Blasterz have no idea why anyone would be willing to give up the KFBC call, since it was tied so closely to Frontier Broadcasting Company, a broadcasting pioneer in WY. But for whatever reason, this TV station has had three call signs as follows:
KFBC-TV (1954-72)
KYCU-TV (1972-1996)
KGWN-TV (1996-2009) and KGWN-DT (2009-Present)
This broadcast tower was the first one built in Wyoming, at the beginning of the TV era on this part of the Plains.
From Wikipedia: (
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"KGWN-TV is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Cheyenne, Wyoming, United States. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 (or virtual channel 5 via PSIP) from a transmitter in unincorporated Laramie County (west of Cheyenne) between I-80/U.S. 30 and WYO 225. Owned by Gray Television, KGWN has studios on East Lincolnway/East 14th Street/I-80 Business/U.S. 30 in Cheyenne. The station also operates a digital fill-in translator, K19FX-D (channel 19), in Laramie from a transmitter in unincorporated Albany County near the Medicine Bow – Routt National Forest's northwestern boundary.
KGWN operates an NBC affiliate on its second digital subchannel. Most programming, including news, on this subchannel initially came from sister station KCWY-DT of Casper, the NBC affiliate for most of Wyoming; it operates a low-powered analog satellite in Cheyenne, KCHY-LP. However, it branded as "NBC Cheyenne", and aired separate legal identifications and local commercial inserts. As of October 2017, channel 5.2 is a simulcast of KNEP in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, itself a semi-satellite of KNOP-TV from North Platte.
KGWN operates the area's CW affiliate on a third digital subchannel, which carries the branding "Cheyenne CW". The channel is carried in Wyoming on Charter Spectrum channel 2 and in Nebraska on Spectrum channel 18.
KSTF in Scottsbluff operates as a semi-satellite of KGWN. This station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 29 (or virtual channel 10 via PSIP) from a transmitter along N-71 at the Scotts Bluff–Sioux county line. It can also be seen locally in Nebraska on Spectrum channel 6. The station is a full-time simulcast of KGWN except for preempting Dr. Phil on weeknights in favor of Recipe.tv and Justice for All with Judge Cristina Perez. (Dr. Phil is available to Scottsbluff viewers on KNEP-DT2, a satellite of Rapid City, South Dakota-based ABC affiliate KOTA-TV.) KSTF also airs separate legal IDs and commercials during all programming. Although KSTF's master control and most internal operations are based out of KGWN's Cheyenne facility, the station maintains an advertising sales office on North 10th Street/N-71 Business in Gering, Nebraska. There is no separate web address for KSTF, but Nebraska-specific headlines are provided through KGWN's website.
History
KGWN
The station signed on the air on March 22, 1954 as KFBC-TV airing an analog signal on VHF channel 5. It was owned by the McCraken family along with the Wyoming State Leader-Tribune and Wyoming Eagle (later merged as Wyoming Tribune Eagle) and KFBC radio (1240 AM). It is Wyoming's oldest television station. For over 30 years, it was the only commercial station in eastern Wyoming. As such, it carried programming from all four major networks of the time (CBS, NBC, ABC, and DuMont). However, it was initially a primary ABC affiliate. That may have seemed unusual as Cheyenne has always been a rather small market. In most other small markets, ABC was usually relegated to secondary status due to being the smallest and weakest network. However, KFBC radio had been an ABC Radio affiliate for many years. Additionally, there had been some speculation Cheyenne would eventually be collapsed into the Denver market since the area is only a few miles from the Colorado border.
In 1972, the McCrackens were forced to break up their media empire due to an FCC rule that barred one person from owning the sole newspaper, radio station and television station in a city. They sold their television stations to Wyneco Communications, owned by Toledo-based attorney Edward Lamb, which changed the call letters of the flagship station to KYCU-TV. On July 11, 1976, it switched its primary affiliation to ABC and dropped all NBC programming. KEVN-TV signed on in Rapid City that day as a full-time ABC affiliate, and KYCU/KSTF felt obliged to fill the ABC void in Scottsbluff, as KOTA-TV in Rapid City and its Scottsbluff satellite, KDUH-TV (now KNEP), were primary NBC affiliates with a secondary CBS affiliation. However, Cheyenne viewers were still able to view the full schedules of all the three major networks because, for many years, cable systems supplemented the area with Denver stations. Wyneco sold the station to Burke Broadcasting in 1983. When KOTA/KDUH switched to ABC in June 1984, KYCU/KSTF switched to CBS primary, NBC secondary.
Burke Broadcasting sold KYCU to Stauffer Communications in 1986, who changed its call sign to the current KGWN-TV on New Year's Day 1987. The station began phasing out NBC programming in the early-1980s, dropping the network entirely in 1987 when KKTU (now KQCK) signed-on as a satellite of KTWO-TV in Casper. ABC programming disappeared from the schedule by 1988. When Stauffer merged with Morris Communications in 1996, KGWN and most of the rest of Stauffer's television holdings went to Benedek Broadcasting. That company went bankrupt in 2001 (it merged with Gray Television a year later) and KGWN was sold to Chelsey Broadcasting. In 2003, the station was acquired by SagamoreHill Broadcasting.
As of September 2008, KGWN broadcast a separate CBS feed on its second digital subchannel that specifically focused on Northern Colorado. Although Northern Colorado is part of the Denver market, KGWN has long claimed Northern Colorado as part of its primary coverage area, since its transmitter is close to the Colorado border. It provides city-grade coverage of Fort Collins, Loveland, and Greeley. It also provides grade B coverage as far south as Longmont and Boulder. It has long been carried on cable systems in Fort Collins, Loveland, and Greeley alongside Denver's CBS affiliate (originally KMGH-TV and now network owned-and-operated KCNC-TV). Additionally, many cable systems in Wyoming carry both KGWN and KCNC."