KLCW-TV


KLCW-TV, virtual channel 22, is a CW+-affiliated television station serving Lubbock, Texas, United States that is licensed to Wolfforth. The station is owned by locally based Ramar Communications, as part of a duopoly with Lubbock-licensed Fox affiliate and company flagship KJTV-TV ; it is also sister to four low-power stations—MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYL-LD, Class A independent KJTV-CD, Class A Telemundo affiliate KXTQ-CD, and MeTV affiliate KLBB-LD —and seven radio stations. All of the outlets share studios at 98th Street and University Avenue in south Lubbock, where KLCW and KJTV-TV also share transmitter facilities.
On cable, KLCW is available on channel 4 on most systems in the market.

History

Prior to 2006, what was then called KWBZ operated solely as a local cable TV station and was owned and operated by KCBD-TV, the local NBC affiliate. At that time, channel 22 was occupied by KUPT, an affiliate of UPN. On January 1, 2006, after the station was acquired by Ramar Communications, KUPT moved to channel 14 in Lubbock, and the WB affiliation moved to channel 22.
KWBZ became a full power broadcast affiliate of The WB on January 1, 2006. Twenty-four days later, Warner Bros. Television, which owned The WB, and CBS Corporation, owners of UPN, announced a merger of those two networks to take effect on September 18, 2006; the new network operating under the name of "The CW". KWBZ signed on to become a CW affiliate, resulting in new call letters and a rebranding. The station's feed still operates from the generic service for lower-market stations with local inserts and advertising placed by KJTV-TV and Ramar.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
22.1720pKLCW-DTMain KLCW-TV programming / Lubbock CW
22.2720pKMYL-DTSimulcast of KMYL-LD / MyNetworkTV
22.3480iJusticeJustice Network
22.4480i16:9Quest

Analog-to-digital conversion

Because it was granted an original construction permit after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997. The station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Instead, on or before February 17, 2009, which was supposed to be the end of the digital TV conversion period for full-service stations, KLCW-TV would be required to turn off its analog signal and turn on its digital signal. As of September 2008, the station's digital signal began broadcasting on its pre-transition UHF channel 43. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 22.