affiliate in yuma arizona . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . november 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message kstw tacoma seattle washington united states city tacoma washington branding cw 11 slogan dare to defy channels digital 11 vhf virtual 11 psip subchannels 11.1 the cw 11.2 decades translators see article affiliations the cw decades owner cbs corporation the cw television stations inc. first air date march 1 1953 1953 03 01 call letters meaning king county seattle tacoma washington sister station s kmps fm kfnq kjaq kzok fm former callsigns ktnt tv 1953 1974 former channel number s analog 11 vhf 1953 2009 digital 36 uhf 2002 2009 former affiliations primary cbs 1953 1958 1960 1962 1995 1997 independent 1958 1960 1962 1995 upn 1997 2006 secondary dumont 1953 1955 transmitter power 100 kw height 275.7 m 905 ft facility id 23428 transmitter coordinates 47 36 56 n 122 18 29 w 47.61556 n 122.30806 w 47.61556 ; 122.30806 coordinates 47 36 56 n 122 18 29 w 47.61556 n 122.30806 w 47.61556 ; 122.30806 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website cwseattle.cbslocal.com kstw channel 11 is a cw owned and operated station television station licensed to tacoma washington united states . the station is owned by the cbs television stations subsidiary of cbs corporation and has its studios and transmitter located separately in seattle . kstw is available on cable television to canadian customers in southwestern british columbia on numerous cable providers such as telus optik tv and shaw cable in victoria vancouver penticton and kelowna . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 new ownership 2 digital television 2.1 digital channel 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 sports 3.2 children s programming 4 newscasts 5 translators 6 references 7 external links history edit early history edit the construction permit for the station was issued by the federal communications commission fcc on december 10 1952 . chief engineer max bice immediately ordered equipment through general electric and the equipment was delivered within 45 days . the antenna was in milan italy and it was shipped by rail car to tacoma . citation needed the transmitter arrived in tacoma from syracuse new york on february 9 1953 . it was installed on the next day and work progressed rapidly . the original studios and transmitter house were located at south 11th street and grant avenue . the station tested with a 30 000 watt signal and received reports of reception from up to 150 miles away . the station began broadcasting march 1 1953 out of tacoma as ktnt tv named after its founder the tacoma news tribune . at the time it was a primary cbs affiliate and sister station to ktnt radio am 1400 now kitz and fm 97.3 now kiro fm . during the late 1950s the station was briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 1 on february 21 1954 ktnt received permission from the fcc to increase the transmitter s power to 316 000 watts and to move the transmitter to a new 1 000 foot tower near view park washington just south of harper on the fragaria access road . parts of the old transmitting equipment were loaned to portland oregon s kgw tv due to the damage from the columbus day storm of 1962 . in february 1958 kiro tv channel 7 took to the air as the seattle tacoma market s exclusive cbs affiliate . 2 after being informed by cbs that its affiliation would be discontinued ktnt tv filed an antitrust lawsuit against cbs and kiro tv on claims the network had a pre existing agreement to affiliate with kiro tv when and if it ever went on the air . 3 cbs agreed to settle the suit in 1960 by taking on both kiro tv and ktnt tv as primary affiliates . 4 this arrangement lasted until september 1962 when channel 7 became the sole cbs station for western washington . 5 channel 11 was left to once again become an independent station the second in the market after ktvw channel 13 now kcpq . during the late 1960s the station also occasionally carried nbc primetime programs preempted by seattle supersonics games on king tv channel 5 . for one month in may 1967 the station was also an affiliate of the united network also known as the overmyer network a short lived attempt to create a fourth commercial television network nationally . during the decade ktnt also presented movies under the nightmare banner in the early 1960s on saturday nights airing around 10 30 p.m. before sign off . new ownership edit due to new newspaper broadcast cross ownership restrictions enacted by the fcc in the early 1970s the tacoma news tribune s ownership of the ktnt stations were under threat of potential fcc divestiture . as a result ktnt tv was sold to the wky television system forerunner of gaylord broadcasting in 1974 ; 6 7 the new ownership changed the station s call letters to kstw standing for seattle tacoma washington . 8 with the new ownership came a new slogan good lookin 11 as well as a new logo a stylized circle 11 with the circle modified to accommodate the 11 . later in the decade kstw became a regional superstation . at its height it was available on nearly every cable system in washington as well as parts of oregon and idaho and much of british columbia . the station also carried many daytime cbs programs preempted by kiro tv including game shows such as the joker s wild and the price is right during the 1970s . during the late 1980s kstw branded on air as kstwashington and like they did in the 1960s and 1970s it ran the traditional fare of cartoons off network sitcoms westerns old movies and a local 10 p.m. newscast . it was also the over the air home of the seattle mariners and supersonics . although it was one of the strongest independent stations in the country it passed on the fox affiliation when that network launched in 1986 ; that affiliation was picked up by kcpq . this was mainly because most of the smaller markets in kstw s cable footprint had enough stations to provide a local fox affiliate making the prospect of kstw as a multi market fox affiliate unattractive to gaylord . in 1993 gaylord agreed to affiliate kstw and its sister stations ktvt in fort worth wvtv in milwaukee and khtv in houston with the new wb television network at that time projected to launch late in the summer of 1994 . 9 however delays in the network s launch led to gaylord suing to void the affiliation agreements in july 1994 which was followed a month later by a breach of contract countersuit by the wb . 10 in the meantime cbs found itself without an affiliate in dallas fort worth when its longtime affiliate there kdfw switched to fox . cbs approached gaylord for an affiliation with ktvt . gaylord agreed on condition that kstw be included as part of the deal . 11 cbs agreed partly because at the time kstw was the only non big three station in seattle with a functioning news department . as a result cbs returned to channel 11 on march 13 1995 in what was to have been a ten year affiliation agreement . 12 some cbs shows that were preempted by kiro such as the bold and the beautiful had already been shown on kstw starting in the fall of 1994 which was already occurring with ktvt . the wb ultimately signed with ktzz tv channel 22 now kzjo weeks before its eventual january 1995 launch . 13 with the cbs affiliation kstw was dropped from cable systems in areas of eastern washington and northern idaho due to the presence of spokane s krem tv . even as a cbs affiliate kstw still ran a number of off network sitcoms and initially only programmed two half hour newscasts at 6 and 11 p.m. 14 although it carried an 11 p.m. newscast throughout its run with the network daytime newscasts aired in various timeslots during kstw s third tenure with cbs eventually settling at 6 a.m. 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. kstw used the same 11 logo and on air branding as its dallas sister station ktvt during this time . the station was put up for sale in october 1996 with gaylord stating in its earnings report that its financial results have not met expectations . 15 on january 20 1997 gaylord announced that kstw would be purchased by cox broadcasting a subsidiary of cox enterprises for 160 million . 16 the deal was finalized on may 30 1997 gaylord held on to ktvt until 1999 when it was sold to cbs outright . cox had plans to expand the news department at kstw and make it more competitive with the other stations in the market . 17 however rival kiro tv had been put up for sale just weeks before kstw as the belo corporation s merger with the providence journal company gave it ownership of king tv . 15 paramount stations group meanwhile was in the process of selling off the non upn stations it had inherited from viacom including kmov in st. louis paramount and chris craft industries launched upn in january 1995 the same month the wb went on the air . as a result on february 20 1997 a three way swap was arranged in which paramount viacom would swap kmov to belo for kiro tv which would then be dealt to cox in exchange for kstw and 70 million a deal that came as a shock to kstw employees . the two seattle stations retained their respective syndicated programming but swapped network affiliations once again with kstw becoming a upn owned and operated station and kiro returning to cbs . 17 the deal was finalized on june 2 1997 ; 18 from january 1995 until march 1995 upn programming was carried in seattle via kiro tv on a secondary basis . kstw began to air upn programming on june 30 1997 along with sitcoms movies cartoons a few first run syndicated shows and the return of the 10 p.m. newscast it had prior to the cbs switch . 19 the station canceled the 10 p.m. newscast in december 1998 . 20 viacom acquired cbs its former parent in 2000 bringing cbs and kstw under common ownership and making kstw and the aforementioned ktvt sister stations once again . the cartoons on kstw had disappeared as a result of upn ending the disney s one too block in august 2003 and more first run syndicated talk and reality shows moved to kstw . on january 24 2006 time warner and kstw parent cbs corporation which split from viacom the previous month announced they would shut down the wb and upn and launch the cw television network which would largely feature programming from both networks ; kstw was announced as the seattle station for the new network ; 21 the station rebranded as cw 11 on august 11 . kstw became a cw owned and operated station when the network launched on september 18 2006 . tribune company owned wb station ktwb tv later kmyq now kzjo became an affiliate of mynetworktv . in november 2006 after cost cutting measures were put in place by cbs it was announced that kstw would become a hosting station with master control located at the facilities of the company s san francisco duopoly of kpix and kbcw . 22 digital television edit digital channel edit channel 23 video aspect psip short name programming 11.1 1080i 16 9 kstw hd main kstw