please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message kasw phoenix arizona united states branding cw 6 6 refers to the station s channel position on cox communications and other local cable providers slogan tv ... only better . channels digital 49 uhf virtual 61 psip translators k21ea d lake havasu city k34ee d prescott cottonwood k34ef d kingman k41je williams ash fork affiliations .1 the cw .2 decades .3 grit .4 escape owner nexstar broadcasting group nexstar broadcasting inc. founded may 1 1991 first air date september 22 1995 ; 21 years ago 1995 09 22 call letters meaning arizona southwest former channel number s analog 61 uhf 1995 2009 former affiliations primary the wb 1995 2006 secondary fox kids 1995 2002 foxbox 2002 2005 4kids tv 2005 2008 transmitter power 531 kw height 497 m facility id 7143 transmitter coordinates 33 20 1.3 n 112 3 47.3 w 33.333694 n 112.063139 w 33.333694 ; 112.063139 coordinates 33 20 1.3 n 112 3 47.3 w 33.333694 n 112.063139 w 33.333694 ; 112.063139 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.yourphx.com kasw virtual channel 61 uhf digital channel 49 is a cw affiliated television station located in phoenix arizona united states . owned by nexstar broadcasting group the station s studio facilities are located on east missouri avenue in uptown phoenix and its transmitter is located on south mountain on the city s south side . its signal is relayed across northern and eastern arizona through a small network of five translators . kasw is branded as cw 6 in reference to its cable channel position on phoenix area cable systems . the station is the second largest cw affiliate in terms of market size after wlvi boston that is not owned by cbs corporation or tribune broadcasting both of which contributed stations as charter affiliates of the network previously these stations were respectively affiliated with upn or the wb . also kasw unlike wlvi has never been owned by tribune in its entire time on the air . contents 1 history 1.1 prior history of uhf channel 61 in phoenix 1.2 wb affiliation 1.3 from the wb to the cw 1.4 sale to nexstar and separation from ktvk 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 syndicated programming 4 sports programming 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit prior history of uhf channel 61 in phoenix edit prior to kasw s sign on the uhf channel 61 frequency in the phoenix market was originally occupied by low power station k61ca ; that station carried a locally programmed music video format and operated from march 1983 until december 1984 . in 1988 k61ca was owned by channel 61 development corporation and was a satellite fed relay of ksts tv a telemundo affiliated station in san jose california . 1 wb affiliation edit the wb logo used by kasw when branded as wb61 used from 1995 to 2000 . kasw logo used from 2000 to 2003 featuring the wb s mascot michigan j. frog as wb 6 61 the same font was used but a prominent 6 was in the place of the 61 which was reduced in size and placed in the upper right . by 1991 preparations had been made to sign on another independent station in phoenix under the callsign kaik . the station s construction permit and eventual license bore these calls into 1994 until the license was purchased by the brooks family the following year after which the call letters were changed to kasw . the station first signed on the air on september 22 1995 ; just prior to its sign on the brooks entered into a local marketing agreement with mac america communications then owners of ktvk channel 3 which was in the concluding stages of its transition from an abc affiliate into an independent station at the time . this lma allowed ktvk which had an overflowing program inventory as it acquired a heavy amount of syndicated programs and began to adopt a news intensive format as the transition was ongoing to move some of its programming over to kasw . the programming included cartoons such as the jetsons the flintstones double dragon highlander the animated series and sailor moon classic sitcoms such as happy days the brady bunch bewitched gilligan s island and all in the family older movies and a few recent sitcoms such as doogie howser m.d. blossom family matters the simpsons and who s the boss . ktvk also dropped its affiliation with the wb which also migrated to kasw and opted to become an independent station . towards the end of 1995 ktvk had also moved fox kids which it carried in lieu of ksaz tv channel 10 which declined the block once it switched to fox in december 1994 and once it moved to kasw had aired in addition to the wb s own children s block kids wb thus creating a similar children s programming inventory as cleveland s wb affiliate wbnx and other syndicated programs to kasw . these changes allowed ktvk to reinstate its saturday morning newscasts while kasw began airing a half hour 9 p.m. newscast produced by ktvk which was discontinued in 1997 after which it moved to ktvk as a one hour broadcast . when belo bought most of mac america s television properties in 1999 the local marketing agreement with kasw was included in the transaction . this move further boosted its programming quality . after the federal communications commission started allowing duopolies in 2000 kasw was bought by belo outright . the wb logo used by kasw under the wb6 name used from 2003 to 2006 . due to changes in the industry from about 1998 to about 2004 kasw began to gradually shift its programming away from classic sitcoms movies and cartoons . the station began to phase in more talk shows reality shows and court shows to its schedule . it finally dropped weekday cartoons in january 2006 when the wb discontinued the kids wb weekday afternoon lineup while retaining and expanding its saturday morning block . from the wb to the cw edit on january 24 2006 the warner bros. unit of time warner and cbs corporation announced that the two companies would shut down the wb which time warner jointly owned with tribune company and upn and combine the networks respective programming to create a new fifth network called the cw which would launch on september 18 2006 . 2 3 on march 8 belo signed an affiliation agreement with the network for kasw to become the cw s phoenix charter affiliate ; 4 5 the market s upn affiliate kutp channel 45 became an owned and operated station of mynetworktv thirteen days before the launch of the cw on september 5 mynetworktv was created by kutp s then parent news corporation after the upn affiliates it owned through the company s fox television stations unit were passed over for initial affiliations with the cw in favor of stations owned by cbs television stations and tribune broadcasting . kasw only tweaked its branding to reflect its new network affiliation keeping the 6 that represents its cable channel position in the area on cox communications satellite providers carry kasw on channel 61 . the station also aired its own cw man on the street promos before the switch . the images and links on its website quick6.com were revamped a week before the change and feature a new quick6 logo . the station ran vortexx a successor of the cw4kids which in turn was the successor of kids wb later known as toonzai on saturday mornings . it also aired children s programming from 4kids tv on sunday mornings until the block was discontinued by fox on december 27 2008 therefore children s programs on kasw that aired on both saturday and sunday mornings were essentially programmed by one company 4kids entertainment for seven months . these properties in one form or another were carried on ktvk when that station was the market s original charter affiliate of the wb in 1995 and were moved to kasw in september 1995 and 1996 respectively . the same situation occurred in other markets in which a station picked up the rights to the 4kids lineup from an existing fox affiliate like kfre tv in fresno which assumed rights from kmph tv or due to rejection by stations that fox inherited from new world communications as was the case with ktvk and wbnx tv in cleveland . on june 13 2013 belo announced that ktvk and kasw would be acquired by the gannett company owner of kpnx and the arizona republic . since this would give gannett control of three stations in the phoenix market gannett announced that it would spin off ktvk and kasw to sander media llc operated by former belo executive jack sander . while gannett intended to provide services to the stations through a shared services agreement ktvk and kasw s operations would have remained largely separate from kpnx and the republic . 6 on december 23 2013 shortly after the approval and completion of the gannett belo deal 7 the meredith corporation announced that it would purchase ktvk and the non license assets of kasw from sander media and gannett in a 407.5 million deal . as meredith already owns cbs affiliate kpho tv channel 5 the kasw license was instead sold to sagamorehill broadcasting with meredith operating the station under a shared services agreement . 8 sale to nexstar and separation from ktvk edit the fcc approved the sale of kasw and ktvk to sagamorehill and meredith on june 17 2014 and the deal closed two days later . however the two companies also agreed to voluntarily divest kasw to an independent buyer within 90 days of the deal s closure ; on october 23 2014 meredith and sagamorehill announced that it would sell kasw to the nexstar broadcasting group for 68 million giving the company its first station in the phoenix market . the fcc approved the sale to nexstar on december 19 and the sale was consummated on january 30 2015 ending a nearly 20 year partnership between kasw and ktvk which launched channel 61 in 1995 . 9 10 the station began migrating out of kpho s facilities in september 2015 . 11 in january 2016 kasw premiered their first ever original program politics in the yard a new talk show hosted by jaime molera . kasw also announced a partnership with asu s walter cronkite school of journalism and mass communications to launch the 60 second download . a news break segment that airs at the top of the hour of each program . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 12 61.1 1080i 16 9 kasw dt main kasw programming the cw 61.2 720p decades decades 61.3 480i 4 3 grit grit 61.4 escape escape analog to digital conversion edit kasw shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 61 at 4 30 a.m. 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 switchover was originally scheduled for 12 01 a.m. in order for the analog signal to be shut down at the same time as its sister station ktvk however it was delayed for unknown reasons . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 49 . 13 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 61 which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were