verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message wkbw tv buffalo new york united states branding 7 abc general 7 eyewitness news newscasts slogan seize the possible channels digital 38 uhf virtual 7 psip subchannels 7.1 abc 7.2 laff 7.3 escape owner e. w. scripps company scripps broadcasting holdings llc first air date november 30 1958 1958 11 30 call letters meaning well known bible witness former channel number s analog 7 1958 2009 former affiliations dt2 rtv 2006 2009 this tv 2009 dt3 universal sports 2008 transmitter power 358 kw height 432.9 meters 1 420 ft facility id 54176 transmitter coordinates 42 38 14.8 n 78 37 11.9 w 42.637444 n 78.619972 w 42.637444 ; 78.619972 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wkbw.com wkbw studios . wkbw tv virtual channel 7 uhf digital channel 38 is an abc affiliated television station located in buffalo new york united states . owned by the e. w. scripps company the station s studios are located at 7 broadcast plaza in downtown buffalo and its transmitter is located at 8909 center street in colden . wkbw tv is one of many local buffalo television stations that are available over the air and on cable television in canada particularly in southern ontario . for many years it was carried via microwave to cable systems in such areas as corning and horseheads ; this ended when weny tv signed on as the abc affiliate for the elmira market . contents 1 history 1.1 1957 1986 clinton churchill capcities ownership 1.2 queen city broadcasting granite broadcasting co. years 1986 2014 1.3 the scripps era 2014 present 2 digital television 2.1 digital channel 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 local programming 3.2 syndicated programming 3.3 internet initiatives 3.4 financial difficulties and cutbacks 4 news operation 4.1 the irv rick and tom era 1970 1989 4.2 1989 2003 4.3 7 news 2003 2008 4.4 return to eyewitness news 2008 present 4.5 upgrade to high definition 4.6 2010s 4.7 2014 scripps takes over 4.8 notable current on air staff 4.9 notable former staff 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit 1957 1986 clinton churchill capcities ownership edit the channel 7 frequency was hotly contested during the 1950s ; the buffalo courier express and former wbuf tv owner sherwin grossman tried several times to gain rights to the channel allocation to compete with the buffalo news s wben tv but was unable to secure a license . the competition for the channel 7 allocation continued to grow when the city s first uhf station wbes tv failed . clinton churchill original owner of 50 000 watt radio station wkbw 1520 am in buffalo was granted the license to operate the station in 1957 . wkbw tv was originally intended to be an independent station . however when nbc shut down its owned and operated station wbuf tv channel 17 now wned tv on september 30 1958 then abc affiliate wgr tv channel 2 now wgrz went back to nbc . as a result of the network shuffle wkbw tv premiered as abc s new buffalo affiliate when it went on the air on november 30 1958 . the station s studios were originally located at 1420 main street and remained there until it moved to its current location at 7 broadcast plaza in 1978 . churchill sold the wkbw stations to capital cities broadcasting which later became capital cities communications in 1961 . capcities would serve as wkbw tv s longest tenured owner owning it and its radio sister for 25 years and the station would reach its peak during capital cities ownership . wkbw tv produced iconic children s programing such as rocketship 7 and the commander tom show from the 1960s to the 1980s . a staple of its morning programing for many years was dialing for dollars which later became am buffalo after the dialing for dollars franchise was discontinued ; am buffalo still airs today . queen city broadcasting granite broadcasting co. years 1986 2014 edit wkbw tv s customized circle 7 logo used and modified in various forms from september 8 2003 until september 27 2014 . when capital cities merged with abc in 1986 it sold wkbw tv to queen city broadcasting instead of becoming an abc owned and operated station . 1 2 at that point wkbw radio was sold to price communications and had its call letters changed to wwkb that station is currently owned by entercom communications . in late 1993 granite broadcasting acquired a 45 percent minority stake in wkbw tv from queen city broadcasting . 3 a year and a half later in june 1995 granite bought the remaining 55 % interest in the station . 4 until 2000 new york lottery drawings were shown on wkbw tv these have since moved to wgrz . wkbw tv through at least the early 2000s operated the niagara frontier radio reading service on its second audio program feed though it was pulled after the super bowl xxxviii halftime show controversy in 2004 due to content concerns and the fcc s stricter enforcement of obscenity laws which included some rrs titles . wned fm s subcarrier then was contracted to carry the service from then on . from 2006 to april 2009 wkbw tv operated wngs owned at the time by equity media holdings under a local marketing agreement for most of that time while channel 67 was affiliated with the then equity owned retro television network . equity went bankrupt in 2009 selling off rtn to company shareholder henry luken s luken communications by january 2009 which led to wngs and other equity stations dropping the network and the equity stations being liquidated with wngs sold to the daystar television network in april 2009 the station has since been resold to a local group run by philip a. arno . as a result of the changes wkbw tv ended the lma with wngs which has since changed its call to wbbz tv . 5 the scripps era 2014 present edit on february 10 2014 the e. w. scripps company announced that it would acquire wkbw tv as well as mynetworktv affiliate wmyd in detroit michigan from granite broadcasting for 110 million . 6 the fcc approved the sale on may 2 . 7 the sale was completed on june 16 . 8 with scripps acquisition of wkbw tv each of buffalo s big three network affiliates will have at one point or another been owned by a company with newspaper interests ; wivb tv founded in 1948 as wben tv was owned by the butler family then owners of the buffalo evening news from its inception until the early 70s and both have shared partial ownership by warren buffett s berkshire hathaway since 2014 via bh s stake in media general ; gannett company publishers of usa today and various other newspapers around the country acquired wgrz tv in 1996 . e.w. scripps spun off their papers to journal media group on april 1 2015 9 10 while gannett s publishing and digital media operations were spun off to the new tegna on june 29 2015 . 11 digital television edit digital channel edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 12 7.1 720p 16 9 wkbw hd main wkbw tv programming abc 7.2 480i laff laff 7.3 4 3 escape escape between 2009 and 2015 the station had not multiplexed its channels . the two networks carried by wkbw tv on its digital subchannels prior to 2009 retro television network via wngs and the now defunct world championship sports network were later carried on wgrz tv ; retro is now on wbxz . it was announced that wkbw tv would air the laff network on 7.2 starting on april 15 2015 13 however the launch was delayed due to equipment issues . 14 both laff and escape which airs in 7.3 debuted on april 28 2015 . 15 analog to digital conversion edit wkbw tv discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over vhf channel 7 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 38 . 16 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 7 . vhf channel 7 was reassigned to wngs channel 67 now wbbz tv at the time under the control of wkbw for its post transition digital channel . programming edit until recently wkbw tv signed off on saturday and sunday mornings for a half hour from 4 to 4 30 a.m. ; there was no station information but the american and canadian national anthems were played before and after the test pattern like sinclair owned stations wutv channel 29 and wnyo tv channel 49 which continue to sign off on monday mornings . local programming edit am buffalo with linda pellegrino airs weekday mornings from 10 11 a.m. the program which dates back to 1978 after the cancellation of the local version of dialing for dollars features two types of segments talk segments similar to talk radio shows where viewers call in and discuss the issues of the day with pellegrino and paid segments with paid sponsors as guests for instance a local attorney such as herschel gelber or steve boyd a former wkbw tv reporter gives legal advice or insight and to advertise their services hughesco airs a home improvement segment or the local anti tobacco lobby discusses its latest campaign . the show only had an am version prior to 2004 ; a pm buffalo version aired between 2004 and 2008 and a weekend version called buffalo weekend aired from 2008 to 2009 . rocketship 7 a morning children s show was hosted by weatherman dave thomas and promo the robot from 1962 until thomas left the station for wpvi tv in philadelphia in 1978 changing his on air moniker to dave roberts in the process . thomas also hosted dialing for dollars which became am buffalo in the mid 1970s . the commander tom show was an afternoon children s show hosted by another wkbw tv weatherman tom jolls from 1965 until budget cuts forced its cancellation in 1991 . in its last decade the show aired on weekends only . a revival of rocketship 7 aired from 1992 to 1993 immediately after commander tom was cancelled ; this version effectively a retooled version of commander tom with new hosts featured commander mike randall and sidekick yeoman bob with guest appearances by commander tom . in conversation was a program that aired in the 1960s and 1970s in which liz dribben would interview celebrities on tour in buffalo . off beat cinema a collection of offbeat b movies was created at wkbw tv in 1993 ; it ran on wkbw tv in overnight friday and or saturday time slots from 1993 to 2012 and was also syndicated to the retro television network . the program moved to wbbz tv in august 2012 . yule log wkbw tv aired a yule log loop for one year on the morning of december 25 2008 with a generic christmas soundtrack . since 2009 the station has chosen to air either a loop of america this morning or syndicated christmas specials in place of newscasts to give morning staffers the day off as with many american stations . countdown to 20 title changes each year to correspond with the coming year is an annual tradition held on new year s eve . the multi part broadcast covers most notably official coverage of the buffalo ball drop formerly the 97