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KCAL-TV

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KCAL-TV (Channel 9) is an independent station in Los Angeles, California. This station, owned by CBS Corporation who also owns KCBS-TV Channel 2, has a signal radius that covers the Southern California region. Its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.

Contents

History

Early years

Channel 9 went on the air as KFI-TV (call meaning: K Farmer's Information) on August 25, 1948, owned by Earle C. Anthony along with KFI-AM 640. Since KFI-AM had long been affiliated with NBC, KFI-TV served for a brief period as L.A.'s NBC television affiliate, until KNBH (now KNBC) went on the air several months later in 1949. The station then went independent, a status it has retained to this day (though it carried some DuMont programming).

RKO General acquired the station in 1951. It had bought KHJ-AM and -FM a few months earlier, so it changed the TV station's calls to KHJ-TV (meaning: Kindness, Happiness and Joy). KHJ radio had been the flagship of the Don Lee Broadcasting System, a regional West Coast radio network. The Don Lee name was so well respected in California broadcasting that KHJ-TV called itself "Don Lee Television" for a few years in the early 1950s, even though it had never been affiliated with KHJ radio until the 1951 deal. Don Lee had operated KTSL channel 2 and simply moved their operation to channel 9 (after CBS purchased channel 2, re-named KNXT) when KFI-TV (Ch. 9) owner Earle C. Anthony, Inc. sold the station rather than suffer through a strike by the station engineers.

RKO ownership, the licensing scandal, and sale to Disney

In 1965, RKO faced a challenge to its license for KHJ from a group called Fidelity Television. At first, Fidelity's challenge focused on KHJ's programming quality. Later, and more seriously, Fidelity claimed that KHJ was involved in reciprocal trade practices. Fidelity alleged that RKO's parent company, General Tire, forced its retailers to purchase advertising on KHJ and other RKO stations as a condition of their contracts with General Tire. An administrative law judge found in favor of Fidelity, but KHJ appealed. In 1972, the FCC allowed RKO to keep the license for KHJ, but two years later conditioned future renewals on the renewal of sister station WNAC (now WHDH-TV) in Boston. Six years later, the FCC stripped WNAC of its license for numerous reasons, but largely because RKO had misled the FCC about corporate misconduct at General Tire. The decision meant KHJ and sister station WOR-TV (now WWOR-TV) in New York lost their licenses as well. However, an appeals court ruled that the FCC had erred when it tied KHJ's renewal to that of WNAC and ordered new hearings for KHJ and WOR.

The hearings dragged on until 1987. That year, an administrative law judge found RKO unfit to be a broadcast licensee due to numerous cases of dishonesty by RKO, including fraudulent billing and lying about its ratings. The FCC advised RKO that it would almost certainly deny any appeals, and persuaded RKO to sell its stations to avoid the indignity of having their licenses taken away. Finally, in 1989, RKO agreed to sell KHJ to Fidelity Television, the group that originally challenged the license in 1965. Fidelity then sold the license to Disney.

Even though Channel 9's longtime radio cousins had changed their calls to KRTH-AM and -FM some years before, Disney wanted to make a clean start. Accordingly, it changed the calls to KCAL-TV, and briefly branded the station as "California 9" before settling on "K-CAL 9."

In 1995, Disney purchased Capital Cities/ABC, which owned ABC's West Coast flagship, KABC-TV. Due to FCC regulations at the time, Disney was not allowed to keep both KABC and KCAL. Disney chose to divest KCAL, which was purchased by Young Broadcasting.

Recent years: CBS purchase

As a result of massive debt acquired from purchasing the former NBC affiliate in San Francisco, KRON-TV (which went independent, and beginning in 2006, My Network TV), Young Broadcasting put KCAL up for sale in 2002, and the station was purchased by CBS Corporation. KCAL's operatons were merged with those of KCBS, and KCAL moved from its longtime headquarters at the Paramount Studios (a Viacom property and former owner of rival KTLA) in Hollywood to the historic CBS Columbia Square, home to KCBS-TV/FM and KNX-AM, located one mile away. In 2004, CBS Corporation announced plans to relocate its Los Angeles television stations to a new office complex on the site of its CBS Studio Center in Studio City in 2006, located 5 miles away in the San Fernando Valley, for which groundbreaking took place on June 17, 2005.

\"UPN 9?\"

When CBS Corporation bought KCAL, many in the broadcasting industry have speculated that they would move its UPN network affiliation from Fox Television-owned KCOP-TV to KCAL, making KCAL a UPN O&O. KCOP's previous owners, Chris-Craft Industries, had until 2000 owned a stake in UPN, and KCOP was considered a UPN O&O, which ended with Fox's buyout of Chris-Craft's TV stations division, United Television. However, CBS Corporation decided to leave KCAL as an independent, as Fox renewed its affiliation agreement for its UPN-affiliated stations. Some said the reason is that Fox used KCOP for leverage to keep UPN on WWOR in New York and WPWR-TV in Chicago because CBS Corporation did not have duopolies in those cities.

This issue became moot in January 2006 due to the announcement of The CW, a broadcast network created from a merger of UPN and The WB. The WB's West Coast flagship, KTLA, will be the West Coast flagship for the new network. In February 2006, KCOP will become the West Coast flagship of My Network TV, a new network created by Fox (which itself is owned by News Corp). KCAL will stay independent, at least for now. And due to the mergers, several sister stations that are currently UPN affiliates will join KCAL among a series of independent stations owned by CBS. These stations include: KTXA in Dallas-Fort Worth, and WSBK in Boston. All are in markets where Tribune Corporation owns the WB affiliate.

Programming history

For many years since the station's launch, the showing of motion pictures originally intended for theatrical release was a prime staple of KHJ's programming, although the quality of these showings was somewhat reduced by the necessity for editing in order to show paid advertising. From 1961 to 1963, KHJ-TV was also the television home of MLB's then Los Angeles Angels. They moved to KTLA starting in 1964, when Angels team owner Gene Autry bought KTLA.

KHJ programmed a similar format as KTLA in the 1960s and 1970s. By the late 1960s, Channel 9 offered a blend of movies from the 1940s through '60s (and '70s by 1975). The station also ran a blend of drama shows, westerns, sitcoms, cartoons, professional sports, older movies, syndicated talk shows, game shows, public-affairs shows, locally produced talk shows, religious shows, and live local news. Channel 9 has been the broadcast home of Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association since 1977, and it has the second-longest current station-team broadcast partnership in the NBA (behind Indianapolis' WTTV and the Indiana Pacers, which dates back to the team's days as a member of the original American Basketball Association).

By the mid 1970s, the cartoons were gone (moving to KTTV and KCOP), and the station ran far fewer off-network sitcoms. It focused more on talk shows, game shows, older movies, and dramas. It did have a weekday children's show called Froozles, which ran until the late 1980s. It also produced a local talk show called Mid Morning L.A., hosted over the years by Bob Hilton, Meredith MacRae, Geoff Edwards and Regis Philbin, which ran well into the 1980s. Edwards and MacRae won Emmy Awards for their hosting duties during the early-1980s.

The station abruptly changed formats in the late 1980s, in the wake of its ownership change to Disney. It added a number of cartoons, some of which were from the Walt Disney library. The station also ran other syndicated cartoons, as well as a lot of off-network family sitcoms. For a while it also aired a few first-run syndicated talk shows and movies, as well as dramas.

In the 1970s, KHJ had a 10 p.m. newscast. It was moved to 9 p.m. during the 1980s, and the station later added a half-hour 8 p.m. Newscast during the late 1980s. Some of its most notable personalities included Anchors Tom Lawrence, Nathan Roberts, Lonnie Lardner, Linda Edwards, and weathercaster Andrew Amador, who now works in Bakersfield. Interestingly many of KHJ's former staff were let go by the time Disney purchased the station.

By 1990, Disney implemented the concept of a prime time news block, with "Prime 9 News" between 8 and 11 p.m.. The 3-hour news block is still seen on KCAL to this day. In 1997, KCAL premiered the first fifteen-minute weekday sports report "Final Quarter." The show was an expansion of the typical five minute sports report seen towards the end of a newscast. Several years later the show was renamed "KCAL 9 Sports News" and with the purchase by CBS Corporation, joined sister-station KCBS-TV and was renamed "Sports Central." The show was recently expanded to a full half-hour.

Cartoons continued to be a big part of KCAL's schedule in the 1990s, with blocks of children's programming on weekday mornings and afternoons, including the Disney Afternoon block, that lasted well into 1997. The family sitcoms, however, were gradually phased out, and KCAL added more first-run syndicated talk, reality, court, and newsmagazine shows, under the then-new ownership of Young Broadcasting, who bought KCAL in 1997. The station also added more weekday daytime newscasts at 2 and 3 p.m.

In 1996, KCAL once again became the broadcast TV home of the then-California Angels, now known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and added more basketball coverage with the Los Angeles Clippers, in addition to its Lakers telecasts. The station and the Clippers parted ways in 2000. The Clippers eventually signed with KTLA. The Angels departed KCAL after the 2005 season, moving to KCOP.

KCAL recently became the new over-the-air television home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, televising at least 50 games a year. Also, KCAL recently signed a contract extension to continue to carry Lakers games through the end of the current decade, which would give them a 30-plus year relationship with the NBA team. KCAL carries a minimum of 35 road games per season, with FSN West given the rights to home games. KCAL also carries selected games from the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer.

In addition, KCAL broadcasted selected weekend Anaheim Mighty Ducks games since the team's first season in 1993. The Ducks moved to KDOC in 2005-06.

The afternoon kids block was gone by 1998. The Disney kids block moved to UPN and KCOP in 1999. By 2000, the children's shows in the morning were gone as well.

KCAL is notable for airing newscasts during unconventional time blocks. Along with newscasts at 10 p.m. (where it competes against KTLA and KTTV), noon, and 4 p.m., it also airs news at 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 8 p.m., and 9 p.m. Additionally, Channel 9 offers first-run syndicated programs such as talk shows, reality shows, newsmagazine shows (including Inside Edition, and late-night repeats of Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, both of which are previously seen the same day on KCBS), court shows, as well as the controversial hit cartoon series, South Park, which airs late nights after the news. KCAL's other syndicated fare on the weekends include 24, , and ER.

Occasionally as its schedule permits, KCAL now carries some CBS network programming in primetime, as sister station KCBS has its commitments to Oakland Raiders NFL preseason telecasts, among other programs. KCAL also carries such programs when KCBS needs to pre-empt in case of an emergency.

Logos

Image:Kcaltv1998.jpg|KCAL-TV logo from 1998 to 2003 Image:Kcaltv2003.gif|KCAL-TV logo from 2003 to the present

Previous owners of Channel 9

Newscasts

Weekdays

'

Saturdays

Sundays

KCAL's newscasts run the gamut in tone. Its 8 p.m. newscast is generally an update on the day's news, which are much of the stories devoted to California and local news, and was previously branded California Report. Its 9 p.m. newscast is generally the most serious newscast and was branded in previous years as the Prime 9 News World Report. The 9 p.m. newscast prominently features political, business, and international news. The noon newscast, on the other hand, features lighter stories, including features on food, health, and entertainment news. The 4 p.m. newscast is essentially a repurposed KCBS newscast and is done with KCBS anchors Harold Greene and Ann Martin, who do not appear elsewhere on KCAL.

The 4 p.m. newscast was moved to KCAL from KCBS to make room for Dr. Phil, which by contract is required to air after The Oprah Winfrey Show, or in most other cities, it cannot run directly opposite Winfrey's show, which in Los Angeles airs on KABC-TV at 3 p.m.. Its 10 p.m. newscast is simply more of an update of the 8 p.m. news, as it competes with KTTV and KTLA, and in the past KCOP, though in recent years, it has been shortened to 30 minutes, in order to make way for Sports Central, the only comprehensive local sports news program in Southern California (since the demise of the Southern California Sports Report on Fox Sports Net).

Because of the amount of news on the station, KCAL is known as the station showing the most police chases. Often regular news programming is dropped to cover a police chase, and programming following the news is sometimes pre-empted to show the chase's conclusion.

\"Thames on 9\"

From June 11 to June 15, 1978, KHJ aired "Thames on 9," in which the entire night's lineup of programs was turned over to Great Britain's Thames Television. Shows included Man About the House, a forerunner of Three's Company, and The Benny Hill Show.

A similar stunt had run two years earlier in the New York area on WOR, which was KHJ's sister station.

Quotes

Newscast Titles

Movie Umbrella Titles

See also

External links

Coordinates: [34° 13' 38" N 118° 4' 0" W]

Broadcast television in the Los Angeles market  [(Nielsen DMA #2)]
KCBS 2 (CBS) - KNBC 4 (NBC) - KTLA 5 (The WB/The CW) (The Tube on DT5) - KSFV 6 (Almavision) - KABC 7 (ABC) - KCAL 9 (Ind) - KTTV 11 (Fox) - KCOP 13 (UPN/MNTV) - KSCI 18 (Ind) - KWHY 22 (Ind) - KVCR 24 (PBS) - KNET 25 (Almavision) - KNLA 27 (Ind) - KCET 28 (PBS) - KPXN 30 (i) - KMEX 34 (UNI) - KTBN 40 (TBN) - KXLA 44 (Ind) - KLAU 45 (Almavision) - KFTR 46 (TFU) - KOCE 50 (PBS) - KVEA 52 (TEL) - KAZA 54 (AZA) - KDOC 56 (Ind) - KJLA 57 / KSMV-LP 33 / KSGA-LP 64 (Ind) - KLCS 58 (PBS) - KRCA 62 (Ind) - KBEH 63 (Ind) - KHIZ 64 (Ind) - KHTV 67 (HSN) - KTAV 69 (Almavision)
Local cable television channels
FSN West - FSN Prime Ticket
Past broadcast stations
KVST / KEEF 68 (non-commercial)

CBS Corporation
Corporate Directors: David R. Andelman | Joseph A. Califano, Jr. | William S. Cohen | Philippe P. Dauman | Charles K. Gifford | Bruce S. Gordon | Leslie Moonves | Shari Redstone | Sumner Redstone | Ann N. Reese | Judith A. Sprieser | Robert D. Walter
Broadcast radio stations owned by CBS Radio
Radio Networks: CBS Radio Network | Free FM | Jack FM (most US stations) | Westwood One
Misc. Assets: CBS Consumer Products | CBS Digital Media | CBS Outdoor | Simon & Schuster | Westinghouse Electric Corporation
Broadcast Television Networks: CBS | UPN (to be The CW in 9/2006, co-owned with Time Warner)
Television Production and Distribution: Big Ticket Entertainment | CBS Paramount Domestic Television | CBS Paramount Television | CBS Studio Center | CBS Television City | King World | Spelling Entertainment Group
CBS Owned & Operated Television Stations: KCBS | KCNC | KDKA | KEYE | KOVR | KPIX | KTVT | KUTV | KYW | WBBM | WBZ | WCBS | WCCO | WFOR | WFRV/WJMN | WJZ | WWJ
UPN Owned & Operated Television Stations: KBCW1 | KMAX1 | KSTW1 | KTXA3 | WBFS2 | WGNT1 | WKBD1 | WLWC1 | WPCW1 | WPSG1 | WSBK3 | WTOG1 | WTVX1 | WUPA1 | WUPL2
Other Television Stations: KCAL | WBXI | WTCN2 | WWHB
Cable Television Networks: Showtime Networks | College Sports TV
1Will Become The CW Television Network>The CW Owned and Operated Television Stations on September 18, 2006
2Will become affiliates of Fox Broadcasting Company>Fox's My Network TV in September 2006
3Will become Independent station>independent stations on September 18, 2006 Annual Revenue: 
.54 billion USD (2005) | Employees: Unknown at this time. | Stock Symbol: NYSE: [CBS] | Website: [www.cbscorporation.com]
Independent Television Stations in the state of California
KRON 4 () - KCAL 9 () - KSCI 18 () - KBBV-CA 19 () - KWHY 22 () - KBSV 23 () - KVMD 23 () - KTSF 26 () - KNLA-LP 27 () - KMTP 32 () - KICU 36 () - KXLA 44 () - KNXT 49 () - KFTY 50 () - KUSI 51 () - KDOC 56 () - KJLA 57 () - KRCA 62 () - KBEH 63 () - KHIZ 64 ()
See also: , , , , , , , , , , , , and stations in California

 

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