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KWGN-TV (channel 2) is a
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...
in
Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
, Colorado, United States, serving as the local CW outlet. It is
owned and operated In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
by network majority owner
Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television station ...
alongside
Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...
affiliate
KDVR KDVR (channel 31) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is simulcast full-time over satellite station KFCT (channel 22) in Fort Collins. Nexstar Media Group owns KDVR and KFCT alongsi ...
, channel 31 (and its
Fort Collins A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...
–licensed
satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...
KFCT, channel 22). The two stations share studios on East Speer Boulevard in Denver's Speer neighborhood; KWGN-TV's transmitter is located atop
Lookout Mountain Lookout Mountain is a mountain ridge at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southeastern Tennessee state line in Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain was the scene of the 18th-century "La ...
, near Golden. KWGN is available to subscribers of satellite provider
Dish Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...
throughout the United States as part of its
superstation ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a broadcast television sign ...
s package (for grandfathered subscribers that purchased the
a la carte A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient ...
tier before Dish halted sales of the package to new subscribers in September 2013), and is carried on cable television providers in parts of the
western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...
. The station is authorized for cable and satellite distribution as a U.S. superstation by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...
(CRTC); however, KWGN is not currently available on any pay television providers in that country.


History


Early years

The station first signed on the air as KFEL-TV on July 18, 1952. It was owned by Colorado broadcasting pioneer Gene O'Fallon along with KFEL radio (AM 950, now KKSE), and was the first television station to sign on in the state of Colorado. It was also first station on the VHF band to sign on the air following the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
's decision to lift its freeze on television station licenses that year. The station originally operated as a primary affiliate of the
DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in ...
, sharing the affiliation with KBTV (channel 9, now
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
affiliate
KUSA Kusa or KUSA may refer to: * Kusa, Russia, a town in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia * Kusa, Latvia, a village in Madona district, Latvia * Kusa, Oklahoma, United States * Kusa, indigenous name of Beles River (in Gumuz language) * KUSA (TV), a televisi ...
), but also cherry-picked programs from NBC,
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
and
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
. The station's original studio facilities were located in a remodeled brick warehouse at 550 Lincoln Street. Gotham Broadcasting, owned by J. Elroy McCaw (who also owned radio station WINS in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
), purchased the station from O'Fallon in 1955. John M. Shaheen, the founder of aviation services company Tele-Trip Inc., which later became a subsidiary of
Mutual of Omaha Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company is an American Fortune 500 mutual insurance and financial services company based in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1909 as Mutual Benefit Health & Accident Association, Mutual of Omaha is a financial organization o ...
, subsequently acquired a 50% ownership interest in the station. Channel 2's call letters were changed that same year to KTVR; the station lost the DuMont affiliation when the network shut down on August 6, 1956, after which it became an
independent station An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...
. During the late 1950s, the station was briefly affiliated with the
NTA Film Network The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956 that operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several first-run television programs from major Hollywood studios. Despite attracting more ...
. In 1959, McCaw became the sole owner of channel 2, buying out Shaheen's share in the station. In 1963, McCaw changed the call letters to KCTO (for "Channel Two").


Under Tribune ownership

In September 1965, the station was acquired by
Tribune Broadcasting Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC was an American media company which operated as a subsidiary of Tribune Media, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. The group owned and operated television station, television and radio stations thro ...
– then known as WGN Continental Broadcasting. After the sale was finalized in March 1966, the new owners changed the call letters to KWGN-TV after its new sister station and the company's
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...
,
WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...
in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
(the WGN calls refer to the longtime slogan of the company's former flagship newspaper, the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'', "World's Greatest Newspaper"; the newspaper division was split into a separate company in August 2014). At the time of its purchase, KWGN became Tribune's fourth television station property—after WGN-TV,
WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City, serving as the ''de facto'' flagship of The CW Television Network. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, the station is operated by CW majority owner Nexstar Media Group under a local market ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, and KDAL-TV (now
KDLH KDLH (channel 3) is a television station in Duluth, Minnesota, United States, affiliated with The CW Plus. It is owned by Gray Media alongside Superior, Wisconsin–licensed dual NBC/CBS affiliate KBJR-TV, channel 6 (and its Chisholm, Minneso ...
) in
Duluth, Minnesota Duluth ( ) is a Port, port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County, Minnesota, St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. The population ...
, the latter of which was owned by Tribune from 1960 to 1978. When WGN Continental Broadcasting bought channel 2, it gave the station a significant technical overhaul, allowing it to broadcast programming in color. KWGN promoted itself as Colorado's only all-color station, because all of its local programs were produced in the format. Denver's three major network affiliates—KOA-TV (channel 4, now
KCNC-TV KCNC-TV (channel 4), branded CBS Colorado, is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios on Linc ...
), KLZ-TV (channel 7, now
KMGH-TV KMGH-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sterling-licensed independent station KCDO-TV, channel 3 (and its Denver-based translator ...
) and KBTV—were broadcasting national network programs in color, but had yet to equip their studios with color cameras for local programming production. As an independent station, KWGN aired a mix of off-network
sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
s and dramas,
cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...
,
movies A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...
, syndicated
game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...
s and locally produced programs such as '' Blinky's Fun Club'', ''Denver Now'', ''Afternoon at the Movies with Tom Shannon'' and public affairs program ''Your Right to Say It''. It took six years for WGN Continental to make the station profitable. Beginning in the 1960s, the station started building a massive network of
translators Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...
across the state. Around this time, KWGN became a regional
superstation ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a broadcast television sign ...
(long before that term was coined and popularized by
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
station WTBS). At its height, it was available on nearly every cable system in Colorado and
Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...
, as well as portions of
Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
,
Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
,
Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
,
Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
,
New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
,
South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...
,
Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
and
Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...
. KWGN was attractive to cable systems because its programming had no duplication with programs seen on the local network affiliates within their given markets. Additionally, it was the only independent station that was available in much of the region until the 1980s. It remained the only independent station in Denver—and indeed, in all of Colorado—until eventual sister station
KDVR KDVR (channel 31) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is simulcast full-time over satellite station KFCT (channel 22) in Fort Collins. Nexstar Media Group owns KDVR and KFCT alongsi ...
(channel 31) signed on in August 1983. To this day, KWGN remains available on most cable systems in Colorado and Wyoming, as well as on several systems in western Nebraska and Kansas. The station moved its operations from the Lincoln Street facility to a new building in suburban
Greenwood Village The City of Greenwood Village is a home rule municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 15,691 at the 2020 United States census. Greenwood Village is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO ...
in 1983. As one of the strongest independent stations in the country, KWGN was approached by
Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...
to affiliate with the upstart network upon its October 1986 debut. However, channel 2 turned the offer down. Station and company officials were skeptical of Fox's business model, and were confident enough in KWGN's schedule that they felt they didn't need a network affiliation. However, most Fox affiliates were essentially programmed as independents until the network began airing a full week's worth of programming in 1993, so KWGN would not have had to give up many of its syndicated shows. Additionally, by this time, most of the smaller markets in its vast cable footprint had enough stations to provide Fox affiliates at the outset, making the prospect of KWGN as a multi-state Fox affiliate unattractive to Tribune. The affiliation instead went to KDVR.


WB affiliation

On November 2, 1993, the
Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios, operating under the name Warner Bros. Television (abbreviated as WBTV; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division), is an American television production and distribution studio and the flagship studio o ...
division of
Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...
and the Tribune Company announced the creation of
The WB Television Network The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB, stylized as "THE WB", and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on br ...
; KWGN and the majority of Tribune's other independent stations (except for Atlanta's WGNX, which joined
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
one month prior to The WB's launch) were tapped to serve as the nuclei for the new network. KWGN became a charter affiliate of The WB when it launched on January 11, 1995; however, its existing lineup was largely unaffected at first, since The WB initially ran programming only on Wednesday evenings, gradually adding additional nights of programming between September 1995 and September 1999; by that time, the network offered prime time programming on Sunday through Friday evenings, along with
children's programming Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...
on weekdays and Saturday mornings. In October 1995,
Fox Television Stations Fox Television Stations, LLC (stylized as FOX TV STATIONS; also known as FTS) is a group of television stations in the United States owned-and-operated by Fox Corporation. It owns LiveNOW from Fox, Fox Local, and Fox Soul. It also oversees ...
proposed a divestiture of KDVR (which it had acquired from
Renaissance Broadcasting Renaissance Broadcasting, founded in 1982 by Michael Finkelstein, was a company that owned several UHF television stations, it was sold to Tribune Broadcasting in 1997. The company was headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. History Renaissa ...
three months earlier in exchange for its former
owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an network af ...
in
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
,
KDAF KDAF (channel 33) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving as the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex's outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group (based in nearby Irv ...
(now a sister station to KWGN), which had lost Fox programming to that market's longtime CBS affiliate,
KDFW KDFW (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by the Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division alongside KDFI (channel ...
, in a groupwide affiliation deal with Fox and then-KDFW owner,
New World Communications New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment, New World Communications Group, Inc., and New World International) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia comp ...
) to Qwest Broadcasting, a company backed by
Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...
and Tribune Broadcasting; in the sale proposal, Fox would have moved its programming to KWGN, while the WB affiliation would have moved to KDVR after the sale to Qwest was finalized. However, this deal never came to fruition. In 1996, the station altered its longstanding "Denver's 2" branding to "Denver's WB2", to reflect its network affiliation; the "WB2" branding continued to be used in some form for the remainder of KWGN's tenure with the network. During its existence as a WB affiliate, KWGN also served as the network's default affiliate for most of Colorado, including the
Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...
Pueblo Pueblo refers to the settlements of the Pueblo peoples, Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settlement ...
and Grand Junction markets—a status that was reflected under the "WB2 Colorado" moniker that was used during the final years of The WB's run.


CW affiliation

On January 24, 2006, Time Warner and
CBS Corporation CBS Corporation was an American multinational media company with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing and television production. It was split from Viacom on December 31, 2005, alongside an entirely new Viacom; both ...
announced that the two companies would shut down The WB and
UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries (later sold to News Corporation)'s subsidiary, United Television, ...
and combine the respective programming from the two networks to create a new "fifth" network called
The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...
. With the announcement, Tribune Broadcasting signed ten-year agreements for KWGN and 16 of the company's 18 other WB-affiliated stations ( three of which it would sell to other groups shortly before The CW launched) to become charter affiliates of The CW. In preparation for the affiliation switch, the station retitled its newscasts from ''WB 2 News'' to ''News 2'' on August 14, 2006. The affiliation switch took place on September 18, 2006, the day after The WB ended operations, upon which it changed its general branding to "CW 2" (former UPN affiliate
KTVD KTVD (channel 20) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside NBC affiliate KUSA (channel 9). The two stations share studios on East Speer Boulevard in Denver's ...
(channel 20) would end up affiliating with
MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...
, whose launch was announced by
News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...
nearly one month after the CW launch announcement on February 22). On July 7, 2008, KWGN removed references to its CW affiliation from its branding in both station promotions and its on-air logo, as part of a decision by Tribune Broadcasting to de-emphasize the network brand from its CW-affiliated stations as a result of the network's relatively weak ratings, choosing to reposition them as more "local" stations; KWGN began referring to itself simply as "2", featuring the CW branding era's "2" logotype within a solid circle logo.


LMA and legal duopoly with KDVR

On September 17, 2008, Tribune Company announced that it would enter KWGN into a
local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...
with Local TV, owners of Fox affiliate KDVR, effective on October 1, 2008, as a result of the formation of a "broadcast management company" that was created to provide management services to stations owned by both Tribune Broadcasting and Local TV. Although it was the longer-established of the two stations, KWGN served as the junior partner in the virtual duopoly. As a result, the station would migrate its operations into KDVR's studio facility on Speer Boulevard in
downtown Denver Downtown Denver is the main financial, commercial, business, and entertainment district in Denver, Colorado, United States. There is over of office space in downtown Denver, with 132,000 workers. The downtown area consists mostly of the neigh ...
(based at the same location where KWGN's original studios were located during the station's first 30 years on the air). The move resulted in both stations combining their news departments and sharing certain syndicated programming. On March 30, 2009, KWGN changed its on-air branding once again to "2 the Deuce", in an attempt to appeal to younger viewers and become more involved in local issues. On March 1, 2010, the locally produced talk show ''Everyday with Libby and Natalie'' (which debuted in 2008) was renamed as simply ''Everyday'' and moved to KWGN from KDVR (effectively changing timeslots as a result moving from late afternoons to late mornings with the program's station switch); Libby Weaver co-hosted the program with Natalie Tysdal until June 1, 2009, after which Weaver was replaced by Chris Parente. After Peter Maroney took over as
general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
of KDVR/KWGN following the 2009 departure of Dennis Leonard, other noticeable changes to the station took hold with the locally produced consumer talk program ''Martino TV'' (which also moved to KDVR) being replaced in its 11 a.m. timeslot by repeats of '' Maury''. In May 2010, KWGN dropped "The Deuce" branding and temporarily began to simply identify by the station's call letters. The following month, the station changed its website domain from 2thedeuce.com to KWGN.com to reflect the branding change; that September, the station rebranded itself as "Channel 2, The CW". That fall, the station dropped ''
Live! with Regis and Kelly Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film * ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film *'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...
'' from its schedule, which moved to sister station KDVR; this left
WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...
(which itself lost rights to the talk show in September 2013) and
St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
sister station
KPLR-TV KPLR-TV (channel 11) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group alongside Fox affiliate KTVI (channel 2). The t ...
as the only Tribune-owned stations and two of the few CW affiliates that carry the show. On July 22, 2011, KWGN debuted a new on-air appearance and branding (becoming known as "Colorado's Own Channel 2", resembling the former "Denver's 2" identity from the 1980s and early 1990s plus the “Chicago’s Very Own” slogan used by WGN-TV), as well as reformatting its local news programming to a more traditional format. On July 1, 2013, Tribune announced it would purchase Local TV outright for $2.75 billion. The sale was finalized on December 27, creating a legal
duopoly A duopoly (from Greek , ; and , ) is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market, and most (if not all) of the competition within that market occurs directly between them. Duopoly is the most commonly ...
between KDVR and KWGN.


Sinclair purchase attempt; sale to Nexstar

In May 2017,
Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...
announced its intention to buy Tribune Media. KDVR was then identified as one of 23 stations that Sinclair would divest to obtain regulatory approval for the merger, with Fox Television Stations agreeing to a repurchase as part of a $910 million deal. Both transactions were nullified on August 9, 2018, following Tribune Media's termination of the merger agreement and FCC chairman
Ajit Pai Ajit Varadaraj Pai (; born January 10, 1973) is an American lawyer who served as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2017 to 2021. He became a partner at the private-equity firm Searchlight Capital in April 2021. He bec ...
's public rejection of the deal.
Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television station ...
announced it would acquire the assets of Tribune Media on December 3, 2018, for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. The deal closed on September 19, 2019.


Programming


Sports coverage

KWGN served as the over-the-air flagship home of
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
's
Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...
from their inaugural season in 1993 to 2002 and the
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
's
Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...
in 1990–91 and again from 1995 to 2004.


News operation

KWGN-TV presently broadcasts 36 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with six hours each weekday and three hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). There is a considerable amount of sharing between KWGN and KDVR in regards to news coverage, video footage and the use of reporters; though both outlets maintain their own primary on-air personalities (such as news anchors and meteorologists) that only appear on one station; several KWGN on-air staffers that remained with the station after the LMA was formed simultaneously joined KDVR's news department with the consolidation of news operations. Combined with sister KDVR, Nexstar's Denver properties broadcasts a combined 90 hours of local news, making it the highest output in the state of Colorado. Channel 2 was the first television station in the Denver market to air a locally produced nightly prime time newscast. The 9 p.m. newscast, which debuted shortly after the station signed on, remained a constant through several ownership changes. In 1966, the newscast was expanded to one hour—becoming the only hour-long newscast in the market at that point. Titled ''The Big News'', the program heavily concentrated on local stories because filmed national and international news reports were not available through news feeds to stations that lacked a network affiliation during that period. If a major national story occurred, anchor Ron Voigt would read the wire copy while black-and-white wire photos supplied by the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
were shown on-camera. From the late 1960s until 1975, ''The Big News'' had two regular commentators to provide news analysis, George Salem and Gene Amole. The final segment of the newscast was titled "Speak Out" and was often devoted to phone calls from viewers. The program was also known for its meteorologist, Ed Bowman (known as "Weatherman Bowman"), who came to KWGN from KOA-TV- AM. Bowman frequently discussed the
jet stream Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow thermal wind, air currents in the Earth's Atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere. The main jet streams are located near the altitude of the tropopause and are westerly winds, flowing west to east around the gl ...
during his forecast segment, which he represented on-air by drawing large arcs over a map of the
continental United States The contiguous United States, also known as the U.S. mainland, officially referred to as the conterminous United States, consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States in central North America. The te ...
. The station's sports director during the 1960s and early 1970s was Fred Leo, who had provided play-by-play analysis for many of the area's professional sports teams. KWGN's newscast grew to be a strong competitor to the prime time network programs it competed against in the 9 p.m. timeslot on KBTV/KUSA, KOA-TV/KCNC and KLZ-TV/KMGH. The first time that KWGN programmed news outside its established 9 p.m. slot was in 1982, when it premiered a midday newscast at noon. The station attempted another midday newscast beginning in 1997, this time at 11AM and running for an hour. ''WB2 News at Eleven'' lasted three years, and was cancelled in the fall of 2000. On July 16, 2000, legitimate competition sprang up for KWGN's prime time newscast for the first time when KDVR debuted the hour-long ''Fox 31 News at 9 O'Clock'', which gradually became an avid competitor to KWGN's longer-established late newscast. Also in 2000, the station debuted a weekday morning newscast titled ''WB2day'' (which eventually adopted the present title ''Daybreak'' in 2012), a mix of news, entertainment and lifestyle features that initially aired for three hours from 6 to 9 a.m. In 2004, KWGN added an hour onto the newscast from 5 to 6 a.m., expanding it to four hours. The program grew to beat competing local and national morning news programs in certain age demographics. An 11 a.m. newscast returned to the schedule on September 11, 2006. On July 7, 2008, KWGN branched out its news programming into early evenings for the first time with the launch of a half-hour 5:30 p.m. newscast, anchored by Kellie MacMullan and Ernie Bjorkman. One month later on August 4, 2008, the station expanded its 11 a.m. newscast to one hour. After entering into the local marketing agreement with KDVR, major changes were made to KWGN's news programming. First on January 12, 2009, the station discontinued its 5:30 p.m. newscast as KDVR expanded its own early evening newscast to an hour starting at 5 p.m. On March 2, 2009, KWGN moved its newscasts to a temporary set in preparation for its March 30 move from its Greenwood Village facility to KDVR's studios on Speer Boulevard. Subsequently, on March 30, when KWGN's operations were formally integrated with KDVR, channel 2 shifted its flagship 9 p.m. newscast to 7 p.m. to avoid competing with KDVR's prime time newscast; as a result, the newscast traded time slots with The CW's prime time schedule, which the station began airing on a one-hour
delay Delay or DeLay may refer to: People * B. H. DeLay (1891–1923), American aviator and movie stunt pilot * Dorothy DeLay (1917–2002), American violin instructor * Florence Delay (born 1941), French academician and actor * Jan Delay, stage name ...
from 8 to 10 p.m. at the network's permission (this also effectively resulted in the newscast being reduced to airing only on Monday through Friday evenings in part due to The CW airing a three-hour prime time lineup on Sundays at the time; although The CW turned its Sunday prime time slots over to the network's affiliates in September 2009, the 7 p.m. newscast remains a weeknight-only broadcast ). KWGN discontinued the 11 a.m. newscast once again on May 29, 2009, which was replaced the following Monday with ''Martino TV'', a lifestyle program featuring paid segments from local businesses. At that time, KWGN began broadcasting its local newscasts in
high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *Blu-ray Disc, the universal optical High Definition disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tap ...
. On July 18, 2016, KWGN started a 4 p.m. weekday newscast. This newscast is anchored by current KWGN 7 p.m. anchor, Deborah Takahara, and longtime former Denver newsman Mike Landess. Mike returns to Denver from
KYTX KYTX (channel 19) is a television station licensed to Nacogdoches, Texas, United States, serving East Texas as an affiliate of CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station has studios near Loop 323 in the southeastern portion of Tyle ...
in
Tyler, Texas Tyler, officially the City of Tyler, is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the population is 105,995. Tyler was the List of municipalities in Texas, 38th most populous city in Texas (as well as the m ...
. Landess previously anchored evening newscasts for
KMGH KMGH-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sterling-licensed independent station KCDO-TV, channel 3 (and its Denver-based translator ...
and
KUSA Kusa or KUSA may refer to: * Kusa, Russia, a town in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia * Kusa, Latvia, a village in Madona district, Latvia * Kusa, Oklahoma, United States * Kusa, indigenous name of Beles River (in Gumuz language) * KUSA (TV), a televisi ...
/KBTV in Denver. On September 12, 2016, KWGN became the first station in the
Mountain Time Zone The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when standard time ( UTC−07:00) is in effect, and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time ( UTC−06:00). The ...
to launch an 11 p.m. weeknight newscast hosted by Mike Barz and Erika Gonzalez. Beginning March 27, 2017, Ernie Bjorkman, weeknight anchor from 1984 to 1988 and again from 1998 to 2008, returned to KWGN. On September 23, 2017, KWGN expanded the hour-long 7 p.m. newscast to weekends for the first time since the newscast launched on March 30, 2009; this also marked the first time KWGN aired local news on weekends since 2009.


Notable former on-air staff

* Asha Blake – weeknight anchor (2004–2007; later at
KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
) * Tom Martino – consumer reporter and host of ''Martino TV'' (2009–2010) *
Russell Scott Russell Scott (June 30, 1921 – August 27, 2012), also known as Blinky the Clown, and simply Clown, was an American clown, television personality and presenter who starred in a Denver, Colorado television program called ''Blinky's Fun Club'' ...
– host of '' Blinky's Fun Club'' and ''Captain Dooley'' (1966–1998; deceased) * Tom Shannon – host of ''Afternoon at the Movies with Tom Shannon'' (1970s)


Technical information


Subchannels

KWGN-TV offers four subchannels, which since conversion to ATSC 3.0 have been hosted on the multiplexes of three other Denver television stations:


Analog-to-digital conversion

KWGN shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, the official date on 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 Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...
channel 34, using
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered as digits on a receiver's ...
2.


ATSC 3.0

On December 21, 2020, this station was launched as a lighthouse station for
ATSC 3.0 ATSC 3.0 is a major version of the ATSC standards for terrestrial television broadcasting created by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC). The standards are designed to offer support for newer technologies, including High Effici ...
(NextGen TV) in Denver. It currently carries the main program streams of KWGN,
KMGH-TV KMGH-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sterling-licensed independent station KCDO-TV, channel 3 (and its Denver-based translator ...
,
KUSA Kusa or KUSA may refer to: * Kusa, Russia, a town in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia * Kusa, Latvia, a village in Madona district, Latvia * Kusa, Oklahoma, United States * Kusa, indigenous name of Beles River (in Gumuz language) * KUSA (TV), a televisi ...
and KDVR.


Translators

*
Haxtun Haxtun is a statutory town in Phillips County, Colorado, United States As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 981. Geography At the 2020 United States census, the town had a total area of , all of it land. Demographics A ...
* Julesburg * Peetz * Pleasant Valley


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwgn-Tv 1952 establishments in Colorado ATSC 3.0 television stations Comet (TV network) affiliates Court TV affiliates The CW affiliates Greenwood Village, Colorado Nexstar Media Group Superstations in the United States Television channels and stations established in 1952
WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...