KCOP-TV

KCOP-TV

Los Angeles, California
Branding	My13 (general) Fox 11 News (newscasts)
Slogan	TV for All of Us
Channels	Digital: 13 (VHF)
Subchannels	(see section)
Translators	(see section)
Owner	Fox Television Stations (Fox Television Stations, Inc.)
First air date	September 17, 1948
Call letters' meaning	K COPley Press (former owners)
Sister station(s)	KTTV Fox Sports West Prime Ticket
Former callsigns	KMTR-TV (1948) KLAC-TV (1948–1954)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 13 (VHF, 1948–2009) Digital: 66 (UHF, 200?–2009)
Former affiliations	DuMont (1949–1955) Independent (1955–1993) PTEN (1993–1995) UPN (1995–2006)
Transmitter power	120 kW
Height	905 m
Facility ID	33742
Transmitter coordinates	34°13′29″N 118°3′48″W
Website	www.my13la.com

KCOP-TV is the MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated television station in Los Angeles, California. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter atop Mount Wilson. Owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of News Corporation, KCOP is sister to Fox owned-and-operated station KTTV and the two stations share studio facilities at the Fox Television Center in West Los Angeles.

History

Early history

Channel 13 went on the air on September 17, 1948, under the callsign KMTR-TV. The station briefly changed its call letters to KLAC-TV (standing for Los Angeles, California), and adopted the moniker "Lucky 13". It was originally co-owned with KLAC-AM-FM, which was later co-owned with channel 13's current sister station KTTV. Although it was an independent station, it did run some programming from the DuMont Television Network. One of KLAC-TV's earlier stars was veteran actress Betty White, who starred in her own sitcom, Life with Elizabeth. Television personality Regis Philbin and actor/director Leonard Nimoy once worked behind the scenes at channel 13, and Oscar Levant had his own show on the station from 1958 to 1960.

On December 23, 1953, the Copley Press (publishers of the San Diego Union-Tribune) purchased KLAC-TV, and changed its call letters to KCOP. A Bing Crosby-led group purchased the station shortly thereafter. In 1960, the NAFI Corporation, which would later merge with Chris-Craft Boats to become Chris-Craft Industries, bought channel 13. NAFI/Chris-Craft would be channel 13's longest-serving owner, lasting over 40 years.

For most of its first 46 years on the air, channel 13 was a typical general entertainment independent station. It was usually the third or fourth highest-rated independent in Southern California, trading the #3 spot with KHJ-TV (channel 9, now KCAL-TV). During the 1980s and early 1990s, it was the Southern California home of Star Trek: The Next Generation (as well as the Original Series), The Arsenio Hall Show and Baywatch. The station tried airing movies six nights a week in 1992, but this fared poorly. In 1993, KCOP added more first-run syndicated programs. Along with Chris-Craft's other stations, KCOP carried the Prime Time Entertainment Network programming service from 1993 to 1995. KCOP was the original Los Angeles home of the syndicated versions of Wheel of Fortune (its longtime announcer until his death in 2010, Charlie O'Donnell, was a former news anchor at KCOP) and Jeopardy!, both of which have since moved to KCBS-TV in 1989, and later to KABC-TV in 1991.

UPN affiliation

In 1994, Chris-Craft and its broadcasting subsidiary, United Television, partnered with Viacom's newly-acquired subsidiary Paramount Pictures to form the United Paramount Network. KCOP became the network's Los Angeles station (which made channel 13 a UPN owned-and-operated station through Chris-Craft's part-ownership of the network), which debuted on January 16, 1995. At the network's launch, WWOR-TV was UPN's "flagship" station. However, UPN did not allow WWOR's superstation feed to carry the network's programs nationally (in contrast, The WB Television Network allowed fellow superstation WGN-TV to air network programming on its cable feed during that network's first four years on the air). In the 1990s, the station continued with a large amount of younger leaning talk shows, reality programming, some sitcoms in evenings, and syndicated cartoons during the morning hours.

In 2000, Viacom bought Chris-Craft's 50% ownership interest in UPN (which Chris-Craft had wholly owned, until Viacom acquired a stake in the network in 1996); the deal effectively stripped KCOP of its status as one of the network's owned-and-operated stations in the process. On August 12 of that year, Chris-Craft sold its UPN stations to the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of News Corporation for $5.5 billion; a deal that was finalized on July 31, 2001, creating a duopoly with Fox O&O KTTV. Upon being sold to Fox, the Fox Kids weekday block moved to KCOP in the mid-afternoons, only for it to be discontinued nationwide in January 2002. Soon after, the station ran an hour-long morning cartoon block (supplied by DIC Entertainment), but dropped cartoons permanently in September 2006. Channel 13 was the last local television station to air cartoons on weekdays; like the other local stations, the cartoons were replaced with informercials. In a separate transaction from its purchase of UPN, Viacom purchased KCOP's rival, KCAL-TV, from Young Broadcasting on June 1, 2002. Rumors persisted that UPN would move to the higher-rated KCAL, making KCOP an independent station once again. However, Viacom decided to continue operating KCAL as an independent station, as Fox renewed its affiliation agreement for its UPN-affiliated stations, keeping the network's programming on KCOP.

With Fox's acquisition of KCOP, the station abandoned its longtime Hollywood studios at 915 North La Brea Avenue (once home to the classic Barry & Enright-produced game shows The Joker's Wild and Tic-Tac-Dough) with KCOP's news and technical operations being moved into KTTV's facilities at the Fox Television Center in West Los Angeles in 2003. The La Brea Avenue studio was put up for sale, with Fox electing to keep the facility, remodeling it to house the first two seasons of the reality series Hell's Kitchen. Since then it has been abandoned, shuttered, and become a haven for squatters who were evicted by police in May 2009.

MyNetworkTV affiliation

On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Time Warner announced they would shut down both UPN and The WB that fall. In place of these two networks, both companies would partner to launch a new "fifth" network called The CW Television Network, with a lineup largely featuring the most popular programs from both networks. KTLA (channel 5), which had been the market's WB affiliate since the network's January 1995 launch, became The CW's Los Angeles affiliate as part of a 10-year affiliation deal between the new network and KTLA's owner, Tribune Broadcasting.

The CW's affiliation list did not include any of Fox's UPN stations, but even without the Tribune affiliation deal, it is unlikely that KCOP would have been picked over KTLA as The CW's management was on record as preferring The WB and UPN's "strongest" affiliates – KTLA had led KCOP in the ratings dating back to when they were both independent stations. The day after the announcement of The CW's pending launch, on January 25, 2006, Fox dropped all network references from its UPN stations' on-air branding, and stopped promoting UPN's programs altogether. Accordingly, KCOP changed its branding from "UPN 13" to "Channel 13", and amended the station's 2002 logo to omit the UPN logo and just feature the boxed "13". On February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced the formation of MyNetworkTV, a new network that would have KCOP and the other Fox-owned UPN stations (plus an independent station in Dallas-Fort Worth) serve as the nuclei.

UPN continued to broadcast on stations across the country until September 15, 2006. While some of the network's affiliates that switched to MyNetworkTV (which commenced operations on September 5, 2006) aired the final two weeks of UPN programs outside its recommended primetime slot, the Fox-owned stations, including KCOP, dropped UPN entirely on August 31, 2006. In September 2006, the station began identifying itself as "MyNetworkTV, Channel 13"; the branding changed again in May 2007, simplified to "My13 Los Angeles".

Digital television

Digital channels

Channel	Video	Aspect	PSIP Short Name	Programming
11.2	480i	4:3	Fox SD	Simulcast of KTTV
13.1	720p	16:9	KCOP-DT	Main KCOP-TV programming / MyNetworkTV
13.2	480i	4:3	Bounce	Bounce TV
13.3		16:9	Movies	Movies!

On November 4, 2011, Fox Television Stations signed an affiliation agreement with Bounce TV for KCOP and its New York City-area sister station WWOR-TV. KCOP began carrying Bounce TV on digital subchannel 13.2 on March 8, 2012 (WWOR added the network on its 9.3 subchannel two weeks earlier on February 24, 2012). The network has also been added to the subchannels of Fox-owned MyNetworkTV stations in five other markets: Baltimore, Phoenix, Orlando, Dallas and Minneapolis. In three other markets where Fox owns MyNetworkTV stations (Chicago, Houston and Washington, D.C.), Bounce TV is carried on competing stations in those markets.

Analog-to-digital conversion

KCOP-TV shut down on its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, on June 12, 2009, as part of the digital television transition. The station had been broadcasting its digital signal prior to the transition over UHF channel 66, but returned to channel 13 for its post-transition operations due to the high-band UHF channels 52-69 being decommissioned from broadcasting use. KCOP broadcasts in 720p high definition on virtual channel 13.1, since MyNetworkTV uses that particular HD format.

Programming

Syndicated programming featured on KCOP-TV includes I Love Lucy, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Closer, Bones, Anderson Live, Burn Notice, The King of Queens, That 70s Show and How I Met Your Mother. Additionally, KCOP may air Fox network programming should it be preempted by KTTV for long-form breaking news coverage or special programming.

Sports coverage

Channel 13 was the broadcast home of the Los Angeles Marathon 1986 to 2001, the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers from 1991 to 1996, and the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2002 to 2005.

Like many local stations in the earlier years of television, KCOP hosted its own Studio Wrestling show every week for many years during the 1970s. Stars such as Freddie Blassie, John Tolos, Rocky Johnson, André the Giant and The Sheik headlined the shows, with longtime local announcer Dick Lane behind the microphone calling the action. In later years, pro wrestling returned to KCOP by way of World Wrestling Entertainment's Smackdown show, which aired on the station from 1999 to 2006 (when it was a UPN affiliate) and again from 2008 to 2010 (as a MyNetworkTV affiliate). In the past, Channel 13 also aired other wrestling programs, including World Class Championship Wrestling and from the NWA. Channel 13 also televised live boxing matches, originating from the Grand Olympic Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles, on and off from the late 1960s until as recently as the mid-1990s, with legendary Los Angeles sportscaster Jim Healy calling the blow-by-blow action in the early years.

From 2005 to 2007, KCOP carried St. Louis Rams preseason games produced by corporate sibling Fox Sports Midwest and now-former sister station KTVI. Back in the 1950s during the team's early years in Los Angeles, the station broadcast many Rams regular season games before NFL games became more exclusive to the major broadcasting networks (such as CBS, NBC, and DuMont). However in July 2008, the NFL's broadcast committee decided to no longer allow teams to broadcast preseason games beyond even their secondary markets. This was done moreso to protect the league's broadcast partners, including those of KCBS-TV and KTLA, the respective local broadcasters of San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders preseason games.

From 2006 to 2011, KCOP held the television broadcast rights to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball team; the team and Fox Sports West signed a 20-year broadcast deal beginning with the 2012 season, making 150 annual Angels telecasts exclusive to Fox Sports West, with a selected portion of that schedule airing on Prime Ticket, although it aired a match between the Angeles and the Minnesota Twins on May 9, 2012 due to both Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket having full schedules. Due to its relationship with corporate siblings Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket, KCOP has served as an overflow channel for the two regional sports networks, as it added coverage of five Los Angeles Kings hockey games during the 2010–11 season, as well as televising selected late-season games from the 2011-12 season, plus the first two games of the Kings' first-round playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks.

On April 8, 2011, KCOP televised its first Clippers game since 1996 (a road game versus the Dallas Mavericks), as a last-minute scheduling addition to the team's television schedule. During the 2011-12 season, also as a last-minute addition, the station televised two Clipper games; a road contest versus the Denver Nuggets on April 18, and game six of their playoff series versus the Memphis Grizzlies on May 11.

News operation

KCOP-TV presently broadcasts six hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with one hour on weekdays and a half-hour each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the lowest local newscast output of any television station in the Los Angeles market, in direct comparison to sister station KTTV – which produces the station's newscasts – which produces 46½ hours of newscasts each week.

For many years, KCOP aired a primetime newscast at 10 p.m., as well as a weekday afternoon newscast at 2 p.m. during the late 1970s and early 1980s. During the 1980s, the station paired its local 10:00 program with the syndicated Independent Network News (which was produced by New York City's WPIX). The INN newscast later moved to KTLA, when Tribune Broadcasting (which was the distributor of INN, and is the owner of WPIX) purchased the station in 1985. The station's newscast has generally been the lowest-rated evening newscast of the seven VHF television stations in the Los Angeles market. The newscast's length has varied from 30 minutes to an hour depending on the station's budget. For a brief period of time during the late 1990s, KCOP tried airing a half-hour newscast at 3:30 p.m. weekdays, later airing it at 7:30 p.m. weeknights. However, when the station was purchased by Fox and its operations were merged with KTTV, channel 13's newscast was moved to 11 p.m. to avoid direct competition with channel 11 (which runs an hour-long 10 p.m. newscast), and trimmed it from an hour in length down to 30 minutes. The station's news production and resources are now also handled by KTTV.

Since Fox purchased the station, KCOP's late-evening newscast took a more unconventional approach than its network-owned competition, KCBS-TV, KNBC and KABC-TV. To appeal to a younger audience, it mainly featured its female news anchors in slightly more revealing, trendy clothing. Its news stories also tend to be much shorter in detail, in a faster-paced format. In addition, it became the first station to emphasize entertainment and trend-setting feature stories as a major part of its format, an idea that has attracted a large young demographic. Nevertheless, channel 13's newscast continually places fourth in the ratings, as it did when the station was competing at 10 p.m. against KTTV, KTLA, and KCAL-TV. However, KCOP's news drew substantially higher ratings among younger viewers, especially young Latinos.

On April 10, 2006, KCOP's newscast was expanded from 30 minutes to one hour, which made it the only Los Angeles station with an hour-long newscast at 11 p.m. On August 14, 2006, the newscast was rebranded as My13 News to reflect the station's pending MyNetworkTV affiliation. With the purchase by Fox, many of KCOP's former staff have since either left the station or been released, reporter Hal Eisner is one of the remaining staffers who has been with KCOP since the Chris-Craft era, beginning there in the early 1990s. Before that, however, he had worked at KTTV for a time from 1987 to 1988. Today, Eisner also files reports for KTTV.

On December 1, 2008, KCOP replaced its hour-long 11 p.m. newscast with a half-hour newscast, which became anchored by KTTV's 10 p.m. anchors Christine Devine and Carlos Amezcua, as it was considered an extension of the earlier newscast; the newscast's retitling to Fox News at 11 marked the end of a KCOP-branded and produced newscast. On September 10, 2012, KCOP launched a half-hour 7 p.m. newscast on weeknights that also uses the Fox News branding; the newscast is also anchored by Amezcua and Devine.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• Clete Roberts and The News (1950-)
• Newsroom (1960s)
• News 13 (1975–1981, 1984–1992 and for a short time in 1999)
• World Network News Los Angeles (1981–1983)
• NewsCenter 13 (1983–1984)
• Real News (1993–1995)
• UPN News 13 (1995–2002)
• UPN 13 News (2002–2006)
• Channel 13 News (January–August 2006)
• My 13 News (August 2006 – 2008)
• Fox News at 11 (2008–present)
• Fox News at 7 (2012–present)

Station slogans

• "Lucky 13" (1950s)
• "Dial TV-13 for the Fun of It" (c. 1972)
• "L.A.'s Very Independent Channel 13" (1989–1995)
• "Get It On, UPN 13" (2002–2006)
• "Get It On, Channel 13" (2006; used during transitional period from UPN to MyNetworkTV)
• "TV for All of Us" (2007–present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

News team

Current on-air staff

Anchors

• Carlos Amezcua - weeknights at 7 and 11 p.m.
• Christine Devine - weeknights at 7 and 11 p.m.
• Susan Hirasuna - weekends at 11 p.m.

Weather

• Pablo Pereira - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 7 and 11 p.m.
• Olga Ospina - weather anchor; weekends at 11 p.m.

Sports

• Liz Habib - sports anchor; weeknights at 11 p.m.
• Rick Lorenzo - sports anchor; weekends at 11 p.m.; also Inland Empire reporter

Reporters

• Chris Blatchford - general assignment and investigative reporter
• Bob DeCastro - general assignment reporter
• Hal Eisner - general assignment reporter
• Courtney Friel - general assignment and entertainment reporter
• Christina Gonzalez - general assignment reporter
• Gigi Graciette - general assignment reporter
• Araksya Karapetyan - general assignment reporter
• James Koh - general assignment reporter
• Ed Laskos - general assignment reporter
• Doug Luzader - Fox News Washington, D.C. bureau reporter
• Al Naipo - Orange County bureau reporter
• Phil Shuman - general assignment and investigative reporter
• Gina Silva - general assignment and investigative reporter
• Lauren Sivan - general assignment reporter
• Robin Sax - legal analyst
• Tony Valdez - general assignment reporter

Notable alumni

• Ross Becker (now at KUSI-TV/San Diego)
• Harold Dow (later with CBS News; deceased)
• Tom Duggan (deceased)
• Harris Faulkner
• Hal Fishman (later with KTLA; deceased)
• Gary Franklin (deceased)
• Vic "The Brick" Jacobs
• Robert Kovacik (now reporter with KNBC-TV)
• Tawny Little
• Larry McCormick (later with KTLA; deceased)
• José Mota
• Mike McKay
• Jim Nash (now at KTLA)
• Kent Ninomiya
• Charlie O'Donnell (deceased)
• Warren Olney
• Regis Philbin
• Bill Press
• George Putnam (deceased)
• Bill Seward (now with NBC Sports)
• Mark Thompson
• Betty White

Rebroadcasters

KCOP's signal is rebroadcast on the following translator stations:

List of translators 

City	Callsign
Daggett	K50HV
Lucerne Valley	K43EE
Morongo Valley	K13WJ
Ridgecrest	K13NF K49AA
Twentynine Palms	K18FH

External links

• My13LA.com - Official KCOP-TV Website
• MyFoxLA.com - Official KTTV Website
• Photos of KCOP's news set
• KCOP-TV logos and screenshots from 1950s to the present day
• KCOP-TV at the Internet Movie Database
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KCOP-TV
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K13WJ
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K50HV
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K18FH
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K13NF
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K49AA
• Program Information for KCOP at TitanTV.com