KIAH
{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:
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- Template:Infobox television channel
- Template:Infobox television station
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KHCW is the WB Television Network affiliate for Houston, Texas, broadcasting on UHF channel 39. It is owned by the Tribune Company. It offers first-run primetime programming from the WB, cartoons from Kids WB, off-network sitcoms, first-run reality/talk/court shows, and paid programming.
History
The station began broadcasting on January 6, 1967 as KHTV (Houston TeleVision). The station took the place of the now-defunct KNUZ-TV Channel 39 (which was a DuMont affiliate). It was owned by Gaylord Broadcasting. It ran a general entertainment independent schedule including cartoons, off-network sitcoms, old movies, religious shows, westerns, and dramas, not to mention Star Trek reruns and the syndicated Soul Train dance show. One of its best known locally produced programs was "Houston Wrestling", hosted by local promoter Paul Boesch. It aired Saturday evenings, having been taped the night before at the weekly live shows in the Sam Houston Coliseum. It was the first UHF channel in Houston to broadcast in color. For a short time in the early 1980s, it was known as KHTV 39 Gold. It was the leading independent station in Houston as competitors entered the market.
As a WB affiliate
At first, the new WB network (which launched in January 1995) refused to affiliate with KHTV, seeing as Gaylord declined to affiliate its Fort Worth-Dallas and Tacoma-Seattle stations with the network (and instead affiliated them with CBS). However, in the fall of 1995, the station was acquired by Tribune Broadcasting (which held a stake in the WB network). As a result, the station became a WB affiliate in January 1996 and called itself Houston's WB39, and changed its call letters to KHWB in 1999 to reflect its affiliation. The KHTV call letters eventually ended up on a Home Shopping Network outlet in Los Angeles (though this KHTV is low-power).
The weekday Monday–Friday Kids' WB block was discontinued on December 30, 2005.
From The WB to The CW
On January 24, 2006, the WB and UPN networks announced they would merge. The newly combined network would be called The CW, the letters representing the first initial of its corporate parents CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. The merger would take effect on-the-air in September 2006, and KHWB was announced as the Houston affiliate; a few months later, the FCC approved a call-sign change from KHWB to KHCW (Houston's CW), which became official on April 27, 2006. Current UPN station KTXH, owned by the News Corporation, will join My Network TV.
Newscast
KHCW has a newscast called "Houston's WB News at Nine" which airs every night from 9 p.m. to 9:30.
Logos
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KNUZ-TV Logo from the 1950s
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KHTV Logo, 1967-1981.
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KHTV Logo, circa 1989.
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KHTV Logo, circa 1993
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WB39 Logo from 1996-2004
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Alternate WB39 logo used during newscasts only 2001-2005
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Houston's WB Logo (KHWB Version) 2004-April 2006
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Houston's WB Logo (KHCW Version) April 2006-September 2006 tentatively
Promos
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Pre-Broadcast KNUZ promofrom the 1950s
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Advertisement for KNUZ-TV from the 1950s
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KHTV 39 Promo
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Channel 39 Promo as KHTV 1993