wkow 27 general 27 news newscasts metv 27.2 madison on dt2 slogan we ve got you covered channels digital 26 uhf virtual 27 psip subchannels 27.1 abc 27.2 metv 27.3 decades affiliations abc 1956 present owner quincy media wkow television inc. first air date june 30 1953 ; 63 years ago 1953 06 30 call letters meaning k c ow for wisconsin s dairy industry sister station s la crosse eau claire wxow wqow central wi waow wmow wyow rockford il wrex former callsigns wkow tv 1953 2009 former channel number s analog 27 uhf 1953 2009 former affiliations dt1 cbs 1953 1956 dt2 rtv 2008 2011 dt3 this tv 2009 2015 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 455 m facility id 64545 transmitter coordinates 43 3 20.5 n 89 32 6.3 w 43.055694 n 89.535083 w 43.055694 ; 89.535083 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website wkow.com wkow is the abc affiliated television station for madison wisconsin . the station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 26 psip virtual channel 27 from a transmitter in the city s middleton junction section ; the station is also available on charter cable systems in the madison market sd channel 7 and hd channel 607 . owned and operated by quincy media wkow has studios on tokay boulevard on madison s west side . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 5 references 6 external links history edit wkow tv the suffix was dropped from the call sign in 2009 was launched on june 30 1953 as madison s first television station . the station was originally aligned with cbs and owned by the monona broadcasting company led by a group of local area businessmen along with wkow radio am 1070 now wtso . the wkow call sign was an acknowledgment to wisconsin s dairy industry and featured a smiling bovine or cow alongside the emphasized k o w of the call sign . wkow am tv shared studios on tokay boulevard on madison s west side beginning in 1953 . wkow tv remained with cbs until 1956 when cbs moved to the new wisc tv . wkow tv subsequently joined abc who had been with wmtv on a secondary basis while wkow am remained with cbs radio . from january to august 1958 wkow was part of the short lived wisconsin oriented badger television network alongside milwaukee s wisn tv and green bay s wfrv tv . 1 in 1960 monona broadcasting sold the station to midcontinent broadcasting . midcontinent broadcasting sold both wkow and waow in wausau to horizon communications in september 1970 . in 1974 terry shockley took over control of wkow and its fellow sister stations that were part of the wisconsin television network which included waow in wausau and wxow in la crosse . horizon sold its stations along with wkow to liberty communications in 1978 . also during the 1970s shockley sold the radio stations in accordance with the fcc s one to market policy of that era . despite the separate ownership the renamed wtso would remain at tokay boulevard alongside wkow tv through the 1980s and 1990s until becoming part of the clear channel communications cluster where it is today an all sports station . for a time in the 2000s wkow tv supplied weather updates to the clear channel stations . as of october 2010 however the station is no longer involved with wtso or other madison clear channel stations in any way . in january 1985 liberty television sold wkow and its wausau and la crosse sister stations to tak communications which would later purchase kitv in honolulu hawaii and wgrz tv in buffalo new york . tak filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1991 and later went into receivership . as part of tak communications bankruptcy sale shockley purchased the four wisconsin stations in 1995 wkow waow wxow and eau claire s wqow . in june 2001 wkow and its wisconsin sister stations were acquired by quincy newspapers from shockley . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 2 27.1 720p 16 9 wkowabc main wkow programming abc 27.2 480i 16 9 wkow me metv 27.3 16 9 wkowdec decades wkow has been a pioneer of sorts in the world of digital terrestrial television . when the station launched high definition broadcasts on october 29 1998 on digital channel 26 it became at the time the smallest united states television station to launch digital hd broadcasts . wkow is still regularly used for digital television experiments including an october 2014 test involving one of the competitors for the atsc 3.0 standard in 4k resolution backed by lg and zenith . 3 in the late 2000s wkow would launch two digital subchannels alongside primary channel 27.1 . subchannel 27.2 was originally affiliated with the retro television network which was replaced on july 1 2011 by the similarly formatted metv . subchannel 27.3 launched in march 2009 with the movie network this tv which was replaced on september 2 2015 at 12 noon by metv s sister network decades . 27.2 clears any abc programming pre empted on 27.1 for local sports and breaking news coverage . analog to digital conversion edit wkow shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 27 at 1 p.m. on february 17 2009 the original target date in which full power television stations in the united states were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate which was later pushed back to june 12 2009 . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 26 . 4 5 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 27 . programming edit syndicated programming on wkow includes ellen who wants to be a millionaire live with kelly and michael the doctors and dr. phil . wkow also serves as the originating station for broadcasts of wisconsin interscholastic athletic association wiaa championship events . wkow its quincy owned sister stations in central and western wisconsin and affiliates in the milwaukee and green bay markets air wiaa boys and girls hockey and basketball state championships each march . the hockey and boys basketball tournaments are staged in madison the girls basketball tournament in green bay . it is also an affiliate of the green bay packers television network along with its quincy sisters carrying the team s pre season games and in season programming . news operation edit wkow debuted a news department on the first day of its broadcasting in summer 1953 . local news weather and sports were seen in the initial shows . from 1999 to 2011 the station produced through a news share agreement the market s first nightly prime time newscast on sinclair owned fox affiliate wmsn tv fox 47 news at 9 ; the newscast originated from a secondary studio at wkow and although it featured wkow personnel in the broadcasts wmsn maintained separate weeknight news and sports anchors as well as using theme music and graphics packages that are found on other sinclair stations and that are different from that on wkow s newscasts . wisc tv subchannel tvw had aired a prime time newscast from 2004 to 2011 ; a third station wbuw had its own 9pm newscast from 2003 until 2005 . wisc tv took over the production of the wmsn newscast at the beginning of 2012 . on october 26 2010 wkow became the third station in madison to upgrade newscasts to high definition following wisc tv and wmtv . the wmsn broadcasts however were still in 4 3 standard definition as the station didn t have the necessary equipment to air local or syndicated hd programming . references edit golembiewski dick 2008 . milwaukee television history the analog years . marquette university press . pp. 213 270 . isbn 0 87462 055 4 . rabbitears tv query for wkow winslow george 22 october 2014 . futurecast broadcast system tested at wkow . broadcasting and cable . retrieved 22 october 2014 . dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . wkow tv ends its analog signal becomes wkow dt from wkowtv.com february 17 2009 . the link includes a 4 minute video of its analog shutdown . external links edit wkow.com official wkow tv website metvmadison.com official metv madison website madison.thistv.com official this tv madison website weatherate tv stations weatherate tv stations query the fcc s tv station database for wkow v t e television stations in southern wisconsin including madison local stations wisc tv 3.1 cbs 3.2 tvw mntv wzck lp 8 bounce tv wmtv 15.1 nbc 15.2 the cw 15.3 antenna tv 15.4 weathernation tv wha tv 21.1 pbs wpt 21.2 wis 21.3 create w23bw d 23.13 abn wkow 27.1 abc 27.2 metv 27.3 decades wmwd ld 38.1 daystar wmsn tv 47.1 fox 47.2 comet 47.3 grit wbuw 57.1 ind. 57.2 movies 57.3 h & i outlying areas w22ci 31.1 pbs wpt 31.2 wisc 31.3 create bloomington w43br 43 fam baraboo wwrs tv 52.1 tbn 52.2 hillsong 52.3 juce tv smile 52.4 enlace 52.5 tbn salsa mayville cable only stations charter xtra fox sports wisconsin mmsd channels madison city channel oregon cable access wisconsineye wsto stoughton wyou madison wytu ld 63.1 telemundo milwaukee atsc m h mobile dtv wkow 27.1 abc defunct stations w29dc 29 tbn janesville adjacent areas chicago milwaukee rockford eau claire la crosse wausau quad cities cedar rapids green bay v t e abc network affiliates in the state of wisconsin wbay 2.1 green bay wmow 4.2 crandon waow 9.1 wausau wisn 12.1 milwaukee wqow 18.1 eau claire wxow 19.1 la crosse wkow 27.1 madison wyow 34.1 eagle river see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in wisconsin v t e other television stations and subchannel networks in the state of wisconsin 3abn w23bw d 23 madison w30bu 30 green bay antenna tv witi 6.2 milwaukee wluk 11.2 green bay wjfw 12.2 rhinelander wausau wmtv 15.3 madison bounce tv wfrv 5.2 green bay wmlw 49.2 racine milwaukee buzzr wtsj 38.2 milwaukee comet wcwf 14.2 suring green bay wcgv 24.2 milwaukee wmsn 47.2 madison cozi wtmj 4.3 milwaukee daystar wmwd 38.1 madison wgbd 49.1 green bay decades wmow 4.3 crandon waow 9.3 wausau wqow 18.3 eau claire wxow 19.3 la crosse wkow 27.3 madison wyow 34.3 eagle river wdjt 58.4 milwaukee escape wacy 32.3 green bay wtsj 38.3 milwaukee evine wiwn 68.2 fond du lac milwaukee family channel w43br 43 baraboo wisc. dells gettv wvtv 18.2 milwaukee grit wcgv 24.3 milwaukee wacy 32.2 green bay wmsn 47.3 madison heroes & icons wbuw 57.3 janesville madison wdjt 58.3 milwaukee hsn ota wtpx 46.6 antigo wausau wpxe 55.6 kenosha milwaukee ion life wtpx 46.2 antigo wausau wpxe 55.2 kenosha milwaukee laff wtmj 4.2 milwaukee wgba 26.3 green bay latv wiwn 68.4 fond du lac milwaukee local accuweather wmvs 10.4 milwaukee locally originated automated weather wbay 2.2 green bay metv wgba 26.2 green bay wkow 27.2 madison wbme 41.1 wdjt 58.2 milwaukee wzaw 55.2 wausau movies wisn 12.2 milwaukee wzaw 55.3 wausau wbuw 57.2 janesville madison mundomax wtsj 38.1 milwaukee qubo wtpx 46.3 antigo wausau wpxe 55.3 kenosha milwaukee qvc ota or plus wtsj lp 38.4 milwaukee ; qvc wtpx 46.5 antigo wausau wpxe 55.5 kenosha milwaukee wiwn 68.6 fond du lac milwaukee ; qvc on 68.5 sonlife wiwn 68.1 fond du lac milwaukee tbn k32gf 32 rhinelander w36dh 36 waupaca wwrs 52 mayville milwaukee telemundo wytu 63.1 wmlw 49.4 milwaukee racine this wmlw 49.3 racine milwaukee weathernation tv wmtv 15.4 madison independent wzck lp 8 madison wpvs lp 29 milwaukee wmlw 49.1 racine milwaukee wbuw 57.1 janesville madison see also abc cbs cw fox ion