KSTW
Categories: United States broadcasting stubs | Television stations in Seattle | UPN network affiliates
| KSTW | |
|---|---|
| Image:KSTW logo.png | |
| Tacoma / Seattle, Washington | |
| Branding | UPN 11 |
| Slogan | The Ones to Watch |
| Analog channel | 11 (VHF) |
| Digital channel | 36 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | UPN (since 1997) |
| Owner | CBS Corporation |
| Founded | 1953 |
| Call letters meaning | Seattle / Tacoma, Washington |
| Former affiliations | CBS (1953-1961, 1995-97) Independent (1961-95) |
| Website | www.upn11.com |
KSTW is the UPN station for Seattle, Washington, broadcasting on VHF channel 11. It is licensed to Tacoma, with studios in Renton. Its transmitter is located in Seattle.
History
The station began broadcasting in 1953 out of Tacoma as KTNT-TV after its founder, the Tacoma News Tribune. At the time, it was a CBS affiliate.
In 1958, Seattle's KIRO-TV channel 7 took to the air, also as a CBS affiliate. Both KIRO and KTNT carried CBS programming as a legal battle ensued over market exclusivity. KIRO became the sole CBS station for Seattle-Tacoma in 1961, leaving KTNT as an independent station. KTNT was sold to Gaylord Entertainment Company in 1974 and changed its call letters to KSTW, for Seattle-Tacoma, Washington.
As an independent station, KSTW ran the traditional fare of cartoons, off-network sitcoms, westerns, old movies, and a local newscast. In 1993, KSTW agreed to become the WB affiliate for Seattle beginning in 1995, when the network was to begin operation.
However, in 1994, CBS found itself without an affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth when its longtime affiliate there, KDFW, switched to Fox. CBS approached Gaylord for an affiliation with its Dallas station, KTVT. KSTW was included as part of the agreement, and as a result, CBS returned to KSTW in 1995. (Some CBS shows like The Bold and the Beautiful which were pre-empted by KIRO had already been shown on KSTW starting in the fall of 1994.)
Even as a CBS affiliate, KSTW still ran a number of off-network sitcoms, and only had half-hour newscasts in the early morning, at noon, 6pm and 11pm. In 1996, Gaylord sold KTVT to CBS outright, and announced the sale of KSTW to Cox Communications. KSTW's sale was finalized in mid-1997.
Cox had plans to expand the news department at KSTW and make it more competitive with the other stations in the market. However, the company found it to be a rather difficult task. At the same time, the Paramount Stations Group was planning to buy KIRO-TV from Belo Corporation (which had acquired KING-TV in a merger with the Providence Journal) and convert it into a more traditional independent station; however, the group hesitated with the plan when it found out KIRO's news production was still doing very well in the ratings. As a result, the two companies swapped stations, with KSTW going to Paramount and KIRO going to Belo. The two stations retained their respective syndicated programming, but swapped network affiliations once again, with KSTW becoming a UPN owned-and-operated station (O&O), and KIRO regaining its CBS affiliation.
The deal was finalized on June 2, 1997, and KSTW began to air UPN programming a few weeks later, along with sitcoms, movies, cartoons and a few first-run syndicated shows. The station brought back its 10pm newscast and dropped its news production at all other time slots.
Viacom (which had been Paramount's parent company since 1993) acquired CBS in 2000, bringing CBS and KSTW under common ownership. The cartoons on KSTW had disappeared (as a result of UPN ending the Disney Kids block on weekdays in fall 2003), and more first-run syndicated talk and reality shows moved to KSTW.
Programming
Through the 1960s and 1970s, KTNT's local children's programs featured a personable host named "Brakeman Bill" McLain. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the station carried the last kids show "Ranger Charlie's Kids Club" in the region to be filmed before a live children's audience. The show featured a forest ranger accompanied by a puppet raccoon named Rosco; the show won an Emmy Award [1]. "Looney Tunes" and "Woody Woodpecker" cartoons were incorporated into the show. In addition this children's show, KSTW-11 carried a wide range of syndicated programming and films.
In the early 1970's KTNT was the home for the Seattle Supersonics of the National Basketball Association. However in the early 1990's the Sonics went back to KSTW until 1998.
Since 1976, KSTW had produced its own 10 p.m. newscast. Its news operation was shut down in 1998, however, as a result of cost-cutting measures mandated by Viacom, its parent company. News returned to the station in March 2003, as it began to carry a 10 p.m. newscast produced by KIRO 7. The production of the newscast went on a seven-month hiatus from late 2003 until 2004, and was cancelled outright in 2005.
Currently, KSTW is the over-the-air TV station for the Seattle Mariners.
External links
| Broadcast television in the Seattle market | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
KOMO 4 (ABC) - KING 5 (NBC) - KIRO 7 (CBS) - KCTS 9 (PBS) - KSTW 11 (UPN) - KCPQ 13 (Fox) - KCKA 15 (PBS) - KONG 16 (Ind) - KTBW 20 (TBN) - KTWB 22 (The WB) - KBTC 28 (PBS) - KWPX 33 (i) - KHCV 45 (Ind) - KWOG 51 (Ind) - KWDK 56 (DS) | ||||
| See Also: Broadcast television in the Vancouver/Victoria/Bellingham market. | ||||
| Viacom Inc. |
|
Corporate Directors: George Abrams | David Andelman | Joseph Califano, Jr. | William Cohen | Philippe Dauman | Alan Greenberg | Charles Phillips | Shari Redstone | Sumner Redstone | Frederic Salerno | William Schwartz | Robert D. Walter |
|
Misc. Assets: Infinity Broadcasting | Neopets | Paramount Parks | Paramount Pictures | Simon & Schuster | Viacom Outdoor |
|
Annual Revenue: $22.5 billion USD (Image:Red down.png15% FY 2004) | Employees: 38,350 | Stock Symbol: NYSE: VIAB | Website: www.viacom.com |