WLWC
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New Bedford, Massachusetts/ Providence, Rhode Island United States |
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| Branding | CW 28 |
| Slogan | Dare To Defy |
| Channels |
Digital: 22 (UHF) Virtual: 28 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | (see article) |
| Affiliations | The CW |
| Owner | OTA Broadcasting, LLC (OTA Broadcasting (PVD), LLC) |
| First air date | April 14, 1997 |
| Call letters' meaning | World's Largest Wireless Columbus (this callsign was used on what is now WCMH-TV) |
| Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 28 (UHF, 1997–2008) |
| Former affiliations |
The WB (1997–2006; secondary from 2000) UPN (1997–2006; secondary until 2000) LATV (DT2, 2010–2013) |
| Transmitter power | 350 kW |
| Height | 203 m |
| Facility ID | 3978 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°46′38.4″N 70°55′39.2″W / 41.777333°N 70.927556°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | thecwprov.com |
WLWC is the CW affiliate for Providence, Rhode Island, licensed to New Bedford, Massachusetts. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 22 from a transmitter in the Ashley Heights section of East Freetown, Massachusetts. Owned by OTA Broadcasting, LLC (a company controlled by Michael Dell's MSD Capital), the station has studios on Westminster Street in Downtown Providence. It is one of two major Rhode Island stations (along with ABC affiliate WLNE-TV) with facilities in Providence despite being licensed to the Massachusetts side of the market.
WLWC began broadcasting April 14, 1997 as an affiliate of The WB. It was owned by Fant Broadcasting and operated by NBC-owned WJAR under a local marketing agreement (LMA). For the first two years of The WB's existence, Boston's WLVI-TV, which had been carried on cable in Rhode Island for decades, doubled as the WB affiliate for Providence/New Bedford as well. The station launched with various syndicated shows as well as a WJAR-produced 10 p.m. newscast, known as TV 28 News at 10, which began airing a few months after the WPRI-TV-produced effort on Fox affiliate WNAC-TV.
Fant had signed an LMA with WJAR's previous owner, Outlet Communications, on December 14, 1994, prior to Outlet's 1996 merger with NBC. Earlier in 1994, on March 18, Fant's station in Columbus, Ohio, WWHO, became the junior partner in an LMA with Outlet-owned NBC affiliate WCMH-TV. The LMA arrangement allowed channel 28 to come to the air; the station's original construction permit was granted to Metrovision Inc., a company controlled by Franklin D. Graham, on November 8, 1982, but financial problems and difficulties in securing a transmitter location prevented channel 28 (which was assigned the call letters WFDG, referring to Graham, on December 22, 1982; it became WLWC on August 1, 1995) from signing on. After several ownership changes, Fant purchased the permit on January 3, 1995.
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