station began airing on a one-hour delay from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at the network's permission (this also effectively resulted in the newscast being reduced to airing only on Monday through Friday evenings in part due to The CW airing a three-hour prime time lineup on Sundays at the time; although The CW turned its Sunday prime time slots over to the network's affiliates in September 2009, the 7:00 p.m. newscast remains a weeknight-only broadcast ). KWGN discontinued the 11:00 a.m. newscast once again on May 29, 2009, which was replaced the following Monday with Martino TV, a lifestyle program featuring paid segments from local businesses. At that time, KWGN began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. On July 18, 2016, KWGN started a 4:00 p.m. weekday newscast. This newscast is anchored by current KWGN 7:00 p.m. anchor, Deborah Takahara, and longtime former Denver newsman Mike Landess. Mike returns to Denver from KYTX in Tyler, Texas. Landess previously anchored evening newscasts for KMGH and KUSA/KBTV in Denver. On September 12, 2016, KWGN became the first station in the Mountain Time Zone to launch an 11:00 p.m. weeknight newscast hosted by Mike Barz and Erika Gonzalez. Beginning March 27, 2017, Ernie Bjorkman, weeknight anchor from 1984 to 1988 and again from 1998 to 2008, returned to KWGN. On September 23, 2017, KWGN expanded the hour-long 7:00 p.m. newscast to weekends for the first time since the newscast launched on March 30, 2009; this also marked the first time KWGN aired local news on weekends since 2009. Notable former on-air staff Asha Blake – weeknight anchor (2004–2007; later at KTLA in Los Angeles) Tom Martino – consumer reporter and host of Martino TV (2009–2010) Russell Scott – host of Blinky's Fun Club and Captain Dooley (1966–1998; deceased) Tom Shannon – host of Afternoon at the Movies with Tom Shannon (1970s) Technical information Subchannels KWGN-TV offers four subchannels, which since conversion to ATSC 3.0 have been hosted on the multiplexes of three other Denver television stations: Analog-to-digital conversion KWGN shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 34. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog