KCBS-TV

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KCBS-TV
Los Angeles, California
Branding CBS 2 (general)
CBS 2 News (newscasts)
Slogan CBS 2 is Always On
Channels Analog: 2 (VHF)

Digital: 60 (UHF)(Channel 43 after 6/12/09)
Subchannels 2.1 CBS
Translators (see article)
Affiliations CBS Television Network
Owner CBS Corporation
(CBS Broadcasting, Inc.)
First air date May 6, 1948
Call letters’ meaning Kindly Owned by the Columbia
Broadcasting
System
(former legal name of CBS)
Sister station(s) KCAL-TV, KCBS-FM, KFWB, KLSX, KNX, KROQ-FM, KRTH, KTWV
Former callsigns KTSL (1948-1951)
KNXT (1951-1984)
Former affiliations DuMont (1948-1951)
Transmitter Power 36.3 kW (analog)
469 kW (digital)
Height 1097 m (analog)
1087 m (digital)
Facility ID 9628
Transmitter Coordinates 34°13′55.1″N 118°4′21.2″W / 34.231972°N 118.072556°W / 34.231972; -118.072556
Website www.cbs2.com/

KCBS-TV ("CBS 2") is the flagship station of the CBS Television Network located in Los Angeles, California. KCBS-TV shares its offices and studio facilities with sister station KCAL-TV (channel 9) inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.

In the few areas of the Los Angeles region where viewers cannot receive CBS programs over-the-air, KCBS-TV is available on satellite to subscribers of Dish Network and DirecTV. It is also available in the Philippines because CBS established a powerful satellite broadcaster in Makati City that could broadcast a simulcast of KCBS across the Philippines (via cable) with a 10-hour tape delay to make sure TV programming is shown appropriately at the Philippine Time Zone.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Experimental years

KCBS-TV is one of the oldest television stations in the world. It was created by Don Lee Broadcasting, which owned a chain of radio stations on the Pacific Coast, and was first licensed by the Federal Radio Commission, forerunner of the Federal Communications Commission as experimental television station W6XAO in June 1931. On December 23, 1931 it went on the air, and by March 1933 was broadcasting one hour daily except Sundays. The station used a mechanical camera which broadcast only film footage in an 80-line image, but demonstrated all-electronic receivers as early as 1932. It went off the air in 1935, and then reappeared using an improved mechanical camera producing a 300-line image for a month-long demonstration in June 1936. By August 1937, W6XAO had programming on the air six days per week. Live programming started in April 1938.

By 1939, with the image improved to 441 lines, an optimistic estimate of the station's viewership was 1,500 people in a few hundred homes. Many of the receiver sets were built by television hobbyists, though commercially made sets were available in Los Angeles. The station's six-day weekly schedule consisted of live talent four nights, and film two nights. During World War II, programming was reduced to three hours, every other Monday. The station's frequency was switched from Channel 1 to Channel 2 in 1945 when the FCC decided to reserve Channel 1 for low-wattage community television stations.

[edit] As KTSL

The station was granted a commercial license (the second in California, behind KTLA-TV) as KTSL on May 6, 1948, using the initials of Thomas S. Lee. The station became affiliated with the DuMont Television Network later that year.

[edit] As KNXT

On January 1, 1951, CBS gave up its 49 percent stake in KTSL's competitor KTTV and purchased KTSL. CBS programming moved to KTSL. On November 1, 1951, KTSL changed its call letters to KNXT to coincide with CBS' Los Angeles radio outlet, KNX-AM 1070. (KNX's call sign meaning: Kindly part of News EXpress Television after the now-defunct afternoon daily newspaper.)

In 1960, KNXT created the nation's first one-hour local newscast, The Big News, which featured Jerry Dunphy, one of Southern California's most beloved news icons, along with legendary weatherman Bill Keene and sportscaster Gil Stratton. Also featured were Special Assignment reporter Maury Green and "Human Predicament" essayist Ralph Story. This helped make KNXT the number-one news station in Los Angeles. At times, a quarter of Los Angeles televisions were tuned into The Big News, the highest ratings ever for a television newscast in the area. The station eventually added such reporters as Howard Gingold and Saul Halpert, among others, and added news bureaus in Sacramento, San Francisco and Orange County, each with full-time correspondents and camera crews. Eventually, KNXT expanded to two-and-a-half hours of live local news, as well as a late-night newscast. However, in the mid 1970s, rival KABC-TV began gaining ratings at KNXT's expense. In 1975, KNXT fired Dunphy (who was quickly hired by KABC) and adopted a format similar to KABC-TV's Eyewitness News with its "happy talk" between anchors. However, the change went nowhere. Just as most of its fellow CBS O&Os were dominating their cities' ratings, KNXT rapidly fell into last place.

[edit] As KCBS-TV

On April 2, 1984, at noon, KNXT changed its call letters to the present KCBS-TV. In 1997, it adopted the "CBS2" moniker for its on-air image, following the lead of its Chicago and New York sisters. In 2002, KCBS-TV became a sister station to KCAL-TV after the latter was purchased by CBS Corporation.

For a time during the 1980s and 1990s, KNXT/KCBS-TV has several locally produced programs such as "2 on the Town," a local show similar to Evening Magazine and KABC-TV's Eye on L.A., and Kid Quiz, a Saturday Morning Children's Game show hosted by longtime weathercaster Maclovio Perez (now at WOAI-TV). For a time in the mid-2000s, Its sister station KCAL-TV did a show called "9 on the Town."

For most of the time from 1975 to 2006, KNXT/KCBS-TV was not a factor in the Los Angeles television ratings. The exceptions were a brief surge to first place in the early 1980s and another in the mid-1990s when Bill Applegate was General Manager.

During the period, Channel 2 had frequently changed formats to styles that often became unsuccessful and even controversial. In September 1986, Channel 2 implemented a news-wheel format with each half-hour of news devoted to certain topics and themes. For example, there was Entertainment and Lifestyle news early-on and harder news later on. This format was heavily panned by critics and audiences alike and cancelled after only a month.

The late '80s and early '90s brough in the Action News format, which featured a tabloid-type newscast; the style grated on the news staff, which circulated a memo that resulted in the eventual firing of news director John Lippmann. Lippmann was heavily criticized by many, and reportedly had many confrontations with news staff, notably a shoving match between him and anchor Michael Tuck. The station's ratings quickly declined.

CBS management, highly embarrassed at KCBS' subpar performance, responded by bringing in Bill Applegate as general manager. Applegate had previously been general manager at WBBM-TV, and ironically been a reporter there in the early 1970s. While Applegate had been criticized for making WBBM's newscasts flashier than they had previously been, he set about toning down KCBS's newscasts. The station's ratings improved, but Applegate was eventually a casualty of CBS' merger with the Westinghouse corporation in 1996; he'd bickered with Westinghouse over syndicated programming not long after he'd arrived. Westinghouse executives never forgot this; Applegate was one of the first executives to be let go. Channel 2's momentum ground to a halt, and it soon dropped into last place.

KCBS began making another attempt to get out of the ratings basement at the start of the 21st century. In 2000, former KNBC Today in LA anchor Kent Shocknek joined KCBS to become its morning co-anchor. Then in 2001 the station hired Harold Greene, longtime anchor at KABC, as its 5 and 11 p.m. anchor. A year later, he was joined by his former partner at KABC, Laura Diaz. In 2004, Paul Magers, longtime anchor at KARE-TV in the Twin Cities, replaced Greene on the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. news, bumping Greene to the 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts. The 4 p.m. newscast move to KCAL-TV with the arrival of Dr. Phil on KCBS. At the beginning of 2005, longtime KABC weatherman Johnny Mountain moved to KCBS, surprising many since it appeared that he was going to retire.

At first, it seemed that none of these changes brought KCBS any closer to becoming a factor in the Los Angeles news race. However, in April 2006, KCBS grabbed the #2 spot at 5 PM from KABC due to a strong lead-in from Dr. Phil. More importantly, KCBS shot past both KABC and KNBC to take first place at 11 p.m. for the first time in 30 years.

On April 21, 2007, KCBS and KCAL-TV moved from historic CBS Columbia Square in Hollywood to an all-digital facility at the CBS Studio Center in Studio City. The move marks many changes at KCBS and KCAL-TV. Several news personalities have departed, including David Jackson, a respected news anchor who returned to the duopoly after fronting KCAL-TV's Prime 9 News in the early 90's, Kerry Kilbride, reporter Jay Jackson, Paul Dandridge, Dilva Henry, Linda Alvarez, sports anchor Alan Massengale, and Dave Clark, who left for KTVU. Both stations began broadcasting all their newscasts, sports shows, and public affairs programming in High Definition, becoming the third and fourth station in Los Angeles to do so; the other being KABC-TV in February 2006, and KTLA in January 2007. In addition, KCBS and KCAL-TV now operate in a completely tapeless newsroom. This newsroom is named in honor of Jerry Dunphy, who previously worked at both stations in the past.

With the move, KTLA and KCET are the only stations (either in radio or television) in Los Angeles to broadcast from Hollywood.

On April 1, 2008, CBS's owned-and-operated television stations division ordered widespread budget cuts and staff layoffs from its stations, among the largest budget cuts in television history. CBS O&O's across the country have laid off numerous staff members with KCBS and KCAL-TV no exception. As a result of the budget cuts, roughly 10-15 staffers were released by duopoly. The 6pm anchor team, Harold Greene and Ann Martin, have decided to retire from television news after many years in the business. Greene and Martin (who both also anchor KCAL-TV's 4 p.m. newscast) are slated to have their contracts expire in June, and both were considered for layoffs. Additionally, longtime KCBS reporter Jennifer Sabih, and reporters Greg Phillips and Jennifer Davis were let go by the station.

[edit] Logos

1940s
W6XAO Test pattern from the mid-1940s.		 1948 - 1950
KTSL logo from 1948 to 1950. Note the experimental station callsign (W6XAO) still shown.		 1950 - 1951
KTSL logo from 1950 to 1951		 1973 - 1976
Early KNXT logo		 1976 - 1977
KNXT logo from 1976 to 1977
1977 - 1978
KNXT logo from 1977 to 1978		 1978 - 1979
KNXT logo from 1978 to 1979		 1979 - 1984
KNXT logo from 1979 to 1984, which was the logo for WCBS-TV up to 1985		 1984 - 1986
KCBS-TV logo from 1984 to 1986		 1986 - 1987
KCBS-TV logo from 1986 to 1987
1987 - 1988
KCBS-TV logo from 1987 to 1988		 1988 - 1994
KCBS-TV logo from 1988 to April 1994		 1994 - 1997
KCBS-TV logo from April 1994 to May 1997		 1997 - 2003
KCBS-TV logo from May 1997 to January 2003		 2003 - Present
KCBS-TV's current logo.

[edit] Digital television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

[edit] KCBS-DT

KCBS-DT broadcasts on digital channel 60.

Digital channels

Channel Name Programming
2.1 KCBS-DT main KCBS-TV/CBS programming

[edit] Analog-to-Digital Conversion

After the analog television shutdown scheduled for June 12, 2009 [1], KCBS-TV digital broadcasts will remain on channel 43 [2] using PSIP continues to display KCBS-TV's virtual channel as 2.1

[edit] News/Station Presentation

[edit] Newscast Titles

  • World News (1938-1948)
  • Telenews (1948-1949)
  • Fleetwood Lawton & The News (1950-1951)
  • World News and KNXT News (1951-1960)
  • The Big News (1960-1976, 6:15 P.M. newscast until September 1, 1963; 6 P.M. newscast since September 2, 1963)
  • 24 Hours (1960-1976, 11 P.M. newscast)
  • 2LA Newsroom (1976-1979)
  • Channel 2 News (1979-1988)
  • Channel 2 Action News (1988-1997)
  • CBS 2 News (1997-present)

[edit] Station Slogans

  • Here's 2LA (1976-1978)
  • We're Looking Out for You (1978-1982)
  • LA Watches 2 (1987-1988)
  • Stand Up and Tell 'em You're From LA (1985-1994; based on Frank Gari's "Turn To" series)
  • Bringing Balance Back to Local News (1998-1999)
  • The Station of the People (2000-2001)
  • CBS 2 is Always On (2005-present)

[edit] Personalities

The station's former anchors include Steve Kmetko, Keith Olbermann, Paula Zahn, Ann Curry, Bree Walker, Brent Musburger, Dan Miller, Jerry Dunphy, Connie Chung, Ken Jones, and Maury Povich. Ken Jones anchored for KTTV and KCBS Weekends, Jerry Dunphy anchored for KNXT/KCBS and KCAL-TV.

Sports director Jim Hill may well be the station's most notable current personality. Hill, a former San Diego Charger was a sportscaster for CBS Sports during his first stint at KNXT/KCBS-TV, from 1976 to 1987. Hill then left to become sports director at KABC-TV, but returned to KCBS-TV in 1992 and has remained sports director at the station since. Other ex-athletes who are also sportscasters for KCBS and KCAL-TV are Eric Dickerson, James Worthy and Eric Karros.

[edit] KCBS News Anchors

[edit] KCBS Weather Anchors/Meteorologists

  • Henry DiCarlo (AMS Seal of Approval) - weekdays 5:00 and 6:00 a.m.
  • Johnny Mountain - weekdays 5:00, 6:00, and 11:00 p.m.
  • Josh Rubenstein (AMS Certified, NWA Seal of Approval) - weekdays 11:00 a.m.
  • Kaj Goldberg - weekends 5:00, 6:00 and 11:00 p.m.
  • Jackie Johnson- Weather Anchor Also On KCAL-TV weekdays 8:00, 9:00,and 10:00 p.m.

[edit] KCBS Sports

[edit] KCBS Reporting Staff

Traffic

  • Vera Jimenez- Morning Traffic Reporter / Fill In Weather

CBS2.com

  • Erik Oginski - Managing Editor
  • Mark Liu - Webcaster / Assignment Editor / Blogger
  • Jenn McBride- Webcaster / Web Producer

Chopper 2

  • Amelia Earhart
  • Larry Welk - Chopper 2 Pilot/Reporter/Owner

[edit] Station Alumni

[edit] Programming Notes

  • KCBS airs the Young and the Restless at 11:30 AM instead of 11 AM. Most CBS affiliates and stations air it at 11 AM in the Pacific, Mountain and Central Time Zones, owing to newscasts that air at 12 Noon. But 11:30 AM is really CBS' recommended time slot to air it. This reflects off the fact that most affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone air it at 12:30 PM, following the midday news. This is also the case at KCBS, in lieu of sister station KCAL-TV's newscast schedule. CBS began offering its affiliates two feeds of the show in 1981 so stations in the Central time zone wouldn't have to tape delay Y&R to air before their midday newscasts.
  • In Los Angeles, national news from the major networks air at 6:30 PM, an hour later than most West Coast affiliates. This includes the CBS Evening News on KCBS. During the 1980s, the CBS Evening News and ABC World News Tonight (broadcasted by KABC-TV) aired on their respective stations at 7 p.m., though for a time in 1986-87, KCBS had a 7 pm newscast, thus airing CBS Evening News at 6:30 pm. From 1988 to 1999 KCBS aired the CBS Evening News at 5:30. KCBS was also the last station in the Los Angeles area to offer a 6:30 pm local newscast, when its 6 pm newscast ran for an hour, until KTLA launched one in January 2009.
  • KCBS had 4 p.m. newscasts from time to time. They were the first in the Southland with a 4:30 pm newscast, that was later expanded to an hour. KCBS dropped its 4 p.m. newscasts in 1998 in favor of the short-lived "The Howie Mandel Show", which was canceled after only one season, then in 1999, "Woman 2 Woman" public affairs show. After the acquirement of now-sister station KCAL-TV, KCBS brought reintroduced the 4 pm newscast, but now airing exclusively on KCAL-TV. "Dr. Phil" now airs in the 4 pm slot on KCBS.
  • KCBS carried Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! at 7:00 and 7:30 PST from 1989 until 1992, when rival KABC-TV added it to their lineup. Before 1989, both Wheel and Jeopardy! were shown on KCOP. Today the 7 PM hour carries Entertainment Tonight and The Insider. Jeopardy! initially aired during the afternoon hours on KCBS in 1984, before KCOP picked it up a year later.

[edit] Rebroadcasters

KCBS is rebroadcast on the following translator stations:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  2. ^ CDBS Print
  3. ^ ABC News: Linda Douglass
  4. ^ Linda Douglass, well-known journalist, becomes a partisan : Top of the Ticket : Los Angeles Times

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Television Stations in the greater Los Angeles area
English stations

KCBS 2 (CBS) · KNBC 4 (NBC, 4.2 WX+/News Raw, 4.4 UniSp)  · KTLA 5 (CW), 5.2 This TV) · KABC 7 (ABC, 7.2 ABC7 Plus/LWHD, 7.3 AccuWX) · KFLA-LD 8 (8.1 A1, 8.2 Sp. rel., 8.3 CVTV, 8.4 WSTV, digital) · KCAL 9 (Ind.) · KTTV 11 (Fox) · KCOP 13 (MNTV) · KPXN 30 (ION, 30.2 Qubo, 30.3 ION Life, 30.4 Worship) · KTBN 40 (TBN, 40.2 Church, 40.3 JCTV, 40.4 Enlace, 40.5 Smile) · KDOC 56 (Ind.)
Public television

KCET 28 (PBS, 28.2 KCET Orange, 28.3 V-me, 28.4 PBS World) · KOCE 50 (PBS-HD, 50.2 OC, 50.3 DS, 50.4 SDTV) · KLCS 58 (PBS, 58.2 Kids, 58.3 Create, 58.4 Telecourses)
Spanish stations

KSFV-CA 6 (Religious) · KWHY 22 (Ind., 22.2 SDTV) · KNET-LP 25 (IND) · KNLA-LP 27 (IND) · KMEX 34 (UNI) · KFTR 46 (TFU) · KVEA 52 (TMD) · KAZA 54 (AZA) · KJLA 49 (LATV, digital) · KRCA 62 (Ind.) · KBEH 63 (MTV3) · KTAV-LP 69 (ALMA)
Ethnic stations

KSCI 18 (Ind., 18.2 UTB Japanese, 18.3 MBC-D Korean, 18.5 USArmenia Armenian, 18.7 VAN Vietnamese, 18.8 MACTV Mandarin/Taiwanese) · KXLA 44 (Ind., 44.3 SKDTV Korean, 44.4 Little Saigon TV Vietnamese, 44.5 Arirang Korean, 44.6 IAVC Mandarin, 44.7 NTDTV Mandarin) · KJLA 49 (Ind., 57.3 KIB Korean, 57.4 SET Vietnamese, 57.5 SGTV Vietnamese, 57.6 VBS Vietnamese)
Outlying areas

KBBC 20 (Ind., digital) · KVMD 23 (Ind., digital)  · KVCR 24 (PBS, 24.4 Create) · KBLM-LP 25 (MTV3) · KZSW-LP 27 (Ind.) · K36JH 36 (Vida) · KPAL-LP 38 (A1) · K39GY 39 (A1) · KEDD-LP 50 (MTV3) · KHIZ 64 (A1, digital) · KHTV-LP 67 (HSN)
Local cable channels
Defunct stations

KKOG-TV 16 (Ind.) · KEEF-TV 68 (Ind.) · KVST-TV 68 (Ind., community-access)
Adjacent areas
v • d • e
CBS Network Affiliates in the state of California
See also: ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, ION, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS and Other stations in California
v • d • e
CBS Television Stations (a subsidiary of CBS Corporation)
CBS Owned & Operated:
KCBS · KCNC · KDKA · KOVR · KPIX · KTVT · KYW · WBBM · WBZ · WCBS · WCCO · WFOR · WJZ · WWJ
CW Owned & Operated:
KBCW · KMAX · KSTW · WGNT · WKBD · WPCW · WPSG · WTOG · WUPA
Other TV stations:
Independent Television Stations: KCAL · KTXA · WSBK

MyNetworkTV affiliates: WBFS

MTV Tr3s affiliate: WBXI
v • d • e
Major American Network Owned & Operated Stations
ABC (10):
KABC • KFSN • KGO • KTRK • WABC • WJRT • WLS • WPVI • WTVD • WTVG
CBS (14):
KCBS • KCNC • KDKA • KOVR • KPIX • KTVT • KYW • WBBM • WBZ • WCBS • WCCO • WFOR • WJZ • WWJ
Fox1 (17):
KDFW • KMSP • KRIV • KSAZ • KTBC • KTTV • WAGA • WFLD • WFXT • WHBQ • WJBK • WNYW • WOFL2 • WOGX2 • WTTG • WTVT • WTXF
MyNetworkTV1 (10):
KCOP · KDFI · KTXH · KUTP · WDCA · WFTC · WPWR · WRBW · WUTB · WWOR
NBC3 (10):
KNBC · KNSD4 · KNTV · KXAS4 · WCAU · WMAQ · WNBC · WRC · WTVJ · WVIT
Telefutura5 (21):
KFPH · KFSF · KTFB · KTFD6 · KTFF · KFTH · KTFK · KTFQ6 · KFTR · KFTU · KNIC · KSTR · WAMI · WFPA · WFTT6 · WFTY · WFUT · WOTF6 · WTNC · WUTF6 · WXFT
Telemundo3 (16):
KBLR · KEJT · KHRR · KDEN · KNSO · KTAZ · KTMD · KVDA · KSTS · KVEA · KXTX · WKAQ · WNEU7 · WNJU · WSCV · WSNS
The CW (9):
KBCW · KMAX · KSTW · WGNT · WKBD · WPCW · WPSG · WTOG · WUPA
Univision5 (21):
KABE · KAKW · KDTV · KFTV · KMEX · KTVW · KUTH8 · KUVE · KUVN · KUVS · KWEX · KXLN · WGBO · WLII / WSUR · WLTV · WQHS · WUVC · WUVG · WUVP · WXTV
  1. Both Fox and MyNetworkTV are owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
  2. WOGX is a semi-satellite of WOFL.
  3. Both NBC and Telemundo are owned by NBC Universal, a joint venture between General Electric (80%) and Vivendi SA (20%).
  4. Both stations are jointly owned in a joint venture between NBC Universal (76%) and LIN Television (24%).
  5. Both Univision and Telefutura are privately owned by Broadcasting Media Partners, Inc., a venture which includes Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC, Providence Equity Partners, Inc., TPG Capital, L.P., Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P., and Saban Capital Group, Inc.
  6. Univision owns the licenses to these stations but the stations themselves are operated by Entravision Communications under Local Marketing Agreements.
  7. NBC Universal owns the license but the station is operated by ZGS Communications.
  8. Univision owns the license but the station is operated by Equity Media Holdings under a Local Marketing Agreement.
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