KIAH going back to CW 39 branding?

[mikerichardson]

I remember when KHCW decided to drop their CW branding. They even changed to calls to KIAH. Now the bug is back to "CW 39". Are they changing the branding back?

 

[fredcantu]

Why did they ever give up the KHTV calls. Some little home shopping station in Los Angeles has them now.

 

[purpledevil]

the bug has changed, but the announcer still IDs it as "Channel 39". Maybe they see a resurgence in the CW programming, or CW is forcing them to use the "CW" in front of 39 per some prior obligation.

 

[DToTheJ]

One would think call letters with "TV" in them would be prime real estate, too valuable to just kick to the curb...

Maybe Houston is the testing ground for bringing back the CW branding on Tribune's stations, just like they are for their "news" experiment.

 

[compubit]

Maybe Houston is the testing ground for bringing back the CW branding on Tribune's stations, just like they are for their "news" experiment.

Speaking of the "news experiment" - what's going on? My recent views (though not in the last week) appear to have 39 with business as usual - I thought the new format was supposed to happen before the end of 2010...

J

 

[intx]

This is purely a guess ... but a lot of the folks responsible for 'blowing up local news' at Tribune have left/been booted. I wouldn't be surprised if we never see it ... or if what we do eventually see is toned down quite a bit from what was promised.

 

[mr.ric]

Speaking of the "news experiment" - what's going on?  My recent views (though not in the last week) appear to have 39 with business as usual - I thought the new format was supposed to happen before the end of 2010...

I just have a feeling it's not going to happen. But what they really need to do overall is just get their act together and focus more on content that is more local and more newsworthy. Do something though.

At least they don't deliver like 26 does. I tried watching tonight... and it was just a mess, so i ended up going back to 39.

 

[adguy]

The biggest mistake Tribune made was to change the original calls. Giving up KHTV was horrible. Those calls contributed to the heritage rep the station had since it signed on in the 60's. Granted, call letters are becoming less important to branding today, but you don't give up what gave you your strength for decades. What is KIAH? Calls named after an airport! Maybe they thought they could compete with KHOU. Isn't HOU the Hobby airport code? In any event, IMHO, KIAH has the same status as the new KUBE.

 

[fredcantu]

KHOU need the calls to establish itself as a houston station after moving in from Galveston (KGUL-TV.) IIRC-- after the move-in, the legal ID said Houston-Galveston for years.