WCSN-LD (channel 32) is a

low-power television station Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a Radio broadcasting#Station, broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, United States. The station is owned by Word Broadcasting Network.

History

WCSN was launched on March 24, 2007, as the Columbus Sports Network (CSN), Central Ohio's first and only continuous all-sports television station, broadcasting events, features, highlights and news on professional, collegiate, scholastic and amateur sports teams in the area. The first-ever telecast on CSN was an

Arena Football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...

matchup between the

Columbus Destroyers The Columbus Destroyers were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Columbus, Ohio, with home games in Nationwide Arena. The team was founded in as the Buffalo Destroyers, based in Buffalo, New York, and relocated to Columbus in . They fo ...

and the

Chicago Rush The Chicago Rush were a professional arena football team based in Rosemont, Illinois. The team was founded in 2001 and played in the Arena Football League's Central Division. The Rush qualified for the playoffs in 11 of 12 AFL seasons, during w ...

; the Destroyers lost to the Rush, 55–47. While under the ownership of United Media Acquisitions and prior to ceasing local original programming, WCSN was carried on cable television systems in the market; Insight Communications had it on Channels 78 and 524, and WOW! had it on channel 97. This carriage was based on the station's original incarnation as an all-sports station, and included a channel on

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, o ...

. CSN planned to broadcast approximately 400 live events each year, including Columbus Motor Speedway,

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

, Columbus Destroyers (home games),

Columbus Clippers The Columbus Clippers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They are located in Columbus, Ohio, and are named for speedy Merchant ship, merch ...

(select games), minor

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

sports (including baseball, volleyball, lacrosse, and tennis), college lacrosse and baseball from universities from the OAC and NCAC, high schools from the

OHSAA The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) is the governing body of athletic programs for junior and senior high schools in the state of Ohio. The OHSAA governs eligibility of student athletes, resolves disputes, organizes levels of comp ...

Canadian Football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

, and various other events. CSN launched a nightly 30-minute show called ''Sports Columbus'' on December 21, 2007. It spotlighted local sports highlights, news, and features of the day from Central Ohio. The show was co-anchored by Ray Crawford and Dionne Miller. Sports Columbus ran live at 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, with scheduled rebroadcasts the following day. On June 6, 2008, ''

The Columbus Dispatch ''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in ...

'' reported that the production of programming had ended and that the business model was being reviewed. WCSN left the air completely in August 2008; by September 8, 2008, it had returned intermittently with only

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of di ...

s. Carriage on cable systems ceased once the Columbus Sports Network ceased operations in 2008. By August 10, 2009, it broadcast only a notice that it had "video trouble" and that "this channel is temporarily off-line due to technical difficulties". By September 3, 2009, it was off the air. By September 4, 2009, it was broadcasting a color test pattern with its call sign. In 2009 the original owners, United Media Acquisitions, filed for bankruptcy protection and the station was sold to Columbus Television, LLC. Once the transfer was completed, the new owners made an agreement to simulcast the WCPX-LP broadcast of

Azteca América Azteca América (, sometimes shortened to Azteca) was an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by INNOVATE Corp., which acquired the network from the Azteca International Corporation subsidiary of TV Azteca. Headquar ...

. This agreement continued after WCSN made the conversion to digital broadcasting in early 2010. Columbus Television, LLC ended its relationship with WCPX in July 2010. WCSN would eventually convert to digital broadcast and carry four regular subchannels— Mexicanal, Dalmar TV (a

Somali language Somali is an Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic languages, Cushitic branch, primarily spoken by the Somalis, Somali people, native to Greater Somalia. It is an official language in Somalia, Somaliland, and Ethio ...

television channel), TV Africa Network (

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

Pan-African Pan-Africanism is a nationalist movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all indigenous peoples and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the Trans-Sa ...

news, sport and entertainment channel), and Prime TV Network. Effective March 20, 2012, WCSN's Mexicanal and Dalmar services was added to WOW's channel lineup on channels 103 and 106 respectively. WCPX-LP switched from Azteca America to Mexicanal in 2011, though it is unknown if there is any relation with WCSN.

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource— ...

References

{{Other Ohio Stations 2007 establishments in Ohio Heroes & Icons affiliates CSN-LD Movies! affiliates Start TV affiliates Television channels and stations established in 2007 CSN-LD