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Phoenix, Arizona | |
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Branding | 3TV |
Slogan | Arizona's Family (general) The Place with More News (news) Everywhere, Always There (breaking news) |
Channels | Digital: 24 (UHF) Virtual: 3 (PSIP) |
Subchannels | See below |
Affiliations | Independent This TV (DT2) |
Owner | Belo Corporation (KTVK, Inc.) |
First air date | February 28, 1955 |
Call letters' meaning | KTVK - "Because TV will be our middle name" |
Sister station(s) | KASW KMSB-TV KTTU |
Former channel number(s) | Analog: 3 (VHF, 1955-2009) |
Former affiliations | ABC (1955-1995) The WB (January–September 1995) Fox Kids (1994-1995) |
Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
Height | 501 m (1,644 ft) |
Facility ID | 40993 |
Transmitter coordinates | 33°20′0.9″N 112°3′47.9″W / 33.333583°N 112.063306°W |
Website | AZFamily |
KTVK (known on-air as 3TV) is a full-service, independent television station in Phoenix, Arizona. It broadcasts in digital on UHF channel 24 from a transmitter located on South Mountain in Phoenix, and can be seen across northern Arizona on a network of nearly two dozen translator stations. Per Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations, the station identifies itself on television tuners as channel 3 through PSIP. KTVK is owned by the Belo Corporation of Dallas, Texas.
From its sign on in 1955 until 1995, KTVK was affiliated with ABC and was one of that network's strongest affiliates. Syndicated programs broadcast on KTVK include America's Court with Judge Ross, Inside Edition, Everybody Loves Raymond, Dr. Phil and The Dr. Oz Show as well as rights to broadcast other syndicated shows.
Contents |
Digital channels
Channel | Video | Aspect | Programming |
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3.1 | 16:9 | 1080i | Main KTVK programming |
3.2 | 4:3 | 480i | This TV |
On June 12, 2009, the day mandated by the US federal government for TV stations to cease analog transmissions across the country, KTVK ended regular analog programming and switched to the nightlight service on channel 3, while continuing digital broadcasts on channel 24, which it chose for its post-transition channel.[1][2] Through the use of PSIP, KTVK's digital broadcast identifies to television receivers as virtual channel 3.
KTVK's "nightlight" service, which was intended to remind TV viewers of the switch to digital, was originally to last 30 days, but was instead ended on June 26 after two weeks.[3]
On September 22, 2009 it was announced that KTVK will be adding This TV to its 3.2 digital subchannel.[4] The subchannel launched one month later, on October 20.
Former Senator Ernest McFarland, author of the GI Bill, was awed by the new medium of television. With a few friends, he formed the Arizona Television Company and applied for a television license. On March 1, 1955—shortly after McFarland was elected governor of Arizona—KTVK signed on as Phoenix's fourth television station. It immediately became an ABC affiliate. McFarland chose the calls "because TV will be our middle name."[5]
KTVK cleared most of ABC's network schedule except lower-rated daytime shows, as well as an occasional show during prime time. It soon built a translator network stretching across the entire state of Arizona, including Tucson. Occasionally, it pre-empted ABC programming so as not to interfere with Tucson's local ABC affiliate, KGUN (channel 9). Despite the pre-emptions, ABC was generally satisfied with KTVK, one of its strongest affiliates.
KTVK's news department was a very distant second to longtime leader KOOL-TV (channel 10, later KTSP-TV and now KSAZ-TV) for many years, even when KTAR-TV (channel 12)'s 1979 sale to Gannett (and call letter change to KPNX) made it the only locally-owned network affiliate in the market. When McFarland died in 1984, the station's ownership was taken over by his daughter Jewell and her husband Delbert Lewis.
The station's fortunes began to improve significantly after several news managers from KTSP defected to KTVK in 1986. An aggressive marketing campaign, a new brand ("NewsChannel 3"), and a popular new anchor team finally helped make KTVK a truly competitive player in news. By the late 1980s, KTVK was the top-rated station in Arizona. A Saturday morning newscast from 7 to 9 a.m. was launched in 1993.
KTVK's atmosphere was somewhat different from what was typical for a Big Three-affiliated major-market station. McFarland ran his station as a "mom and pop" business, and had an open-door policy which the Lewises continued when they took over the station. Employee turnover was very low, and hugs were very common in the newsroom. This was an outgrowth of the station's longtime slogan, "Arizona's Family".
In the spring of 1994, New World Communications announced an affiliation deal with Fox in which most of its stations became Fox affiliates. One of the stations to switch was KSAZ, Phoenix' longtime CBS affiliate.[6] CBS approached KTVK, but the Lewises turned the offer down, expecting a renewed pact with ABC. However, much to the Lewises' surprise, KNXV's owner, the E. W. Scripps Company, forced ABC to switch its affiliation to KNXV (which was to lose its Fox affiliation) as a condition of keeping ABC on Scripps' two biggest stations, WEWS in Cleveland and WXYZ-TV in Detroit. KTVK then approached CBS in an effort to secure that network affiliation, but Meredith Corporation, owner of then-independent KPHO-TV (channel 5), convinced CBS to move its affiliation there as a condition of keeping CBS on KCTV in Kansas City.
The Lewises appealed to the Federal Communications Commission on grounds that Scripps had "abused its license power for anti-competitive purposes", but their appeal was denied.[6] After nearly 40 years with ABC, the Lewises decided to make KTVK an independent station. Channel 3 immediately began purchasing more programming and increasing local news production.[6] In August, it dropped Good Morning America and launched Good Morning Arizona in the 6–9 AM slot, featuring anchor Jodi Applegate and meteorologist Royal Norman. The 6–7 AM slot had previously been occupied by a more traditional newscast. Since KNXV was on its way to becoming an ABC affiliate, it began to air Good Morning America beginning in September 1994.
By December 15, 1994, KTVK also dropped Mike and Maty (of which KTVK had only aired 30 minutes daily), World News Now, and Nightline, which were also picked up by KNXV. At that point, ABC's cartoons also moved to KNXV, with KTVK dropping its Saturday morning newscasts and running Fox Kids (which had been turned down by KSAZ) instead. By then, KTVK was only airing prime-time programming, sports, and the major soaps from ABC.
KTVK renewed Oprah and Inside Edition, and purchased all the available King World shows such as Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! (which was not renewed by KSAZ, and are now seen on KNXV), American Journal (not renewed by KPNX), Rolonda, Branded (for weekends), and The Little Rascals (for weekends). KTVK also affiliated with the WB Network.
KNXV officially became Phoenix's ABC affiliate on January 9, 1995. The station nominally became the market's WB affiliate but initially, The WB only had one night a week of programming, which KTVK chose to air on Saturday nights. The WB added a second night of programming in mid-1995, which KTVK aired on Sunday. With WB only occupying two nights of programming, KTVK was essentially an independent station. It also broadcast Fox Kids weekend mornings from the time they became an indepednent until September 1995 when KASW signed on. The station aired Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and several off-network sitcoms during prime time. On weekends, KTVK filled time with classic sitcoms and old movies. A quirk of the Fox Kids schedule on KTVK was that Animaniacs and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers aired on Sundays at 6 and 6:30 p.m. (respectively), after the news and before its 7 p.m. movie. (In addition to the situations that happened in San Francisco and Jacksonville, a similar situation occurred in Canada where longtime CTV affiliate CJON-TV in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, known locally as NTV, became an independent station, but still carries news programming from CTV and both news and entertainment programming from the rival Global.)
KTVK owned a substantial programming inventory, but didn't have enough time in its broadcast day to air it all, even after dropping ABC. As such, upon becoming an independent, KTVK entered into an agreement with the Brooks family to program the station, KASW (channel 61), when it signs on in September 1995. KTVK entered into a local marketing agreement with the new station. KASW became the WB affiliate, and KTVK bought the new station's entire broadcast day. KASW also picked up Fox Kids programming soon after and KTVK then reinstated Saturday morning newscasts. On the same day KASW took over the WB affiliation, the Arizona Television Company officially changed its name to MAC America Communications, after its founder's nickname, "Mac." By this time, it had grown to include two FM stations, a magazine and the Arizona News Channel, a joint venture with Cox Communications launched on November 4, 1996.[7]
KTVK ran news from 5 to 9 a.m., talk shows 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., news at 11 a.m., more talk shows until 5 p.m., news 5 to 6:30 p.m., Entertainment Tonight 6:30 p.m., Wheel Of Fortune and Jeopardy in the 7 p.m. hour, reruns of recent sitcoms in the 8 p.m. hour, Star Trek: The Next Generation at 9 p.m., news at 10 p.m., and late at night a mix of old sitcoms, old movies, and reruns of talk shows. Weekends had less news and a mix of movies and classic sitcoms. Most of the older shows also ran on KASW at different times.
In 1998, KTVK briefly aired The Howard Stern Show; after two episodes, it and KJTV-TV in Lubbock, Texas, stopped airing the program. KTVK aired it after its 10 p.m. news.[8]
MAC America decided to sell off most of its media assets, including KTVK, in 1999, but was very selective about a buyer. It wanted to sell to a company that would continue to keep a local presence at the station (particularly important to the Lewises, as KTVK was the last locally-owned station in the market) and allow the station to continue its growth of the last decade. In the end, it sold KTVK, the LMA with KASW and its share of the Arizona News Channel to the Belo Corporation in 1999, ending 44 years of McFarland-Lewis ownership[9] (Belo eventually bought KASW outright in 2001). In 2000, Belo and Cox partnered to produce a new Spanish-language channel, ¡Más! Arizona. It launched October 16 of that year.[10] In recent years, KTVK expanded newscasts more, added more talk shows, and totally moved away from older shows. KASW made similar changes gradually as well. Eventually KTVK would not renew Wheel and Jeopardy and those shows moved to KNXV.
Without a network affiliation, KTVK fills primetime with Dr. Phil, Oprah, and an hour-long 9 p.m. newscast (which competes with the 9 p.m. newscast on Fox-owned KSAZ, that started at the same time as KTVK's). Even with the meteoric rise of KPNX after it stayed with NBC and that network rocketed to the top of the ratings, KTVK remained the dominant news station in Arizona well through 2003; KTVK held the evening news crown that year and KPNX led in late news.[11] That year, KTVK's Oprah was also the top syndicated show in the market.
KTVK was the original over-the-air home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, beginning broadcasts when the team joined the National League in 1998. The team remained on KTVK through the end of the 2007 season, when the team opted to move all of its English-language broadcasts (not counting national broadcasts) to FSN Arizona.
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Wikinews has related news: Two news helicopters crash in Phoenix, Arizona |
On July 27, 2007 at exactly 12:46:20pm MST, KTVK's News Chopper 3 was involved in a mid-air collision when local ABC affiliate KNXV-TV's helicopter struck it from behind.[12] The collision occurred above Steele Indian School Park, near Third Street and Indian School Road, while both aircraft were covering a police car pursuit in downtown Phoenix.[13] All four people on both helicopters were killed, including KTVK pilot Scott Bowerbank and photographer Jim Cox.[14] The cause of the crash is now being investigated.
Currently, KTVK broadcasts a total of 52½ hours of local newscasts each week (with 8½ hours on weekdays and five hours on weekends); this gives the station the largest local news output of any television station in the state of Arizona, surpassing area Fox affiliate KSAZ's weekly news total by 3½ hours, though the two stations produce an equal amount of local newscasts (8½ hours) on weekdays.
Among the station's flagship programs is "Good Morning Arizona," one of the country's original long-format local TV morning newscasts. Running from 4:30 to 10 a.m. weekdays and 7 to 10 a.m. on weekends, the show has been a long-time ratings winner and the highest-rated program of its kind in the nation. "GMAZ" has its own budget, writers and on-air staff. Jodi Applegate was the original host of "Good Morning Arizona" from 1994 until 1996, when she joined NBC as a weekend Today Show anchor. Currently, April Warnecke and Javier Soto anchor the 4:30 a.m. half-hour, while Kaley O'Kelley and Scott Pasmore co-anchor from 5-8 a.m. to 10 a.m. "Good Morning Arizona" was also simulcast on KTVK's sister Fox affiliate in Tucson, KMSB until February 2012, when Raycom-owned CBS affiliate KOLD-TV began to produce its own morning newscast as part of an overall takeover of its operations.[15]
Even with the station's loss of the ABC affiliation in 1995, the station's newscasts still receive high ratings. Its evening newscast, "Good Evening Arizona," regularly trounces the national networks' newscasts in the ratings. KTVK is one of the nation's most successful independent stations.
On April 26, 2007, KTVK became the third television station in Arizona (following NBC affiliates KPNX in Phoenix and KVOA in Tucson) to broadcast their local newscasts in high definition. On March 1, 2009, KTVK, KPHO-TV and KPNX began to share a news helicopter through a Local News Service agreement.[16][17][18]
On January 25, 2010, Good Morning Arizona expanded by one hour, running from 4:30 to 10 a.m., while the 11 a.m. newscast Good Day Arizona was discontinued.[19] Good Day Arizona anchor Frank Camacho will now host a weekly politics show, Politics Unplugged on Sundays at 5:30 p.m. and be the chief political reporter for the station. On August 22, 2011, KTVK will launch a weeknight 10 p.m. newscast, bringing the station's weekdaily news output to nine hours each weekday, the addition will also return a local newscast in that timeslot.[20]
According to Tess Rafols, weekend anchor of Good Morning Arizona, GMAZ Saturday had the highest ratings in the February 2010 ratings period of any other newscast in Phoenix. Also, KTVK is currently advertising that Good Evening Arizona is #1 in the ratings during the 4:30-6:30 p.m. hours. As such, it has been one of the strongest independent (non-network-affiliated) stations in the country since it dropped ABC in 1995.
News Shows
Good Morning Arizona Weekday (Monday - Friday 4:30am-10am)
Anchors
Weather
Sports
Traffic
Fort McDowell News Chopper
News Chopper 20 (as part of a Local News Service agreement, the helicopter is shared with KPHO-TV and KPNX and operated by Helicopters Inc. News 20 because when you add 3,5,12 together you get 20)
Good Evening Arizona Weekday (Monday - Friday 4:30pm-6:30pm)
Anchors
Weather
Sports
News @ 9 (Monday - Friday 9pm-10pm)
Anchors
Weather
Sports
News @ 10 (Monday - Friday 10pm-10:30pm)
Anchors
Weather
Sports
Good Morning Arizona Weekend (Saturday - Sunday 7am-10am)
Anchors
Weather
Sports
Good Evening Arizona Weekend (Saturday,Sunday 5-5:30pm)
Anchors
Weather
Sports
News @ 9(Saturday,Sunday 9-9:30pm)
Anchors
Weather
Sports
Reporters
Politics Unplugged (Sunday @ 5:30pm)
AAA Highroads(Sunday @4:30pm)
Awards
Name | Position at KTVK | Years Active | Whereabouts |
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Jodi Applegate | Good Morning Arizona Anchor | 1993–1996 | Left to become Today Show anchor. Now anchors the 10PM news on WPIX in New York as of Monday, October 11. |
Scott Bowerbank | News Chopper 3 Pilot/Reporter | 2004–2007 | Killed in collision.[23] |
Mike Chamberlin | Sports Anchor, later News Co-Anchor | Early 1990s-2004 | Weekend sports anchor at KPHO Phoenix, retired in 2008 to pursue Christian music career.[24] |
Mitch Duncan | Evening News Co-Anchor | Weekend news anchor at KFMB-TVSan Diego, instructor, San Diego State University, Deceased | |
Patricio Espinoza | Reporter, KTVK and News Anchor, KTVK's ¡Más! Arizona[10] | 2000–2003 | Moved to Univision's KXLN Houston as Investigative Reporter/Anchor. Winner of several Texas Lone Star Emmys now manages AlamoCityTimes.com and freelances for ABC News |
Olivia Fierro | Good Morning Arizona Anchor | 2003–2009 | Left to become evening news anchor at Fox affiliate KVVU in Las Vegas |
Jim Cox | News Chopper 3 Camera Operator | 1996–2007 | Killed in collision.[23] |
Kim Dillon | Meteorologist | to 2005 | Terminated after being arrested for theft.Found guilty.[25] |
Heidi Fogelsong | Nighttime Anchor | 1985–1992 | At KTAR-FM |
Jerry Foster | News Chopper 3 Pilot/Traffic Reporter | 1994–1996 | Fired after an associate was indicted on drug charges. https://www.sky12.tv/ |
Liz Habib | News Anchor; Good Evening Arizona, 10pm News | 1994 to 2004 | At KTTV Los Angeles, Reporter, Anchor |
Cameron Harper | Nighttime Anchor | 1984–1993 | At WPTY-TV in Memphis, Tennessee |
Jim Howl | Weather Forecaster | Mid 1970s-1996 | Weathercaster for KFNX-AM Phoenix; ran for Arizona governorship in 1998 |
Kirsten Joyce | Weekend Anchor/Reporter | 2006–2010 | Weekend Anchor at KCPQ-TV in Seattle/Tacoma |
Chera Kimiko | Reporter | 2000s (decade) | Main Anchor at KOKI-TV in Tulsa, Oklahoma |
Cater Lee | Weekday Evening Anchor | Mid 1990s | Currently a reporter and anchor for KCBS-TV/KCAL-TV |
Brad Perry | Reporter/Weatherman for Good Morning Arizona | 1998–2009 | Laid off. Originally planned to start music career.[26] Now morning weather anchor for Good Morning San Diego on KUSI. |
Rock Rote | Sports Director/Anchor/Host/Color Commentator | 1980s | Managing Director at Weather Central Inc. in Madison, WI |
Ray Scott | Sports Anchor | 1980s | Former CBS play-by-play broadcaster, deceased |
Ross Shimabuku | Sports Anchor | 2000s (decade) | Currently sportscaster for KSWB-TV |
Ray Thompson | Weekday Evening Anchor | Late 1970s | Previously at KTAR (KPNX); retired |
Gil Tyree | Sports Anchor | 1986–2001 | At WGCL in Atlanta, Georgia |
Ray Vaughn | Evening News Co-Anchor | Lawyer in Edmond, Oklahoma; County Commissioner, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma | |
Tara Hitchcock | Morning News Co-Anchor | 1997–2011 | Plans not announced |
Frank Camacho | General assignment reporter, Host of "Politics Unplugged" | 1984–2011 | Communications Director for the State Democratic Party |
KTVK is rebroadcast on the following translator stations:
KTVK is available on cable in Yuma, the Imperial Valley, California and Coachella, California Country Cable services.[citation needed]
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