KTLA-TV
Encyclopedia : K : KT : KTL : KTLA-TV
KTLA-TV, channel 5, is the WB affiliated television station in Los Angeles. The station's signal covers the Southern California region, as well as being available as a superstation via satellite. It is owned by the Tribune Company. KTLA is the unofficial West Coast flagship for The WB.
On January 24, 2006, the WB and UPN networks announced that they would merge. The newly combined network would be called The CW, the letters representing the first initial of its corporate parents CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. The merger would take effect on-the-air in September 2006, and KTLA was announced as the Los Angeles affiliate.
History
Originally owned by Paramount Pictures subsidiary Television Productions, Inc., and located on the Paramount studio lot, the station was licensed by the FCC in 1939 as experimental station W6XYZ, on channel 4, but did not go on the air until September 1942. Klaus Landsberg, already an accomplished television pioneer at the age of 26, was the station manager. On January 22, 1947, it was licensed for commercial broadcast as KTLA, channel 5, becoming the first commercial television station to broadcast west of the Mississippi River. Estimates of television sets in the Los Angeles area at the time ranged from 350 to 600. The station originally carried programming from Paramount's partner, DuMont, but discontinued the practice after the 1947-48 season. In 1958, KTLA moved to the Paramount Sunset Studios on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, now the Warner Sunset Studios.In 1964, KTLA was purchased by cowboy actor and singer Gene Autry and merged with his other radio properties into an umbrella company, Golden West Broadcasters. From 1964 to 1995, the station was the broadcast TV home of the Angels baseball team. KTLA also carried selected Los Angeles Lakers games from the early-to-mid 1970s. During the 1970s, KTLA became one of the nation's first superstations, and was eventually carried on cable systems across much of the country west of the Mississippi.
In the 1960s and 1970s, KTLA ran a mix of syndicated westerns, drama shows, first-run talk shows, movies, and pro sports. It also launched a 10 p.m. newscast in the 1960s, simply titled News at Ten (now KTLA Prime News). In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the station added syndicated sitcom reruns into the mix.
KTLA continued with this format into the 1980s. In 1982, Golden West sold KTLA to investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for US$245 million. KKR and Co. in turn sold KTLA to Tribune Broadcasting in 1985. Under Tribune, they continued to acquire high rated off-network sitcoms as well as talk shows. In July 1991, KTLA added the first local morning newscast, The KTLA Morning News, to compete with major network morning shows. At first, The KTLA Morning News suffered from low ratings. However, a number of developing news stories in the morning where KTLA could carry the coverage live made people notice The KTLA Morning News. From that point on, The KTLA Morning News has enjoyed great ratings success generally ranking #1 from 7 a.m. - 9 a.m. In order to catch on this ratings success, rival KTTV started Good Day LA.
In March 1991, KTLA was the first station to air the infamous video of the Rodney King beating by Los Angeles police. From 1994 to 1995 the station aired near gavel to gavel coverage of the O. J. Simpson trial.
In January 1995, KTLA became a charter affiliate of the WB Television Network, in which KTLA's parent company Tribune holds a 25% stake (so, in a way, KTLA can be considered a WB O&O). That fall, KTLA added an afternoon cartoon block from Kids' WB, entering the kids business for the first time in years. KTLA also broadcasts the annual Tournament of Roses Parade live from the city of Pasadena as well, with Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards as the commentators since 1978. The station has aired the Rose Parade since 1948, and while other local stations also broadcast the parade (most notably, one-time Sunset Boulevard neighbor, KTTV) over the years, KTLA remains the sole English-language outlet in the Los Angeles area to continuously broadcast the Rose Parades. The station has also returned as host broadcaster of the Hollywood Christmas Parade (which is syndicated to all Tribune and WB stations).
Tribune merged with Times Mirror, parent company of the Los Angeles Times, in 2000, bringing the Times into common ownership with KTLA. Ironically, the Times had been the original owner of Los Angeles' Fox O&O, KTTV.
Today, KTLA is a typical WB affiliate running the usual blend of syndicated shows such as first-run talk and reality shows, off-network sitcoms and dramas, cartoons from Kids' WB, first-run prime time programming from WB, early morning and 10 p.m. newscasts, and sports. KTLA is the over-the-air home of the Los Angeles Clippers; the station carried Clippers games from 1984 to 1991, and picked them up again in 2002. Although not as wide-spread in national carriage as its Chicago sister station, WGN-TV, KTLA is available via satellite as a superstation, through out North America on Ku-band, C-band, and Dish Network systems, as well as on cable systems in selected cities throughout the Southwestern part of the United States and in Canada nationwide.
The station launched a new branding campaign in January 2005, which omitted all references to its channel 5 position. It adopted a new logo, and became known on the air as ''KTLA The WB: Where L.A. Lives."
In January 2006, the weekday Monday–Friday Kids' WB block was discontinued in favor airing an afternoon block of off-network programming including ER and 8 Simple Rules.
KTLA offers around 30 hours per week of local news, and its 10 p.m. newscast was #1 rated for decades until KTTV took the No. 1 spot consistently since 2000. The KTLA Morning News continues to be #1 though. This is one of many major stations in Los Angeles offering plenty of local news. However, they do not yet offer an early evening and midday newscast. They still run many syndicated sitcoms in the evenings, such as My Wife and Kids, Friends, and Everybody Loves Raymond.
On January 24 2006, Time-Warner and CBS Corporation announced it would be ceasing operations on its The WB and UPN networks in September 2006, and have created a joint-venture to form a network, The CW. KTLA-TV will become the west-coast flagship of the new network.
KTLA is also home to Tribune Studios, where shows like Family Feud (current version), Greed, Fox's Celebrity Boxing specials, WKRP in Cincinnati, Judge Judy, Name That Tune (Tom Kennedy and Jim Lange versions), The Newlywed Game, and Judge Joe Brown have been produced over the years.
Beginning May 29 2006, The KTLA Morning News will now be known as The KTLA Morning Show.
Logos
News operation
Several of its well-known evening news anchors include Hal Fishman and the late Larry McCormick, who died after a long illness in September 2004. Its veteran field reporters are Stan Chambers and Warren Wilson (who has since retired from KTLA). Stu Nahan and Ed Arnold (who now anchors KOCE-TV's Real Orange) were formerly the sports anchors. Accompanying his news anchoring career, McCormick also hosted KTLA's own public affairs production called Making It!, which featured stories on the entrepreneurial successes of ethnic minorities.KTLA News has a special partnership with the Los Angeles Times, which has been co-owned with the station since 2000. In 2005 according the Nielsen ratings KTLA's Morning News Show was #1 in Los Angeles, beating Good Day L.A. on KTTV 11.
Over the years, KTLA's newscasts have become more tabloid-based in nature, perhaps to compete with KTTV. Both stations have rivaled each other in ratings for many years. As part of the change, KTLA has placed more emphasis in entertainment news, and has featured personalities including Mindy Burbano-Stearns, Zorianna Kitt, and recently Ross King as entertainment reporters. In 2004, KTLA debuted a reality show segment on its morning news titled The Audition, in which several actors and actresses competed for a role as weathercaster on KTLA's 10 p.m. Newscast. Ross King was the winner in the first installment, and Jessica Holmes, of Nickelodeon fame, won in the second and is now their morning traffic reporter. Although KTLA does not cover police pursuits like other stations, they have put more emphasis in local crime stories, as opposed to politics, health, and other serious news. As part of the 2005 graphics change, KTLA's graphics were significantly modernized, and a new, futuristic-looking set was constructed for their newscasts.
KTLA has also created synergy between Tribune Company entities. For example, entertainment reporter Sam Rubin is often seen on WGN in Chicago. Ron Olsen also frequently reports on upcoming stories in the Los Angeles Times from the paper's headquarters in Downtown L.A.
Trivia
KTLA gained a bit of notoriety among fans of the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 on November 30, 1991 with the airing of their mockery of the movie War of the Colossal Beast. In the movie, there are scenes of a KTLA news anchor predicting where the title character Glen Manning will end up next. The anchor ends up pronouncing the station's call letters as "KIT-lah". In a skit segment later in the show, Joel Robinson, portrayed by Joel Hodgson, mocks the anchor's "KTLA Predicts" style of newsreading. The phrase "KTLA Predicts" became a catchphrase among fans of the show.Controversies
- In 2004, Zorianna Kit, an entertainment writer for People and the Hollywood Reporter, was installed as an on-air reporter despite her having no television experience (although she was a panelist on the short-lived "AMC Movie Club with John Ridley"). Kit then raised ethical questions in January 2005 when she was critical of the appointment of Brad Grey to head Paramount Pictures (the aforementioned original owners of KTLA) on the air. She did not tell viewers that her husband, producer Bo Zenga, had sued Grey over profits from the film Scary Movie. The Los Angeles Times reported the issue and in mid-January, Kit apologized on-air: "I did not make the disclosure of a personal connection during my January 6 report, and I want to make it clear now."[link]. Kit left KTLA in July 2005.
- In January 2006, KTLA management came under fire for changing the hosts for the station's annual broadcast of the Rose Parade in Pasadena. Stephanie Edwards, who emceed the parade for nearly three decades with Bob Eubanks, was moved out of the booth and became a street reporter, interviewing bystanders. She was replaced by Michaela Pereira in the booth. The move was widely seen as insensitive and created a storm of controversy, including a scathing column by Patt Morrison in the Los Angeles Times, which, like KTLA, is owned by Tribune Company. This situation was made worse by the fact that it was raining that day, and Edwards was forced to stay out in the rain.
- Another ethical issue bubbled up in late February 2006 when the Pasadena Star-News reported that the three KTLA personalities -- Carlos Amezcua, Sam Rubin and Michaela Pereira -- accepted free rooms at the recently renovated Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena. The station was broadcasting an entire "Morning News" from Pasadena, although the hotel was not specifically mentioned. Still, it was widely seen as a significant ethical lapse, one that violated Tribune Company guidelines.
- On March 4 2006, the Los Angeles Times[link] reported that Michaela Pereira had accepted $10,000 worth of furniture for her Pasadena home. The furnishings, delivered in September 2005, were to be part of a "Extreme Home Makeover" segment on the "Morning News." But the segment never aired and the furniture company was never paid. The company said that it was under the impression that the work was in exchange for favorable coverage.[link]
Personalities
Present
- Carlos Amezcua - morning news anchor
- Gayle Anderson - morning news reporter and anchor
- Damon Andrews - evening sports anchor
- Frank Buckley - weekend news anchor (occasional substitute for Hal Fishman)
- Cher Calvin - morning news anchor
- Janet Choi - field reporter/special assignments
- Jaime Chambers - field reporter
- Stan Chambers - field reporter
- Leila Feinstein - evening news anchor
- Hal Fishman - evening news anchor and commentary
- Ted Garcia - weekend news anchor
- Jessica Holmes - Morning traffic from KTLA SkyCam
- Ross King - evening entertainment news / field reporter
- Kurt Knutsson - technology
- Mark Kriski - morning weather
- Bob McCormick - business news
- Emmett Miller - morning news anchor
- Ron Olsen - field reporter reporting from Los Angeles Times office
- Lu Parker - weekend news anchor (occasional substitute for Leila Feinstein)
- Michaela Pereira - morning news anchor
- Walter Richards - field reporter
- Lynette Romero - field reporter
- Sam Rubin - entertainment
- Willa Sandmeyer - field & traffic reporter
- Analia Sarno Riggle - spanish language translator (SAP) for evening news
- ''[CommanderChuck Street]""- Morning Traffic from Mountain Dew/Pepsi Jet Ranger 1
- Bill Smith - field reporter
- Marta Waller - health, occasional news anchor
Past
- Larry McCormick - evening news anchor and host of Making It! - Passed away in 2004
- Ed Arnold - sports anchor
- Stu Nahan - sports anchor
- Warren Wilson - field reporter
- Jennifer York [link] - traffic (from helicopter) - Now a radio personality for KFSH-FM
- Roland Galvan - evening weather
- Desiree Horton - morning traffic
- Sharon Tay - morning news anchor (initially an evening news anchor and field reporter)
- Claudia Trejos-Weekend Sports Anchor
- Mindy Burbano Stearns (Mindy Burbano) Entertainment Reporter
- Barbara Beck - morning news anchor
- Michele Ruiz - morning news reporter
- Terry Anzur - evening news anchor
Newscasts
Weekdays
- KTLA Morning News: First Edition - 5:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. with Emmett Miller and Cher Calvin
- KTLA Morning News: Early Edition - 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. with Emmett Miller and Cher Calvin
- KTLA Morning News(KTLA Morning Show)- 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. with Carlos Amezcua and Michaela Pereira
- KTLA Prime News - 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. with Hal Fishman and Leila Feinstein
Saturday
- KTLA Prime News - 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. with Frank Buckley and Lu Parker
Sunday
- Pacesetters (public affairs) - 6:00 a.m. to 6:30 a.m.
- MAKING IT! (public affairs) - 6:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.
- KTLA Prime News - 10:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. with Frank Buckley and Lu Parker
- Sports + - 10:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. with Damon Andrews
Previous Owners
- 1947–64: Paramount Pictures Corporation (also owned a stake in the DuMont Television Network, and WBKB-TV, now CBS-owned WBBM-TV; of note both stations were considered by the FCC to be DuMont O&O's, leading to the collapse of DuMont)
- 1964–82: Golden West Broadcasters
- 1982–85: Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co.
- 1985–present: The Tribune Company, via its Tribune Broadcasting division
Newscast Titles
- Channel 5 News at Ten (1960s-1997)
- KTLA News @ Ten (1997-2004)
- KTLA News (1990s)
- KTLA Prime News (2005-present)
- KTLA Morning News (1991-2006)
- KTLA Morning Show (2006-present)
Movie Umbrella Titles
- The Channel 5 Movie Theatre (1969-1997)
- The Big Picture (1997-1999)
- The Family Film Festival (1976-1991)
- The Weekend Film Festival (1991-1997)
- The KTLA Weekend Film Festival (1997-present)
- The Channel 5 Weekend Movie Theatre (1986-1990s)
- Movie for a Saturday/Sunday Evening (1977-1995)
- The KTLA Saturday Night Movie (1997-2005)
- The KTLA Saturday Night Screening Room (2002-present)
- The KTLA Saturday Cinema Showcase (2002-present)
- The KTLA WB Sunday Night Movie (1997-2002)
- Movies 'Til Dawn (1969-2004)
- Channel 5 Movie Special (1979-1997)
Station Slogans
- The Number One Prime Time News (1970s)
- KTLA 5, LA's WB (1998-2004)
- KTLA, the WB, Where L.A. Lives (2005-present)
See also
External links
- [Official Site]
- [Query the FCC's TV station database for KTLA-TV]
- [Aerial photo of KTLA-TV transmitter from Google Local]
| Superstations in List_of_television_stations_in_North_America_by_media_market>North American markets | |
|---|---|
| United States: KTLA | KWGN | WAPA | WGN | WKAQ | WPIX | WSBK | WTBS | WWOR | |
|
Mexico: Multimedios Television | XEFB | XEW | XHDF | XHGC | XHIMT
| |
| See Also: | List of American Over-The-Air Networks | Local American TV Stations (W) | Local American TV Stations (K) | | Local Canadian TV Stations | | Local Mexican TV Stations | | North American TV | | |
| 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) | ||
| The WB Television Network>WB Network Affiliates in the state of California Note: Networks in parenthesis indicate affiliations starting September 2006. Also, stations in bold are cable-only stations. | |
|---|---|
|
"KCWB" 5 (, The CW) -
KTLA 5 (, The CW) -
"KWCA" 5 (, ND) -
"KIWB" 10 (, ND)1 -
"KWFB" 12 (, ND) - "KMWB" 14 (, ND) - KBWB 20 (, Ind)1 - "KWBT" 31 (, ND)1 - KQCA 58 (, MNTV) - KFRE 59 (, The CW) - KSWB 69 (, The CW) | |
| 1The CW and My Network TV affiliations have already been decided in this market. | |
| See also: , , , , , , , , , , , , and stations in California | |
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