KWBQ (channel 19) 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 ea ...

licensed to

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label= Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. The name “S ...

, United States, serving the

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding i ...

area as a ''de facto''

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 affiliate ...

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

. The station's transmitter is located atop

Sandia Crest Sandia Crest, also known locally as Sandia Peak or simply as the Crest, is a mountain ridge that, at , is the highpoint of the Sandia–Manzano Mountains, and is located in the Sandia Mountains of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United State ...

. KWBQ is owned by

Mission Broadcasting Mission Broadcasting, Inc. is a television station group that owns 20 television stations in 17 markets in the United States. The group's Chair is Nancie Smith, the widow of David S. Smith, who founded the company in 1996 and died in 2011. All but ...

alongside

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...

affiliate

KASY-TV KASY-TV (channel 50) is a television station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting alongside Santa Fe–licensed ''de facto'' CW owned-and-operated station KWBQ, channel 1 ...

(channel 50). The two stations share studios with dual

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

/ Fox affiliate

KRQE KRQE (channel 13) is a television station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, affiliated with CBS and Fox. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister to Santa Fe–licensed ''de facto'' CW owned-and-operated station KWBQ (channel 19) a ...

(channel 13) on Broadcast Plaza in Albuquerque.

Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...

, which owns KRQE and holds a majority stake in The CW, provides

master control Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as swi ...

, technical, engineering and accounting services for KWBQ and KASY-TV through a

shared services Shared services is the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group, where that service had previously been found, in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and th ...

agreement (SSA), though the two stations are otherwise operated separately from KRQE as Mission handles programming, advertising sales and

retransmission consent Retransmission consent is a provision of the 1992 United States Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act that requires cable operators and other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) to obtain permission from commer ...

negotiations. KRWB-TV (channel 21) in Roswell operates as a

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

of KWBQ, extending its signal across southeastern New Mexico. This station's transmitter is located near Hagerman. KRWB is a straight

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simul ...

of KWBQ; on-air references to KRWB are limited to

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

(FCC)-mandated hourly

station identification Station identification (ident, network ID or channel ID or bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name (sometimes known, particularly in th ...

s during programming. Besides the transmitter, KRWB does not maintain any physical presence in Roswell. Unlike its parent station, KRWB does not carry any of KWBQ's subchannels, but does carry KASY-TV on its second subchannel.

History

KWBQ commenced operations on March 5, 1999, as an affiliate of

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

, bringing that network's programming back to the market two years after then- UPN affiliate KASY-TV dropped its secondary affiliation with the network after a two-year run in 1997. The station was originally branded as "WB19" at sign-on, before it was later changed to "New Mexico's WB" in 2002. ACME Communications would purchase KASY from Ramar Communications in June 1999, a deal that resulted in the formation of Albuquerque's first major television duopoly and the termination of KASY's

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...

with

Lee Enterprises Lee Enterprises, Inc. is a publicly traded American media company. It publishes 77 daily newspapers in 26 states, and more than 350 weekly, classified, and specialty publications. Lee Enterprises was founded in 1890 by Alfred Wilson Lee and is b ...

(then-owners of

affiliate

). In February 2003, KWBQ signed on Roswell-licensed satellite station KRWB-TV on UHF channel 21 to extend KWBQ's broadcast signal into southeastern New Mexico. This partially filled a gap that was created in January 2002 when the network's El Paso affiliate,

KKWB KKWB (102.5 FM, "Coyote 102.5") is a country music radio station, serving the Bemidji, Minnesota region. Its main source of programming is from the Westwood One radio network, along with hourly news from the CBS Radio Network. It is owned and ope ...

, switched its affiliation to TeleFutura; as a result, the network's programming would only be available on cable in the El Paso market via

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

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 ...

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is the s ...

for the remainder of its run. On January 24, 2006,

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

Warner Bros. Entertainment Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

unit and

CBS Corporation The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, an ...

announced that the two companies would merge the operations of The WB and UPN, which the companies respectively owned, into a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

called

The CW Television Network ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. On March 9 of that year, ACME Communications signed an affiliation agreement with the network for KWBQ and its KRWB satellite to join The CW upon the network's September 18 launch, while KASY would join another new service, the

Fox Entertainment Group Fox Entertainment Group was an American entertainment company specialised in filmed entertainment owned by 21st Century Fox. Following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, the group's assets were folded into various Disney units. The ...

-owned

, upon its September 5, 2006, launch. The deals made ACME the third station group, after

Capitol Broadcasting Company The Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. (CBC) is an American media company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Capitol owns three television stations and nine radio stations in the Raleigh–Durham and Wilmington areas of North Carolina and the D ...

( WJZY-

WMYT-TV WMYT-TV (channel 55) is a television station licensed to Rock Hill, South Carolina, United States, serving the Charlotte, North Carolina area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is the only major commercial television station in the Charlotte mar ...

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

) and

Weigel Broadcasting Weigel Broadcasting Co. is an American television broadcasting company based in Chicago, Illinois, alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV (Channel 26), at 26 North Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood. It currently owns 25 television ...

( WCWW-LP- WMYS-LP/

South Bend South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

) to have duopolies affiliated with both The CW and MyNetworkTV. In September 2006, KWBQ/KRWB was rebranded as "New Mexico's CW" to reflect their new affiliation. At that time, the station created a new mascot dubbed "The CW Guy" (designed basically as an

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

television with arms and legs and The CW's logo on its screen) to serve as a promotional tool at local station events; "The CW Guy" served as a replacement for The WB's former mascot Michigan J. Frog. On June 4, 2010, ACME announced it would enter into a

agreement (SSA) with

LIN Media LIN Media was an American holding company founded in 1994 that operated 43 television stations. All except one were affiliates of the six major U.S. television networks. One of the remaining stations was a low powered weather station in In ...

; as a result, LIN's own duopoly of KASA-TV and KRQE would provide technical, engineering and accounting services for KWBQ and KASY, with the mutual operating costs shared in order to help reduce overall costs for ACME. On September 10, 2012, ACME announced a proposed sale of KASY-TV as well as KWBQ (and its Roswell repeater, KRWB-TV) to Tamer Media, a company founded by broadcast industry veteran John S. Viall, Jr. The $17.3 million sale, which the

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdictio ...

approved on November 21, and was completed on December 11, gave Tamer Media its first TV properties, while ACME is making its exit from the station ownership business (the three stations are the last portions of ACME's TV station portfolio). The stations' shared services agreement with LIN Media will continue under new ownership. On March 21, 2014,

Media General Media General was an American media company based in Richmond, Virginia. The company's origins can be traced back to 1887 when Richmond attorney Joseph Bryan acquired ''The Richmond Daily Times'', which later became ''The Richmond Times-Dispatch ...

announced that it would purchase LIN Media and its stations, including KRQE, KASA-TV, and the SSA with KWBQ/KRWB-TV and KASY-TV, in a $1.6 billion merger. The merger was completed on December 19. Just over a year later, on January 27, 2016, it was announced that the Nexstar Broadcasting Group would buy Media General for $4.6 billion. The sale was completed on January 17, 2017. On August 7, 2020, it was announced that Mission Broadcasting would acquire KWBQ and its satellites and

from Tamer Media. The sale was completed on November 16.

Programming

Syndicated programming

Syndicated programs seen on KWBQ include ''

Mom ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestati ...

'', '' The Goldbergs (2013 TV series), The Goldbergs'', ''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...

'', ''

Two and a Half Men ''Two and a Half Men'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS for twelve seasons from September 22, 2003, to February 19, 2015. Originally starring Charlie Sheen in the lead role alongside Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, t ...

'', ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas (screenwriter), Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014, follows the main c ...

'', ''

Modern Family ''Modern Family'' is an American family sitcom television series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan for the American Broadcasting Company. It ran for 11 seasons, from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. It follows the lives of th ...

'', ''

Right This Minute ''Right This Minute'' (alternatively abbreviated as ''RTM'') was an American syndicated television program that debuted on September 12, 2011. Produced by MagicDust Television in conjunction with television station groups Cox Media Group, Gray ...

'', ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as a fictionalized version of himself and ...

'' and ''

The King of Queens ''The King of Queens'' is an American television sitcom that ran on CBS from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007, a total of nine seasons and 207 episodes. The series was created by Michael J. Weithorn and David Litt, who also served as the show ...

''.

Newscasts

Starting in April 2015, KWBQ began to simulcast KRQE's morning newscast, including the later Fox New Mexico half of the show, from 4:30–9 a.m. It airs the Fox New Mexico (KRQE-DT2) program ''New Mexico Living'' from 10–11 a.m.

Technical information

The stations' digital signals are

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 - a ...

: KWBQ has not carried any subchannels in past years but on January 11, 2016, the station added the action/western channel Grit and comedy channel

Laff Laff (legal name: Laff Media, LLC) is an American digital multicast television network headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and is owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network specializes in comedy program ...

from

Katz Broadcasting Katz Broadcasting, LLC, doing business as Scripps Networks, is an American specialized digital multicasting network media company and a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. The company owns (as of 2022) nine television networks that each carry ...

. Laff further adds to KWBQ's identity as a station for comedy while Grit and Ion add some programming diversity to the signal. KWBQ further added

Ion Television Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented en ...

to 19.4 on January 18, 2017, due to the January 2017 sale of KASA-TV to Ramar Communications, as well as the switch in Fox affiliation over to KRQE. On September 1, 2021, KWBQ is adding Nexstar-owned Rewind TV as KWBQ's fifth subchannel.

Analog-to-digital conversion

Both stations shut down their analog signals, respectively 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. * KWBQ shut down its analog signal, over

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 (on ...

channel 19; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 29. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's

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 via digits on a receiver's ...

as its former UHF analog channel 19. * KRWB-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 21, and "

flash-cut A flash cut, also called a flash cutover, is an immediate change in a complex system, with no phase-in period. In the United States, some telephone area codes were split or overlaid immediately, rather than being phased in with a permissive d ...

" its digital signal into operation UHF channel 21. As part of the

SAFER Act In cryptography, SAFER (Secure And Fast Encryption Routine) is the name of a family of block ciphers designed primarily by James Massey (one of the designers of IDEA) on behalf of Cylink Corporation. The early SAFER K and SAFER SK designs share t ...

, KWBQ kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...

s from the

National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a trade association and lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States. The NAB represents more than ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kwbq The CW affiliates Grit (TV network) affiliates Laff (TV network) affiliates Rewind TV affiliates Ion Television affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1999 WBQ Mass media in Santa Fe, New Mexico Mass media in Albuquerque, New Mexico Nexstar Media Group 1999 establishments in New Mexico