branding cw 15 general cbs 6 news newscasts slogan tv now channels digital 43 uhf virtual 45 psip subchannels see article affiliations the cw cbs secondary new york yankees secondary owner sinclair broadcast group wcwn licensee llc first air date december 3 1984 ; 31 years ago 1984 12 03 call letters meaning the cw network or the cw new york state sister station s wrgb wstm tv wstq lp wuhf wham tv wutv wnyo tv former callsigns wusv 1984 1987 wmhx 1987 1993 wmhq 1993 1999 wewb tv 1999 2006 former channel number s analog 45 uhf 1984 2009 former affiliations independent 1984 1987 pbs 1987 1991 1993 1999 silent 1991 1993 wb 1999 2006 transmitter power 600 kw height 426 m facility id 73264 transmitter coordinates 42 37 31.3 n 74 0 36.3 w 42.625361 n 74.010083 w 42.625361 ; 74.010083 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website cwalbany.com wcwn is the cw affiliated television station for new york state s capital district and western new england . licensed to schenectady new york it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 43 psip virtual channel 45 from a transmitter southwest of new scotland s voorheesville section . the station can also be seen on time warner cable channel 15 hence the cw 15 branding and in high definition on digital channel 1815 . owned by the sinclair broadcast group wcwn is sister to cbs affiliate wrgb . it is operated out of wrgb s studios on balltown road in niskayuna . since wcwn is a sister station to wrgb the station can air cbs programming if the other station preempts the network for weather emergency updates or local specials . in the past it has been known to air coverage of the u.s. open tennis championship . when the yearly jerry lewis mda telethon aired in its original 20 hour format wcwn was responsible for airing wrgb s local syndicated and network lineup . the station also airs some new york mets baseball games produced by wpix in new york city . games are shown on friday nights saturdays and sundays . the arrangement is in place because wcwn was owned by tribune company wpix s owner from 1999 to 2006 . also wcwn airs wrgb s newscasts at times when cbs sports preempts them prime examples include the masters tournament and the ncaa tournament and final four . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 cable and satellite carriage 4 programming 5 news operation 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit wcwn originated as an independent station on december 3 1984 under the call letters wusv after its owner union street video . however it made little headway against the market s original independent wxxa tv . as with most independent stations in mid sized markets during that period it had difficulties from the outset in terms of getting programming with only afternoon cartoons and some reruns getting respectable ratings . most of the stronger programming was picked clean by wxxa which had access to stronger programming by virtue of its original owners ties to hollywood . the capital district was just barely large enough at the time to support two independent stations and there wasn t enough programming to go around . it didn t help matters that new york city s wpix and boston s wsbk tv were available on cable as had been the case for more than a decade . when wxxa joined fox as a charter affiliate wusv had some difficulty filling the void especially since wxxa was still essentially programmed as an independent . due to continuing financial difficulties union street video finally gave up in 1987 and sold the station in a fire sale to wmht educational telecommunications . under wmht s ownership channel 45 became a secondary pbs station under the calls wmhx . it was still licensed as a commercial station but operated as a noncommercial broadcaster much like buffalo s wned tv operated for many years . this arrangement lasted until 1991 when due to financial difficulties wmhx was taken off the air . two years later the station returned to the air as wmhq carrying a large amount of instructional programming alongside repeats and double runs from wmht . further financial difficulties at wmht led to wmhq being put up for sale in the late 1990s . despite wmht s financial difficulties wmhq s commercial license was still very valuable . after a sale to sinclair broadcast group which intended to make the station a dual upn wb affiliate fell through tribune broadcasting bought the station in 1999 for 18.5 million . wmhq s final day of programming was september 5 1999 ; after its nightly midnight sign off channel 45 returned to the air at 6 00 a.m. the next morning as wb affiliate wewb tv branded on air as wb 45 . prior to wewb s relaunch wpix had been the default wb affiliate for the capital district . wpix remained available to cable viewers in albany until 2002 but was blacked out during wb programming as well as syndicated programming shown exclusively on albany stations due to syndication exclusivity law . from the station s relaunch as wewb until december 2006 its master control was located at sister station wb affiliate wlvi tv in boston . however local offices were at corporate woods in albany . wlvi s meteorologists maintained wcwn s weather page . in 2004 wewb s digital signal signed on the air and began broadcasting on uhf channel 43 . in 2005 the wb 45 name was dropped in favor of capital region s wb at the tail end of a period in which most of tribune s wb affiliates minus its vhf and heritage stations were re branded in the same format . eleven years after the births of upn and the wb on january 24 2006 it was announced by cbs and time warner that the wb would merge with its rival network upn to form the cw . as part of the deal the newly formed network signed a 10 year affiliation deal with 16 of tribune s wb stations including wewb . in preparation the station s call letters changed to the current wcwn on may 10 . in july 2006 commercials for the cw as well as syndicated fall programming had the station rebranding as the capital region s cw effective with the network s launch on september 18 . on june 19 2006 tribune announced it would sell wcwn to freedom communications owner of cbs affiliate wrgb for 17 million . the purchase faced review from the federal communications commission fcc for much of 2006 since the capital district has only seven full power stations not enough to legally permit a duopoly . however the fcc granted freedom a failed station waiver for the station s purchase on november 22 clearing the way for freedom to close on the station on december 6 . at that point all of wcwn s operations were merged into wrgb s facilities in niskayuna and freedom began to maintain wcwn s website . the purchase gave the capital district its first television duopoly . for a short period of time this essentially gave wrgb control of three stations as it continued its pre existing joint sales agreement jsa with mynetworktv affiliate wnya until february 2007 . freedom announced on november 2 2011 that it would bow out of television and sell its stations including wcwn to sinclair broadcast group marking the company s second attempt at acquiring channel 45 . 1 since freedom had acquired wcwn through a failed station waiver sinclair requested a similar waiver for the purchase ; this was granted on march 13 2012 as part of the fcc s approval of the transaction . 2 the group deal closed on april 2 2012 . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 3 45.1 1080i 16 9 wcwn hd main wcwn programming the cw 45.2 480i 4 3 wcwn us grit 45.3 720p 16 9 wrgb sd simulcast of wrgb from its launch in 2006 until october 1 2007 wcwn offered the tube on its second digital subchannel and time warner digital cable . on november 1 2008 wcwn dt2 relaunched as an affiliate of this tv then shortly thereafter swapped subchannels with wrgb and took universal sports . wcwn dt2 went dark again on january 1 2012 when universal sports moved to cable only status . analog to digital conversion edit wcwn shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 45 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 43 . 4 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 45 . cable and satellite carriage edit wcwn is carried on the following cable and satellite systems within the albany schenectady troy market comcast directv dish network mid hudson cable time warner cable verizon fios 11 745 bennington vt 45 45 7 607 15 1212 15 515 programming edit syndicated programming on this station includes how i met your mother family feud two and a half men the king of queens and the office . news operation edit as wmhq it partnered with nbc affiliate wnyt to launch the market s first prime time newscast at 10 which ran from 1996 until 1998 . the broadcast was canceled due to a lack of support . at the outset of the station s relaunch as wewb there was a chance tribune would launch a news department possibly with some support from another station in the area . these plans were indefinitely put on hold after tribune put a news freeze in place and did not consider such a launch to be a priority . newscasts would not return to the station until the start of 2007 when freedom moved an hour long extension of wrgb s weekday morning show at 7 from wnya to this channel currently known as the cw 15 morning news . this happened because at the time wcwn had higher ratings than wnya . rumors soon circulated about wrgb launching a prime time show at 10 on this station to compete with fox affiliate wxxa tv . however the moving of a second run of dr. phil to the time slot put those plans on hold . on january 14 2008 the morning news on wcwn began to be produced in high definition . a day earlier wrgb became the first station in the market to make the upgrade . on september 24 2008 wrgb started airing a weeknight prime time newscast in high definition on wcwn . originally known as the cbs 6 news 10 at 10 and airing for ten minutes it featured the top stories of the day along with an updated weather forecast . on october 18 2010 this was expanded to thirty minutes and renamed the cw 15 news at 10 . the format on wcwn became unique to the market and is different compared with newscasts seen on wrgb . there is more fast paced reporting along with original stories and various features . the weekday morning and prime time newscasts are streamed live on wrgb s website . in the past wcwn has also occasionally aired that channel s 11 o clock news during cbs s coverage of the ncaa men s division i basketball championship . currently it airs wrgb s saturday 6 and 11 and sunday 6 30 and 11 p.m. whenever the main channel can not do so due to