KWFT-LP
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| KWRT TV | |
|---|---|
| |
| Fort Smith, Arkansas | |
| Branding | the cwArkansas |
| Analog channel | 36(UHF) |
| Digital channel | 36 (UHF)(Flash-cut) |
| Affiliations | the cw /\the cw(on DT2)/ me tv (via KFFS-CA on DT3), antenna tv (via KEGW-LP on DT4), movie TV (on DT5), blank on DT6, [blank]] on DT7 |
| Owner nextstar media group | nexstar Media Stations Group |
| Founded | June 25, 1999 |
| Call letters meaning | |
| Former affiliations | The WB |
KWRT tv is a low power television station in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, serving the Fort Smith market on channel 36 as an affiliate of the cw.
Originally, this station was a repeater of KPBI, which was to be WB Springfield (however, Equity signed KWBM on the air and this station aired programming from PAX until 2003). PAX programming was removed and the station ran a short lived format called Lick TV until sometime in 2004 when it started airing WB and FOX programming, under the KWFT callsign.
The station changed its calls to KBBL-TV on July 6, 2006, and adopted its current calls on September 22, 2006. At present, however, its old Fort Smith repeater still goes by KWFT-LP, it is unknown if that repeater is still operating.
The KBBL-TV call letters were almost certainly not inspired by the KBBL-TV of The Simpsons, even though both stations are located in a DMA with the same name as the Simpsons' fictional hometown. Equity likes to use former radio call letters from its hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas as TV call letters, and KBBL was once used by a Little Rock radio station.
[edit] Digital television
Because it was granted an original construction permit after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997 [1], the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Instead, on or before February 18, 2009, which is the end of the digital TV conversion period for full-service stations, KWRT will be required to turn off its analog signal and turn on its digital signal (called a "flash-cut").
