KBJO-LD

KBJO-LD
St. Joseph, Missouri
United States
Branding St. Joseph CW 6
Channels Digital: 16 (UHF)
Virtual: 21 (PSIP)
Subchannels 21.1 The CW
Affiliations The CW (2006–present)
Owner News-Press & Gazette Company
(News-Press TV, LLC)
First air date September 21, 1998 (1998-09-21)
(as cable-only "WBJO")
June 2, 2012 (2012-06-02)
(as a digital subchannel of KNPN-LD)
March 7, 2013 (2013-03-07)
(as standalone low-power station)
Call letters' meaning WB St. JOseph
(adapted from callsign branding of former cable-only station "WBJO")
Former callsigns KNPN-LD, KNPG-LD,
News-Press 3 NOW
Former affiliations The WB (via The WB 100+; as "WBJO", 1998–2006)
Transmitter power 15 kW
Height 79 m
Class LPTV
Facility ID 188056
Transmitter coordinates 39°45′0.0″N 94°50′26.0″W / 39.750000°N 94.840556°W / 39.750000; -94.840556
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website yourcwtv.com/partners/saintjoseph

KBJO-LD, virtual channel 21 (UHF digital channel 16), is a CW-affiliated television station located in Saint Joseph, Missouri, United States. The station is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company, and is a sister station to Fox affiliate (and the company's television flagship) KNPN-LD (channel 26) and Telemundo affiliate KNPG-LD (channel 30). The three stations share studio facilities located out of News-Press & Gazette's company headquarters (which also house operations for the St. Joseph News-Press and local news and weather channel News-Press 3 NOW) on Edmond Street and Interstate 29 in downtown Saint Joseph;[1] KBJO maintains transmitter facilities located between South 16th and Duncan Streets (adjacent to U.S. 36), just southeast of downtown Saint Joseph.

The station is affiliated with The CW through its programming feed The CW Plus; its on-air branding, St. Joseph CW 6, is derived from the station's cable placement on Suddenlink Communications channel 6.[2]

History

Early history

The station's history traces back to the September 21, 1998 launch of a cable-only affiliate of The WB that was originally managed and promoted by NPG Cablevision (a cable television provider that was owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company), alongside the launch of The WB 100+ Station Group, a service similar to The CW Plus that was created to expand national coverage of The WB via primarily local origination channels managed by cable providers in markets ranked above #100 by Nielsen Media Research. Since it was a cable-exclusive outlet that was not licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, the channel used the callsign "WBJO" in a fictional manner. Before the sign-on of the cable-only WBJO, viewers in the St. Joseph, Missouri area received their WB network programs, via Superstation WGN, and in September 1996, KCWB when the station began broadcasting, then from KSMO-TV when that station dropped UPN and picked up the WB from KCWB, in which it changed the call letters to KCWE two years later.

On January 24, 2006, Time Warner and CBS Corporation announced that the two companies would shut down their respective networks, The WB and UPN, to create The CW Television Network, which would feature programs from its two predecessors as well as new series that were specifically produced for The CW.[3] The CW Plus was created by the network as a replacement for The WB 100+ Station Group to allow the existing cable outlets as well as low-power analog stations and digital subchannels of major network affiliates in smaller markets that had joined The WB 100+ in the years following its launch to maintain a network affiliation; "WBJO" affiliated with The CW Plus on September 18, 2006 upon the launch of the CW network.

Prior to the launch of KNPN-LD, residents in the Saint Joseph market who received programming over-the-air or subscribed to other television providers besides Suddenlink viewed CW programming through out-of-market stations: some rural cable systems carried KCWE from the nearby Kansas City market (which provides at least grade B signal coverage to much of the Saint Joseph market); the default CW outlet for local DirecTV subscribers was Omaha's KXVO, while Dish Network carried New York City affiliate WPIX, Los Angeles affiliate KTLA and Denver affiliate KWGN-TV as default affiliates through their carriage on its superstation package in lieu of regional affiliates located within proximity to Saint Joseph. Upon the sale of News-Press & Gazette Company's cable television operations (which served Saint Joseph, and parts of Arizona and California) to Suddenlink Communications in 2011 for $350 million,[4] Suddenlink also acquired ownership of "WBJO" and sister cable outlet News-Press 3 NOW.

On March 19, 2012, News-Press & Gazette Company announced that it would launch a Fox-affiliated television station in Saint Joseph to serve as the flagship of its television station group, which would also carry affiliations with The CW and Spanish-language network Telemundo on digital subchannels;[5] the station was created using the license of K26LV-D (now KNPN-LD).[6][7] On June 1, 2012, News-Press & Gazette Company confirmed that The CW Plus would be carried on its third digital subchannel, retaining the "St. Joseph CW 6" branding; although the satellite providers carry KNPN's main signal, DirecTV and Dish Network did not sign carriage agreements to offer KNPN-LD3 (and subsequently KBJO-LD), CW programming continues to be offered through out-of-market stations as a result.[8] The subchannel officially debuted at 6:00 a.m. on June 2, 2012, with News-Press & Gazette assuming promotional and advertising control of "WBJO" from Suddenlink Communications with the subsequent sign-on of KNPN-LD digital subchannel 26.3. It remained available on Suddenlink cable channel 6 (a high definition feed of the channel was also provided to Suddenlink subscribers on digital cable channel 606).[9]

KBJO-LD history

On March 14, 2012, concurrent with its acquisition of K26LV-D, News-Press & Gazette also purchased the low-power digital license of K16KF-D from DTV America 1, LLC of Sunrise, Florida; the purchase price for both stations was $72,000.[6] Two weeks earlier on February 29, the FCC granted the company's construction permit application to relocate the two stations' transmitter facilities from a tower near Mound City to the St. Joseph transmitter and upgrade the effective radiated power of both stations.[7][10][11]

Channel 16 first signed on the air on March 7, 2013, concurrent with the change of K16KF-D's callsign to KBJO-LD (adapted from the predecessor cable channel's branding).[12][13] Concurrent with KBJO's sign-on, KNPN-LD dropped CW programming from its second subchannel.[14] Low-powered television stations are exempt from the must-carry and retransmission consent regulations that full-powered stations enjoy, meaning that its carriage on other area cable systems besides Suddenlink, and satellite providers is not guaranteed.

Digital television

Digital channel

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[15]
21.1 720p 16:9 KBJO Main KBJO-LD programming / The CW Plus

As TBN owned-and-operated station KTAJ-TV's virtual digital channel is mapped as "16" (its former analog channel assignment) through PSIP, KBJO-LD signed on as PSIP channel 21.1 (which is also KTAJ's physical digital channel) to avoid PSIP channel mapping redunancies with KTAJ.

See also

References

External links

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