPCW is a The CW
-affiliated television station
for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
that is licensed to Jeannette
. WPCW is owned by the CBS Corporation
and serves as an affiliate of The CW Television Network for the television market. WPCW shares its studio facilities with sister station KDKA-TV
at Gateway Center
in downtown Pittsburgh, and its transmitter is located in the Perry North
section of Pittsburgh.
By way of extended cable coverage, WPCW also serves as the default CW affiliate for the Johnstown
-Altoona
-State College
television market, since that area currently lacks a CW affiliate of its own. WPCW was a Johnstown station for most of its history.
, and FM 96.5, now WFGI-FM
at 95.5). The station was the area's CBS affiliate with a secondary ABC
affiliation. During the late-1950s, it was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network
. Around 1970, Jonel Construction Company bought WARD-AM-FM-TV and changed their calls to WJNL-AM-FM-TV. The TV station also moved to the stronger UHF channel 19 and dropped ABC programming. It also left the Franklin Street studio for a new facility located on Benshoff hill, not too far from the transmitter atop Cover Hill in suburban Johnstown. The radio stations moved to the Benshoff Hill location in 1977 after the Franklin Street studios were destroyed in a massive flood.
Even with the move to the stronger channel 19, the station was plagued by a weak signal. Most of Western Pennsylvania is a very rugged dissected plateau
, and at the time, UHF stations usually did not get good reception in rugged terrain. In fact, Johnstown viewers got better signals from WFBG-TV in Altoona and KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. After WFBG-TV was sold in 1973, that channel changed its callsign to WTAJ-TV
in part to acknowledge its Johnstown viewership (its call letters stand for "W"e're "T"elevision in "A"ltoona and "J"ohnstown). As a result, the station never thrived, and was more or less a non-factor in a market dominated by WJAC-TV
. It only stayed afloat because of the tremendous success of its FM sister, an adult contemporary powerhouse.
In 1982, the Johnstown and Altoona/State College markets were collapsed into a single DMA. CBS gave its affiliation in the newly enlarged market to Altoona's WTAJ, which as mentioned above, already had a large viewership in Johnstown. In contrast, WJNL-TV could not be seen at all in much of the eastern part of the market; while Altoona was just inside channel 19's grade B contour, State College was just outside of it. As a result, WJNL-TV became an independent station
. It was sold to Leon Crosby, a former owner of the original KEMO-TV (now KOFY-TV) in San Francisco, a year later and renamed WFAT-TV. Forced to buy an additional nineteen hours of programming a day, its ratings plummeted even further. It did not help matters that the major Pittsburgh independents were available on cable. The station was dealt a fatal blow in 1986 when WWCP-TV
signed-on and took most of WFAT's stronger shows. The station changed calls to WPTJ in 1988 and moved its studios to Allen Bill Drive in the Johnstown Industrial Park, but saw no change in its fortunes. Frequent transmitter problems often left the station off-the-air for extended periods of time. Declaring bankruptcy, WPTJ finally went off the air for good in 1991.
Meanwhile over in Pittsburgh, WBPA-LP on analog UHF channel 29 signed-on in 1994 as a low-powered station owned by Venture Technologies Group, LLC. It ran some ABC and NBC
shows that WTAE-TV
and WPXI
pre-empted, along with infomercials, religious, and shop-at-home programming. It added WB programming on January 7, 1995 and a few syndicated shows in the fall of that year. At some point in time, that station moved to UHF channel 30. Also in 1995, Venture Technologies bought the dormant WPTJ license in Johnstown. That station returned to the air in early-1997 with the call-sign WTWB-TV, a full-powered satellite of WBPA. Venture, however, still had trouble getting viewership in Pittsburgh in part because cable systems in the area were not willing to pick it up. To solve this problem, Venture asked and received permission to move WTWB's license to Jeannette (about thirty miles southeast of Pittsburgh) and place it in that market. This qualified it for "must-carry
" status on Pittsburgh cable systems. In the wake of the move, WTWB began to acquire more off-network sitcoms and first-run syndicated shows alongside cartoons from Kids' WB
and prime time programming from The WB. When WPTT acquired this affiliation and changed its call letters to WCWB in 1998 (it is now WPMY
, the MyNetworkTV
affiliate), the UPN
affiliation in the market became available. As such, channel 19 took the affiliation and changed call letters to WNPA-TV.
Viacom
bought the station in 1998. It became sister station to KDKA-TV after the company merged with CBS in 2000. Viacom consolidated WNPA's operations into KDKA-AM-TV's studios at One Gateway Center by 2001. The station began to identify on air as "UPN Pittsburgh" in late-2003 as different cable systems carry it on different channels. On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that they would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
unit of Time Warner
. To coincide with this change, the station changed its call sign to WPCW and rebranded itself as "Pittsburgh's CW" in August. The network launched on September 18.
WPCW's analog transmitter was on Laurel Mountain
west of Jennerstown
which is 35 miles southeast of Jeannette. This provided city-grade coverage to Johnstown and "rimshot" coverage to Pittsburgh. As a result, it was barely viewable over-the-air in many low-lying areas in the northern and western parts of the city and could not be seen at all in the city's western suburbs. When it applied to move its license to Jeannette, Venture sought and received a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) rule requiring a station's transmitter to be no farther than 15 miles from the city of license. It successfully contended that there was no way it could build an analog tower within the 15-mile limit without interfering with WOIO
in Cleveland.
However on June 12, 2009 coinciding with the national transition to digital television, WPCW turned-off its transmitter near Jennerstown and began broadcasting digitally from its new transmitter near Downtown Pittsburgh. It moved to VHF channel 11 (WPXI's former analog home) mapping to channel 19 via PSIP. As with all CBS-owned stations, it carries only one 1080i
high definition channel without subchannel services. Interference with WOIO which existed in the analog age is no longer an issue as that station is on digital channel 10. CBS also feeds a direct fiber signal to both Comcast
and Verizon FiOS
and has done so for years. The relocation of its transmitter now provides Pittsburgh with city-grade coverage in addition to greater coverage west of the city but has left many viewers east of Westmoreland County
(who were able to pick up WPCW's analog signal) without a viewable digital signal. In July 2009, the station applied with the FCC for a repeater digital signal on channel 27 in Johnstown. WPCW is one of three former CBS affiliates that have since become CW stations owned by CBS along with WTVX
in West Palm Beach and KSTW
in Seattle. However, WTVX has since been divested to Cerberus Capital Management
's Four Points Media Group
(the Four Points Media stations are currently in the process of being sold to the Sinclair Broadcast Group
, which would make the Four Points stations sisters to WPGH-TV
and WPMY). This station usually televises about six Pittsburgh Penguins
games a year to allow Fox Sports Pittsburgh (the team's usual broadcasting partner) to fulfill its national commitments to Fox Sports Net
's Pac 10 and Atlantic Coast Conference
college football
coverage packages. In 2010, the CW broadcasted the entire home schedule of the California University of Pennsylvania
Vulcan Football season under the "Vulcan Sports Network" moniker.
As CBS has done with most of its other CBS/The CW duopolies in other markets, WPCW's web address has been folded within the KDKA website with only basic station and programming information along with entertainment news and promotional video from The CW. WPCW and KDKA serve as the area's official Pittsburgh Steelers
stations and air several team-related shows. This includes Steelers Saturday Night on Saturday nights from 9 to 10 and Steelers TV on Saturday nights from 11 to 11:30 (hosted by Tunch Ilkin
and Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola). Depending on CBS' weekly doubleheader schedule, the Verizon Wireless
Xtra Point may air on WPCW right after a Steelers game. That program is anchored by Bob Pompeani, Ed Bouchette, and Edmund Nelson. The Subway Nightly Sports Call airs every night from 10:35 to 11 after the KDKA-produced prime time newscast. Weeknights are anchored by Bob Pompeani while weekends feature Jory Rand. Depending on the doubleheader schedule, there is a special edition that is shown during the season after the Verizon Wireless Xtra Point.
affiliate WPGH-TV
that has a nightly newscast at 10 produced by WPXI.
In 2005, the station launched a two-hour extension of KDKA's weekday morning show beginning at 7. This was later shortened to one hour amid poor ratings. On June 16, 2009, KDKA launched its newscasts in high definition
starting with its weekday noon broadcast with a new set and weather center. That station was the last major Pittsburgh channel to begin airing newscasts in HD and the WPCW shows were included in the upgrade.
KDKA Morning News on The CW
(weekday mornings 7 to 8)
The 10 O'Clock News (10 to 10:35 p.m.)
weeknights
weekends
WPCW features additional personnel from KDKA. See that article
for a complete listing.
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
that is licensed to Jeannette
Jeannette, Pennsylvania
Jeannette is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 10,788 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Jeannette is located at ....
. WPCW is owned by the CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
and serves as an affiliate of The CW Television Network for the television market. WPCW shares its studio facilities with sister station KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV, channel 2, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. KDKA-TV broadcasts from a transmitter located in the Perry North neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and its studios are located in downtown Pittsburgh at Gateway Center....
at Gateway Center
Gateway Center (Pittsburgh)
The Gateway Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is a high-rise building complex with of office space in four buildings. Gateway Center was purchased in 2004 by Hertz Investment Group, a Los Angeles, California based real estate investment company, for US$55 million...
in downtown Pittsburgh, and its transmitter is located in the Perry North
Perry North (Pittsburgh)
Perry North is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA's north city area. It lies within zip codes 15212 and 15214, and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 1...
section of Pittsburgh.
By way of extended cable coverage, WPCW also serves as the default CW affiliate for the Johnstown
Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States, west-southwest of Altoona, Pennsylvania and east of Pittsburgh. The population was 20,978 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Cambria County...
-Altoona
Altoona, Pennsylvania
-History:A major railroad town, Altoona was founded by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1849 as the site for a shop complex. Altoona was incorporated as a borough on February 6, 1854, and as a city under legislation approved on April 3, 1867, and February 8, 1868...
-State College
State College, Pennsylvania
State College is the largest borough in Centre County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Centre County. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 42,034, and roughly double...
television market, since that area currently lacks a CW affiliate of its own. WPCW was a Johnstown station for most of its history.
Rebroadcasters
WPCW is rebroadcast on WBPA-LP in Pittsburgh (owned by Venture Technologies Group, LLC) from the days when it did not have a strong signal throughout the city. WPCW has a construction permit to air a fill-in digital translator in Johnstown.| Callsign | Channel | City of license | Transmitter location | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WPCW | 27 | Johnstown | Laurel Hill State Park Laurel Hill State Park Laurel Hill State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Jefferson and Middlecreek Townships, Somerset County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Laurel Hill Lake is a man-made lake with a dam that was constructed during the Great Depression by the young men of CCC camps SP-8-PA and SP-15-PA... along the Somerset Somerset County, Pennsylvania Somerset County is a county located in the state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 77,742. Somerset County was created on April 17, 1795, from part of Bedford County and named for Somerset, United Kingdom. Its county seat is Somerset. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania,... and Westmoreland Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 369,993 people, 149,813 households, and 104,569 families residing in the county. The population density was 361 people per square mile . There were 161,058 housing units at an average density of 157 per square mile... County line |
construction permit Construction permit A construction permit or building permit is a permit required in most jurisdictions for new construction, or adding on to pre-existing structures, and in some cases for major renovations. Generally, the new construction must be inspected during construction and after completion to ensure compliance... |
| WBPA-LP | 30 | Pittsburgh | same as main signal | has construction permit to operate digital signal on VHF channel 6 as WBPA-LD from new transmitter in Clinton Clinton, Pennsylvania Clinton is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Findlay Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It had a population of 434 at the 2010 census. Clinton has the ZIP code of 15026. The community is located adjacent to the Pittsburgh International Airport.... |
History
WPCW signed-on October 15, 1953 as WARD-TV on analog UHF channel 56 with studios on Franklin Street in Downtown Johnstown. It was co-owned with WARD radio (AM 1490, now WNTJWNTJ
WKGE is an American AM radio station licensed to broadcast on 850 kHz at 10 kW day and night, serving the community of Johnstown, Pennsylvania...
, and FM 96.5, now WFGI-FM
WFGI-FM
WFGI-FM, known as "Froggy 95 FM", is a Froggy branded Country music formatted radio station in Pennsylvania serving the Johnstown area. The station is owned and operated by Forever Broadcasting, LLC....
at 95.5). The station was the area's CBS affiliate with a secondary ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliation. During the late-1950s, it was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network
NTA Film Network
The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956. The network was not a full-time television network like CBS, NBC, or ABC. Rather, it operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several first-run television programs from major Hollywood studios...
. Around 1970, Jonel Construction Company bought WARD-AM-FM-TV and changed their calls to WJNL-AM-FM-TV. The TV station also moved to the stronger UHF channel 19 and dropped ABC programming. It also left the Franklin Street studio for a new facility located on Benshoff hill, not too far from the transmitter atop Cover Hill in suburban Johnstown. The radio stations moved to the Benshoff Hill location in 1977 after the Franklin Street studios were destroyed in a massive flood.
Even with the move to the stronger channel 19, the station was plagued by a weak signal. Most of Western Pennsylvania is a very rugged dissected plateau
Dissected plateau
A dissected plateau is a plateau area that has been severely eroded so that the relief is sharp. Such an area may be referred to as mountainous, but dissected plateaus are distinguishable from orogenic mountain belts by the lack of folding, metamorphism, extensive faulting, or magmatic activity...
, and at the time, UHF stations usually did not get good reception in rugged terrain. In fact, Johnstown viewers got better signals from WFBG-TV in Altoona and KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. After WFBG-TV was sold in 1973, that channel changed its callsign to WTAJ-TV
WTAJ-TV
WTAJ-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Allegheny area of Pennsylvania that is licensed to Altoona, Pennsylvania. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32. It is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group...
in part to acknowledge its Johnstown viewership (its call letters stand for "W"e're "T"elevision in "A"ltoona and "J"ohnstown). As a result, the station never thrived, and was more or less a non-factor in a market dominated by WJAC-TV
WJAC-TV
WJAC-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Allegheny area of Pennsylvania that is licensed to Johnstown. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter northwest of the city in Laurel Ridge State Park along the Cambria and Westmoreland County line....
. It only stayed afloat because of the tremendous success of its FM sister, an adult contemporary powerhouse.
In 1982, the Johnstown and Altoona/State College markets were collapsed into a single DMA. CBS gave its affiliation in the newly enlarged market to Altoona's WTAJ, which as mentioned above, already had a large viewership in Johnstown. In contrast, WJNL-TV could not be seen at all in much of the eastern part of the market; while Altoona was just inside channel 19's grade B contour, State College was just outside of it. As a result, WJNL-TV became an independent station
Independent station
An independent station is in the category of television terminology used to describe a television station broadcasting in the United States or Canada that is not affiliated with any television network....
. It was sold to Leon Crosby, a former owner of the original KEMO-TV (now KOFY-TV) in San Francisco, a year later and renamed WFAT-TV. Forced to buy an additional nineteen hours of programming a day, its ratings plummeted even further. It did not help matters that the major Pittsburgh independents were available on cable. The station was dealt a fatal blow in 1986 when WWCP-TV
WWCP-TV
WWCP-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for the Allegheny area of Pennsylvania that is licensed to Johnstown. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 8 from a transmitter on Laurel Mountain along U.S. 30...
signed-on and took most of WFAT's stronger shows. The station changed calls to WPTJ in 1988 and moved its studios to Allen Bill Drive in the Johnstown Industrial Park, but saw no change in its fortunes. Frequent transmitter problems often left the station off-the-air for extended periods of time. Declaring bankruptcy, WPTJ finally went off the air for good in 1991.
Meanwhile over in Pittsburgh, WBPA-LP on analog UHF channel 29 signed-on in 1994 as a low-powered station owned by Venture Technologies Group, LLC. It ran some ABC and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
shows that WTAE-TV
WTAE-TV
WTAE-TV is the ABC affiliated television station for Western Pennsylvania that is licensed to Pittsburgh, broadcasting on UHF channel 51 and identifying via PSIP as channel 4 . It also serves as an ABC affiliate for the Wheeling/Steubenville and Clarksburg/Weston, West Virginia market areas...
and WPXI
WPXI
WPXI, channel 11, is the NBC-affiliated television station for Western Pennsylvania that is licensed to Pittsburgh. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 48 from a transmitter located on the north side of Pittsburgh. Owned by Cox Enterprises, the station has studios in the...
pre-empted, along with infomercials, religious, and shop-at-home programming. It added WB programming on January 7, 1995 and a few syndicated shows in the fall of that year. At some point in time, that station moved to UHF channel 30. Also in 1995, Venture Technologies bought the dormant WPTJ license in Johnstown. That station returned to the air in early-1997 with the call-sign WTWB-TV, a full-powered satellite of WBPA. Venture, however, still had trouble getting viewership in Pittsburgh in part because cable systems in the area were not willing to pick it up. To solve this problem, Venture asked and received permission to move WTWB's license to Jeannette (about thirty miles southeast of Pittsburgh) and place it in that market. This qualified it for "must-carry
Must-carry
In cable television, governments apply a must-carry regulation stating that locally-licensed television stations must be carried on a cable provider's system.- Canada :...
" status on Pittsburgh cable systems. In the wake of the move, WTWB began to acquire more off-network sitcoms and first-run syndicated shows alongside cartoons from Kids' WB
Kids' WB
Kids' WB! was Warner Bros. American childrens programing division brand for The WB Television Network. In September 2006, the block moved to The CW Television Network. The CW is the result of The WB's merger with UPN in 2006...
and prime time programming from The WB. When WPTT acquired this affiliation and changed its call letters to WCWB in 1998 (it is now WPMY
WPMY
WPMY is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for Western Pennsylvania that is licensed to Pittsburgh. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 42 from a transmitter located in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, WPMY is the sister station of...
, the MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
affiliate), the UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
affiliation in the market became available. As such, channel 19 took the affiliation and changed call letters to WNPA-TV.
Viacom
Viacom (1971–2005)
Viacom , stylized as VIACOM in its current logo, was an American media conglomerate. It was the owner of CBS, Nickelodeon & MTV, among others. Effective December 31, 2005, this corporate entity changed its name to CBS Corporation...
bought the station in 1998. It became sister station to KDKA-TV after the company merged with CBS in 2000. Viacom consolidated WNPA's operations into KDKA-AM-TV's studios at One Gateway Center by 2001. The station began to identify on air as "UPN Pittsburgh" in late-2003 as different cable systems carry it on different channels. On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that they would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
unit of Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
. To coincide with this change, the station changed its call sign to WPCW and rebranded itself as "Pittsburgh's CW" in August. The network launched on September 18.
WPCW's analog transmitter was on Laurel Mountain
Laurel Mountain State Park
Laurel Mountain State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Ligonier Township, Westmoreland County and Jenner Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania in the United States. This state park is a ski resort that closed for business in 2005. The ski assests of the park were purchased by Seven Springs...
west of Jennerstown
Jennerstown, Pennsylvania
Jennerstown is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 714 at the 2000 census. The borough is the home of Jennerstown Speedway. The town was named for Edward Jenner.Jennerstown is located...
which is 35 miles southeast of Jeannette. This provided city-grade coverage to Johnstown and "rimshot" coverage to Pittsburgh. As a result, it was barely viewable over-the-air in many low-lying areas in the northern and western parts of the city and could not be seen at all in the city's western suburbs. When it applied to move its license to Jeannette, Venture sought and received a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) rule requiring a station's transmitter to be no farther than 15 miles from the city of license. It successfully contended that there was no way it could build an analog tower within the 15-mile limit without interfering with WOIO
WOIO
WOIO, virtual channel 19 , is the CBS affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio. It is licensed to the nearby suburb of Shaker Heights. WOIO is owned by Raycom Media and its sister station to MyNetworkTV affiliate WUAB . The two stations share a studio facility in Cleveland and WOIO's transmitter is located in...
in Cleveland.
However on June 12, 2009 coinciding with the national transition to digital television, WPCW turned-off its transmitter near Jennerstown and began broadcasting digitally from its new transmitter near Downtown Pittsburgh. It moved to VHF channel 11 (WPXI's former analog home) mapping to channel 19 via PSIP. As with all CBS-owned stations, it carries only one 1080i
1080i
1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...
high definition channel without subchannel services. Interference with WOIO which existed in the analog age is no longer an issue as that station is on digital channel 10. CBS also feeds a direct fiber signal to both Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
and Verizon FiOS
Verizon FiOS
Verizon FiOS is a bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service which operates over a fiber-optic communications network. It is offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon Communications. Verizon was one of the first major U.S...
and has done so for years. The relocation of its transmitter now provides Pittsburgh with city-grade coverage in addition to greater coverage west of the city but has left many viewers east of Westmoreland County
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 369,993 people, 149,813 households, and 104,569 families residing in the county. The population density was 361 people per square mile . There were 161,058 housing units at an average density of 157 per square mile...
(who were able to pick up WPCW's analog signal) without a viewable digital signal. In July 2009, the station applied with the FCC for a repeater digital signal on channel 27 in Johnstown. WPCW is one of three former CBS affiliates that have since become CW stations owned by CBS along with WTVX
WTVX
WTVX is the CW-affiliated television station for West Palm Beach, Florida that is licensed to Fort Pierce. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter southwest of Palm City and I-95 in Martin County...
in West Palm Beach and KSTW
KSTW
KSTW is a television station serving the Seattle, Washington media market. It is owned by CBS Corporation, and is a part of The CW Television Network. It broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 11...
in Seattle. However, WTVX has since been divested to Cerberus Capital Management
Cerberus Capital Management
Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is one of the largest private equity investment firms in the United States. The firm is based in New York City, and run by -year-old financier Steve Feinberg. Former U.S...
's Four Points Media Group
Four Points Media Group
Four Points Media Group LLC is a television station holding company founded by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management in 2007 with its purchase of seven television stations previously owned by CBS Television Stations, a subsidiary of CBS Corporation.Four Points Media Group took over...
(the Four Points Media stations are currently in the process of being sold to the Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group
The Sinclair Broadcast Group is an American telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the United States. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it owns a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of...
, which would make the Four Points stations sisters to WPGH-TV
WPGH-TV
WPGH-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 43 from a transmitter at its studios on Ivory Avenue in the city's Summer Hill section. The station can also be seen on Verizon FiOS and Comcast channel 7...
and WPMY). This station usually televises about six Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
games a year to allow Fox Sports Pittsburgh (the team's usual broadcasting partner) to fulfill its national commitments to Fox Sports Net
Fox Sports Net
The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.- Beginnings :...
's Pac 10 and Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
coverage packages. In 2010, the CW broadcasted the entire home schedule of the California University of Pennsylvania
California University of Pennsylvania
California University of Pennsylvania is a public university located in California, Pennsylvania, USA. Founded in 1852, it is a member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Cal U's enrollment is approximately 9,400.The main campus consists of about 38 buildings situated on 92 acres...
Vulcan Football season under the "Vulcan Sports Network" moniker.
As CBS has done with most of its other CBS/The CW duopolies in other markets, WPCW's web address has been folded within the KDKA website with only basic station and programming information along with entertainment news and promotional video from The CW. WPCW and KDKA serve as the area's official Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
stations and air several team-related shows. This includes Steelers Saturday Night on Saturday nights from 9 to 10 and Steelers TV on Saturday nights from 11 to 11:30 (hosted by Tunch Ilkin
Tunch Ilkin
Tunch Ilkin is a Turkish sports broadcaster and a former American football player. He currently serves as a television and radio analyst for the Pittsburgh Steelers.-Biography:...
and Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola). Depending on CBS' weekly doubleheader schedule, the Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless
Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, is one of the largest mobile network operators in the United States. The network has 107.7 million subscribers as of 2011, making it the largest wireless service provider in America....
Xtra Point may air on WPCW right after a Steelers game. That program is anchored by Bob Pompeani, Ed Bouchette, and Edmund Nelson. The Subway Nightly Sports Call airs every night from 10:35 to 11 after the KDKA-produced prime time newscast. Weeknights are anchored by Bob Pompeani while weekends feature Jory Rand. Depending on the doubleheader schedule, there is a special edition that is shown during the season after the Verizon Wireless Xtra Point.
Newscasts
As WJNL-TV in Johnstown, it did produce a local newscast from 1971 to 1974 on weekdays and a few public affairs programs to try and compete against WJAC. However, its facilities were below the standards expected for a network affiliate. In August of 2001 as WNPA, the station began to carry a prime time newscast every night at 10 produced by KDKA. This competes with Fox NetworkFox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
affiliate WPGH-TV
WPGH-TV
WPGH-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 43 from a transmitter at its studios on Ivory Avenue in the city's Summer Hill section. The station can also be seen on Verizon FiOS and Comcast channel 7...
that has a nightly newscast at 10 produced by WPXI.
In 2005, the station launched a two-hour extension of KDKA's weekday morning show beginning at 7. This was later shortened to one hour amid poor ratings. On June 16, 2009, KDKA launched its newscasts in high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
starting with its weekday noon broadcast with a new set and weather center. That station was the last major Pittsburgh channel to begin airing newscasts in HD and the WPCW shows were included in the upgrade.
KDKA Morning News on The CW
(weekday mornings 7 to 8)
- Anchors:
- Jennifer Antkowiak
- Rick Dayton
- Weather:
- Dennis Bowman
- Reporters:
- Ross Guidotti
- Heather Abraham
- Bob Allen
- Brenda Waters
The 10 O'Clock News (10 to 10:35 p.m.)
weeknights
- Anchor:
- Ken Rice
- Weather:
- Jeff Verszyla
- Reporter:
- Stephanie Watson
- Paul Martino
- David Highfield
- Harold Hayes
- Mary Robb Jackson
- Jon Delano
- Trina Orlando
weekends
- Anchor:
- Paul Martino
- Weather:
- Jon Burnett
WPCW features additional personnel from KDKA. See that article
KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV, channel 2, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. KDKA-TV broadcasts from a transmitter located in the Perry North neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and its studios are located in downtown Pittsburgh at Gateway Center....
for a complete listing.