KAUT-TV
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| KAUT-TV | |
|---|---|
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| Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | |
| Branding | OK 43 (general) NewsChannel 4 (during KFOR-produced newscasts) |
| Slogan | An Oklahoma Original |
| Channels | |
| Affiliations | MyNetworkTV |
| Owner | Local TV (Local TV Oklahoma License, LLC) |
| First air date | September 24, 1980 |
| Call letters’ meaning | Gene AUTry |
| Sister station(s) | KFOR-TV |
| Former callsigns | KAUT (1980-1992) KTLC (1992-1998) KPSG (1998) |
| Former channel number(s) | 43 (UHF analog, 1980-2009) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1980-1986) FOX (1986-1990) PBS (1991-1998) UPN (1998-2006) |
| Transmitter Power | 1,000 kW |
| Height | 436.9 m |
| Facility ID | 50182 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 35°35′52.1″N 97°29′23.2″W / 35.597806°N 97.489778°W |
| Website | ok43.com |
KAUT-TV is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 40 from a transmitter in the northern area of the city along the John Kilpatrick Turnpike. The station can also be seen on Cox cable channel 16 and in high definition on digital channel 714. Owned by Local TV, KAUT is sister station to NBC affiliate KFOR-TV. The two stations share studios on East Britton Road, along U.S. 77, east of the Britton section of Oklahoma City. Syndicated programming on the station includes: Friends, The King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond, and COPS. It takes on the responsibility of preempting regular programming and simulcasting severe weather information from KFOR when a tornado warning is in effect for any part of its main over-the-air viewing area.
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[edit] History
Founded by actor Gene Autry, KAUT signed-on September 24, 1980. It was the sixth television station and the fourth UHF outlet in Oklahoma City after KGMC (now KOCB), KOKH-TV, and the short-lived KTVQ. The station was owned by his Golden West Broadcasters that also owned Los Angeles' legendary KTLA. It was a groundbreaking station airing an all-local news format called "Newswatch 43" which ran initially from 9 in the morning to 5 at night before expanding to 7 in the evening. VUE, a scrambled subscription-based service also owned by Golden West, initially signed on at 5 and then 7 after the expansion of news programming. In late-1981, the plug was pulled on "Newswatch" and KAUT introduced a temporary format of old Western films most of them starring Autry. Innovation continued in early-1982 with the launch of a two-hour local dance show called TMC 43 which ran from 4 to 6 P.M. From 6 to 7, KAUT aired a live local country dance show from a local bar called Oklahoma Country Live. Both shows were gone by Fall 1982. By then, some dramas and sitcoms had been added. The station dropped VEU in 1983. Initially, it added programming from Financial News Network at night and Independent Network News.
Later in the year, FNN was dropped and KAUT added more prime time movies and drama shows. In 1984, it added morning cartoons as well as a few more sitcoms in the evening. The station became a charter FOX affiliate on October 6, 1986 carrying The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers and other early original series of the fourth network such as Married... with Children and 21 Jump Street. In addition, more afternoon cartoons were added. Golden West sold KAUT to Heritage Broadcasting in the mid-1980s. In 1987, Pappas Telecasting made a proposal to buy KOKH. In the deal, it would also buy the programming of KAUT and KGMC and merge them into KOKH's schedule; KGMC would switch to a religious/home shopping format while Heritage would agree to sell KAUT to the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority, the state's PBS network. KOKH would then take over as Oklahoma City's FOX affiliate. In 1988, the deal fell through. All three stations continued on with general entertainment schedules. KOKH went on the market in 1991 and was purchased by Heritage which was completed in August 1991. At that time, the FOX affiliation was moved to that station. Heritage then sold KAUT to OETA. In Summer 1991, it became KTLC, the city's second PBS station. It was known as "The Literacy Channel". However despite the name, its emphasis was not entirely on literacy. Following the switch to a secondary PBS station, KTLC's schedule included fitness programs such as Body Electric, Homestretch, and Sit and Be Fit on weekday mornings from 7 to 8:30, instructional programming and select PBS series (including The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer) during late evenings, and children's programming for much of the rest of the day.
Unlike many PBS stations, KTLC aired children's programs from mid-morning to early evening. Most of them were rebroadcasts from KETA. KTLC's schedule was trimmed back from its earlier lineup and ended its programming day at Midnight like OETA. KTLC's weekend lineup initially retained the same broadcast day period as it previously did on weekdays, but in 1995, KTLC trimmed back its program hours on weekends to begin the day at 4:00 in the afternoon and end the broadcast day at Midnight. Cox Communications filled non-programming hours with QVC programming on cable channel 13. OETA eventually found it too hard to run two stations in Oklahoma City so it decided to put channel 43 up for sale. After KOCB announced in January 1998 that it would drop its UPN affiliation to pick up The WB, Paramount Stations Group agreed to buy KTLC. Channel 43 signed-off as a full-time educational station at Midnight for the last time on June 19. It returned at 5 the next morning as KPSG, named after its new owner. It still aired educational shows from 7 to Noon followed by a general entertainment format consisting of classic sitcoms, cartoons, UPN first run shows, and movies. That Fall, the station became a full-time general entertainment station. When the station's founder Gene Autry died that November, the station changed its calls back to KAUT-TV to honor him. Viacom, parent company of Paramount since 1994, acquired CBS in 1999. Gradually, classic sitcoms were replaced with talk, reality, and court shows. Cartoons were also phased out and gone by Fall 2003. At the end of 2005, Viacom's broadcasting assets and other "slow-growth" businesses became part of a new company called the CBS Corporation.
In the meantime, CBS sold KAUT to The New York Times Company making it a sister station to KFOR-TV. On September 12, 2006, less than a year after closing on its purchase of KAUT, The New York Times Company announced its intention to sell all of its television stations. On January 4, 2007, company entered into an agreement to sell the stations to affiliates of the private equity group Oak Hill Capital Partners. KAUT officially became part of Local TV, a subsidiary of Oak Hill Capital, on May 7. The station now airs sitcoms and talk / reality shows in the late morning and afternoons, off-network sitcoms in the evenings and late nights, and dramas and movies on weekends along with some college and professional sports. It may also take on the responsibility of airing NBC programs when KFOR is not able to as in a news-related emergency. Since 2004, KAUT had been broadcasting Oklahoma Sooners sports including basketball games (mostly women). In addition, they also air Sooners-related basketball and football shows. The station aired the Oklahoma High School Sports Express, a weekly high school sports program hosted by former KFOR sports reporter Van Shea Iven, from January 2006 through May 2008. It had also been the Oklahoma City broadcast home of Texas Rangers major league baseball since April 6, 2007. These games are simulcasted from fellow MyNetworkTV affiliate KDFI in Dallas which is the official over-the-air broadcast flagship station for the team. This deal ended after the 2007 season. KAUT is one of a few stations in the country to have been affiliated with both News Corporation-owned networks, FOX and MyNetworkTV.
[edit] MyNetworkTV
Back on January 24, 2006, the CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. made the decision to merge UPN and The WB to form a new network called The CW. On February 22, News Corporation announced a new competing network, MyNetworkTV. On May 1, KAUT removed UPN branding from its logo becoming one of a few non-FOX owned-and-operated UPN stations to do so. It was then referred to as "43". The station also announced that they would no longer promote any network programing. Ironically, KAUT was erroneously mentioned as a CW affiliate in the first press statements about the new network. What was not realized then was the sale of the station from CBS to The New York Times Company. On May 2, KOCB was announced as Oklahoma City's CW affiliate. For months, it was unclear whether KAUT would go independent or affiliate with MyNetworkTV. Finally on August 22, the station was added to the roster of MyNetworkTV's stations on their website as Oklahoma City's affiliate while station personnel also confirmed the affiliation via email. The word came just two weeks before the new network aired its first program. When the announcement of MyNetworkTV's formation was made, a promotional video shown on the day of the network's announcement on New York City affiliate WWOR-TV showed that the branding of their affiliated stations would be "My (channel number)". However, KAUT opted instead to brand itself as "OK 43" making it one of two MyNetworkTV affiliates (the other being Portland, Oregon's KPDX) not to use the "My" branding, logos, trademarks, or any other elements of the channel. The new branding was accompanied by a new marketing campaign with the slogan "OK 43: An Oklahoma Original" focusing on the station's history and origins with Gene Autry.
[edit] Newscasts
KAUT's sale to The New York Times Company brought local news to this station's lineup. On June 5, 2006, sister station KFOR launched a weeknight 9 o'clock newscast on this station to compete against KOKH's FOX Primetime News at 9 which began ten years earlier. On April 9, 2007, that station launched its FOX 25 Morning News running from 6 to 9 on weekday mornings. To compete with this, KAUT launched a two-hour extension of KFOR's weekday morning news on September 8, 2008. In total, KFOR produces 12.5 hours of local news each week for KAUT. This station also airs two hours of the nationally syndicated morning show, The Daily Buzz, from 5 to 7 preceding KFOR's news. There is no weekend news on this station. KAUT's website posts the first segment of the local morning and evening broadcasts on its website.
The Daily Buzz
(Weekday Mornings 5 to 7)
- Anchors:
- Andy Campbell
- Andrea Jackson
- News Updates:
- Kia Malone
- Weather:
Rise and Shine Oklahoma
(Weekday Mornings 7 to 9)
- Anchor:
- Lance West
- Weather:
- David Payne
- Traffic:
- Shane Faulkner
- The 2 Movie Guys:
- Lucas Ross
- Ryan Bellgardt
Oklahoma's NewsChannel 4 at 9 on OK 43
(Weeknights 9 to 9:30)
- Anchors:
- Ernie Paulson
- Weather:
- Mike Morgan
- Sports:
- Bob Barry, Jr.
KAUT features additional news personnel from KFOR. See that article for a complete listing.
[edit] Station presentation
[edit] Station slogans
- Central Oklahoma's Rising Star (mid to late-1980s)
- Oklahoma's Favorite (2001-2002)
- It's On! (2002-2003)
- It's U! (2003-2006, reference to its UPN affiliation)
- An Oklahoma Original (2006-present)
[edit] Station branding
- KTLC, The Literacy Channel 43 (1991-June 1998)
- KPSG UPN 43 (June-November 1998)
- KAUT UPN 43 (November 1998-May 2006)
- 43 KAUT (May-September 2006)
- OK 43: An Oklahoma Original (September 2006-present)
[edit] Movie umbrella titles
- Paramount Teleplex / Prime / Matinee Movie (1998-2000)
- UPN 43 Matinee / Prime / Late Movie (2000-2006)
- Channel 43 Matinee / Prime / Late Movie (May-September 2006)
- OK 43 Matinee / Late Movie (September 2006-present)
[edit] Logos
 "Newswatch 43" logo used during 1981. |
 "UPN 43" logo used from September 2001 to September 2002. |
 Logo used from September 2002 to May 2006. |
 Logo used from May 2006 to September 2006. |
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"OK 43" logo used since September 2006. |
[edit] External links
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