states branding the cw 20 slogan tv now expect more newscasts channels digital 20 uhf psip subchannels 20.1 the cw 20.2 escape affiliations the cw since 2006 owner gray television gray television licensee llc first air date october 1997 ; 19 years ago 1997 10 call letters meaning the wb former affiliation and xx roman numeral 20 sister station s wvlt tv former channel number s analog 20 1997 2009 digital 50 until 2009 former affiliations primary the wb 1997 2006 secondary upn 2001 2002 transmitter power 652 kw height 735 metres 2 411 ft class dt facility id 72971 transmitter coordinates 36 6 33 n 84 20 17 w 36.10917 n 84.33806 w 36.10917 ; 84.33806 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website cw20tv.com wbxx tv is the cw affiliated television station for knoxville and east tennessee licensed to crossville . it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 20 from a transmitter in unincorporated southwestern anderson county . the station can also be seen on comcast and knology channel 7 as well as charter channel 12 . owned by gray television wbxx is the sister station of cbs affiliate wvlt tv . wbxx s studios is located on cogdill road in unincorporated western knox county with a knoxville address . syndicated programming on the station includes how i met your mother family guy and the big bang theory among others . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channel 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 newscasts 4 references 5 external links history edit wbxx began operation in october 1997 ; the station is the only one that was ever built by acme communications from the ground up kwbq in albuquerque new mexico was also signed on by acme but its construction permit originally belonged to another entity . it was primarily an affiliate of the wb television network from its sign on until 2006 though it did run select upn programming during 2001 and 2002 as that network did not have a knoxville affiliate at the time . 1 wbxx was consistently one of the highest rated wb stations in the country and was recognized as such by the wb network . after being known as wb20 since signing on wbxx rebranded as east tennessee s wb in september 2003 . when the station took affiliation with the cw it was renamed east tennessee s cw . wbxx rebranded again to its current cw20 moniker in august 2008 . wbxx is the only full powered knoxville market station to be licensed in a city in the central time zone ; cumberland county where crossville is located and fentress county are the only two counties in the knoxville market that observe central time one hour earlier than knoxville in eastern time . however while national cw programming is promoted with both eastern and central time listings wbxx local programming is promoted with only eastern time listings . in february 2011 acme communications announced a deal to sell the station to virginia based lockwood broadcasting group . the sale was approved by the federal communications commission fcc on march 21 with the consummation being completed on may 6 . 2 3 4 from 1998 until 2004 the station aired a series of interstitials during children s programming called wb 20 kids club later dubba clubba hosted by comedian jackson bailey known as joe cool . the interstitials featured information and contests to viewers in several vignettes each weekday covering topics such as science biology conservation music and pet care . beginning in september 2015 wbxx will broadcast atlantic coast conference football and men s basketball syndicated from raycom sports operated acc network some of which will be shared with the main channel of cbs affiliate wvlt tv . those games were previously broadcast on mynetworktv affiliated wvlt dt2 from 2009 until the end of the 2014 2015 season . on october 1 2015 gray television announced that it would acquire wbxx tv from lockwood broadcast group . the purchase was made as part of gray s acquisition of the broadcasting assets of schurz communications ; as part of the deal lockwood received kake in wichita kansas which gray put up for sale following the deal with schurz and paid 11.2 million to gray . 5 gray through wvlt tv inc. took the operations of the station via local marketing agreement . 6 the sale was completed on february 1 2016 . 7 digital television edit digital channel edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 8 20.1 1080i 16 9 wbxx main wbxx tv programming the cw 20.2 480i 4 3 escape analog to digital conversion edit wbxx tv shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 20 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 relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 50 to channel 20 . 9 newscasts edit until mid late 2013 wbxx aired the nationally syndicated morning show the daily buzz from 6 until 8 . the program was produced by acme communications and during the company s ownership of this station there were local weather cut ins focusing on the knoxville area . it is unknown if these updates were still provided with wbxx s ownership change to lockwood . the daily buzz then moved to sister station wknx tv which aired it until its sudden cancellation on april 17 2015 . at one point in time nbc affiliate wbir tv owned by the gannett company began producing a nightly newscast on this station through an outsourcing agreement called10 news at 10 . the newscast only aired for twelve minutes in an abbreviated format featuring the day s top stories along with an updated weather forecast . the broadcast originated from wbir s facility on hutchinson avenue in knoxville s lincoln park section official address is bill williams avenue . it was offered as an alternative to fox affiliate wtnz which had nightly local news produced by abc affiliate wate tv . in early march 2011 wtnz terminated its news share agreement with wate after entering into another contract with wbir . as a result the latter station stopped producing the nightly update for wbxx . on august 1 2011 wate owned by young broadcasting which has since merged with media general returned to the prime time newscast race with a new nightly 35 minute broadcast on wbxx the cw 20 news at 10 through another outsourcing agreement . corresponding with the addition wate upgraded to high definition newscasts that october 17 becoming the third local news operation in knoxville to make the change . initially the newscast on wbxx was not included in the upgrade as it lacked a high definition capable master control at its separate studios to receive the newscast in hd . this lasted until early april 2012 when wbxx underwent a master control upgrade ; as a result the wate news show on wbxx is now in hd . the cw 20 news at 10 originates from wate s studios in camp house on north broadway northeast sr 33 sr 71 us 441 in the city s old north knoxville section . in fall of 2016 wvlt will take over production of cw 20 newscasts including cw20 s morning show which will feature longtime wvlt anchor alan williams hosting 10 11 12 references edit sharing the wealth from variety.com 2 22 2000 source acme communications press release from 2 1 2011 acme to sell knoxville s wbxx to lockwood broadcast group from broadcastingcable.com 2 1 2011 http licensing.fcc.gov cgi bin ws.exe prod cdbs pubacc prod app det.pl application id 1415480 gray television sells some buys some . tvnewscheck . october 1 2015 . retrieved october 1 2015 . local programming and marketing agreement consummation notice cdbs public access federal communications commission 3 february 2016 retrieved 12 february 2016 . rabbitears tv query for wbxx dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . http www.wate.com story 15082393 10 pm news returns http www.broadcastingcable.com article 470996 wate knoxville to produce wbxx newscast.php http www.tvnewscheck.com article 2011 07 14 52537 wate to produce 10 pm news on wbxx external links edit wbxx tv the cw 20 wate tv can be entered into web enabled mobile device for wireless access query the fcc s tv station database for wbxx tv v t e broadcast television in east tennessee including knoxville reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television local stations wate tv 6.1 abc 6.2 gettv 6.3 laff wknx tv 7.1 ind 7.2 daystar wvlt tv 8.1 cbs 8.2 mntv ant wbir tv 10.1 nbc 10.2 metv 10.3 justice w14cx d 14.1 3abn rel . 14.2 3abn proclaim 14.3 3abn dare to dream 14.4 3abn latino 14.5 3abn radio 14.6 3abn radio latino 14.7 radio 74 wkop tv 15.1 pbs etpbs 15.2 world tn chan 15.3 create wbxx tv 20.1 cw 20.2 escape wdtt ld 24.1 daystar wtnz 43.1 fox 43.2 bounce tv 43.3 grittv wagv 44.1 rel . w45df d 45.1 hsn wvlr 48.1 ctn wpxk tv 54.1 ion 54.2 qubo 54.3 life 54.4 ion shop 54.5 qvc over air 54.6 hsn wkxt ld 61.1 pbj cable television ctv the volunteer channel outlying areas wjdp ld 11.1 the walk tv pigeon forge atsc m h mobile dtv wbir tv 10.10 nbc wtnz 43.34 fox defunct stations wkxe lp 4 independent wfem lp 14 ind. heiskell weee lp 32 uatv upn familynet w40cm 40 hsn w50bk 50 3abn wcpt tv 55 wint tv 20 ind. w60cf 60 tbn w61dg 61 tbn morristown adjacent locals tri cities tn va wcyb tv 5.1 nbc 5.2 the cw 5.3 decades wemt 39.1 fox 39.2 movies western carolinas wlos 13.1 abc hd 13.2 mynetworktv 13.3 grit wunw 27.1 unc ex . 27.2 pbs unc tv 27.3 pbs kids wunf tv 33.1 pbs unc tv 27.2 pbs kids 27.3 unc ex wmya tv 40.1 mynetworktv 40.2 gettv 40.3 bounce tv southeast ky wkso tv wkha 29.1 35.1 pbs ket 29.2 35.2 pbs encore ket2 29.1 35.1 kentucky channel ket ed wymt tv 57.1 cbs 57.2 this tv tennessee broadcast television areas by city chattanooga jackson knoxville memphis nashville paducah ky tri cities kentucky broadcast television areas by city bowling green charleston wv cincinnati oh evansville in knoxville tn lexington louisville paducah see also asheville tv v t e the cw affiliates in the state of tennessee wbxx 20 crossville wlmt 30 memphis wfli 53 cleveland wnab 58 nashville see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in tennessee v t e gray television abc network affiliates kcrg kgns 1 kjct knoe 1 kolo kota khsd ksfy kaby kpry kspr 2 wbko whsv wjrt wtok wtvg wvaw cbs network affiliates kalb 1 kgwn kstf kktv kmvt knoe knpl koln kgin kosa kwch kbsd kbsh kbsl kwtx kbtx kxii kxjb kylx wagm 1 wcav wctv wswg wdbj wecp wibw wifr wiye wkyt wymt wrdw wsaw wsvf 1 wtvy wvlt the cw network affiliates 1 kbtx kcwy kgwn kstf kjct knoe kscw ksfy kaby kpry kwtx kxjb kycw kylx wagt wbko wbxx wjhg wkyt wmtv wqcw wswg wtok wtvg wymt fox network affiliates kevn kiit kndx kxnd ksvt kxii 1 wagm wahu wbko 1 wluc 1 wova wsvf wzaw mynetworktv affiliates 1 kktv kosa ksnb kxii kyes wahu wctv wecp whsv wibw witn wrdw wsaw wsaz wswg wtok wtvy wiye wvlt nbc network affiliates kalb kcwy kfyr kqcd kmot kumv kgns kkco knop ksnb ktuu kvly kytv wagt weau wilx witn wjhg wluc wmtv wndu wowt wrgx wsaz wtap other stations tel kgns 1 kkco 1 uni kdcu 3 ind. k17dl d 4 acquisitions benedek broadcasting hoak media schurz communications 1 these stations except for