KRWI

KRWI is a television station licensed to Beaumont, Texas and serving the Beaumont/Port Arthur market. Broadcasting on channel 15, KRWI is a CBS affiliate. KRWI is owned and operated by Chamberlain Broadcasting. It also serves the Lake Charles, Louisiana market as the market's secondary CBS station. The station's studios are located at the Interstate 10/U.S. Highway 69 (Eastex Freeway) interchange in Beaumont, and the transmitter location is in Vidor, Texas.
==Newscast Themes==
no music (1955-1969)
Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence - Lalo Schifrin (1969-1980)
Catch 5 - Gari Media Group (1980-1988)
Move Closer to Your World - Mayoham Music (1988-1994)
First News - Gari Media Group (1994-2001)
Focus News - Stephen Arnold Music (2001–present)
== History ==
KRWI commenced broadcasting on April 24, 1955 and is the oldest on air TV station in the Beaumont/Port Arthur market.
Original Chief Engineer Harold Bartlett (ham callsign W5KWA), oversaw all technical aspects of the station from its construction until his retirement in July, 1980. His assistant, Richard Kihn, took over immediately as "acting" Chief Engineer after Bartlett's retirement, and was appointed Chief Engineer on August 4, 1980. Kihn retired as of 10/26/2012 and was replaced by Jim Hobbs. However, Hobbs did not last long and returned to radio engineering in Nebraska. Don Dobbs, former Director of Engineering at KEIT and KBUR in Dallas, took over as Director of Engineering at KRWI to oversee a major rebuild of the studios.
KRWI-TV would be sold by Beaumont Broadcasting to King Broadcasting Company in 1969. King was sold to The Providence Journal Company in 1992, and a few months later (April), sold it to Quebecor Media in trade for WPUN. Quebecor eventually sold the station in 2003, to Freedom Communications.
Freedom Communications announced on November 2, 2011 that it would bow out of television and sold KRWI, to Oakhurst Broadcasting. Oakhurst began operating KRWI under a time brokerage agreement from December 1, 2011 until the group deal was consummated on April 2, 2012. On Jan. 30, 2016, it was announced that Island Television, as well as Higgins Broadcasting, and Oakhurst Broadcasting, were merging into Adelphia Communications. So Oakhurst Broadcasting had to sell the station, and the station was sold to Kenny Broadcasting. On April 4, KRWI announced a major changes to the station, renaming its self to KRWI 15 and KRWI 15 News also changing its slogan to The SouthWest Texas Spirit and SouthWest Texas's News Leader.
On April 26, 2017, KRWI was sold by Kenny Broadcasting to Berfield/Willis Broadcast Corporation. On December 23, 2019, the station was sold to Chamberlain Broadcasting.
== Digital Television ==
=== Digital Channels ===
* 15.1-- CBS HD
* 15.2-- Seven Network
* 15.3-- Nick Rewind
* 15.4 Nick GAS
* 15.5 Trio Sports Network
== News Operation ==
The popular 1970s KRWI weekday news team consisted of Beaulieu, Burandt, weatherman Gary Powers, and sportscaster Cy Hurst. KRWI was awarded in 2005 by the Texas chapter of the Associated Press for their coverage of Hurricane Rita. KRWI was also awarded a regional Emmy award in 2006, also for their coverage of Rita.
Greg Bostwick has been with the station over 30 years and approximately 20 of those years as chief meteorologist. He endured Hurricane Rita's wrath in downtown Beaumont with weeknight anchor Bill Leger.
Former KRWI Manager, Larry Beaulieu was with the station since 1974 when he was hired as News Director. He teamed for over 15 years with Cecile Burandt, who was the first female anchor hired in the Beaumont area. Beaulieu retired on September 29, 2011, and was replaced the following December by longtime station employee Rix Garey.
In April 2011, KRWI became the second station in Southeast Texas to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition after KQRI.
==Gallery==
Channel 15 logo.gif|KRWI Logo (2011-2016)
KRWI 51.svg|KRWI Logo (2016–present)
krwi-news.png|KRWI News Open (2016–present)
Category:Channel 15
Category:Beaumont, Texas
Category:Port Arthur, Texas
Category:CBS network affiliates
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1955
Category:Texas
Category:Berfield/Willis Broadcast Corporation