please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message wdcw washington d.c. united states branding dcw television dcw 50 general dcw 50 news newscasts slogan serious fun channels digital 50 uhf virtual 50 psip affiliations .1 the cw .2 antenna tv .3 this tv owner tribune broadcasting wdcw llc founded january 1 1972 1972 01 01 first air date april 6 1981 ; 35 years ago 1981 04 06 call letters meaning washington d.c. s cw former callsigns wgsp 1972 wcqr 1981 1985 wfty 1985 1995 wbdc tv 1995 2006 former channel number s analog 50 uhf 1972 2009 digital 51 uhf 2006 2009 former affiliations primary independent 1972 1981 1995 silent 1972 1981 fnn 1981 1985 the wb 1995 2006 secondary abc 1986 1989 dt2 the tube 2006 2007 transmitter power 1000 kw height 253 m facility id 30576 transmitter coordinates 38 57 44 n 77 1 36 w 38.96222 n 77.02667 w 38.96222 ; 77.02667 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website dcw50.com wdcw channel 50 is the cw affiliated television station located in the american capital city of washington district of columbia . the station is owned by the tribune broadcasting subsidiary of the tribune media company . wdcw maintains studios on wisconsin avenue northwest in the glover park section of washington d.c. and its transmitter is located atop the hughes memorial tower in the city s brightwood neighborhood . 1 wdcw is carried on satellite provider directv as standard definition only cw e to serve the few areas of the eastern united states where a cw affiliate is not receivable over the air or through cable television and on jetblue s livetv inflight entertainment system though directv the other network stations featured on jetblue are predominantly from new york city . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 local programming 3.1 newscasts and public affairs programming 3.2 other locally produced programs 3.3 awards and recognition 4 references 5 external links history edit the channel 50 license was first assigned to wgsp . that station ran test patterns in early 1972 but never signed on . on april 6 1981 channel 50 finally signed on under the callsign wcqr . beginning on november 1 wcqr aired the subscription television service supertv at night and live pictures of washington d.c. from above its broadcast tower during the daytime . early in the day wcqr also ran some basic computer still images with music called morning muse . the live pictures were soon replaced with programming from the financial news network . hill broadcasting purchased both channel 50 and whll tv now wuni in worcester massachusetts in 1985 . on july 1 the call letters were changed to wfty in reference to its channel fifty allocation . it then became a full time independent station in early 1986 . initially the station ran a lineup of classic off network sitcoms dramas cartoons movies and some religious programs . wfty also picked up the abc soap opera ryan s hope after wjla tv channel 7 dropped it in 1986 with channel 50 running the final years of the program . the station was airing mostly religious infomercials low budget but copyrighted movies and a few off network dramas by 1988 . ratings were very low in addition to the programming costs . wfty did pick up a few cartoons for the weekday 7 to 9 a.m. slot in june 1990 when fox owned and operated station wttg channel 5 dropped its children s block in favor of launching a weekday morning newscast . in 1993 wfty along with whll were purchased by the jasas corporation . in the fall of that year wfty added more cartoons barter sitcoms some low priced syndicated shows and cut back on paid programming . on january 11 1995 wfty became a charter affiliate of the wb television network . on september 6 the station s call letters were changed to wbdc tv to reflect its network status with the callsign being a portmanteau of wb and washington dc . in 1996 the tribune company which had a minority ownership interest in the wb began managing the station and purchased the station outright from the jasas corporation in 1999 . wdcw s cw logo used from 2006 to 2008 . on january 24 2006 time warner and cbs corporation announced that the wb and upn would shut down that september and be replaced by a new network that would include some of the two networks higher rated programs called the cw . 2 3 wbdc was named as the d.c. area s cw affiliate as tribune signed a 10 year affiliation agreement for 16 of the company s 19 wb stations . on may 1 wbdc s call letters were changed to the current wdcw to reflect the pending switch . on july 20 2006 the station began to run on air promotions that featured a new logo and branding as the cw washington . wdcw joined the cw when the network launched nationwide on september 18 2006 . in august 2008 wdcw began to be branded on air as dc50 reducing the promotion of the cw to just the tagline ; this was followed on august 14 with the introduction of a new logo ; this branding change came as tribune s cw affiliated stations began to de emphasize references to the network in their branding . on air the station used dc 50 as their branding and at some points home of the cw as their slogan while the cw washington branding continued to be used on the station s website . in press releases seen online wdcw was also using the home of the cw slogan . 4 the slogan began being used on air and online on august 22 2008 . the cw logo returned to the station s branding in 2010 changing it to dc50 the cw . in july 2014 the station began to be branded as dcw television . the station also created a new logo . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 5 50.1 1080i 16 9 cw50 main wdcw programming the cw 50.2 480i 4 3 anttv antenna tv 50.3 thistv this tv until it ceased operations on october 1 2007 the tube a 24 hour digital music channel was broadcast on wdcw s second digital subchannel . it was also available on digital cable providers including comcast channel 207 verizon fios channel 863 directv channel 50 and cox channel 804 . analog to digital conversion edit on june 12 2009 wdcw terminated its analog signal on uhf channel 50 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 6 the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 51 to channel 50 for post transition operations . local programming edit newscasts and public affairs programming edit as an independent station the station carried a 7 30 p.m. newscast produced by nbc owned and operated station wrc tv titled 7 30 news headlines which launched on january 14 1991 ; the newscast suffered low ratings during its run and ended almost ten months later on october 25 1991 . 7 8 the station began to produce a weekly news program in washington dc and neighboring parts of maryland known as the inner loop from 2005 to 2007 in conjunction with george washington university and montgomery community college . the inner loop eventually evolved into weekend news with chris core which was produced at the tribune national media center in downtown washington from 2007 to 2010 . since 2010 the station has been broadcasting the emmy nominated newsplus with mark segraves a half hour locally produced program that airs sunday mornings . hosted by investigative reporter mark segraves the 30 minute program features local investigative reports and interviews with regional and national newsmakers . on april 16 2016 wdcw began airing a nightly half hour 10pm newscast produced by tribune sister station wtvr tv the cbs affiliate for richmond va. wtvr s candace burns solo anchors the weeknight newscasts along with chief meteorologist zach daniel and sports director lane casadonte . saturday evenings are anchored by angie miles meteorologist mike goldberg and sean robertson on sports . tracy sears handles anchor duties on sunday nights with goldberg and robertson on weather and sports respectively . other locally produced programs edit in the fall of 2013 dcw television created healthydc a station wide initiative intended to create awareness and educate the dmv to become healthier and happier . in 2009 dcw television celebrated black history month in february with a series of locally produced programming in a living black history campaign . this included two syndicated specials as well as multiple vignettes features that included such notables as aretha franklin oscar winner mo nique arsenio hall and many others . dcw television had broadcast two locally produced specials that focused on historic events which impacted the immediate metro dc community . direct access with big tigger 2009 2013 was a locally produced entertainment program hosted by television and radio personality darian big tigger morgan highlighting entertainment sports music and d.c. area nightlife ; the half hour show aired original episodes on fridays at 12 a.m and encore episodes sundays at 10 p.m. sportsweek 2010 2013 was a weekly sports talk program hosted by former washington redskins linebacker lavar arrington ; the program aired saturday afternoons at 1 30 p.m. with encores on sundays at 12 30 p.m. awards and recognition edit the dream began here dcw television s 2012 living black history special won outstanding documentary historical . from the first african americans to pioneer the civil rights movement to our first african american president the documentary explored the evolving roles african americans had within the white house the city of washington d.c. and our surrounding areas . the wdcw documentary hattie s lost legacy was presented the outstanding documentary local market national gracie award by the alliance for women in the media in 2012 . hattie s lost legacy recounted the story of oscar winner hattie mcdaniel s life focusing on the disappearance of her historic oscar from howard university in washington dc . hattie s lost legacy premiered in february 2011 as part of dc50 s living black history local programming campaign . hattie s lost legacy was also a 2012 finalist in the national association of black journalists television awards in the documentary category and was nominated for a washington regional emmy in the documentary historic category . dcw television was awarded the prestigious salute to excellence award by the national association of black journalists for the 2010 local documentary howard theatre a century in song . direct access with big tigger received an emmy in the outstanding local program entertainment category in 2012 . dcw television won an outstanding public service announcement for 2012 dcw television s trot for hunger psa promoting the annual thanksgiving 5k race to support washington dc s so other s might eat some . dcw television has supported some s trot for hunger for 13 years and has seen the event which supports dc s homeless grow from 300 runners in 2001 to 13 000 in 2013 . references edit digital signal sources . the washington post . 2008 05 20 . gilmore girls meet smackdown ; cw network to combine wb upn in cbs warner venture beginning in september cnnmoney.com january 24 2006 . upn and wb to combine forming new tv network the new york times january 24 2006 . our world with black enterprise on dc50 home of the cw press release . rabbitears tv query for wdcw list of digital full power