WCWW-LD


WCWW-LD, virtual and UHF digital channel 25, is a low-powered CW-affiliated television station licensed to South Bend, Indiana, United States. Owned by Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting, it is sister to two other low-powered stations: ABC affiliate WBND-LD and MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYS-LD. The three stations share studios on Generations Drive in northeastern South Bend; WCWW-LD's transmitter is located just off the St. Joseph Valley Parkway on the city's south side.
On cable, the station can be seen in standard definition on Comcast Xfinity channel 5 and AT&T U-verse channel 25 and in high definition on Xfinity digital channel 192 and U-verse channel 1025.

History

The station was founded on August 31, 1990 as W25BM, operating as an affiliate of the Three Angels Broadcasting Network; it later changed its callsign to WYGN-LP in October 1995. On March 14, 2002, the station was transferred to its current owner, Weigel Broadcasting, who had been previously broadcasting general entertainment programming on what is now WYGN-LD; it also dropped 3ABN which went to WYGN-LD, and changed its callsign to WRDY-LP; that fall, the station affiliated with The WB, which moved to WRDY-LP from the original WMWB-LP, and it adopted the WMWB-LP callsign previously held by channel 69 to reflect its new affiliation with the network.
On March 1, 2006, Weigel officials announced that WMWB would affiliate with The CW, a network formed out of the struggling WB and UPN networks in partnership with the two networks' owners Time Warner and CBS Corporation, when it premiered in September; channel 25 changed its call letters to WCWW-LP upon the network's launch on September 18, 2006. The WCWW calls had belonged to sister station WMYS, which took an affiliation with CW competitor MyNetworkTV ; the two stations both have borne the WRDY and WYGN calls.
In early August 2008, Weigel Broadcasting agreed to sell all three of its South Bend stations, including WCWW, to Schurz Communications, the longtime owner of the local CBS affiliate WSBT-TV, for undisclosed terms. However, in the absence of action by the Federal Communications Commission, the deal was called off in August 2009.
With Weigel flagship WCIU-TV's assumption of the CW affiliation in Chicago on September 1, 2019, Weigel now owns both of the network's affiliates on the southern shore of Lake Michigan.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
25.11080iWCWW-HDMain WCWW-LD programming / The CW
25.2480iSTARTStart TV
25.3480iTHISThis TV
25.4720p16:9WBND-HDSimulcast of WBND-LD / ABC

In 2010, WCWW-LD launched a second digital subchannel on 25.2 as an affiliate of This TV.
In 2018, WCWW-LD's digital subchannel 25.2 replaced This TV with Start TV. This TV moved to a newly launched third subchannel.
In February 2019, WCWW-LD added a high-definition simulcast of sister station WBND-LD on digital subchannel 25.4.

Analog-to-digital conversion

On September 14, 2007, WCWW and its sister stations began broadcasting low-power digital signals. WCWW-LD broadcasts with an effective radiated power of 25 kW on channel 25. On December 28, 2010, WCWW-LP turned off its analog signal on channel 25 because of equipment failure. On April 16, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission granted WCWW-LP a construction permit to move its digital frequency from channel 27 to its former analog allotment, UHF channel 25. On August 19, WCWW-LP began transmitting on UHF channel 25, replacing the previous digital signal on channel 27.

Programming

programming seen on WCWW-LD includes The Steve Wilkos Show, The Big Bang Theory, Maury, and The Jerry Springer Show.

Newscasts

On March 19, 2012, WCWW-LD debuted a nightly half-hour prime time newscast at 10 p.m. that is produced by WBND-LD. WBND also produces two hours of morning news on WCWW from 7–9 a.m. weekday mornings.