KCWH-LD

KCWH-LD (channel 18) is a low-power television station in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States, affiliated with The CW Plus. It is owned by Gray Media alongside CBS affiliates KOLN/KGIN (channels 10 and 11) in Lincoln and Grand Island, NBC affiliate KSNB-TV (channel 4) in York, and MeTV affiliate KNHL (channel 5) in Hastings. KCWH-LD is broadcast from a tower at the KOLN studios on North 40th Street in Lincoln.

For most of its history, KCWH-LD, under the call sign K18CD, served as a translator for KSNB-TV, whose signal was weak in Lincoln until its transmitter was moved to the KOLN tower near Beaver Crossing in 2022. It signed on in 1999, when KSNB-TV broadcast Fox programming; in 2009, the parent station left the air, only intermittently broadcasting until shortly before Gray acquired it in 2013. K18CD-D, now a digital station, continued to provide a rebroadcast of KSNB-TV, which broadcast MyNetworkTV programming before becoming the regional NBC affiliate in 2014. In 2018, after K18CD-D lost its tower in a collapse, Gray converted the station into a standalone CW+ affiliate, simulcast on subchannels of KNHL and Fox affiliate

History

Translator of KSNB-TV

The original construction permit for a translator station on channel 18 in Lincoln was granted on January 4, 1988,[1] and issued the call sign K18CD.[2] It was one of two translators that had been issued for the rebroadcast of KSNB-TV, at the time one of the ABC affiliates in the Nebraska Television Network (NTV); the other was K22CX (channel 22).[3] K22CX began broadcasting in 1994.[4] This service fulfilled a longstanding ambition of the network to expand to Lincoln and Lancaster County, which had nearly twice as many TV households as the Tri-Cities area.[5] However, the Lincoln translator attracted little interest locally, and NTV was not added on cable there.[6]

After Pappas Telecasting took over the operations of NTV in 1996, it switched KSNB-TV from ABC to Fox in September, simulcasting with NTV-managed KTVG-TV in Grand Island.[7][8] KSNB-TV was never owned directly by Pappas; because its signal overlapped with Pappas-owned KPTM in Omaha, Pappas assigned the right to buy the station to Colins Broadcasting Company.[9][10] The sales of NTV to Pappas and KSNB to Colins were approved by the FCC on February 17, 1999, and completed on May 24.[11][12] In August 1999, Colins applied for a license to cover for the station, indicating it had started broadcasting.[13]

Silence and sale to Gray

On June 12, 2009, Pappas converted KCWL-TV, an affiliate of The CW it managed in Lincoln, to Fox Nebraska as KFXL-TV,[15] which in turn was simulcast as a subchannel from the NTV stations.[16] This fulfilled an ambition of Pappas that dated to the late 1990s.[17] With Fox network coverage shifted to KFXL and the NTV transmitters, the operating agreements Pappas held to run KSNB-TV and KTVG-TV ended. The time brokerage agreement between Pappas Telecasting and Colins Broadcasting Corporation, expired on November 30, 2009; that station, along with the two translators in Lincoln owned by Colins, shut down on December 1. (KSNB-TV's Beatrice translator, K17CI, had already left the air on June 12, 2009.)[18] On December 19, 2011, the station converted to digital operations as K18CD-D.[2]

Silence and sale to Gray

CW affiliate

On October 20, 2017, the 500 ft tower in Lincoln leased by K18CD-D and KFXL-TV collapsed, rendering the translator out of commission.[27] On May 18, 2018, the call letters were changed to KCWH-LD.[2] It returned to the air on September 26, 2018,[28] transmitting from the KOLN studios;[29] on October 1, Gray announced that KCWH-LD had become the market's CW affiliate and would be simulcast on subchannels of KNHL in Hastings and KIIT-CD in North Platte.[30][31] There had not been a CW affiliate broadcast in the market since KCWL-TV became KFXL-TV in 2009.[15]

callsign	KCWH-LD
branding	The CW Nebraska
digital	18 (UHF)
virtual	18
translators	KNHL 18.1 Hastings KIIT-CD 11.2 North Platte
affiliations	18.1: CW+ 18.3: CBS
country	United States
airdate	August 9, 1999
location	Lincoln, Nebraska
callsign meaning	The CW, Huskers
former callsigns	K18CD (1999–2011) K18CD-D (2011–2018)
former channel numbers	Analog: 18 (UHF, 1999–2011)
owner	Gray Media
licensee	Gray Television Licensee, LLC
sister stations	KNHL, KOLN/KGIN, KSNB-TV
erp	15 kW
haat	112.7 m
facility id	21165
coordinates	40.82139°N, -96.66222°W
licensing authority	FCC

History

Translator of KSNB-TV

Silence and sale to Gray

Silence and sale to Gray

CW affiliate

Subchannels

References