verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . march 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message kwba tv sierra vista tucson arizona united states city sierra vista branding tucson cw general kgun 9 news newscasts channels digital 44 uhf virtual 58 psip subchannels 58.1 the cw 58.2 latv 58.3 this tv affiliations the cw 2006 present owner e. w. scripps company scripps broadcasting llc first air date january 1 1999 ; 17 years ago 1999 01 01 call letters meaning the wb arizona after previous affiliation sister station s kgun tv kffn ktgv kmxz fm kqth former channel number s analog 58 uhf 1999 2009 former affiliations the wb 1999 2006 transmitter power 1000 kw height 319 m facility id 35095 transmitter coordinates 31 45 32 n 110 48 5.5 w 31.75889 n 110.801528 w 31.75889 ; 110.801528 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website thecwtucson.com kwba tv virtual channel 58 uhf digital channel 44 is a cw affiliated television station serving tucson arizona united states that is licensed to sierra vista . owned by the e. w. scripps company the station is operated as part of a duopoly with with abc affiliate kgun tv channel 9 . kwba maintains transmitter facilities located atop the santa rita mountains southeast of tucson . both stations share studios on east rosewood street in east tucson . it is currently scripps only cw affiliate since knin tv in caldwell idaho switched from the cw to fox in 2011 . syndicated programming on kwba includes judge judy tmz on tv and hot bench among others . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 newscasts 4 references 5 external links history edit the first attempt at putting a station on channel 58 in sierra vista was kcca tv calls standing for cochise county arizona . kcca was owned by sierra vista television owned by thomas gramatikas . 1 the proposed station would have broadcast from a tower in the sierra vista area with a power of 2.38 million watts . it may have desired to operate as a subscription television station indicated by a 1982 filing where the fcc granted kcca permission to install subscription television equipment . by 1985 the permittee was manning telecasting who also held the construction permit for channel 11 in yuma 2 but the permit vanished the next year and kcca never made it to air . the history of the current channel 58 began november 22 1996 with a construction permit granted to km communications to serve sierra vista and tucson on analog channel 58 . the call letters were originally kauc but in august 1997 the station changed their call letters to kwba to reflect their affiliation deal with the wb ; the former superstation feed of chicago s wgn tv served as tucson s de facto affiliate of the wb until kwba signed on . 3 4 5 6 kwba began broadcasting under program test authority on january 1 1999 and was licensed on may 24 1999 . also in may 1999 km communications transferred the station to cascade broadcasting group . it switched to the cw on september 18 2006 . kwba is one of the former wb affiliates to retain its wb callsigns after affiliating with the cw kswb tv san diego which became fox on july 31 2008 was the other along with wswb tv in scranton wilkes barre although swb doesn t mean its former wb affiliation but its broadcast area ; the w might mean williamsport . kwba broadcast the games of the arizona diamondbacks in cooperation with ktvk in phoenix until 2008 when fsn arizona secured an exclusive 10 year deal with the franchise . the station resultingly lost audience share . on march 18 2008 journal broadcast group announced plans to buy kwba from cascade for undisclosed terms creating a duopoly with journal owned abc affiliate kgun tv channel 9 . 7 on june 3 of that year the federal communications commission issued a failing station waiver 8 which allowed journal to buy kwba which blamed the loss of broadcast arizona diamondbacks baseball rights and continued financial losses as the reason for the sale the special waiver was necessary since the tucson market already had two co owned duopolies at the time and a journal purchase of kwba would leave the market with only seven unique station owners . in the waiver journal said it would launch a newscast produced by kgun on the station . the acquisition was completed on july 23 2008 . on july 30 2014 it was announced that the e. w. scripps company would acquire journal communications in an all stock transaction . the combined firm will retain their broadcast properties including kwba and kgun and spin off their print assets as journal media group . 9 the fcc approved the deal on december 12 2014 . it was approved by shareholders on march 11 2015 and was completed on april 1 . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 10 58.1 1080i 16 9 kwba hd main kwba tv programming the cw 58.2 480i 4 3 latv latv 58.3 this tv in 2006 kwba tv began multicasting latv on digital subchannel 58.2 . latv is provided by kjla tv in los angeles . this station also serves the new mexico bootheel . latv was temporarily moved to 58.3 in july 2015 when this tv was moved over from sister station kgun tv . as of august 2016 this tv is carried on 58.3 and latv is on 58.2 . analog to digital conversion edit kwba tv discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over uhf channel 58 on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 11 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 44 using psip to display kwba tv s virtual channel as 58 on digital television receivers which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition . newscasts edit in 2003 kwba entered into an agreement with local cbs affiliate kold tv and launched a 9 p.m. newscast in april of that year ; fox affiliate kmsb tv soon followed with their own 9 p.m. newscast . kwba s 9 p.m. newscast was short lived as it went off the air in december 2005 after the contract with kold tv expired . in september 2008 kgun began rebroadcasting its 6 p.m. newscast on kwba at 9 p.m. kgun began producing a live weeknight only 9 p.m. newscast for kwba tv on march 9 2009 . in april 2014 kgun began airing a one hour extension of its weekday morning newscast on kwba from 7 8 a.m. titled good morning tucson extra . this replaced the simulcast of the weekday 7 9 a.m. portion of the jon justice show from sister station kqth fm . references edit broadcasting yearbook pdf . 1983 . p. c 4 . retrieved 2015 03 10 . broadcasting yearbook pdf . 1985 . p. c 4 . retrieved 2015 03 10 . time warner takes crucial step toward new network television a pact with superstation wgn tv gives it access to 73 % of homes . analysts say that will still leave gaps . los angeles times december 4 1993 . retrieved 12 10 2010 . linda moss september 20 1999 . wgn drops wb adds movies sitcoms . multichannel news . cahners business information . retrieved june 22 2013 via highbeam research . marywade burnside october 7 1999 . last night dawson s last wgn ceases to air wb programming . the charleston gazette . the daily gazette company . retrieved june 22 2013 via highbeam research . jim rutenberg may 17 2000 . tv notes ; a mix for wb . the new york times . the new york times company . retrieved december 10 2010 . 1 dead link 2 archived june 8 2008 at the wayback machine . glauber bill 30 july 2014 . journal scripps deal announced . milwaukee journal sentinel . retrieved 30 july 2014 . rabbitears.info . rabbitears.info . retrieved july 16 2015 . list of digital full power stations external links edit kwba website query the fcc s tv station database for kwba query tv fool s coverage map for kwba biafn s media web database information on kwba tv program information for kwba at titantv.com v t e broadcast television in tucson arizona metro tucson kvoa 4.1 nbc 4.2 cozi tv kuat 6.1 pbs 6.2 v me 6.3 create kgun 9.1 abc 9.2 laff 9.3 antenna tv kmsb 11.1 fox 11.2 movies 11.3 justice kold 13.1 cbs 13.2 metv 13.3 grit kudf lp 14 aza kttu 18.1 mynetworktv 18.2 estrellatv k21cx d 21 hsn kuas 27.1 pbs 27.2 pbs kids 27.3 world kpce lp 29 daystar kftu ca 34 48 unim s khrr 40.1 telemundo kuve 46.1 uni 46.2 kftu dt kwba 58.1 the cw 58.2 this tv 58.3 latv outlying area kftu 3.1 douglas unim s defunct stations k07yx 7 k57bd 57 tbn kwta lp 31 jtv k33cg 33 sierra vista tbn kpol 40 ind ktvw 52 uni southern arizona news network see also phoenix tv imperial valley tv and agua prieta tv v t e broadcast television in the agua prieta sonora market xhfa 2.1 azteca 13 nogales xhnss 7.1 cadenatres nogales xhaps 12.1 telemax xhapt 17.1 canal de las estrellas xhnoa 22.1 azteca 7 nogales xhnon 38.1 canal 5 nogales xhnos 50.1 canal de las estrellas nogales see also tucson tv v t e cw network affiliates in the state of arizona kwba 58 sierra vista kasw 61 phoenix see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in arizona v t e cw affiliates licensed to and serving new mexico kwbq 19 albuquerque kvia 7.2 las cruces kvih 12.2 clovis kwba 58 lordsburg see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in new mexico v t e e. w. scripps company radio stations am kfaq kffn kfti ksgf kxsp wtmj fm kbez kezo fm kfdi fm kfxj khtt kict fm kjot kkcd kmxz fm kqch kqth kqxr krvb krvi ksgf fm kspw ksrz ktgv kthi ktts fm kvoo fm kxbl kyqq wcyq wkht wkti wnox wwst television stations by affiliations abc kero kgtv kgun kivi ksaw kmgh knxv ktnv wcpo wews wfts wkbw wmar wrtv wxyz azteca kzco ld kzcs lp kzfc lp kzkc lp kzsd lp fox knin 1 wflx 1 wftx wsym mynetworktv wacy whtv 2 wmyd nbc kjrh kshb wgba wptv wtmj other cbs kmtv wtvf independent stations kmci the cw kwba tv acquisitions journal communications mcgraw hill people edward w. estlow jack r. howard ted knap jim g. lucas ernie pyle al schottelkotte charles scripps e. w. scripps related national journalism awards national spelling bee scripps howard foundation united media zacchini v. scripps howard broadcasting co. syndicated programming let s ask america rightthisminute 1 scripps operates this station under a shared services agreement with raycom media . 2 whtv is owned by venture technologies group with scripps operating the station under a local marketing agreement . v t e latv stations current kwba tv 58.2 sierra vista az ktvu 2.2 oakland ca ksee 24.3 fresno ca ktxl 40.2 sacramento ca kjla 57.1 57.2 los angeles 1 wbqm ld 51.2 new york ny wuvn 18.4 hartford ct wvea tv 62.2 venice fl wock cd 13.3 chicago wsjx lp 24 aguadilla pr wuni 27.2 boston kluz tv 41.2 albuquerque nm kint tv 26.3 el paso tx ktfn 65.3 el paso tx knvo 48.3 mcallen tx kyaz 51.7 houston kldo tv 27.2 laredo tx kupb 18.2 midland kata 50.1 dallas