KWWL (TV)

KWWL is a television station in Waterloo, Iowa. The station operates on VHF channel 7. KWWL is owned by Quincy Newspapers. Its transmitter is located at the AFLAC Towernorth of Rowley, Iowa. KWWL is an affiliate of NBC. The station is the primary NBC affiliate for the northeastern third of the state of Iowa, including 21 counties and the larger cities of Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque and Iowa City. The station's headquarters is in Waterloo, Iowa. KWWL also operates newsrooms and sales offices in Cedar Rapids and Dubuque.

History
When the Federal Communications Commission opened up bids for channel 7 in Waterloo, it was obvious that the license would either go to Sonderling Broadcasting, owner of KXEL (AM 1540), or R.J. McElroy and his Black Hawk Broadcasting Company, owner of KWWL (AM 1330, now KWLO). After a long legal battle, Black Hawk won the license, and KWWL-TV signed on for the first time on November 29, 1953--a Thanksgiving Day present to eastern Iowa.

The station was originally affiliated with NBC and the DuMont Television Network.[1] During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[2]

 In 1980, Black Hawk agreed in principle to merge with Forward Communications. However, the FCC told Black Hawk and Forward that it would have to sell either KWWL-AM-FM or channel 7. The KWWL stations had been grandfathered under a 1970s FCC rule banning common ownership of radio and television stations. When Forward decided to keep the radio stations, Black Hawk sold channel 7 to Aflac just before the merger closed. In 1997, Aflac sold its entire broadcasting division, including KWWL, to Raycom Media.

In 2006, Raycom sold KWWL and a handful of other stations following its purchase of The Liberty Corporationin late 2005. [1] Quincy Newspapers became owner of KWWL on July 1, 2006. The merger made QNI the owner of four of the NBC affiliates serving Iowa, along with flagship station WGEM-TV in Quincy, Illinois; KTIVin Sioux City and KTTC in Rochester, Minnesota.

On April 11, 2010, KWWL became the first station in eastern Iowa and the first QNI station to broadcast its newscasts in HD.[3] At this time, its updated its logo, removing the large blue circle that surrounded the 7. In addition to its primary digital channel, KWWL operated KWWL StormTrack7 on their second digital subchannel. After NBC bought The Weather Channel, NBC Weather Plus network feeds ended in December 2008; the station now carries This TV Network on the subchannel. KWWL also transmitted "The Tube" digital music video channel until The Tube ceased operations on October 1, 2007. It now carries classic programming from Retro Television Network on DT3.[2] On April 27, 2011, the station replaced RTV programming in favor of This TV's sister network, MeTV.

Current news staff
(as of April 2011) Anchors


 * Jeff Eliasoph - weekday morning and noon anchor/reporter
 * Sunny Layne - weekday morning and noon anchor/reporter
 * Ron Steele - weekday evening anchor/reporter
 * Tara Thomas - weekday evening anchor/reporter
 * Danielle Wagner - weekend morning anchor/reporter
 * Bob Waters - weekend evening anchor/reporter
 * Brady Smith - weekend evening anchor/reporter

Reporters


 * Jason Epner - Iowa City reporter
 * Lauren Squires - Tri-States reporter
 * John Wilmer - general assignment reporter
 * Becca Habegger - Tri-States reporter
 * Nikki Newbrough - general assignment reporter
 * Kera Mashek - general assignment reporter
 * Colleen O'Shaughnessey - general assignment reporter
 * Molly Nichols- Cedar Rapids reporter

Weather Team


 * Mark Schnackenberg - weekday evening chief meteorologist
 * Jeff Kennedy - weekend evening meteorologist (former chief meteorologist)
 * Eileen Loan - weekday morning/midday meteorologist
 * Jennifer Hildreath - weekend morning meteorologist

Sports Team


 * Rick Coleman - Sports Director, weekday sports anchor
 * Mark Woodley - weekend sports anchor

Former on-air staff

 * Paul Burmeister - sports anchor/reporter, now at NFL Network
 * Chris Carter - morning and noon anchor (contract not renewed in 2010)
 * Bobbi Earles - weeknight anchor
 * Craig Johnson - chief meteorologist, later meteorologist for Good Day Iowa on KFXA
 * Ann Kerian - weeknight anchor
 * Ian Leonard - chief meteorologist, now at KMSP-TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul
 * Bryan Lessly - sports director
 * Liz Mathis - weeknight anchor, later at KCRG, currently employed by Four Oaks in Cedar Rapids
 * Trace Regan - reporter, now professor of journalism & department chair at Ohio Wesleyan University
 * Mark Steines - now on Entertainment Tonight
 * Tami Wiencek - weekend anchor/reporter, later a Republican state representative for the 21st district of Iowa

Station programing
Syndicated programs aired by KWWL include Dr. Phil, Wheel of Fortune, ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy! Jeopardy!], The Doctors, and Who Wants to be a Millionaire''.

Newscast titles

 * NewsCenter 7 (1970s-1992)
 * KWWL News (1992-2010)
 * Iowa's NewsChannel 7 (2010-present)

Station slogans

 * Eastern Iowa's Complete Information News Service (1970s-early 1980s)
 * Come Home to the Best, Only on Channel 7 (1988-1990, local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Iowa’s NewsChannel (1992-present)
 * Coverage You Can Count On (1999-2004)
 * Eastern Iowa's Only Local News in High Definition (2010-present)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[4]

Digital television
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Digital channels <p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">On February 17, 2009, KWWL returned to channel 7 when the analog to digital conversion completed<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[5] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Analog_to_Digital_5-0" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[6] and the "KWWL" callsign was legally transferred from the now-defunct analog channel 7 to the new digital channel 7, with the "KWWL-DT" callsign being permanently discontinued. However, the PSIP identifier still identifies KWWL's main channel on 7.1 as "KWWL-DT."

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">On November 1, 2010, the FCC granted KWWL a construction permit for a 300-watt digital fill-in translator on channel 7 (the same frequency as their main channel).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[7] The translator will serve the immediate part and areas northwest of Dubuque.