KTRK-TV
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KTRK-TV is the ABC owned and operated station in Houston, Texas. Its studio is located off Bissonnet Street in the Upper Kirby district of southwest Houston, and its transmitter is located in Missouri City.
History
The station grew out of the VHF "freeze", when three entities vying for the channel 13 assignment decided to merge as Houston Consolidated Television. It signed on November 20, 1954 as KXYZ-TV. (K XYZ's callsign meaning is the last three letters of the alphabet, coincidentally reflecting ABC affiliate WXYZ in Detroit). They bought the studio facilities of the defunct KNUZ-TV (ch 39), a DuMont UHF affiliate which had gone dark. The original studio facilities were located at 4513 Cullen Blvd (in the University of Houston complex; this studio later housed KHTV-39 and KUHT 8).The call letters were changed to KTRK in 1955, and soon afterwards it moved to its current studios off Bissonnet Street. It was the first domed structure in town, preceding the better-known Astrodome by 10 years. It should be noted that one of the entities vying for channel 13 was KTRH radio, which was where the KTRK callsign came from. Both projects were built by the same architect, Hermon Lloyd. Like many stations located on "unlucky" channel 13, it used a black cat as its mascot. For many years, the station ran a children's show featuring a black cat, "Kitirik", by adding an "I" between the station's call letters. She wore a cat suit complete with mink ears and tail, and drawn-on whiskers. Her real name was Bunny Orsak. [link]
Early programs involved a heavy emphasis on local flavor and reflected themes of the day. Some of the more popular local shows included:
- Cadet Don: A Space themed adventure program for children, focusing on the exploits of an interstellar adventurer and the locations he visited.
- Dialing for Dollars: A game show of sorts where a viewer would be phoned by the host and would win a cash prize by answering questions.
- Good Morning Houston: The successor to Dialing for Dollars which debuted in the late 1970's and expanded to include discussions on local events and topics important to viewer's lifestyles.
Capital Cities Communications owned the station for many years; during that time, KTRK preempted programming slightly though not as much so as some other ABC affiliates, much like its sister station, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia. The shows preempted were widely not run in many markets. Despite the preemptions, ABC was more than satisfied with KTRK, one of its strongest affiliates.
Capital Cities bought ABC in 1986, making KTRK an ABC O&O. With that distinction, KTRK would become one of the two first network O&O's in Houston, given the fact that the newly created Fox network purchased KRIV the same year. However, the station continued moderate amounts of preemptions until the mid 90's. After 1991, its only preemption was half of "The Home Show." It only ran the first half-hour, an arrangement which continued when the show morphed into "Mike and Maty." By the time "The View" was put on this time slot KTRK began running the entire show. Today, it runs the entire ABC schedule.
Capital Cities/ABC was sold to Disney at the end of 1995.
KTRK was also the original television home of the Houston Astros for many years, however it only televised Sunday afternoon road games. Nowadays, the station is the broadcast home of the new NFL football team, the Houston Texans since 2002.
Newscasts
The station's newscast, Eyewitness News, has been number one in the Houston market for over thirty years. It is also one of the highest-rated newscasts in the country.Investigative reporter Marvin Zindler is the station's most notable personality. He has been at the station since 1973, and signed a lifetime contract with KTRK in 1988, the first person ever offered such a contract by then-owner Capital Cities Communications, which was known as a financially frugal company. Zindler is most remembered as the reporter who caused the demise of the Chicken Ranch, a bordello immortalized by The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and ZZ Top's hit song "La Grange", and is the authority on "slime in the ice machines" in Houston's eateries. The investigative unit ("13 Undercover"), featuring Wayne Dolcefino, is responsible for a number of civic investigations and consumer investigations as well.
Newscast lineup
Monday-Friday
- 13 Eyewitness News at 5 a.m. - 5 a.m.-5:30 a.m.
- 13 Eyewitness News at 5:30 a.m. - 5:30 a.m.-6 a.m.
- 13 Eyewitness News at 6 a.m. - 6 a.m.-7 a.m.
- 13 Eyewitness News at 11 a.m. - 11 a.m.-Noon
- 13 Eyewitness News at Four - 4 p.m.-5 p.m.
- 13 Eyewitness News Live at Five - 5 p.m.-5:30 p.m.
- 13 Eyewitness News at Six - 6 p.m.-7 p.m.
- 13 Eyewitness News Tonight at Ten - 10 p.m. to 10:35 p.m.
- 13 Eyewitness News Saturday - 5:30 a.m.-7 a.m.
- 13 Eyewitness News at Six - 6 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
- 13 Eyewitness News Tonight at Ten - 10 p.m.-10:35 p.m.
- 13 Eyewitness News Sunday - 6 a.m.-7 a.m.
- 13 Eyewitness News Sunday - 8 a.m.-10 a.m.
- 13 Eyewitness News at 5:30 - 5:30 p.m.-6 p.m.
- 13 Eyewitness News Tonight at Ten - 10 p.m. to 10:35 p.m.
Newscast titles
- The Texas News (1962-1965)
- Channel 13 News (1965-1/1/1973)
- 13 Eyewitness News (1/1/1973-present)
Other personalities
- Tom Abrahams
- Bob Allen
- Gene Apodaca
- Elma Barrera
- Ed Brandon
- Doug Brown
- Ilona Carson
- Andy Cerota
- Cynthia Cisneros
- Christine Dobbyn
- Wayne Dolcefino
- Jeff Ehling
- Shara Fryer
- Mark Garay
- Gina Gaston
- Stephanie Guadian
- Tim Heller
- Tom Koch
- Melanie Lawson
- Darren Lyn
- Tim Melton
- Christi Myers
- Don Nelson
- Ted Oberg
- Minerva Perez
- Kevin Quinn
- Art Rascon
- Elissa Rivas
- Miya Shay
- Bob Slovak
- David Tillman
- Dave Ward
- Laura Whitley
- Jessica Willey
- Deborah Wrigley
Past personalities
- Alvin Van Black (died in 2001)
- Bob Boudreaux
- John Nigel Davenport (died in 1991)
- Diana Fallis (ABC13's first African American female anchor)
- Cynthia Hunt
- Debbie Johnson
- Dan Lovett
- Dan Rather
- Deborah Duncan
- Jan Carson (co-anchor with Dave Ward during the 6 and 10 p.m. newscast until 1980 - replaced by Shara Fryer)
- Sylvan Rodriguez (died in 2000; left ABC13 for ABC News in 1987, later returning to Houston with KHOU 11. Later married dermatologist Shelley A. Sekula (who later became a Houston City Councilmember since 2002), who later went by Shelley Sekula Rodriguez, c. 2000 - June 2002. Currently goes by Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, M.D.)
- Stephen S. Gauvain (died in 1996)
Logos
KTRK's "Circle 13" logo is the same as that for KTRK's Toledo sister station, WTVG, only that KTRK calls itself "ABC 13", while WTVG is known as "13 ABC".Its previous logo, which ran from 1971 until the mid 1990s, resembled a "13" in Helvetica font, with the bottom of the "3" trailing off.
For many years since the mid-1990s, both logos have been superimposed on an image of the Texas state flag.
See also
Circle 7 logo (The Circle 13 is the derivative of the Circle 7.)External links
| KPRC 2 (NBC) - KUHT 8 (PBS) - KHOU 11 (CBS) - KTRK 13 (ABC) - KETH 14 (TBN) - KTXH 20 (UPN - to be MNTV in 09/06) - KVQT 21 (Span. Rel.) - KLTJ 22 (DS) - KRIV 26 (Fox) - KCVH 30 (LAT TV) - KVIT 34 (Almavision) - KHCW 39 (The WB - to be The CW in 09/06) - KHLM 43 (Span. Ind.) - KXLN 45 (UNI) - KTMD 47 (TEL) - KPXB 49 / KBPX 33 (i) - KNWS 51 (Ind) - KTBU 55 (Ind) - KAZH 57 / KHMV 28 / KVVV 53 (AZA) - KZJL 61 (Ind) - KFTH 67 (TFU) |