WSTR-TV
Encyclopedia
WSTR-TV is the MyNetworkTV
-affiliated television station
for the Tri-State area of Southwestern Ohio
, Southeastern Indiana
, and Northern
Kentucky
. Licensed to Cincinnati
, the station broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 33 from a transmitter
in the College Hill
section of the city. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group
, the station has studios on Fishwick Drive along I-75
in the Bond Hill area of Cincinnati. Syndicated
programming on WSTR includes: Friends
, The Office, My Name Is Earl
, and Swift Justice with Nancy Grace
.
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:>
Virtual
channel
Video
Format
Programming
64.1
720p
16:9
Main WSTR programming / MyNetworkTV (HD
)
64.2
480i
4:3
TheCoolTV; music videos
On WSTR-DT2 is TheCoolTV
. Right now, this subchannel is not offered on Time Warner
(in Ohio), Insight
(in Kentucky), or Comcast
(in Indiana) digital cable systems but will likely be added at some point.
(FCC) for a new television station to be constructed and operated in Cincinnati, Ohio. WBTI-TV launched on January 28, 1980 with one million watt
s of power from studios on Fishwick Drive. The station aired an analog signal on UHF channel 64 from a transmitter on Chickasaw Street in Cincinnati. It was owned by Buford Television of Ohio, Inc.
During the early days of WBTI, it signed-on at 10:00 in the morning and operated as a general interest Independent until 7 each evening. At that time, the channel began transmitting in the "encoded or scrambled" transmission mode to provide programming for subscribers of the ON-TV
subscription service. Eventually, WBTI would sign-on earlier and program movies and cartoons until 10 in the morning when the Christian Broadcasting Network
program The 700 Club
aired until 11:30.
The afternoon lineup consisted of movies, cartoons, and sitcoms such as I Love Lucy
and The Dick Van Dyke Show
. Morning cartoons included Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo
, and Popeye. Weekends were heavily laden with classic movies and adventure shows such as The Outer Limits
, The Wild Wild West
, and Bonanza
. WBTI also began airing World Championship Tennis
and Notre Dame
football. The weekly "Hollywood Gold" movies on Saturday and Sunday were hosted by one-time theater operator and Hamilton, Ohio
native Fred Baum who most recently owned the Holiday Auto Theater. Baum died in 2007.
In January 1981, the station added more sitcoms to the lineup during the week with Mister Ed
, The Addams Family
, The Munsters
, and The Beverly Hillbillies
among others. The ON-TV service expanded its hours on Saturdays and Sundays nights signing-on at 5. The subscription service would air movies, sports, and live events for several hours each night usually ending around 2 in the morning. On some nights, WBTI would then come back on and show programs until it signed-off. In August 1981, Buford Television changed its name to HEN Incorporated for Home Entertainment Network. In January 1982, HEN became the official owner of WBTI.
On April 1, 1982, the ON-TV service expanded to twenty hours per day. At that time, the FCC required that broadcast stations be on-air for at least four hours per day. ON-TV was now making up the rest of the broadcast day. There was a short time in 1983 that WBTI extended some afternoon programming from noon until 2 but that was short lived, when ON-TV was now broadcasting close to 22 hours per day. Also in early 1983, and after much delay, Warner-AMEX
cable became available in the Cincinnati city limits. This made the ON-TV subscription service less attractive to viewers. The subscription service was only one channel at close to the same price as the sixty channel Warner-AMEX "QUBE" service.
In January 1985, ON-TV was pulled back. New owners Channel 64 Joint Venture re-launched the station on New Year's Day
1985 under the WIII call sign and the slogan "The Eyes of Cincinnati". The channel was now a general interest independent station from 6 in the morning until 11:30 pm on weeknights and 11:00 pm on weekends when the ON-TV service resumed. The station dropped ON-TV completely in June of that year.
The station had just been reborn as WIII-TV, when during an ice storm
, a section of ice on the station's tower broke free and cut through the station's transmission line from the transmitter to the antenna. WIII was either off-the-air or on very low-power for weeks. The station remained on-the-air after repairs were made, but never quite recovered financially. It continued to run a lot of first run cartoons, mostly barter and a few low budget movies, some drama shows, and a few old sitcoms. But the station was no longer able to get first rate syndicated shows.
By 1986, the station had been turned over to Stephen J. Kent as receiver. In 1987, its license was involuntarily assigned to Channel 64 Joint Venture, Debtor-in-Possession
. In March 1988, Channel 64 Acquisition, Inc. took over. In November 1989, the license was voluntarily assigned to Cincinnati TV 64 Limited Partnership under the ownership of Andrew Banks and Royce Yudkoff. Their initials made up the name ABRY Communications. Soon after, stringer programming was added to include more recent sitcoms and better movies. In 1990, WIII became WSTR-TV and became known as "Star 64" on air. In 1992, control was officially transferred to ABRY Communications, LP. In 1994, the station increased power from one to five million watts at a brand new tower and transmitter site in Cincinnati's College Hill neighborhood. That tower would be known as the "STAR Tower" and would eventually be home to several radio stations and other communications services.
Also under ABRY's ownership, the station acquired other syndicated shows and became a charter UPN
affiliate on January 17, 1995 later branding itself "UPN 64". In 1996, Sinclair Communications (now Sinclair Broadcast Group) acquired Abry Broadcasting's stations including WSTR. It switched affiliations with Class A
WBQC-CA
in 1998 becoming a WB affiliate. On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that the networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents: CBS
(the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
unit of Time Warner
. On February 22, News Corporation
made public it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This new service, which would be a sister network to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming independent. It was also created to compete against The CW.
WSTR seemed likely to become The CW's Cincinnati affiliate being a full-power station and WBQC being Class A. On March 2 however, Sinclair announced that WSTR would affiliate with MyNetworkTV. The announcement seemingly opened the door for WBQC to potentially become the area's CW affiliate. Instead, the network agreed on April 19 to be carried on a new second
digital subchannel
of WKRC-TV
forcing WBQC to become an Independent. With its new MyNetworkTV affiliation, WSTR adopted the "My 64" brand similar to most other stations in the network. On September 21, 2009, WSTR reintroduced its 1990s name dropping the "My" branding in favor of "Star 64". It did keep the network's logo color and style scheme. This followed a similar trend with some other MyNetworkTV affiliates after the network became a television broadcast syndication service.
WSTR-TV shut down its analog signal, and remained on channel 33 PSIP is used to display its virtual channel
as 64. Along with Sinclair's other stations, this channel ceased analog broadcasting on the original DTV transition date of February 17, 2009 despite an extension granted by Congress
until June 12.
During the analog era, WSTR-TV operated a translator station in Dayton
, W66AQ, on channel 66. This translator signed on in 1980, rebroadcasting then-WBTI's ON-TV service and other programming. It is not well documented whether W66AQ continued to air the parent channel's complete schedule after ON-TV ended, or even whether it broadcast continually throughout the following years. When WSTR-TV subsequently gained network affiliations, Dayton had local affiliates of those networks as well. When WSTR-TV was a UPN affiliate, the network had a secondary affiliation with Dayton's WRGT-TV
. When WSTR-TV was a WB affiliate, that network aired in Dayton first on WUCT-LP (now WRCX-LP
), then on WBDT
. When WSTR-TV became a MyNetworkTV affiliate, Dayton had its own affiliation on WRGT-TV's second digital subchannel, WRGT-DT2 ("My TV Dayton"). FCC filings indicate that W66AQ was silent
by sometime in 2007. In 2009, after the DTV transition, Sinclair used the W66AQ license to broadcast a low-power analog signal in Dayton on channel 22, repeating its "My TV Dayton" programming. In June, 2010, W66AQ's call letters were changed to W22DE
. When Cincinnati's WCPO-TV
moved its digital operations to channel 22 in December, 2010, W22DE went silent again. The current plans for W22DE are unknown.
On September 23, 2010, WSTR-TV added TheCoolTV on its second digital subchannel.
On August 16, 2004, WSTR began a news department and a nightly prime time newscast at 10 in an attempt to compete with WXIX-TV
's prime time show. Known as WB 64 News at 10, it was part of Sinclair's controversial, centralized News Central
operation based at company headquarters on Beaver Dam Road in Hunt Valley, Maryland
. Although national news, weather forecasts, and some sports originated from News Central, local news and sports operations were based at WSTR's studios. It also aired "The Point", a one-minute conservative political commentary, that was also controversial and a requirement of all Sinclair-owned stations with newscasts. Unable to get enough consistent ratings and viewership against dominant WXIX, the station announced it would drop the show on February 24, 2006.
On April 26, it was made public WSTR would enter into a news share agreement with WKRC. When the outsourced newscast began airing on August 21, this resulted in a CBS affiliate's news being carried on a station with a News Corporation-owned network. The nightly half-hour broadcast was known as Local 12 News at 10 on My 64. WKRC announced its intent to move the prime time newscast to CW affiliate WKRC-DT2 in August 2008. On August 4, WKRC began a brief simulcast of this program on WKRC-DT2 with it eventually being dropped from WSTR on August 22. Although this station's management expressed interest in partnering with another local station to produce a newscast, it now heavily promotes syndicated shows.
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
for the Tri-State area of Southwestern Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Southeastern Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, and Northern
Northern Kentucky
Northern Kentucky is the name often given to the northernmost counties in Kentucky...
Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. Licensed to Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, the station broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
digital signal on UHF channel 33 from a transmitter
Star Tower
Star Tower is a digital television and FM radio transmitting tower on Winton Road in the College Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. The three-legged lattice tower stands high. It was built for WSTR-TV, known as "Star64"...
in the College Hill
College Hill, Cincinnati
College Hill is a residential neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Originally a wealthy suburb called Pleasant Hill due to its prime location, it was renamed College Hill because of the two colleges that were established there in the mid-nineteenth century...
section of the city. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group
The Sinclair Broadcast Group is an American telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the United States. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it owns a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of...
, the station has studios on Fishwick Drive along I-75
Interstate 75 in Ohio
In the U.S. state of Ohio, Interstate 75 runs from Cincinnati to Toledo by way of Dayton. I-75 enters Ohio concurrent with I-71 from Kentucky on the Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River and into the Bluegrass region...
in the Bond Hill area of Cincinnati. Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programming on WSTR includes: Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, The Office, My Name Is Earl
My Name Is Earl
My Name Is Earl is an American television comedy series created by Greg Garcia that was originally broadcast on the NBC television network from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, in the United States...
, and Swift Justice with Nancy Grace
Swift Justice With Nancy Grace
Swift Justice with Jackie Glass is a syndicated court program hosted by Judge Jackie Glass....
.
Digital programming
WSTR-DT broadcasts its digital signal on UHF digital channel 33.channel
720p
720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan...
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
HD
HD may refer to:- Science and technology :* High-definition, reference to:** high-definition video** high-definition television ** Intel High Definition Audio** HD Voice...
)
480i
480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC...
On WSTR-DT2 is TheCoolTV
TheCoolTV
THECOOLTV is a United States over-the-air digital subchannel launched in March 2009. The network's current program schedule consists of an all-music video lineup that can be customized to meet an affiliate's preference, along with the three hours per week of E/I programming as required by the...
. Right now, this subchannel is not offered on Time Warner
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
(in Ohio), Insight
Insight Communications
Insight Communications is the 13th largest multiple system operator in the United States with approximately 692,000 customers in the three contiguous states of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio...
(in Kentucky), or Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
(in Indiana) digital cable systems but will likely be added at some point.
History
On June 29, 1979 permission was granted by the Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) for a new television station to be constructed and operated in Cincinnati, Ohio. WBTI-TV launched on January 28, 1980 with one million watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
s of power from studios on Fishwick Drive. The station aired an analog signal on UHF channel 64 from a transmitter on Chickasaw Street in Cincinnati. It was owned by Buford Television of Ohio, Inc.
During the early days of WBTI, it signed-on at 10:00 in the morning and operated as a general interest Independent until 7 each evening. At that time, the channel began transmitting in the "encoded or scrambled" transmission mode to provide programming for subscribers of the ON-TV
ON-TV
ON-TV, also known as National Subscription Television, was a subscription television service launched in 1977 by Oak Industries, Norman Lear's Chartwell Enterprises and Jerry Perenchio. Oak was a manufacturer of satellite and pay-TV decoders and equipment...
subscription service. Eventually, WBTI would sign-on earlier and program movies and cartoons until 10 in the morning when the Christian Broadcasting Network
Christian Broadcasting Network
The Christian Broadcasting Network, or CBN, is a fundamentalist Christian television broadcasting network in the United States. Its headquarters and main studios are in Virginia Beach, Virginia.-Background:...
program The 700 Club
The 700 Club
The 700 Club is the flagship news talk show of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing in syndication throughout the United States and Canada. In production since 1966, it is currently hosted by Pat Robertson, Terry Meeuwsen, Kristi Watts, and Gordon P. Robertson, two of whom will host on any...
aired until 11:30.
The afternoon lineup consisted of movies, cartoons, and sitcoms such as I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
and The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom that initially aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from October 3, 1961, until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It was produced by Reiner with Bill Persky and Sam Denoff....
. Morning cartoons included Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo
Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales is a popular, semi-educational animated cartoon TV series that originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1966. It was produced by Total Television, the same company that produced the earlier King Leonardo and the later Underdog, and primarily sponsored by General Mills...
, and Popeye. Weekends were heavily laden with classic movies and adventure shows such as The Outer Limits
The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)
The Outer Limits is an American television series that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1965. The series is similar in style to the earlier The Twilight Zone, but with a greater emphasis on science fiction, rather than fantasy stories...
, The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....
, and Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
. WBTI also began airing World Championship Tennis
World Championship Tennis
World Championship Tennis was a tour for professional male tennis players established in 1968 and lasted until the emergence of the ATP Tour in 1990...
and Notre Dame
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...
football. The weekly "Hollywood Gold" movies on Saturday and Sunday were hosted by one-time theater operator and Hamilton, Ohio
Hamilton, Ohio
Hamilton is a city in Butler County, southwestern Ohio, United States. The population was 62,447 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Butler County. The city is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area....
native Fred Baum who most recently owned the Holiday Auto Theater. Baum died in 2007.
In January 1981, the station added more sitcoms to the lineup during the week with Mister Ed
Mister Ed
Originally produced in late 1960, Mister Ed is an American television situation comedy produced by Filmways that first aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966....
, The Addams Family
The Addams Family (TV series)
The Addams Family is an American television series based on the characters in Charles Addams' New Yorker cartoons. The 30-minute series was shot in black-and-white and aired for two seasons in 64 installments on ABC from September 18, 1964, to April 8, 1966...
, The Munsters
The Munsters
The Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...
, and The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
among others. The ON-TV service expanded its hours on Saturdays and Sundays nights signing-on at 5. The subscription service would air movies, sports, and live events for several hours each night usually ending around 2 in the morning. On some nights, WBTI would then come back on and show programs until it signed-off. In August 1981, Buford Television changed its name to HEN Incorporated for Home Entertainment Network. In January 1982, HEN became the official owner of WBTI.
On April 1, 1982, the ON-TV service expanded to twenty hours per day. At that time, the FCC required that broadcast stations be on-air for at least four hours per day. ON-TV was now making up the rest of the broadcast day. There was a short time in 1983 that WBTI extended some afternoon programming from noon until 2 but that was short lived, when ON-TV was now broadcasting close to 22 hours per day. Also in early 1983, and after much delay, Warner-AMEX
Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment
Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment Company was a joint venture owned and operated by Warner Communications and American Express that developed and worked on interactive television systems in the late 1970s and initiated several successful cable...
cable became available in the Cincinnati city limits. This made the ON-TV subscription service less attractive to viewers. The subscription service was only one channel at close to the same price as the sixty channel Warner-AMEX "QUBE" service.
In January 1985, ON-TV was pulled back. New owners Channel 64 Joint Venture re-launched the station on New Year's Day
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...
1985 under the WIII call sign and the slogan "The Eyes of Cincinnati". The channel was now a general interest independent station from 6 in the morning until 11:30 pm on weeknights and 11:00 pm on weekends when the ON-TV service resumed. The station dropped ON-TV completely in June of that year.
The station had just been reborn as WIII-TV, when during an ice storm
Ice storm
An ice storm is a type of winter storm characterized by freezing rain, also known as a glaze event or in some parts of the United States as a silver thaw. The U.S. National Weather Service defines an ice storm as a storm which results in the accumulation of at least of ice on exposed surfaces...
, a section of ice on the station's tower broke free and cut through the station's transmission line from the transmitter to the antenna. WIII was either off-the-air or on very low-power for weeks. The station remained on-the-air after repairs were made, but never quite recovered financially. It continued to run a lot of first run cartoons, mostly barter and a few low budget movies, some drama shows, and a few old sitcoms. But the station was no longer able to get first rate syndicated shows.
Debtor in possession
A debtor in possession in United States bankruptcy law is a person or corporation who has filed a bankruptcy petition, but remains in possession of property upon which a creditor has a lien or similar security interest...
. In March 1988, Channel 64 Acquisition, Inc. took over. In November 1989, the license was voluntarily assigned to Cincinnati TV 64 Limited Partnership under the ownership of Andrew Banks and Royce Yudkoff. Their initials made up the name ABRY Communications. Soon after, stringer programming was added to include more recent sitcoms and better movies. In 1990, WIII became WSTR-TV and became known as "Star 64" on air. In 1992, control was officially transferred to ABRY Communications, LP. In 1994, the station increased power from one to five million watts at a brand new tower and transmitter site in Cincinnati's College Hill neighborhood. That tower would be known as the "STAR Tower" and would eventually be home to several radio stations and other communications services.
Also under ABRY's ownership, the station acquired other syndicated shows and became a charter UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
affiliate on January 17, 1995 later branding itself "UPN 64". In 1996, Sinclair Communications (now Sinclair Broadcast Group) acquired Abry Broadcasting's stations including WSTR. It switched affiliations with Class A
Class A television service
The class A television service is a system for regulating some low-power television stations in the United States. Class A stations are denoted by the broadcast callsign suffix "-CA" or "-CD" , although very many analog -CA stations have a digital companion channel that was assigned the -LD...
WBQC-CA
WBQC-CA
WBQC-LD is an independent television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. WBQC's studios are located in a complex in the Roselawn neighborhood of Cincinnati, while the station broadcasts from WCPO's tower. According to its website, WBQC was the first television station to be fully automated...
in 1998 becoming a WB affiliate. On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that the networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents: CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
(the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
unit of Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
. On February 22, News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
made public it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This new service, which would be a sister network to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming independent. It was also created to compete against The CW.
WKRC-DT2
WKRC-DT2 is the CW-affiliated television station for the Tri-State area of Southern Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Southeastern Indiana. It is a second digital subchannel of CBS affiliate WKRC-TV that is owned by Newport Television. Over-the-air, the station broadcasts a digital signal on VHF channel...
digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
of WKRC-TV
WKRC-TV
WKRC-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Tri-State area of Southern Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Southeastern Indiana that is licensed to Cincinnati. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter at its studios on Highland Avenue in the Mount...
forcing WBQC to become an Independent. With its new MyNetworkTV affiliation, WSTR adopted the "My 64" brand similar to most other stations in the network. On September 21, 2009, WSTR reintroduced its 1990s name dropping the "My" branding in favor of "Star 64". It did keep the network's logo color and style scheme. This followed a similar trend with some other MyNetworkTV affiliates after the network became a television broadcast syndication service.
WSTR-TV shut down its analog signal, and remained on channel 33 PSIP is used to display its virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
as 64. Along with Sinclair's other stations, this channel ceased analog broadcasting on the original DTV transition date of February 17, 2009 despite an extension granted by Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
until June 12.
During the analog era, WSTR-TV operated a translator station in Dayton
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
, W66AQ, on channel 66. This translator signed on in 1980, rebroadcasting then-WBTI's ON-TV service and other programming. It is not well documented whether W66AQ continued to air the parent channel's complete schedule after ON-TV ended, or even whether it broadcast continually throughout the following years. When WSTR-TV subsequently gained network affiliations, Dayton had local affiliates of those networks as well. When WSTR-TV was a UPN affiliate, the network had a secondary affiliation with Dayton's WRGT-TV
WRGT-TV
WRGT-TV, virtual channel 45, is the Fox-affiliated television station for the Miami Valley area of Ohio, which is licensed to Dayton. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 from a transmitter at its Broadcast Plaza studios near the New Chicago section of the city. It can...
. When WSTR-TV was a WB affiliate, that network aired in Dayton first on WUCT-LP (now WRCX-LP
WRCX-LP
WRCX-LP is a low power television station in Dayton, Ohio, broadcasting locally on channel 40. Founded August 24, 1987 as WUCT, the station is owned by Ross Communications, Ltd.-History:...
), then on WBDT
WBDT
WBDT is the CW-affiliated television station for Ohio's Miami Valley. Licensed to Springfield, the station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 26 from a transmitter in the Frytown section of Dayton. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 13 and in high...
. When WSTR-TV became a MyNetworkTV affiliate, Dayton had its own affiliation on WRGT-TV's second digital subchannel, WRGT-DT2 ("My TV Dayton"). FCC filings indicate that W66AQ was silent
Dark (broadcasting)
In the broadcasting industry, dark is a term used to describe a radio station or television station that has gone off-the-air for an indefinite period of time, or as defined by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission , a "silent" station...
by sometime in 2007. In 2009, after the DTV transition, Sinclair used the W66AQ license to broadcast a low-power analog signal in Dayton on channel 22, repeating its "My TV Dayton" programming. In June, 2010, W66AQ's call letters were changed to W22DE
WKEF
WKEF, virtual channel 22, is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Miami Valley area of Ohio, which is licensed to Dayton. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 51 from a transmitter at their Broadcast Plaza studios near the New Chicago section of the city...
. When Cincinnati's WCPO-TV
WCPO-TV
WCPO-TV, virtual channel 9 , is an ABC-affiliated television station in Cincinnati, Ohio. WCPO's studio is located in the Mount Adams neighborhood of Cincinnati, just outside of Eden Park. Its transmitter is located along Symmes Street, just south of East McMillan Street in Cincinnati.The station...
moved its digital operations to channel 22 in December, 2010, W22DE went silent again. The current plans for W22DE are unknown.
On September 23, 2010, WSTR-TV added TheCoolTV on its second digital subchannel.
Newscasts
WXIX-TV
WXIX-TV channel 19 is the Fox Broadcasting Company affiliate in Cincinnati, Ohio. The station's city of license is Newport, Kentucky, across the Ohio River...
's prime time show. Known as WB 64 News at 10, it was part of Sinclair's controversial, centralized News Central
News Central
News Central was a primetime newscast on Sinclair television stations in the United States, mixing locally produced news with nationally produced news and an opinion segment from Sinclair's Hunt Valley, Maryland studios...
operation based at company headquarters on Beaver Dam Road in Hunt Valley, Maryland
Hunt Valley, Maryland
Hunt Valley is an affluent unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It lies just north of the city of Baltimore, along Highway 145 off Interstate 83. Loch Raven Reservoir...
. Although national news, weather forecasts, and some sports originated from News Central, local news and sports operations were based at WSTR's studios. It also aired "The Point", a one-minute conservative political commentary, that was also controversial and a requirement of all Sinclair-owned stations with newscasts. Unable to get enough consistent ratings and viewership against dominant WXIX, the station announced it would drop the show on February 24, 2006.
On April 26, it was made public WSTR would enter into a news share agreement with WKRC. When the outsourced newscast began airing on August 21, this resulted in a CBS affiliate's news being carried on a station with a News Corporation-owned network. The nightly half-hour broadcast was known as Local 12 News at 10 on My 64. WKRC announced its intent to move the prime time newscast to CW affiliate WKRC-DT2 in August 2008. On August 4, WKRC began a brief simulcast of this program on WKRC-DT2 with it eventually being dropped from WSTR on August 22. Although this station's management expressed interest in partnering with another local station to produce a newscast, it now heavily promotes syndicated shows.