KWYF-LD

KWYF-LD (channel 20) is a low-power television station in Casper, Wyoming, United States. It is a translator of dual Fox and MeTV/MyNetworkTV affiliate KFNB (channel 20), which is owned by Coastal Television. KWYF-LD's transmitter is located atop Casper Mountain.

History

A construction permit to construct a low-power television station on UHF channel 26 in Casper was granted on June 15, 1995,[3] and issued the call sign K26ES.[4] Original owner Charles W. Swaner sold K26ES to Wyomedia Corporation on September 15, 1997;[5] the new owners applied for a license to cover on October 29, 1997, and was granted it on January 28, 1998.[6] Initially, K26ES served as a translator of KLWY in Cheyenne; this brought Fox programming to Casper, along with a secondary affiliation with UPN. The station, by then referring to itself as "KWYF," began producing a 9 p.m. newscast on November 3, 2003.[7] On March 8, 2004, K26ES became a full-time UPN affiliate after Fox programming was moved to KFNB; for a time after this change, the station also carried some programming from Pax.[8] Wyomedia also transferred K26ES' newscast to KFNB.[8] When UPN and The WB closed to form The CW in 2006, K26ES became the new network's Casper affiliate.[9]

On March 27, 2012, Wyomedia was granted a construction permit[10] for a digital companion channel for K26ES to operate on channel 27;[11] this facility was issued the call sign K27LZ-D.[12] K27LZ-D filed for its license to cover on June 15, 2012[13] and was granted it on July 16;[14] on June 13, 2013, the call letters were changed to KWYF-LD.[12] The analog K26ES license remained active until September 12, 2014, when it was canceled by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).[15]

On January 26, 2015, KWYF became a MeTV affiliate.[16] In addition to airing programing from MeTV, it also airs programing from MyNetworkTV from 7pm-9pm weeknights.[17]

Wyomedia Corporation agreed to sell its stations, including KWYF-LD, to Legacy Broadcasting on February 8, 2018.[18] The sale was canceled on October 2, 2018.[19]

On October 8, 2019, Wyomedia announced that it would sell its stations to Front Range Television, a subsidiary of Coastal Television Broadcasting Company (run by Bill Fielder). This sale was concurrent with Coastal's purchase of KFNB, the sale of KTWO-TV to Vision Alaska, LLC, and the sale of KGWC-TV to Big Horn Television.[20] The sale was completed on June 1, 2020.[21]

By April 2022, the station began airing newscasts from the Coastal-owned and partly-centralized News Hub, recently acquired from Waypoint Media.[22][23]

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

External links