KRWI

KRWI is a television station licensed to Beaumont, Texas and serving the Beaumont/Port Arthur market. Broadcasting on channel 15, KRWI is a CBS affiliate. KRWI is owned and operated by Oakhurst Broadcasting. It also serves the Lake Charles, Louisiana market as the market's default CBS station. The station's studios are located at the Interstate 10/U.S. Highway 69 (Eastex Freeway) interchange in Beaumont, and the transmitter location is in Vidor, Texas. In addition to running the CBS schedule, KRWI also airs syndicated programming, including The Pyramid, Press Your Luck, and Match Game. KRWI also operates two subchannels: 15.2 (for Nick Rewind) and 15.3 (for Nick GAS).

History
KRWI commenced broadcasting on April 24, 1955 and is the oldest on air TV station in the Beaumont/Port Arthur market.

Original Chief Engineer Harold Bartlett (ham callsign W5KWA), oversaw all technical aspects of the station from its construction until his retirement in July, 1980. His assistant, Richard Kihn, took over immediately as "acting" Chief Engineer after Bartlett's retirement, and was appointed Chief Engineer on August 4, 1980. Kihn retired as of 10/26/2012 and was replaced by Jim Hobbs. However, Hobbs did not last long and returned to radio engineering in Nebraska. Don Dobbs, former Director of Engineering at KTVT andKXAS in Dallas, took over as Director of Engineering at KRWI to oversee a major rebuild of the studios.

KRWI-TV would be sold by Beaumont Broadcasting to A.H. Belo Corporation in 1969. Belo would sell KRWI-TV to Freedom Communications in 1984.

Freedom Communications announced on November 2, 2011 that it would bow out of television and sold KRWI, to Oakhurst Broadcasting. Oakhurst began operating KRWI under a time brokerage agreement from December 1, 2011 until the group deal was consummated on April 2, 2012.

Digital Channels

 * 15.1-- CBS HD
 * 15.2-- Nick Rewind
 * 15.3-- Nick GAS

News Operation
The popular 1970s KRWI weekday news team consisted of Beaulieu, Burandt, weatherman Gary Powers, and sportscaster Cy Hurst. KRWI was awarded in 2005 by the Texas chapter of the Associated Press for their coverage of Hurricane Rita. KRWI was also awarded a regional Emmy award in 2006, also for their coverage of Rita.

Greg Bostwick has been with the station over 30 years and approximately 20 of those years as chief meteorologist. He endured Hurricane Rita's wrath in downtown Beaumont with weeknight anchor Bill Leger.

Former KRWI Manager, Larry Beaulieu was with the station since 1974 when he was hired as News Director. He teamed for over 15 years with Cecile Burandt, who was the first female anchor hired in the Beaumont area. Beaulieu retired on September 29, 2011, and was replaced the following December by longtime station employee Rix Garey.

In April 2011, KRWI became the second station in Southeast Texas to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition.