minneapolis minnesota branding the cw 23 twin cities channels digital 22 uhf virtual 23 psip subchannels 23.1 the cw 23.2 comet 23.3 grit 23.4 gettv translators see section affiliations the cw 2006 present owner sinclair broadcast group klgt licensee llc first air date september 22 1982 ; 34 years ago 1982 09 22 call letters meaning wb upn the cw to reflect the 2006 network amalgamation or your cw former callsigns ktma tv 1982 1992 klgt tv 1992 1998 kmwb 1998 2006 former channel number s analog 23 uhf 1982 2009 former affiliations dt1 independent 1982 1995 spectrum 1982 1985 selectv 1985 1986 the wb 1995 2006 dt2 the tube 2006 2007 thecooltv 2010 2012 dt3 zuus country 2012 2014 transmitter power 1000 kw height 410 m facility id 36395 transmitter coordinates 45 3 44 n 93 8 21 w 45.06222 n 93.13917 w 45.06222 ; 93.13917 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website thecw23.com wucw is the cw affiliated television station serving minneapolis and saint paul minnesota . it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 22 virtual channel 23.1 via psip from a transmitter at the telefarm site in shoreview . owned by the sinclair broadcast group wucw maintains studios on como avenue near the minnesota state fairgrounds in saint paul . syndicated programming on this station includes extra the people s court the steve wilkos show and family feud . the station is perhaps best known for originating the cult cable television series mystery science theater 3000 which got its start as a locally produced program when channel 23 was an independent station . contents 1 history 1.1 as an independent station 1.2 joining the wb 1.3 from the wb to the cw 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 translators 4 references 5 external links history edit as an independent station edit ktma logo recognized worldwide by fans of mystery science theater 3000 from videotapes of ktma era episodes used from 1986 to 1992 . channel 23 signed on the air on september 22 1982 under the callsign ktma the call sign standing for twin metro area as the twin cities affiliate of the spectrum over the air subscription television service . in addition to mainstream and softcore pornographic films and animated fare such as grendizer from spectrum the station also broadcast home games of the mlb s minnesota twins and the nhl s minnesota north stars now the dallas stars . the spectrum programming lasted on the station for just two years before the station was sold to the united cable tv corporation who in turn began asking for bids one year later in 1985 . the owners of radio station ktwn made a bid to purchase channel 23 and took some operational control of the station for a while broadcasting music videos . however the station was eventually sold to the ktma tv acquisition corp. in 1986 for 7 million . the station s new general manager donald w. o connor soon transitioned ktma to a more traditional general entertainment station acquiring a number of older syndicated programs such as the andy griffith show and laurel and hardy . despite a major marketing campaign in 1987 after the station was acquired the station was only moderately successful at attracting viewers and revenue from commercial advertising . in 1988 attempts were made at creating locally produced shows . to fill a hole in the saturday night lineup the station created saturday night at ringside . a multi hour block of pro wrestling programming hosted by mick karch which debuted in march 1988 and lasted until 1992 . as production manager jim mallon sought to fill a hole in the sunday night lineup he talked to his contacts in the local comedy community and ended up meeting joel hodgson . after a successful lunch meeting with mallon to produce a new locally produced program for ktma hodgson created mystery science theater 3000 also known under the abbreviated title mst3k which debuted in november 1988 . in december of that year ktma attempted to create a new regional television network called the minnesota independent network min in conjunction with a media group based in fargo north dakota kvrr channel 15 kxli channel 41 in st. cloud and kxlt tv channel 47 in rochester . despite good intentions the network never got off the ground . kvrr the fargo area s fox affiliate continued its normal operations while kxli eventually was forced to go off the air for two years . ktma was also hit hard leading o connor to file for bankruptcy reoganization in july 1989 . hodgson and mallon sold mystery science theater 3000 to cable network the comedy channel now comedy central that year ; the program ran on the network for seven years before moving to the sci fi channel for its final three seasons . in 1989 a small start up home shopping network called valuevision now shophq rented space at the channel 23 studios and made its initial launch on two area low power stations broadcasting on vhf channel 7 and uhf channel 62 . through the bankruptcy the station still maintained its general entertainment programming format partially supported with infomercials paid religious shows daytime shows from the major broadcast networks that kare kstp tv and wcco tv did not clear for broadcast mostly game shows from cbs and abc and home shopping programming . in december 1989 ktma moved into a studio facility near the minnesota state fairgrounds in saint paul that was formerly occupied by pbs member station ktca that station had already moved into a newly constructed studio building in downtown saint paul . after nearly two more years of bankruptcy proceedings o connor was fired as general manager by the court appointed trustee . in november 1991 the station was purchased by christian broadcaster lakeland group television . under lakeland group ownership channel 23 adopted a family oriented programming format and changed the station s callsign to klgt standing for either light or lakeland group television in 1992 using the on air branding sonlight 23 . programming during this period consisted of a few hours of religious programming a day along with family oriented off network sitcoms cartoons and classic movies . the new format was not very popular but the station held its own . lakeland group brought sports programming back to the station in 1994 this time in the form of the st. paul saints minor league baseball basketball games from the nba s minnesota timberwolves and games from the minnesota moose minor league hockey team . around this time klgt began an association with cbs affiliate wcco tv with that station providing local news updates during klgt s prime time programming . joining the wb edit klgt wb23 logo used from 1995 to 1998 . in january 1995 klgt became the twin cities charter affiliate of the fledgling wb television network . klgt did not air a news program of its own until wcco purchased airtime on the station in order to air an experimental newscast known as news of your choice in 1995 in which two different newscasts each one covering different stories were produced simultaneously at the wcco studios . at regular intervals the news anchors would mention the stories airing on either station allowing viewers to decide which one they were more interested in and to tune into the appropriate station . due to declining ratings at wcco at the time the project was canceled in january 1996 after one year . following the station s 1998 sale to the sinclair broadcast group its callsign was again changed to kmwb standing for minnesota s wb . the station was hit by the 2004 controversy surrounding the decision by sinclair to air the documentary stolen honor which was critical of u.s. presidential candidate john kerry s service record in the vietnam war . from the wb to the cw edit logo as the cw twin cities from 2006 to 2013 . on january 24 2006 cbs corporation and the warner bros. unit of time warner made the decision to merge upn and the wb to form a new network called the cw television network . 1 on february 22 news corporation announced a new competing network mynetworktv . 2 on may 2 2006 sinclair broadcast group signed an affiliation agreement with the cw for the company s eight wb affiliates to join the network ; as a result kmwb was confirmed as the new network s twin cities affiliate . 3 upn affiliate wftc would automatically affiliate with mynetworktv due to the station being owned by that network s owner the news corporation subsidiary fox television stations . in preparation for the affiliation switch kmwb changed its call sign to wucw in reference to the cw and predecessors the wb and upn on june 19 2006 to reflect its forthcoming cw affiliation . ironically despite three call letter changes wucw s licensee is still listed as klgt licensee . on august 16 2006 wucw changed its on air branding from wb23 to cw twin cities and then in 2013 to cw23 . until recently the station carried minnesota timberwolves basketball games . wucw continues to support homegrown comedy airing the first transylvania television special on october 12 2007 and the new one hour tvtv halloween special on october 22 2010 . and in 2014 this station revived a cult favorite from the 80s the melon drop new year s eve tv special and followed it up in 2015 . in the summer of 2016 sinclair s comet network which has been carried on wucw dt2 since its october 31 2015 debut acquired repeat rights to mystery science theater 3000 returning the show to airing in some form on its originating station for the first time in 27 years in a weekly sunday night double run . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 4 23.1 1080i 16 9 wucw hd main wucw programming the cw 23.2 480i 4 3 comettv comet 23.3 grit tv grit 23.4 get tv gettv on july 15 2006 wucw launched a second digital subchannel which carried programming from the tube music network ; it was part of an affiliation agreement between the tube and sinclair the latter of whom severed the agreement at the beginning of 2007 the tube would discontinue operations that october . subchannel 23.2 remained silent until joining another music video network thecooltv on october 4 2010 . after sinclair s affiliation with thecooltv concluded at the end of august 2012 23.2 returned to silent status until joining classic movie network gettv in july 2014 . on october 22 2010 wucw launched subchannel 23.3 which carried music videos and programming from the country network which was renamed zuus country in summer 2013 . zuus country would be replaced on 23.3 with the male oriented network grit in december 2014 . the channel map was re arranged once more on october 31 2015 with the launch of comet on 23.2 with grit and gettv moving down one subchannel on that day . analog to digital conversion edit wucw as with most sinclair owned television stations shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 23 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 22 . 5 6 7 8 9 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 23 . translators edit the broadcast signal of wucw is also extended by way of six digital translators in central and southern