At one point, the station broadcast English-language programming, including locally produced programs hosted by former air talent at WHIM.[3] WRIW-LP became a Telemundo affiliate in 2000;[4]ZGS Communications then acquired the station from Viking Broadcasting in 2003.[5][6]
On July 29, 2012, WRIW-CA began broadcasting its signal in digital from the WJAR tower in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and subsequently changed its call sign to WRIW-CD on January 7, 2013.[7]
On December 4, 2017, NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group announced its purchase of ZGS' 13 television stations, including WRIW-CD. This made WRIW the second television station in the Providence market to have been an owned-and-operated station under NBC ownership—after WJAR (channel 10, now an NBC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group), which was owned by the network from 1996 to 2006.[8] The sale was completed on July 20, 2018.[9]
In October 2019, WRIW-CD began simulcasting low-power WYCN-LD in order to reach the entire Providence−New Bedford market (the latter station changed its city of license to Providence and moved its transmitter to Norton, Massachusetts).
WRIW-CD began simulcasting the newscasts of Boston sister station WNEU on July 20, 2018, immediately following the completion of the sale to NBCUniversal. In the announcement, WNEU president and general manager Mike St. Peter stated his intention to hire a Providence-based reporter for the newscast.[10]
Subchannels
Subchannels of WRIW-CD on the WSBE-TV multiplex[11]
^"Application Search Details". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Archived from the original on December 13, 2012. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
1These stations are owned by Mission Broadcasting but operated by Nexstar under an LMA. 2These stations are owned by Londen Media Group but operated by Nexstar under a TBA. 3These stations are owned by Vaughan Media but operated by Nexstar under an LMA. 4TelevisaUnivision USA owns the licenses to these stations but the stations themselves are operated by Entravision Communications under an LMA.