WAWW-LD
LocationRochester, New York
CountryUnited States
Digital30 (UHF)
Virtual20
OwnerSquirrel Broadcasting Company
Subchannelssee § Subchannels
Former callsigns
  • W38AW (1990–1995)
  • WAWW-LP (1995–2021)
AirdateApril 20, 1990
Former channel numbers
  • Analog:
  • 38 (1990–2004)
  • 20 (2005–2021)
Facility id27573
Erp15 kW
Haat105.6 m (346.5 ft)
Coordinates43°8′7″N 77°35′6″W
Licensing authorityFCC

WAWW-LD (channel 20) is a low-power television station in Rochester, New York, United States. The station is owned by Squirrel Broadcasting Company, a joint venture of James Smisloff and New York radio and TV station owner Craig Fox. Its main subchannel broadcasts HSN.

History

Hometown Vision, Inc., received a construction permit on July 31, 1989, to build a new low-power TV station on channel 38 in Rochester with call sign W38AW. Construction began by year's end on the new station's studios on Monroe Avenue.[1] Test broadcasts began April 20, 1990, with All News Channel as a primary program source and the station filling the last 30 minutes of each hour with local and national syndicated shows.[2] The station's fare also included dubbed South American soap operas, 1920s movies, and professional wrestling.[3] Programming from HSN began to appear on W38AW in 1994.[4]

In 1995, Hometown Vision sold W38AW for $125,000 to Kaleidoscope Affiliates of Little Rock, Arkansas.[5] Kaleidoscope owned a service known as "America's Disability Channel", which channel 38 began to air as Kaleidoscope's 16th such station; the service included programs with audio description for the visually impaired and closed captioning for the hearing impaired.[6] The call letters were changed to WAWW-LP in December 1995, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) permitted the use of conventional four-letter call signs by low-power television stations. Kaleidoscope Affiliates changed its name in 1998 to Equity Broadcasting Corporation. Equity then sold WAWW-LP to Venture Technologies Group in January 2002.[7]

After moving to channel 20 in 2005 due to displacement by the digital facility of WKBW-TV in Buffalo, Squirrel acquired WAWW-LP from Venture for $10,000.[8] It continued to broadcast in analog until the final shut-off date for low-power stations in the United States, July 13, 2021,[9] and resumed broadcasting in digital for the first time by the start of December.[10]

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WAWW-LD[11]
ChannelRes.AspectShort nameProgramming
20.1720p16:9WAWW-LDHSN
20.2480iStoryStory Television
20.3MVSGLDMovieSphere Gold
20.44:3CTVNCornerstone

References

  1. ^ Dorland, Charles (December 21, 1989). "Rochester's 6th TV station is set to air in March". Democrat and Chronicle. p. 1A, 16A. Archived March 10, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2022. – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Dorland, Charles (April 20, 1990). "New low-power TV channel signs on today in Rochester". Democrat and Chronicle. p. 1C. Archived March 7, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2022. – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Orr, Jim (January 19, 1993). "Microwave breakdown KO's W38AW; Honeoye boy's story on '911'". Democrat and Chronicle. p. 2C. Archived March 7, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2022. – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Marino, Eugene (June 29, 1994). "Top-rated 'Roseanne' rates No. 1 for filth in media survey". Democrat and Chronicle. p. 2C. Archived March 10, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2022. – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ DeChick, Joe (August 31, 1995). "Channel 38's vanishing act may end soon". Democrat and Chronicle. p. 1C. Archived March 7, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2022. – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Marino, Eugene (October 18, 1995). "Visually- and hearing-impaired get their own channel". Democrat and Chronicle. p. 2C. Archived March 10, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 7, 2022. – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "BALTTL-20011207ABF Application for Transfer of Control". fcc.gov. December 7, 2001. Archived March 10, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  8. ^ "Deals". Broadcasting & Cable. April 2, 2005. Archived March 8, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  9. ^ "LMS #157034 Request for Silent Authority of an Analog LPTV Station Application". FCC Licensing and Management System. August 12, 2021. Archived March 7, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  10. ^ "LMS #176717 License To Cover for LPTV Station Application". FCC Licensing and Management System. December 2, 2021. Archived March 6, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  11. ^ "RabbitEars Query for WAWW-LD". RabbitEars. Retrieved August 5, 2025.