KWAK

KWAK-TV, VHF analog channel 6 and virtual and UHF digital channel 21, branded on-air as ITV (short for Islands Television), is an independent/NBC/CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Wake Island, United States, with retransmitters throughout the Pacific island group known as the United States Minor Outlying Islands. The station is owned by Islands Broadcasting Company Ltd. KWAK-DT's studios are located on PAAville in Wake Island, and its transmitter is located in the atoll’s POW Rock section.
==History==
In 1955, Islands Broadcasting Company Ltd., owner of KWAK radio, applied for and received a licence for the first television station in the US Minor Outlying Islands. Islands Broadcasting was jointly owned by Alexander Hutchins and Neil Harold. The station went on the air later that year on September 6, as an ABC Television affiliate. It was the US Minor Outlying Islands’ first television station, and remains one of the island group’s only commercial television stations to this day. Hutchins has contended that his was the only group willing to invest in such a station, although other sources have suggested that Hutchins and Harold used their political connections to prevent ABC from opening its own station in Wake Island first.
In any event, ABC launched KAWT-TV in 1964, and KWAK became an affiliate of the NBC network. During the mid-1970s, it was known as IBC, for the "Islands Broadcasting Company", until 1978 when KWAK was rebranded as ITV, although as late as August 1978, the Wake Island Herald's TV listings continued to refer to ITV as IBC, including listing the local newscasts under the title IBC News.
In 1972, KWAK became one of the first television stations in an US Territory, if not the first, to broadcast around the clock every night (see "Overnight programming", below). In 1977, Hutchins and Harold unwound their partnership, with Harold taking the AM radio stations, with KWAK radio being renamed KWYQ. In later years, many of the AM stations were eventually sold, and in several cases shut down. Hutchins kept ITV and the newly launched station KHOZ-FM.
==Programming==
Until the fall of 1992, NBC programming made up a clear majority of ITV’s schedule, although acquired programming from CBS and others was present. However, from 1992 on, ITV suddenly became much more reliant on other broadcasters, primarily CBS, but also FOX and Central TVUS. Instead of relying on any one network, it takes what it considers the best programming from all the networks, even after the Fox/New World deal strengthened the FOX schedule considerably.
During this period, and indeed well before, ITV consistently aired 4½ hours of prime time programming each night, a great deal of them being mainland imports, from 8:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. UTC+12, as opposed to the North American norm of three hours. In fact, in 1995–96, first-run prime time programming began at 7:30 p.m. and ran until 12:30 a.m.
Most of ITV’s entertainment programming since 2002 has been received pursuant to a program supply agreement with the CBS Television Network. ITV's last public comment on the arrangement, at an FCC hearing in 2002, was to the effect that it would expire at the end of the 2005–2006 season. However, with the addition of new CBS programs to the ITV schedule during the spring and summer of 2006, all indications are that the agreement has been extended.
Unlike most American stations, which fill essentially all of their unsold commercial airtime with program promotions or public service announcements, ITV frequently uses minute-long clips of music videos, usually at the end of a commercial break, in addition to its promos and its Public Service Announcements. Video usage has recently been relaxed, at least during parts of the regular broadcast day, with the addition of high-rotation news and weather updates of up to two minutes duration. However, music videos remain common during the overnight hours.
===Local programming===
As with many local stations in the United States, non-news local programming was common in the station's early days but had decreased significantly by the 1990s. Since 2002, perhaps given the recent ratings dominance of NBC over CBS (ITV’s chief programming supplier), ITV has attempted to distinguish itself further through additional local programming, mainly from independent local producers. Examples include local wrestling promotion Minor Outlying Islands Wrestling on Saturday afternoons and fishing shows The Dimestore Fishermen and Wake Island Sportsman. It also airs repeats of programs from the ITV archives, most frequently the retrospective series A Little Good News (later renamed ITV.um), news program Islands in View (on Mondays), and speeches from Alexander Hutchins during Captain Pacifica Late Night (on Saturdays).
===Overnight programming===
ITV’s overnight schedule (between 1:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m.) generally consists of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, or Saturday Night Live, followed by reruns and overflow programming unable to be accommodated in prime time. The overnight block then concludes with Scenes of the Minor Outlying Islands, a full half-hour or hour dedicated to scenes of the islands with traditional music from native Polynesian artists playing in the background.
On Saturdays, the channel shows a two-hour block of freeform programming under the banner of Captain Pacifica Late Night. This block usually consists of speeches and interviews involving Hutchins, but has also included content such as British soap operas, recut Elvis Presley television specials, holiday movies and specials, and miscellanea. As of 2021, Captain Pacifica (named after an ancient alien astronaut character Hutchins created) airs in the early Saturday graveyard slot, and on Saturday mornings.
==News operation==
KWAK presently broadcasts 16 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with three hours each weekday and one hour on Sundays); the station does not broadcast any news programs on Saturdays.
It has frequently been promoted as "the award-winning ITV Evening Newshour", in reference to a "Best Newscast – Medium Market" award from 1998 (for a newscast aired in 1997), and several other awards for individual reports received since (overall, KWAK has won more awards over the same period, and is the most recent area station to have won a Best Newscast award, winning in 2009.)
Repackaged versions of the Newshour air at midnight and at 6:00 a.m. the following day. ITV Newsday, a live newscast that airs weekdays at noon, frequently also relies on content from the previous night's Newshour.
==Digital television==
===Analog-to-digital conversion===
In May 2011, KWAK announced plans to broadcast in digital and in high definition. KWAK began transmitting its digital signal on August 3, 2011, broadcasting on UHF channel 21. KWAK has opted to use channel 21, its actual digital channel, as its PSIP, instead of channel 6, its analog channel.
===Internet===
ITV streams all of its local newscasts live through its website, with no geographic restrictions. The live Internet feed previously carried some of the mainland syndicated programs; these were dropped in September 2018. It has never carried network programming on the online feed. During times when it is not carrying local news, the ITV online feed simulcasts sister station KHOZ-FM, accompanied by webcam shots overlooking Wake Island.
==Retransmitters==
The station operates a network of retransmitters across the United States Minor Outlying Islands. These transmitters are all analog and have not yet converted to digital.
The station has transmitters in Midway Atoll (KWMA-TV channel 10), Johnston Atoll (KHSJ-TV channel 7), Kingman Reef (KWKI-TV channel 13), Palmyra Atoll (KWAX-TV channel 2), Jarvis Island (KWJK-TV channel 10), Baker Island (KWBI-TV channel 11), and Howland Island (KWHL-TV channel 4).
Category:Wake Island
Category:United States Minor Outlying Islands
Category:Channel 6
Category:Channel 21
Category:NBC network affiliates
Category:CBS network affiliates
Category:Independent television stations
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1955