Miscellaneous unorganized material/KMBC-TV

KMBC-TV
Kansas City, Missouri-Kansas
Branding	KMBC 9 (general) KMBC 9 News (newscasts)
Slogan	Local. Live. Coverage You Can Count On.
Channels	Digital: 29 (UHF) Virtual: 9 (PSIP)
Subchannels	9.1 ABC 9.2 KMBC Digital Weather Channel
Affiliations	ABC (1955-Present) The AccuWeather Channel (DT2)
Owner	Hearst Television (KMBC Hearst Television, Inc.)
First air date	August 2, 1953
Call letters' meaning	MidlandBroadcastingCompany (founding owners)
Sister station(s)	KCWE
Former callsigns	WHB-TV (shared operation, 1953-1954)
Former channel number(s)	Analog:9 (VHF, 1953-2009)Digital: 7 (VHF, 2002-2009)
Former affiliations	CBS (1953-1955)
Transmitter power	1000 kW
Height	358 m
Facility ID	65686
Transmitter coordinates	39°5′2.8″N 94°30′56.9″W / 39.084111°N 94.515806°W / 39.084111; -94.515806
Website	www.kmbc.com

This page is improperly set up.

Chronology data should be put on the appropriate chronology page ("Chronology of call letters KMBC") .

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KMBC-TV, channel 9, is a television station located in Kansas City, Missouri. KMBC-TV is owned by Hearst Television, and is affiliated with the ABC television network. Its studios and transmitter are located in Kansas City, Missouri. The station's 343 metres (1,125 ft) high guyed mast broadcast tower built in 1988 is at 5701 E 22nd Street in eastern Kansas City on a hill above the Blue River.^[1]

[edit] History

[edit] Cook Paint ownership

The Federal Communications Commission awarded the license of Kansas City's third and last VHF station to two locally-based radio station operators who competed heavily for the license. The Cook Paint and Varnish Company, which operated WHB radio (then at 710 AM, now at 810 AM) and the Midland Broadcasting Company, owners of KMBC radio (980 AM, now KMBZ), began shared operation of channel 9 on August 2, 1953. Under the arrangement, the two separate stations would each alternate 90 minutes of airtime, broadcasting from separate studios but using the same channel and transmitter. The combined KMBC-TV and WHB-TV operation also carried programming from CBS.

Cook Paint and Varnish purchased Midland Broadcasting's holdings in April 1954 including Midland's television studios under the stage at the Lyric Theatre, at 10th and Central in Downtown Kansas City.

The move ended the split-station arrangement. On June 14, 1954, KMBC-TV took over channel 9 full-time, absorbing WHB-TV's share of the frequency. Cook Paint also sold WHB radio to comply with FCC rules. In September 1955, KMBC-TV swapped affiliations with KCMO-TV (channel 5, now KCTV), becoming an ABC affiliate. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.^[2]

In 1959, Cook Paint and Varnish bought KDRO-TV in Sedalia, Missouri and changed its calls to KMOS-TV) that January 28. KDRO-TV had been the ABC affiliate for the far eastern portion of the Kansas City market, but ABC refused to give it a network feed to protect KMBC-TV, forcing it to switch to and from channel 9's signal during network programming.

[edit] Metromedia ownership

Cook Paint and Varnish then sold the KMBC stations and KMOS to Metropolitan Broadcasting (later Metromedia) in 1961. Metropolitan did not want KMOS-TV, so it was subsequently spun off to the Jefferson City News Tribune, then-owner of Jefferson City CBS affiliate KRCG and became a repeater of that station. (KMOS is now the PBS member for Mid-Missouri.) Metromedia signed on KMBC-FM (99.7 FM, now KKSN) the next year. Metromedia sold both KMBC radio stations to Bonneville International in 1967, but kept KMBC-TV.

Over the years, KMBC-TV has pre-empted some ABC programming. Notably under Metromedia ownership, channel 9 passed on The Brady Bunch when it debuted in 1969, but it was picked up a year later. Also, it was one of the few ABC affiliates to pre-empt the ABC Evening News during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Both of these programs were instead broadcast on now-defunct independent KCIT-TV (channel 50, now KPXE-TV). In 1974 Metromedia changed the lease terms of the Lyric Theatre and was given total control of it.

In 1983, KMBC-TV anchor/reporter Christine Craft won a judgment against the station and Metromedia. Craft accused station managers of sexual harassment; this was one of the first such cases to be widely publicized in the United States. Craft, however, lost her case on appeal. Although KMBC had moved up to #1 in the market during the incident in 1981, a focus group said she was "too old, too unattractive and not deferential to men." At the time she was 36 and her co-anchor Scott Feldman was 31.^[3]

[edit] Hearst ownership

In the wake of the Craft case Metromedia sold the station to the Hearst Corporation in 1982. Under Hearst, the station expanded its local news production. Hearst also bought the Lyric Theatre. Hearst which began looking for new quarters sold the building in 1990 but the station continued to operate there.

KMBC came under common management as upstart WB affiliate KCWB (channel 29, now CW affiliate KCWE) in 1996 through a local marketing agreement. In March 2008, KMBC began a morning newscast for KCWE, the first regularly scheduled news program for the station. KCWE officially became co-owned with KMBC in May 2010. Although KMBC's licensee name remains "KMBC Hearst Television Inc.," the copyright tag at the end of its newscasts reads "Hearst Stations Inc." which is the licensee name for KCWE.

On August 23, 2007, it moved from the Lyric to its new studios at 6455 Winchester Avenue near Swope Park.

[edit] Digital television

KMBC-DT broadcasts on digital channel 29.

Digital channels

Channel	Name	Programming
9.1	KMBC-DT	main KMBC/ABC HD programming
9.2	First Alert Weather 24/7	24-hour weather information from the The Local AccuWeather Channel

[edit] Analog-to-digital conversion

KMBC's broadcasts of ABC programming became digital-only, effective June 12, 2009^[4] As the Kansas City "nightlight" station, it aired a loop reminding viewers to get a digital converter box on analog channel 9 until July 12, 2009. On February 19, 2009, the station, after receiving permission from the FCC for a Special Temporary Authority permit, moved its digital signal from digital channel 7 to channel 29, which had been vacated by sister station KCWE two months before. The station had received viewer complaints about reception due to a combination of Kansas City being an all-UHF digital market besides Channel 9, and to address signal conflicts with Pittsburg, Kansas-based KOAM-TV, which was allowed to reutilize its analog channel 7 for its digital channel. It transitioned on February 17, and would have received interference from KMBC-DT as the stations' transmitters are 131 miles (211 km) away from each other, much less than the advised 150 miles (241 km) separation between a shared channel ^[5]. However, digital television receivers will continue to display KMBC's virtual digital channel as 9.

[edit] 24 Hour Weather Channel

In 2008, KMBC launched a new digital weather channel that gives up-to-the-minute weather information 24 hours a day on its digital subchannel 9.2. The service is an affiliate of The Local AccuWeather Channel, and carries just over the minimum amount of educational and informational (E/I) children's programming.

[edit] Programming

KMBC-TV clears all of the ABC schedule, except for ABC Kids airings of Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive likely due to lack of E/I content, which is the same reason its ABC-affiliated sister stations such as KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City and WISN-TV in Milwaukee preempt the program. KMBC also airs The View, and Nightline and Jimmy Kimmel Live! outside of ABC's recommended timeslots for all three shows.

Current syndicated programming includes Rachael Ray, The Bonnie Hunt Show, Dr. Phil, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Entertainment Tonight, Two and a Half Men, Frasier, Sex and the City, with weekend telecasts of Boston Legal, Da Vinci's Inquest and At the Movies.

[edit] News operation

KMBC-TV broadcasts a total of 27 hours of local news per week (with 3½ hours on weekdays, five hours on Saturdays and 3½ hours on Sundays).

From 1957 until 2007, the station had been based in (what is now) the Lyric Opera building in downtown Kansas City. KMBC-TV unveiled its new, purpose-built facility near Swope Park in Kansas City on August 23, 2007, beginning with KMBC 9 News at 5:00. The new building includes a news set designed by FX Group. With the relocation, channel 9 also became the first station in Kansas City to produce and broadcast its local programming in high definition. [1]

On July 30, 2010 KMBC, like most of its Hearst-owned ABC affiliate sister stations did on that date, added an extension of its weekend morning newscast; however unlike the rest of Hearst's ABC affiliates, KMBC scaled back the existing 5 a.m. portion of the newscast to one hour, and added a two-hour newscast from 7-9 a.m., competing directly against newscasts on Fox affiliate WDAF-TV and CBS affiliate KCTV.

[edit] Ratings

During the late 1970s and into the 1980s KMBC was the number one television station in the Kansas City market, but the station ended the latter decade in second place behind WDAF-TV (channel 4). As soon as WDAF switched from NBC to Fox in 1994, KMBC returned to number one in the market. Currently, KMBC generally battles KCTV for first place at 10:00 p.m., while continuing to battle WDAF for first in morning timeslots. In November 2007, KMBC finished the sweeps period first in most newscasts, and tying KCTV at 10 p.m. [2] In February 2008, KMBC's newscasts won all of their time periods outright.^{[citation needed]}

During the February sweeps period of 2010, KMBC was down in almost all newscasts, and came in second behind KSHB at 5 and 6 p.m. on several nights. Like all markets though, the May sweeps will be the real indicator if KMBC's ratings are on the decline.

[edit] Awards

KMBC-TV's news department won seven 2007 Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio-Television News Directors Association, which is the most Murrow awards won by a television station in the country. The station won awards in the following categories:

News Series
Feature
News Documentary
Spot News
Continuing Coverage
Newscast
Overall Excellence

[edit] News/station presentation

[edit] Newscast titles

Your Esso Reporter (1953–1956)
The Kansas City Report (1956–1960)
The Television 9 Report (1960–1965)
Pulse (5 p.m. newscast) / 24 Hours (10 p.m. newscast; 1965–c. 1971)
Total News (c.1971–1979) [3]
The News: The xx:00 Report/Update (1979–1983) [4]
KMBC 9 News (1983–present) [5]

[edit] Station slogans

Only on Channel 9 (early 1970s)
Kansas City Turns Us On (mid-late 1970s)
The Spirit of Kansas City (c. 1982-1983)
So Good To Turn To (1983-c. 1985; used during period station used news package of the same name by Frank Gari)
Where the News Comes First (1986–2000)
Coverage You Can Count On (2000–2007)
Local. Live. Coverage You Can Count On (2007–present; variant of previous slogan)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.===[edit] Notable on-air staff===

[edit] Current on-air staff

Anchors

Jana Corrie - weekend mornings "FirstNews"; also reporter
Kelly Eckerman - Saturdays at 6, and weekends at 5 and 10 p.m.; also health reporter
Kris Ketz - weekday mornings "FirstNews" (5-7 a.m.)
Larry Moore - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
Lara Moritz - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
Donna Pitman - weekday mornings "FirstNews" (5-7 a.m.)
Dan Weinbaum - weekend mornings "FirstNews"

KMBC 9 First Alert Weather Team

Bryan Busby (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
Erin Little (AMS Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; Saturdays at 6, and weekends at 5 and 10 p.m.
Joel Nichols - Meteorologist; weekday mornings "FirstNews"
Lisa Teachman (NWA Member; AMS Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekend mornings "FirstNews"

Sports team

Len Dawson - Sports Director Emeritus (Len scaled back his role in April 2009 to part-time during Chiefs' season)
Nick Griffith - Sports Anchor; weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
Karen Kornacki - Sports Anchor; Saturdays at 6, and weekends at 5 and 10 p.m.; also sports reporter

Reporters

Maria Antonia - general assignment reporter
Martin Augustine - general assignment reporter
Peggy Breit - general assignment reporter
Bev Chapman - general assignment reporter
Micheal Mahoney - general assignment reporter
Marcus Moore - general assignment reporter
Justin Robinson - general assignment reporter
Johnny Rowlands - traffic reporter and NewsChopper 9 pilot
Brenda Washington - general assignment reporter

Hearst Television Washington Bureau

Sally Kidd - Washington D.C. bureau reporter
Laurie Kinney - Washington D.C. bureau reporter

[edit] Notable former staff

Zan Anderson
Emily Aylward
John Bilyeu
Walt Bodine
David Bodden
Fred Broski
Jonathan Coachman
Christine Craft
Drew Dimmel
Dave Dusik
Claude Dorsey
Dave Eckert
Bob Evans
Laurie Everett
Andy Fales
Scott Feldman
Don Fortune
Jere Gish
Steve Grant
Pete Grigsby
Jeremy Hubbard
Dick Hocter
Crystal Jackson
Bruce Jones
Cheryll Jones
Michele McCormack
Susan Miller
Natalie Moultrie
Bill Pikus
Torey Southwick
Dave Stewart
Ted Texter
Robb Yagmin