WPSW

**WPSW**, virtual channel 40 (VHF digital channel 13), is a CW owned-and-operated television station licensed to Bright Harbor, Pennsylvania and serving the Possum Springs television market. The station is owned by the CBS Television Stations subsidiary of CBS Corporation, as part of a duopoly with Possum Springs-licensed CBS owned-and-operated station KAKD-TV (channel 2). On cable, WPSW is carried on Comcast Xfinity channels 15 (channel 22 in Fort Lucenne) (standard definition) and 808 (high definition), and Verizon FiOS channels 3 (SD) and 503 (HD).

## History

### As WXLS-TV (1994–1998)

WPSW signed on the air on October 15, 1994 as **WXLS-TV** on analog UHF channel 40. It was an independent station owned by Venture Technologies Group LLC. It ran some ABC and NBC shows that respectively, WPCN-TV (channel 9) and WNPS (channel 13) pre-empted, along with infomercials, religious, and home shopping programming.

In a move that was unusual for an upstart first-year independent station, Venture immediately signed an affiliation agreement with The WB, a planned network founded by the Warner Bros. Television division of Time Warner and the Tribune Company (the United Paramount Network, another planned network founded by Chris-Craft/United Television in partnership with Paramount Television; had previously opted to sign an affiliation agreement with WFEP (channel 48) in 1993). Prior to WXLS-TV's sign-on, the network had planned to affiliate with established independent WFSV-TV (channel 57, now WPSI-TV), at the time owned by the Turner Broadcasting System, which was ironically purchased by Time Warner in 1996.

After just nearly three months on the air, WXLS-TV became a charter affiliate of The WB when it launched on January 11, 1995, and added a few syndicated shows in the fall of that year. Initially just a blip in Possum Springs ratings, by the fall of 1997 it began gaining prominence when it began to acquire more off-network sitcoms and first-run syndicated shows, alongside cartoons from Kids' WB and primetime programming from The WB.

### As WUPS (1998–2006)

When WFEP acquired the WB affiliation and changed its call letters to WBPM in 1998 (it has since reverted to it's previous WFEP call letters and is now a MyNetworkTV affiliate), the UPN affiliation in the market became available. As such, channel 40 took the affiliation and changed its call letters to **WUPS**. Viacom's Paramount Stations Group bought the station in 1998. It became a sister station to KAKD-TV after the company merged with CBS in 2000. Viacom consolidated WUPS' operations into KAKD-AM-TV's studios by 2001. WUPS began to identify on air as "UPN Possum Springs" in late 2003 due to the fact that various cable providers in the area carry the station on different channels.

### As WPSW (2006–present)

On January 24, 2006, Time Warner and CBS Corporation announced that The WB and UPN would be sold and resources redirected to a new network called The CW, which would initially feature series from both networks along with newer programs. To coincide with this change, the station changed its call sign to **WPSW** and rebranded itself as "CW Possum Springs" in August. The network launched on September 18, 2006.

WPSW's analog transmitter was located in a rural area near Bright Harbor. This provided "rimshot" coverage to Possum Springs. As a result, it was barely viewable over-the-air in many low-lying areas. On June 12, 2009, coinciding with the national transition to digital television, WPSW turned off its transmitter near Bright Harbor and began broadcasting its digital signal from a new transmitter in Possum Springs.

For years, CBS has fed a direct fiber signal to both Comcast and Verizon FiOS. The relocation of WPSW's transmitter now provides Possum Springs with city-grade coverage.

As CBS has done with most of its other CBS/CW duopolies in other markets, WPSW's web address has been folded within the KAKD website with only basic station and programming information, along with entertainment news and promotional video from The CW.

## Digital television

### Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

 40.2
 40.3

### Analog-to-digital conversion

WPSW shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 40, 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 moved its digital signal from its pre-transition UHF channel 40 (where its digital signal was originally slated to remain post-transition) to VHF channel 13 (the former allocation of WNPS' analog signal). Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 40.

## Newscasts

In August 2001 as WUPS, the station began to carry a prime time newscast every night at 10 produced by KAKD (currently known as *The KAKD-TV 10 O'Clock News on The CW* since September 2006). The 35-minute newscast competes with a nightly newscast at 10 p.m. on Fox affiliate WPOS-TV that is produced by WNPS.

In 2005, the station debuted a two-hour extension of KAKD's weekday morning newscast airing from 7 to 9 a.m. This was later shortened to one hour amid poor ratings. On June 16, 2009, KAKD began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition, starting with its weekday noon broadcast, with the introduction of a new set and weather center. KAKD was the last major Possum Springs television station to begin airing newscasts in HD and the WPSW shows were included in the upgrade.

**KAKD-TV** 2 (CBS)
WPSE 4 (PBS)
WPCN-TV 9 (ABC)
WNPS 13 (NBC)
WPOS-TV 23 (FOX)
**WTYN-TV** 29 (RDN)
WTHT-LD 31 (Bounce)
****WPSW**** 40 (CW)
WFEP 48 (MNTV)
**WPSI-TV** 57 (ION)
WVDO-CD 69 (HSN)