WUPV

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WUPV
ATSC 3.0 station
CW Richmond.PNG
Wupv dt2.png
Ashland/Richmond/Petersburg, Virginia
United States
CityAshland, Virginia
ChannelsDigital: 8 (VHF)
Virtual: 65
BrandingCW Richmond
Bounce Richmond
(on DT2)
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerGray Television
(Gray Television Licensee, LLC)
WWBT, WRID-LD
History
First air date
March 9, 1990 (32 years ago) (1990-03-09)
Former call signs
  • WZXK (1990–1994)
  • WAWB (1994–1997)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 65 (UHF, 1990–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 47 (UHF, 2002–2019)
  • Primary:
  • Independent (1990–1995)
  • The WB (1995–1997)
  • UPN (1997–2006)
  • Secondary:
  • Pax (1998–1999)
  • The WB (August−September 2006 (temporary CW transition))
Call sign meaning
United Paramount Network Virginia
(former full name of previous affiliation)
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID10897
ClassDT
ERP30 kW
HAAT257 m (843 ft)
Transmitter coordinates37°44′32″N 77°15′14″W / 37.74222°N 77.25389°W / 37.74222; -77.25389
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewww.nbc12.com/cw-richmond/

WUPV (channel 65) is a television station licensed to Ashland, Virginia, United States, serving the Richmond area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Richmond-licensed NBC affiliate WWBT (channel 12) and low-power Daystar affiliate WRID-LD (channel 48). WUPV and WWBT share studios on Midlothian Turnpike (US 60) in Richmond, while WUPV's transmitter is located northeast of Richmond in King William County.

History[edit]

Christel Inc., run by James E. Campana, had broadcast leased-access religious programming on cable systems in Henrico County since 1978. In 1986, he was granted a construction permit for channel 65 in Ashland after settling with a competing applicant and began a years-long construction process that would involve more than $2 million in funds.[1] The call letters WZXK were chosen at the suggestion of an attorney who knew they'd be available and after 10 suggestions were turned down by the FCC.[2] Meanwhile, a tower was built in King William County in 1989 after Hanover County refused to concede a zoning variance to build the mast.[3] Construction was almost halted on the rest of the project due to a sudden cash crunch; the transmitter was left sitting in a warehouse in Kentucky for a time because Christel needed to pay another $118,000.[4]

Channel 65 finally appeared on March 9, 1990. It aired primarily religious programming with some secular shows.[5] However, it also dealt with financial and technical struggles which sometimes converged. In 1992, the station's transmitter failed, but it took time to raise the funds to replace it.[6] That fall, the amount of family secular programming increased.[7]

In February 1994, locally based Bell Broadcasting purchased WZXK, with Christel continuing to program religious fare on the station. That fall, WZXK reached an affiliation deal with the soon-to-launch WB network and became WAWB.[8] and identifying itself as "WB 65". In 1997, Bell Broadcasting sold the station to Lockwood Broadcasting of Hampton, Virginia,[9] which negotiated to take the primary UPN affiliation.[10] With this move, WAWB took the current call sign of WUPV; it branded first as "UPN 65"[11] and then "UPN Richmond" during its tenure with the network.[12]

After the affiliation swap, there was no over-the-air carrier of WB programming in Richmond until selected shows turned up on NBC affiliate WWBT in 1999;[13] some programs aired first in the afternoon and then in overnight hours through August 31, 2006. This arrangement led to Richmond being one of the worst markets for WB network ratings. One problem was that WWBT could not carry the entire WB prime time lineup; due to time limitations involved in timeshifting network programs and removing show promotions, the station opted not to carry the network's Friday night schedule.[14] Kids' WB programming was cleared on WRLH. While an attempt was made to launch a new station which would have been run by ACME Communications,[15] the proposal died in a technical morass related to the removal of channels 60–69 and 50–59 from television use. The original application, which had been made by Television Capital Corporation of Richmond, specified channel 63 (last used in 1988 when WVRN-TV folded), had to be amended twice to change its channel (first to 52 and then to 39) and was contested on procedural grounds by Lockwood.[16]

In 2006, The WB and UPN merged to form The CW. There were nearly no options available for the new network's Richmond affiliate other than WUPV, and Lockwood entered into a long-term affiliation agreement for three of its stations in April 2006.[17] Just days before the new network's launch that September, Lockwood sold WUPV to Southeastern Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Community Newspaper Holdings. That company's stations were all operated under local marketing agreements, covering all station functions but ad sales, by Raycom Media, then-owner of Richmond CBS affiliate WTVR-TV.[18] WUPV moved operations into WTVR's Richmond studios. However, Raycom soon made a deal that caused more movement at channel 65 when it purchased WWBT from Lincoln Financial Media and sold WTVR. The station then moved into WWBT's facility.

In 2011, Community Newspaper Holdings sold Southeastern Media Holdings and its four stations (including WUPV) to Thomas Henson (which later transferred in the same year its shares to American Spirit Media, which he owned) for $24 million and the assumption of $50 million in debt.[19][20]

Sale to Gray Television[edit]

On June 25, 2018, Atlanta-based Gray Television announced it had reached an agreement with Raycom to merge their respective broadcasting assets (consisting of Raycom's 63 existing owned-and/or-operated television stations, and Gray's 93 television stations) under the former's corporate umbrella. As part of the cash-and-stock merger transaction valued at $3.6 billion, Gray would acquire WUPV and WWBT outright.[21][22][23][24] In advance of the merger, Raycom exercised its options to purchase WUPV and KYOU in Ottumwa, Iowa, outright from American Spirit Media.[21][22][23][24] The sale was approved on December 20 of that year[25] and was completed on January 2, 2019.[26]

Newscasts[edit]

Further information: WWBT § News operation

On March 5, 2007, WUPV launched a 35-minute weeknight newscast produced by WTVR called The CW News @ 10. This competed against WRLH's nightly hour-long broadcast, then produced by WWBT. Weekend newscasts began on October 20, 2007, and ended a year later on October 19, 2008; the final weeknight show aired on November 7. The change was cited as a business decision.[27]

In January 2009, a new 6:30 p.m. newscast from WWBT was launched on WUPV.[28] The newscast moved to 4:30 p.m. in 2017 and was absorbed by WWBT's existing 4:00 p.m. newscast in 2019. Since then, the only newscasts on WUPV have been a 7 p.m. newscast, started in January 2020, and a limited-run 9 a.m. newscast that solely covered the COVID-19 pandemic between March and May 2020.

Technical information[edit]

Subchannels[edit]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect Short name Programming[29] ATSC 1.0 host
65.1 1080i 16:9 WUPV-DT Main WUPV programming / The CW WWBT
65.2 480i Bounce Bounce TV WTVR-TV
65.3 Grit Grit WRLH-TV
65.4 Laff Laff WRIC-TV
65.5 StartTV Start TV

Analog-to-digital conversion[edit]

WUPV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 65, 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. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 47.[30] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 65, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

ATSC 3.0 lighthouse[edit]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect Short name Programming[31]
6.1 1080p 16:9 WTVR ATSC 3.0 simulcast of WTVR-TV / CBS
8.1 720p WRIC-TV ATSC 3.0 simulcast of WRIC-TV / ABC
12.1 1080p WWBT-HD ATSC 3.0 simulcast of WWBT / NBC
35.1 720p WRLH ATSC 3.0 simulcast of WRLH-TV / Fox
65.1 1080p WUPV-HD Main WUPV programming / The CW

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Christel Broadcasting gets OK on Christian TV station". Richmond News Leader. December 15, 1986. p. 19.
  2. ^ Durden, Douglas (January 27, 1989). "Road has been long for new station". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. B-10.
  3. ^ Phillips, Katherine (January 26, 1989). "Religious TV Channel 65 nears air time". Richmond News Leader. p. 17.
  4. ^ Phillips, Katherine (July 15, 1989). "Channel 65's signals jammed by cash problems". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. A-13.
  5. ^ Durden, Douglas. "WZXK: Religious station was dream". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. C-1.
  6. ^ Setzer Epps, Kim (July 27, 1992). "Channel 65 to replace transmitter: Financial problems plague area's only religious station". p. B-6.
  7. ^ Phillips, Katherine (September 26, 1992). "Independent religious TV station adopts increasingly secular image". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. E-15.
  8. ^ Phillips, Katherine. "WZXK joining fledgling WB network". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. F-4.
  9. ^ "Hampton firm to buy WAWB-Channel 65". Richmond Times-Dispatch. May 31, 1997. p. C-10.
  10. ^ Durden, Douglas (August 23, 1997). "'Moesha', 'Star Trek: Voyager' to have a new home—Channel 65". p. F-4.
  11. ^ Durden, Douglas (June 23, 2000). "WUPV dents ratings, is recognized by UPN". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. D-5.
  12. ^ Durden, Douglas (September 6, 2002). "Stations slate syndicated series". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. C-5.
  13. ^ Durden, Douglas (September 3, 1999). "Premiere week no longer spans just seven days". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. C-1.
  14. ^ Durden, Douglas (August 8, 2004). "Television stations". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. 85.
  15. ^ Durden, Douglas (October 20, 2000). "WB affiliate may be here eventually". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. C-7.
  16. ^ Durden, Douglas (June 29, 2001). "WB's Richmond future still seems up in the air". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. C-3.
  17. ^ Durden, Douglas (April 5, 2006). "Merged WB-UPN network to air here". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. C-1.
  18. ^ Rayner, Bob (September 14, 2006). "WUPV being sold to Ala. firm - The station will become the local affiliate for the CW network on Sunday". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. B-9.
  19. ^ Jessell, Harry A. (January 3, 2011). "Community Newspaper Selling 4 Stations". TVNewsCheck.
  20. ^ Application for Consent to Assign Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License, or to Transfer Control of Entity Holding Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License - Federal Communications Commission
  21. ^ a b "GRAY AND RAYCOM TO COMBINE IN A $3.6 BILLION TRANSACTION". Raycom Media (Press release). June 25, 2018.
  22. ^ a b Miller, Mark K. (June 25, 2018). "Gray To Buy Raycom For $3.6 Billion". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheckMedia. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  23. ^ a b John Eggerton (June 25, 2018). "Gray Buying Raycom for $3.6B". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media.
  24. ^ a b Dade Hayes (June 25, 2018). "Gray Acquiring Raycom For $3.65B, Forming No. 3 Local TV Group". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation.
  25. ^ "FCC OK with Gray/Raycom Merger". Broadcasting & Cable. December 20, 2018. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
  26. ^ "Gray Closes On $3.6 Billion Raycom Merger". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheckMedia. January 2, 2019. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
  27. ^ Ruggieri, Melissa (November 11, 2008). "'CW News @ 10' a thing of the past". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. B-10.
  28. ^ Ruggieri, Melissa (November 26, 2008). "NBC12's Cox chosen to anchor CW newscast". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. B-10.
  29. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WUPV
  30. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  31. ^ https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WUPV#station

External links[edit]

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