Radio-TV Broadcast History
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Chronology data should be put on the appropriate chronology page ("Chronology of call letters KXTV") .

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KXTV
Sacramento, California
Branding News10
Slogan Committed to News and Connected to Our Community
Channels Digital: 10 (VHF)
Subchannels (see article)
Affiliations ABC
Owner Gannett Company

(KXTV, Inc.)

First air date March 20, 1955
Call letters' meaning X = Roman numeral 10 (for channel number)

TV

Former callsigns KBET-TV (1955-1959)
Former channel number(s) Analog:

10 (VHF, 1955-2009) Digital: 61 (UHF)

Former affiliations CBS (1955-1995)
Transmitter power 34.5 kW
Height 611.9 m
Facility ID 25048
Transmitter coordinates 38°14′24″N 121°30′3″W / 38.24°N 121.50083°W / 38.24; -121.50083
Website www.news10.net

Contents[]

[hide]#*1 History

    • 2 News10 Weather Tower
    • 3 Digital television and high definition
      • 3.1 Digital television
      • 3.2 High-definition
    • 4 Programming
    • 5 News operation
      • 5.1 News10 Information Center
      • 5.2 News/station presentation
        • 5.2.1 Newscast titles
        • 5.2.2 Station slogans
      • 5.3 News team
        • 5.3.1 Current on-air staff
        • 5.3.2 Former news staff
    • 6 Out-of-market carriage
    • 7 References
    • 8 External links

History[]

The station went on the air on March 19, 1955 as KBET, owned by locally-based Sacramento Telecasters. McClatchy, owner of the Sacramento Bee newspaper, and Sacramento Telecasters had long fought over the television broadcast station permit before the Federal Communications Commission and ultimately in federal court.[2]

In 1959, the call letters became KXTV (the "X" being the Roman numeral for the VHF channel it broadcasts on, channel 10) when Corinthian Broadcasting bought the station. Corinthian became part of Dun & Bradstreet in 1971. The A.H. Belo Corporation bought all of Dun & Bradstreet's television stations (except for two in Indiana, which went to LIN Broadcasting) in February 1984.

From its founding until 1995, KXTV was an affiliate of CBS. As a CBS affiliate, the station preempted some lower-rated daytime (the 9-10am block in the 1980s and early 1990s) and late night (from the late 1980s until the arrival of The Late Show with David Letterman in 1993) programs. KXTV also preempted Sunday morning cartoons that CBS offered from the 60's until the early 80's. In 1991, KXTV dropped The Price Is Right, due to the abundance of syndicated programming commitments. After several months of complaints, KXTV reinstated The Price Is Right, but to make room for syndicated programming it was committed to carry, dropped Guiding Light due to low ratings in the early 1990s. While most CBS stations aired The Young and The Restless from 11 a.m.-noon, KXTV moved it to the 3 p.m. timeslot in 1994 where the soap did well. As a CBS affiliate, KXTV's station ID included an electronic alarm like version of the infamous CBS "ding".

Then, on March 6, 1995, in an unprecedented move in local television, KXTV swapped affiliations with KOVR, switching networks from CBS to ABC. KXTV is the third station in Sacramento to affiliate with ABC. Low-performing ABC affiliate KCCC Channel 40 (now the home of KTXL) had it first before shutting down and the network moved to KOVR. As an ABC affiliate, the station preempted the half-hour soap airing in the 12:30 timeslot (Loving/The City/Port Charles), at some point running it on overnights; but when the network axed the programming block outright in the early 2000s; KXTV has aired the entire schedule of ABC programming since then. For the first 6 months as an ABC affiliate, KXTV preempted an hour of ABC Saturday morning cartoons, but since the Fall of 1995 has run the entire Saturday morning block. KXTV aired All My Children at 3 p.m. in the early years as an ABC affiliate (probably because it previously aired a soap from CBS in that timeslot and to maintain a similar type of show in that slot), before finally following the niche of airing it at noon alongside majority of the ABC stations—only after the midday newscast moved an hour earlier from noon to 11 a.m.

Four years later, in 1999, Belo traded KXTV to Gannett for that company's KVUE in Austin, Texas. (This actually marked a re-entry into the Sacramento television market for Gannett, who briefly owned KOVR during the late 1950s.) That same year, KXTV began digital broadcasts on a new and separate HDTV channel called 10.1. Then, in 2001, to reflect the station's commitment to its news coverage, KXTV decided to become better known as "News10". In 2006 News 10 started broadcasting a 24 hour weather channel on its second HDTV channel called 10.2.

Until recently, KXTV had first choice on all King World programs offered locally—King World has since become CBS Television Distribution and acquisition policies may have now changed. Nevertheless, KXTV holds the local syndication rights to Jeopardy!, Inside Edition, and Wheel of Fortune (all King World-turned-CBS properties). Until 2002, the station also held the local syndication rights to The Oprah Winfrey Show (now another CBS property seen locally on KCRA/KQCA). It is these shows that have made News10 one of the highest-rated local stations in daytime television. Since 2002-2003, KXTV has been the local television home of the Sacramento Kings, the city's National Basketball Association franchise, which coincides with its network's coverage of NBA games. The station picked up the rights to Kings telecasts in the middle of the 2002-03 season due to the contractual dispute between the team and its then-rights holder, ex-UPN station KMAX. As of 2009, the Sacramento Kings have moved their broadcasts exclusively to Comcast Sportsnet California.

In the late 2000s, KXTV heavily promoted its weather coverage as part of its "Connected to Our Community" marketing campaign. Over-the-air promotions introduced weather presenters and touted weather coverage on the internet (news10.net), on its dedicated digital weather channel (channel 10.2, referred to as "ten-dot-two"), and "on the 10s" (at :10, :20, :30, etc.) on "News 10 Good Morning," its 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. newscast.

Also in the late 2000s, KXTV intensively covered local high school football, especially during Friday news broadcasts. In 2007, for example, the segments were known as "Friday Night Football." The station's helicopter flew from one high school to another to capture aerial shots of the various games. KCRA had its own version called "High School Playbook."

On September 12, 2005, KXTV launched a morning program called Sacramento & Company (shows like this are on a number of Gannett stations) hosted by Kristen Simoes and Guy Farris. Sacramento & Co. is a local morning lifestyles and entertainment show that is sponsored by local companies. The show airs weekdays from 9-10 a.m. and is available online.

KXTV became the market's only commercial station to remain on the VHF dial when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) completed the digital transition on June 12, 2009. [1]

News10 Weather Tower[]

The News10 Weather Tower at day time.The News10 Weather Tower at night time.The News 10 weather tower was debuted on August 24, 2001, the same day the California State Fair opened. It was completed on October 11, 2000, but News10 decided to debut it later because of the rolling blackouts at that time. It was built and designed by Nacht & Lewis Architects based in downtown Sacramento. The television station, an anchor facility and active proponent of improvements to the Broadway Street Corridor, elected not to construct a conventional broadcast tower, examples of which may be seen throughout Sacramento.

The proposed design melds the rather demanding engineering requirements for communications towers with sensitivity to the suggestions of the surrounding residents while creating an icon and gateway for the Broadway Corridor. The top glows with a different color based on the weather conditions or the result of a Sacramento Kings or the Sacramento Monarchs win.

Color Description
Yellow Sunny or clear conditions forecast for tomorrow
Green Rain is in the area, but there is no severe weather.
Blue High winds are in the area, but a severe weather watch has not been issued.
White Cloudy
Red The temperatures are above 100 degrees or a severe weather watch or warning has been issued.
Purple The Sacramento Kings (during the NBA season) have won their latest game.

KXTV is one of two Gannett-owned stations that operate a weather tower, ABC-affiliated sister station WZZM (channel 13) in Grand Rapids, Michigan operates two "Weatherballs", which function similarly to KXTV's weather tower in downtown Grand Rapids and in Flint, Michigan.

Digital television and high definition[]

Digital television[]

Digital channels

Channel Name Programming
10.1 KXTV-DT News10/ABC HD Programming
10.2 The Local AccuWeather Channel News10.2

High-definition[]

KXTV produces Friday Night Football highlights and Johnathan Mumm's "California Postcard" segments in high-definition. KXTV's talk show, "Sacramento & Co." produced an all-HD produced TV special called "The Future Is HDTV on News10", profiling the FCC's imposed transition from an Analog television signal to a Digital television signal. The special also show-cased HD produced shows from ABC as well as some syndicated shows.

On December 16, 2009 at 11 p.m., KXTV began broadcasting its newscasts in high definition, becoming the 3rd Sacramento TV station (behind Hearst's KCRA/KQCA and CBS' KOVR/KMAX), and 9th Gannett-owned station to do so.[3] Only the in-studio portions are in HD; the remote field footage is in upconverted 16:9 widescreen standard definition.

On KXTV's digital subchannel 10.2, The AccuWeather Channel broadcasts live National weather, plus local KXTV weather. It is available online.

Programming[]

Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune have aired on KXTV since the mid-1980s (back when it was CBS). Until 2002, The Oprah Winfrey Show also aired on KXTV, but it has since moved to KCRA.

News operation[]

Prior to adopting the current News10 newscast branding in 1983; KXTV's newscasts had successively identified as Shell News, The Big News, Channel 10 News, Newservice 10 (in the 1970s), and Eyewitness News (early 1980s [2]). For the past two decades (dating back to its time as a CBS affiliate), KXTV has been a distant runner-up to KCRA. In the past two years, KXTV's 11 p.m. newscast has frequently finished in last place in total households among all of the major stations' late-night newscasts (not counting the KCRA-produced 10 p.m. newscast on KQCA).

Hank Thornley was the station's first news anchorman (of Shell News), from 1955 to 1960. Paul Meeks was the station's first news photographer.

News10 Information Center[]

The Information center located in the News10 newsroom debuted on February 5, 2007 where the News10 Now updates are conducted and online stories are written for the web site. On June 12, 2008 KXTV revealed a new website that lets viewers create a profile and become members of News10.net that allows them to post comments, pictures, write blogs and communicate to News10 people provided by SiteLife.

News/station presentation[]

Newscast titles[]

  1. Shell News (1950s)
  2. KXTV News (1960s)
  3. The Wilson-Gray Report (1960s)
  4. Channel 10 News (1960s-1970s)
  5. Newservice 10 (1970s)
  6. Eyewitness News (1970s-1986)
  7. News10 (1986–present)

Station slogans[]

  • The Best is Right Here on Channel 10 / Channel 10 is Easy on the Eyes (1973-1974; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • See the Best...Channel 10 (1974-1975; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • Catch the Brightest Stars on Channel 10 (1975-1976; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • Channel 10, We're the Hot Ones (1976-1977; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • There's Something in the Air, on Channel 10 (1977-1978; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • Channel 10, Turn Us On, We'll Turn You On (1978-1979; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • We're Looking Good on Channel 10 (1979-1980; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • Looking Good Together, Channel 10 (1980-1981; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • Reach for the Stars on Channel 10 (1981-1982; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • Great Moments on Channel 10 (1982-1983; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • We've Got the Touch, You and Channel 10 (1983-1984; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • You and Channel 10, We've Got the Touch (1984-1985; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • We've Got the Touch on Channel 10 (1985-1986; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • Share the Spirit on Channel 10 (1986-1987; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • The Spirit of California (1986–2005)
  • Channel 10 Spirit, Oh Yeah! (1987-1988; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • You Can Feel It on Channel 10 (1988-1989; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • California, Get Ready for Channel 10 (1989-1990; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • Get Ready for Channel 10! (1990-1991; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • The Look of California is Channel 10 (1991-1992; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • This is CBS, on Channel 10 (1992-1993; localized version of CBS ad campaign)
  • Committed to News and Connected to Our Community (2005–present)
This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.===News team===

Current on-air staff[]

(Date person joined KXTV in parentheses) Anchors

Weather Team

  • Ken Barlow (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. (2010)
  • Darla Givens - Meteorologist; weekends (1999)
  • Mellisa Paul - Weather Anchor; weekdays at 11 a.m. (2010)
  • Monica Woods - Meteorologist; weekday mornings "News 10 Good Morning" (2001)
  • Harry Stockman - Weather Anchor; fill-in, former full-time station meteorologist

Sports Team

  • Bryan May - Sports Director; weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m. (1999)
  • Ryan Yamamoto - Sports Anchor; weekends at 6 and 11 p.m., also sports reporter (2005)

Reporters

Former news staff[]

Name Position at KXTV Years Active Whereabouts
Dan Adams News10 reporter 1981-2008 (27 years) Now retired, living in Mexico
Beth Duncan News10 Good Morning traffic anchor 1998–2001 Local radio traffic
Justin Allen Fill-in sports anchor Few months in late 2005 Now at WTSP in Tampa Bay
Rene Apple Fill-in traffic anchor Few months in 2002 Metro traffic radio in Sacramento
Cecil King News10 Good Morning pilot 2004- Early 2005 Private Sacramento pilot
Jim Frazier Sports anchor 1995–1998 and again freelanced in late 2002 Radio sports show talk host
Anne Makovec Morning/midday reporter 2009-2010 Now reporter at KPIX in San Francisco
Alicia Malaby Weekend anchor/reporter 1999–2010 Communications director for the California Dental Association in Sacramento
Rob Marshall Air 10 Pilot 1990s- November 2003 Now at KCNC-TV in Denver, CO
J.D Maher Weekend meteorologist January 2000- June 2005 Now at KTXL-40 freelancing
Kym McNicholas Fill-in sports anchor Few months in 2002 Now at Sacramento Comcast Cable Sports
Julie Durda Traffic anchor/Air10 traffic reporter Intern since 2003, on-air job summer 2005- July 2006. Now weathercaster in Miami, FL
Marcey Brightwell Political reporter October 2001- January 2009 Deputy Managing Director at R&K Grayling Communications in Sacramento
Will Selva Sports anchor March 2003-March 2005 Sports anchor ESPNEWS
Kiran Chetry Morning anchor/reporter 1998–2001 Now at CNN in New York City
John Delatorre Morning meteorologist 1998–2001 Now President of Deladiep, Inc. & Fun Stix Magnets, Inc.
Jane McCarthy Reporter 1999- April 2004 Was at KING-TV in Seattle, WA (2004–2009), now weeknight anchor at KREM 2 Spokane, WA; married to former KTXL anchor Tim Robinson
Tom Helmer Fill-in sports anchor Few months in 2003 Host of FSN's nationally televised BCS Breakdown and FSN Baseball Report
Dick Cable Anchor 1969–1998 Currently retired in Sacramento
Sande Drew Anchor/reporter 1970–1975 Public relations
Jerome Gray Reporter 1987–1991 Now at KPRC-TV Houston
Dana Howard Reporter/weekend anchor 1992–2010 Works for CAL EPA
Mark Hedlund Reporter 1981–2009 Works for California Senate Democratic Caucus as a radio reporter
Kelly Jackson Morning anchor 2007–2010 Living in St. Louis, MO
Dana Jacobson Weekend sports anchor 1998- October 2002 Former ESPN host of Cold Pizza and now host of ESPN First Take
Elissa Lynn Chief meteorologist 1996–2006 California Department of Water Resources
Steve Newman Meteorologist 1975–1978 Moved to WFAA 1978-1980 then several San Francisco TV stations until retiring in 2001. Now writes Earthweek distributed by Universal Press Syndicate.
Beth Ruyak Anchor 1992–1995 Hosts "Pulse" and "Your Health" shows on KCRA
Creighton Sanders Sports anchor 1960–1980 Moved to KCRA-TV, then retired
Aimee Sporer Nightside anchor 1989–1992 Anchored at KCNC-TV 1992-2002, now a stay-at-home mom [3]
Stuart Satow Sports director, anchor 1980–2002 Now with CPS services in Sacramento
Jonathan Masaki Freelance reporter 2004-2007 (was stationed in Iraq for a year) Now with the National Guard
Kim Herlihy Morning traffic 2000 (6 months) English Elk Grove High School teacher
Hank Thronley First News10 anchor 1955–1960 Retired
Ken Wayne Morning anchor 1998–2000 Now at KTVU-TV Oakland, CA weekend anchor
Alan Frio Anchor 1970s-1997 Now at WSMV-TV
Lex Boyd Anchor 1950s-19?? Now retired
Pamela Tom Freelance reporter Few months in late 2002-early 2003 Now at KGO-TV freelancing
Mary Pae Freelance reporter Few months in late 2002 Unknown
Deborah Pacyna State reporter 1984–2001 Director Public Affairs for the California Association of Health Facilities in Sacramento
Kelly Brothers Financial reporter January 2006-October 2007 Now at KCRA again (morning financial expert)
Monika Diaz General assignment reporter October 2003- November 2007 Now at WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas
Jaime Garza News 10 Good Morning anchor and reporter October 1991-June 1995 Later anchor/reporter at CBS2/KCAL 9 LA (1995–2008), now main weeknight anchor at KTXL
Thea Tio General assignment reporter ?-2007 Now at WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, NY
Larry Palmer Goodwin General assignment reporter 1978–1984 Now retired and living in Southern California
*Patty Souza Chief meteorologist April 2006-September 2009 Left while on vacation at KXTV in July, officially announced her resignation from KXTV in October 2009.[4]
Gregg Lalka Meteorologist July 2005-August 2009 Now weekend weather anchor at KSBW in Salinas/Monterey
*Cristi Jessee General assignment reporter 2005 as assignment editor, 2008 on-air job-2009 Now news director at KSAX, Alexandria, MN
Louisa Hodge Reporter September-December 2009 Now reporter at KRON-TV San Francisco
Deborah Hoffman Reporter 1995-2009 Now spokesperson for California State Senator Fran Pavley

Out-of-market carriage[]

KXTV can be seen on cable in eastern portions of the Bay Area and in all of Butte County as a competitor to KGO and KRCR, respectively.

References[]

  1. ^ "Burj Dubai is now world’s tallest manmade structure". Thaindian News. April 7, 2008. http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/burj-dubai-is-now-worlds-tallest-manmade-structure_10035445.html. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
  2. ^ McClatchy Broadcasting Co. v. F.C.C., 239 F.2d 15 (U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, 1956).
  3. ^ http://www.news10.net/life/entertainment/local-entertainment/story.aspx?storyid=70620&catid=103
  4. ^ http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/ticket/archives/2009/09/tv-meteorologis.html Patty Souza announces her resignation from KXTV published 01-10-2009 Sacramento Bee

External links[]

  1. REDIRECT Chronology of call letters KXTV
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