or ktvw dt . kwtv dt oklahoma city oklahoma united states branding news 9 in hd slogan oklahoma s own channels digital 39 uhf virtual 9 psip subchannels 9.1 cbs 9.2 news 9 now translators k21jn d erick k23iy d weatherford k34jj d hollis k39jh d strong city k46jl d altus k47lr d elk city affiliations cbs owner griffin communications griffin licensing llc first air date december 20 1953 call letters meaning world s tallest video sister station s ksbi former channel number s analog 9 vhf 1953 2009 digital 39 uhf 2003 2009 9 vhf 2009 2010 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 465 m facility id 25382 transmitter coordinates 35 35 52.16 n 97 29 23.07 w 35.5978222 n 97.4897417 w 35.5978222 ; 97.4897417 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.news9.com kwtv dt virtual channel 9 uhf digital channel 39 is a cbs affiliated television station located in oklahoma city oklahoma united states . it is the flagship television station of locally based griffin communications as part of a duopoly with mynetworktv affiliate ksbi tv channel 52 . the two stations share studio facilities located on kelley avenue adjacent to the studios and main offices of the oklahoma educational television authority pbs member network and its transmitter is located near the john kilpatrick turnpike interstate 44 both on the city s northeast side . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 sports programming 4 news operation 4.1 sweepstakes 4.2 hair & make up 4.3 on air staff 4.3.1 notable current on air staff 4.3.2 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit john toole griffin a local grocery magnate and founder of griffin foods decided to apply for a broadcast license with the federal communications commission after noticing while driving around oklahoma city that many homes in the area had outdoor television antennas installed to receive wky tv channel 4 now kfor tv which debuted in june 1949 as the first television station in oklahoma . 1 kwtv first signed on the air on december 20 1953 ; it was founded by griffin and his brother in law james c. leake co owners of radio station koma 1520 am now kokc . channel 9 initially transmitted its signal from a shorter temporary tower near its kelley avenue studios as its permanent transmitter tower for which the griffins chose the kwtv callsign standing for world s tallest video for the station over using the koma calls was still under construction ; when it was activated in 1954 the 1 577 feet 481 m structure became the tallest free standing broadcast tower in the world at the time . as of october 2014 the tower is currently being removed and sold for scrap . kwtv s first broadcast was a roll call of station employees introducing themselves and the departments they were employed with . 2 kwtv has been a cbs affiliate since its sign on having taken the affiliation from wky tv which relegated the network to secondary clearances owing to koma s longtime affiliation with the cbs radio network ; it is one of the few american television stations that has had the same callsign ownership primary network affiliation and over the air channel allocation throughout its history . todd storz creator of the top 40 radio format purchased koma in 1958 . griffin and leake bought out the partners that held minority interest in kwtv in 1963 ; leake then sold his interest to griffin in 1968 in return for griffin s share of two other television stations ktul in tulsa and katv in little rock . by the 1970s kwtv became the first station in oklahoma city to record news footage on videotape instead of film . in the late 1970s it also became the market s first television station to maintain a 24 hour programming schedule . john griffin retired in 1990 and turned over control of channel 9 to his son david . kwtv logo used from march 1997 to october 24 2010 ; the 9 in the logo which resembles that used by kusa denver and wsoc tv charlotte was first used without the box framing in 1986 . on august 18 1993 kwtv partnered with cox cable and multimedia cablevision to create a 24 hour local cable news channel through a condition in carriage renewal agreements between griffin television and the two cable providers . 3 this channel news now 53 debuted locally on december 3 1996 on cox channel 53 featuring rebroadcasts and live simulcasts of kwtv s news programs news now 53 was initially available only in oklahoma city proper expanding to its outlying suburbs after cox acquired multimedia cablevision from the gannett company in january 2000 ; a tulsa area feed of news now 53 launched in 2000 after griffin purchased that market s cbs affiliate kotv . on january 26 2001 a beechcraft super king air 200 transporting nine members of the oklahoma state university basketball team including two players and six members of the coaching staff and kwtv sports director bill teegins who was also the university s football and basketball radio announcer crashed in a field near strasburg colorado . 4 the plane departed from jefferson county airport following a game against the university of colorado buffaloes when the pilot became disoriented while flying through heavy snow on the way to stillwater regional airport ; all ten men on board were killed two memorials have since been erected in remembrance of the tragedy one at the crash site and another outside of gallagher iba arena at osu s stillwater campus featuring a statue of a kneeling cowboy . 5 also in 2001 kwtv entered into a content partnership with the oklahoman resulting in the merger of both the station and newspaper s websites under the newsok banner ; this collaboration ended in early 2008 the newsok website continues to exist as the standalone website for the oklahoman . ironically the gaylord family who ran the newspaper from 1907 to 2011 when the paper s owner opubco communications group was sold to the anschutz corporation built and signed on competitor kfor tv in 1949 and owned that station until 1975 . on october 25 2010 kwtv became the first television station in the oklahoma city market to carry syndicated programming and advertisements inserted during local commercial breaks including station and network promos in high definition . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 6 9.1 1080i 16 9 news9 main kwtv dt programming cbs 9.2 480i news9 n news 9 now news 9 now is a news simulcast rebroadcast channel that previously operated as cable only news now 53 from december 3 1996 to march 30 2011 . owned by griffin communications in cooperation with cox communications it also runs a three hour block of e i compliant children s programs on saturday afternoons . 7 analog to digital conversion edit kwtv discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over vhf channel 9 on february 17 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television which congress had moved the previous month to june 12 . 8 the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 39 to vhf channel 9 . 9 10 due to reception issues in parts of central oklahoma kwtv was granted permission by the fcc to operate a secondary signal on its former uhf digital channel 39 under special temporary authorization in october 2009 mapped to virtual channel 9.2 . on march 9 2010 the fcc issued a report & order approving the station s request to move its digital signal from channel 9 to channel 39 . 11 on april 20 2010 kwtv filed a minor change application on its new channel 39 allotment 12 that was granted on june 10 . 13 short lived service interruptions began on july 29 to allow viewers to rescan their digital tuners to carry the uhf channel 39 signal . on august 16 2010 the digital signal on uhf channel 39 added a virtual channel on 9.1 in addition to the 9.2 psip channel . kwtv terminated its digital signal on channel 9 and began to operate only on channel 39 on august 30 2010 at 12 30 p.m. 14 programming edit kwtv dt news logo outside of the cbs network schedule syndicated programs broadcast by kwtv include live with kelly dr. phil entertainment tonight extra and the insider . kwtv currently does not air cbs this morning saturday on its main channel and delays the second half hour of face the nation to early monday mornings both shows air on the news 9 now subchannel with the former being shown after the saturday morning newscast and the entire broadcast of the latter airing in simulcast with digital channel 9.1 for the first half hour and the second half hour airing exclusively on 9.2 . for a brief period in the early 1990s kwtv preempted cbs news sunday morning ; it also ran the price is right at 11 00 a.m. and the young and the restless at 3 00 p.m. out of pattern from 1993 to 1999 . cbs saturday morning children s program block now branded as the cbs dream team also aired in a split pattern until september 2010 with one half hour airing at 5 30 a.m. while the block s other programs usually ran from 8 00 to 10 30 a.m. until march 28 2011 kwtv ran the late late show on a half hour delay at 12 07 a.m. due to its weeknight airing of seinfeld which is now seen on kokh tv and kocb . sports programming edit from 2000 to 2011 kwtv served as the broadcast home for oklahoma state cowboys basketball games produced through the cowboys sports network broadcasting three games each season usually airing on a wednesday or saturday during primetime hours . in 2013 the station obtained the local television rights to st. louis rams preseason nfl games from the team s rams television network syndication service ironically most rams regular season games air on kokh tv through fox s contract with the national football conference while kwtv only carries the team s matchups against an opponent in the american football conference cbs nfl broadcast partner . news operation edit news 9 current nightly newscast open . kwtv dt presently broadcasts 39 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with six hours on weekdays and 4 hours each on saturdays and sundays . since 2006 the station has operated a bell 407 helicopter for newsgathering called skynews9 hd now bob mills skynews9 hd through a sponsorship and brand licensing agreement with bob mills furniture which was the first in the market to be equipped with a high definition camera though helicopter images were not broadcast in hd until october 2010 when the station finally started broadcasting in 16 9 aspect ratio ; this helicopter replaced ranger 9 which had a camera installed below the nose dubbed eaglevision in 2000 and was the first helicopter in the state used for daily newsgathering having debuted one day before koco tv channel 5 s sky 5 came into use in 1980 . kwtv also provides local weather updates for the clear channel owned oklahoma news network and tyler media group owned radio stations kokc koma 92.5 fm kmgl 104.1 fm kjke 93.3 fm and krxo fm 107.7 fm . kwtv also features select stories filed by tulsa sister station kotv dt during its newscasts and partners with that station to cover news events within the tulsa market ; both stations co produce the sunday sports analysis program oklahoma sports blitz formerly okblitz.com . kwtv which has long been one of cbs strongest affiliates has long had a rivalry with