KCWK

KCWK

Yakima

KCWK (channel 9) was a

. The station operated from 2001 to 2008, shutting down following the bankruptcy of Pappas.

History

The station went on air for the first time on March 23, 2001, as KBKI. In 2003, it changed its call sign to KAZW-TV and became affiliated with the Spanish-language Azteca América network. It was mainly targeted at the Hispanic community in Central Washington.

On April 24, 2006, it was announced that KAZW would launch a CW affiliate on digital subchannel 9.2, with programming being provided by The CW Plus. However, the station, which did not have a digital signal, subsequently changed its plans and chose to completely replace Azteca América with The CW, citing better marketing potential. Mike Angelos, vice president of corporate communications for Pappas Telecasting, stated that while the Yakima Valley has a 40 percent Hispanic population, the numbers were not high enough to reach the level needed for Azteca América. The call letters were changed to KCWK in August 2006 to reflect the new affiliation.

On May 10, 2008, KCWK, along with 12 other Pappas stations, filed for

On July 18, 2008, KCWK reported to the

KCWK was one of two Pappas stations required to both end analog broadcasting and install new equipment to begin digital transmission (a

. All other full-service Pappas television stations had been simulcasting in both analog and digital formats long before the company entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy and therefore had sufficient equipment on hand to continue to broadcast their signals digitally in 2009.

On January 16, 2009, it was announced that several Pappas stations, including the license for KCWK, would be sold to New World TV Group, after the sale received United States bankruptcy court approval.^[6] That February, Fisher Communications announced that their CBS affiliates KIMA-TV and KEPR-TV would each launch CW subchannels on March 31, 2009.^[7] The KCWK license was canceled by the FCC on June 2, 2009,^[8] and the KCWK-LP license was canceled on June 22, 2010.^[9]

Digital television

The station did not receive a companion channel for a digital

(called a "flash-cut") on or before the 2009 end of the digital TV conversion period for full-service stations. As KCWK did not acquire its digital transmitter and antenna, it was unable to complete the mandatory digital transition and never resumed broadcasting.

Low-powered satellite KCWK-LP had voluntarily filed for a digital "-LD" license on channel 36. That application has since been deleted from the FCC database.

Translators

• KCWK-LP 27
  Yakima

References