KENS

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KENS
San Antonio, Texas
Branding	KENS 5 (general) KENS 5 Eyewitness News (newscasts) ("KENS" pronounced as one word)
Channels	Digital: 39 (UHF)
Subchannels	5.1 CBS 5.2 Estrella TV[1]
Affiliations	CBS
Owner	Belo Corporation (KENS-TV, Inc.)
First air date	February 15, 1950
Call letters’ meaning	Kindly of the Express-News Station
Sister station(s)	KCWX
Former callsigns	KEYL (1950-1954)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 5 (1950-2009) Digital: 55
Former affiliations	Secondary: DuMont (1950-1955) ABC (1950-1957) Paramount Television Network (1950-1953) NTA Film Network (1956-?)
Transmitter Power	1000 kW (digital)
Height	441 m (digital)
Facility ID	26304
Transmitter Coordinates	29°16′11″N 98°15′55″W / 29.26972°N 98.26528°W / 29.26972; -98.26528
Website	www.kens5.com

KENS is the CBS television affiliate in San Antonio, Texas owned and operated by The Belo Corporation. KENS also manages KCWX under a local marketing agreement (LMA). Its transmitter is located in Elmendorf, Texas. KENS can also be seen through cable in Laredo, Texas.

[edit] History

KENS 5 signed on the air on February 15, 1950 as KEYL, a CBS affiliate with secondary affiliations with DuMont, Paramount Television Network,^[2] and ABC (shared with WOAI-TV). A year after its launch, Storer Broadcasting bought the station. In 1954, Storer had to sell KEYL to the San Antonio Express-News, which also purchased what became the original KENS-AM (680 kHz, now KKYX), in order for Storer to complete its purchase of WXEL-TV (now WJW) in Cleveland, Ohio because the company would have been one VHF station over the Federal Communications Commission's new ownership limit of seven television stations, with no more than five of those on VHF, which went into effect that year. (At the time, newspapers could own television and/or radio stations in the same market provided that such ownership complied with the FCC-mandated ownership limits of each property in effect at the time.) The new owner changed KEYL's call letters to the present-day KENS-TV. KENS was the second station to begin broadcasting in San Antonio, three months behind WOAI-TV. DuMont ceased most network operations in 1955, but would honor network commitments until 1956; at that point, DuMont disappeared from the station's schedule. It lost ABC when KONO-TV (now KSAT-TV) signed on in 1957, leaving KENS as a full-time CBS affiliate. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.^[3]

In early 1962, the Express-News and KENS-AM-TV were purchased by Harte-Hanks Communications; the radio station was sold off a few months later since Harte-Hanks was not interested in radio station ownership at the time. When the FCC tightened its cross-ownership rules in the early 1970s, Harte-Hanks sought grandfathered protection for its San Antonio media combination. However, while the FCC granted such protection to several media combinations across the country, it would not do the same to the Harte-Hanks combination in San Antonio. Accordingly, in 1973, Harte-Hanks opted to keep KENS-TV and sell the Express-News to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

In 1993, Harte-Hanks acquired what at the time became the second incarnation of KENS-AM (1160 kHz). In September 1997, Harte-Hanks sold its remaining media properties, including the KENS stations, to the E. W. Scripps Company in order to concentrate on direct marketing. At the same time, Belo announced that it would swap its controlling stake in the Food Network to Scripps in exchange for the KENS stations. The Harte-Hanks/Scripps deal and the transfer of Belo's stake in the Food Network to Scripps were both completed on October 15 of that year. At that time, Belo took over the operation of the KENS stations under a time brokerage agreement. Belo officially completed its purchase of the KENS stations on December 4, 1997. The second incarnation of KENS-AM was sold off to Disney/ABC in 2003, becoming Radio Disney station KRDY.

KENS remained closely associated with the Express-News, even though the station and newspaper have been under separate ownership for many years. The station shared its main website with the newspaper until the end of 2008, when the news partnership agreement between KENS and the Express-News expired. The station launched Kens5.com on January 26, 2009. Immediately following the digital transition on June 12, KENS officially dropped the -TV suffix from its legal call sign.

In the mid-1980s, KENS broadcast a short-lived second channel, exclusively on Rogers Cablevision channel 24, called KENS II.

KENS is one of the broadcast homes of the NBA San Antonio Spurs, and has also been the home of game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! for two decades.

Bob Rogers still is KENS most successful and longest running News Director. Rogers kept KENS in the number one ratings spot for over two decades. He was also responsible for hiring, coaching and helping the careers of many local and national news anchors, reporters and correspondents. He left KENS in the late 90's and retired.

[edit] Analog-to-Digital Conversion

After the analog television shutdown occured on June 12, 2009 ^[4], KENS-DT remained on channel 39 ^[5] using PSIP to display KENS-DT's virtual channel as 5.

This move also allowed sister station KCWX (which prior to the conversion, did not have an over-the-air digital signal) to begin digital broadcasts on channel 5.

Prior to November 2008, KENS-DT was on channel 55, which had to be vacated due to the FCC auctioning off the frequencies used by channels 52-69. In the interim period between November 2008 and June 2009, KENS-DT's digital signal was broadcast on a subchannel of KWEX-DT (mapped to virtual channel 5.1), which broadcasted on channel 39 prior to the transition. After the digital transition was complete, KENS-DT kept channel 39 for itself since KWEX-DT moved back to channel 41 (the station's previous analog frequency).

[edit] Newscasts

As of the end of the February 2007 ratings period, KENS had taken first place for their 10 o'clock newscast. As of the November 2007 ratings period, KENS also took first place in the morning newscasts. KENS is in a spirited battle with KSAT-TV for first place at noon and 6 p.m. newscasts. Rival WOAI-TV is at third place in all time slots.

When a new version of The Early Show debuted on CBS on January 7, 2008, KENS decided to cut their weekday morning newscast from 5am-8am, to 5am-7am, abandoning the local/national hybrid format. Also at the same time, Itza Gutierrez left the station's Saturday Morning newscast to become a stay-at-home mother. She has since been replaced by Stacia Willson.

[edit] Great Day SA

Great Day SA is a live morning show. The program airs daily from 9-10am (CST). This morning show airs on KENS and features local and national music artists, celebrities, and local human interest stories. Formerly hosted by 1994 Miss USA Lu Parker also formerly hosted by Kristina Guererro who is now at Inside Edition, Great Day SA is currently hosted by KENS 5 Reporter Bridget Smith. This program launched on September 8, 2003. Also, features GDSA reporter Eileen Teves, KENS 5 Morning Meteorologist Paul Mireles, and KENS 5 Traffic Watch Reporter Kellie Patterson.

[edit] Eyewitness Newsreel

A long-running, weeknight segment of the news is the "Eyewitness Newsreel" in which anchor Chris Marrou narrates a faux, old-style newsreel at the end of the 10 p.m. newscast. The Newsreel usually consists of humorous segments of local news juxtaposed with out-of-context snips of CBS news anchors, politicians or celebrities "commenting" on the situation. Marrou writes the segment each weeknight.

[edit] Eyewitness News HD

At the beginning of June 2008 - KENS 5 began to run ads about "the biggest thing in KENS' history" however that ad specifically would not say exactly what, only that it'll happen June 30, 2008. Which many of us would think "High Definition" and, in fact it was HD. Around June 22, 2008 - KENS began running another ad verifying they are in fact going HD Monday, June 30, 2008. KENS 5 was San Antonio's/South Texas' First High Definition Newscast.

As of the digital transition in June 2009, KENS remains the only San Antonio station which airs newscasts in true high definition. One of KENS' rivals, KSAT-TV, claims to broadcast high-definition newscasts but actually airs them in upconverted widescreen standard definition.

[edit] Personalities

[edit] Current On-Air Talent

KENS 5 Anchors

[edit] Former On-Air Talent

[edit] News/Station Presentation

[edit] Newscast Titles

• The San Antonio/South Texas Report (1950-1954)
• Your Esso Reporter (1954-1962)
• Television 5/TV 5 News (1962-1970)
• (Channel 5/KENS 5) Eyewitness News (1970-1998)
• KENS 5 Eyewitness News (1998-present)

[edit] Station Slogans

• 5 Alive (1970s)
• Eyewitness News: San Antonio's Top-Rated (Satellite) Newscast (1979-1987)
• KENS-TV Spirit, Oh Yes! (1987-88) (localized version of the CBSpirit campaign)
• Coverage You Can Count On (1998-present)
• San Antonio's #1 Newscast (2002-present)
• San Antonio's Only High Definition Newscast (2008-2009)
• South Texas' First High Definition Newscast (2009-Present)
• South Texas' #1 Newscast (2008-Present)
• San Antonio's News Leader (2008-Present)

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

[edit] References

1. ^ "Four Belo Stations Grab Estrella TV". Broadcasting & Cable. May 19, 2009. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/232952-Four_Belo_Stations_Grab_Estrella_TV.php. Retrieved on 2009-06-05. 
2. ^ "Hollywood shows on KEYL", San Antonio Light: 54, 1950-02-19 
3. ^ "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films", Boxoffice: 13, November 10, 1956, http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_111056-1 
4. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
5. ^ CDBS Print

[edit] External links

• KENS 5 website
• Eyewitness NewsReel archive
• [1]
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KENS
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KENS-TV