KGTV

KGTV

San Diego, California
Branding	ABC 10 (general) 10 News (newscasts)
Slogan	San Diego's News Source
Channels	Digital: 10 (VHF)
Subchannels	10.1 ABC 10.2 TheCoolTV 10.15 KZSD-LP/Azteca America
Affiliations	ABC (1977–present)
Owner	The E.W. Scripps Company (Scripps Media, Inc.)
First air date	September 13, 1953
Call letters' meaning	KOGO-TV (prior callsign without the Os)
Sister station(s)	KZSD-LP
Former callsigns	KFSD-TV (1953-1961) KOGO-TV (1961-1972)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 10 (VHF, 1953-2009) Digital: 25 (UHF, 2007-2009)
Former affiliations	NBC (1953-1977)
Transmitter power	20.7 kW
Height	227 m
Facility ID	40876
Transmitter coordinates	32°50′20″N 117°14′56″W
Website	www.10news.com

KGTV, digital channel 10, is the ABC television affiliate in San Diego, California. The station can be seen on Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, and AT&T U-verse on cable channel 10 in standard definition. Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable carry its high definition signal on cable channel 710, while AT&T U-verse carries its HD signal on channel 1010. The station is also available on its customary channel 10 position (in both standard definition and in high definition) on both of DirecTV and Dish Network's local channels packages.

It is owned by The E.W. Scripps Company, which also owns Azteca America affiliate KZSD-LP. KGTV's transmitter is located atop Mount Soledad above La Jolla, California.

Digital television

Channel	Name	Programming
10.1	KGTV-DT	Main KGTV programming / ABC
10.2	COOL-TV	TheCoolTV
10.15	KZSD-D2	Simulcast of KZSD-LP

Analog-to-digital conversion

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion on February 17, 2009, KGTV moved its digital signal from channel 25 to channel 10. However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers continue to display KGTV's virtual channel as 10. Since KGTV is an ABC network affiliate, it broadcasts in 720p high definition.

History

The station went on the air on September 13, 1953 as KFSD-TV, and was affiliated at the time with NBC. KFVW/KFSD radio (1220/620/600 AM) was the first full time commercial radio station in San Diego which signed on June 3, 1925. KFBC/KGB signed on July 14, 1922, but was only on the air part-time as an amateur station at 833.3 Kilocycles. Channel 10's call letters followed the AM and FM stations to make it a complete combo AM/FM/TV. In 1961, the stations changed their call letters to KOGO, as the format of the AM station changed to MOR (Middle of the Road). As legend has it, they fed information about San Diego and its people into the new device by IBM called the computer. They asked the computer for the perfect call letters for the new AM station and it responded with KOGO.^{[citation needed]}

The broadcasting division of the Time-Life magazine company purchased the KOGO stations, KOGO-AM-FM-TV, in 1962 from a locally based firm, Fox, Wells & Rogers.

In 1972, McGraw-Hill purchased KOGO-TV (along with the rest of Time-Life's broadcasting properties) and changed its call letters to the present KGTV (to reflect KOGO-TV). The radio stations were sold separately, and AM 600 retained the KOGO call letters, and was sold to Retlaw (which is Walter spelled backwards, and was a broadcast company owned by members of Walt Disney's family, specifically his children and his brother. These holdings were separate from the Walt Disney Studios). 94.1 went back to the KFSD calls, and went through a series of owners. In 1977, the station dropped its affiliation with NBC and switched to ABC. NBC had crashed to last place while ABC had become the #1 network in the country with hit shows (Happy Days, Three's Company, Laverne & Shriley, Charlie's Angels, The Love Boat, etc. ) and specials (Rich Man, Poor Man, Roots). KCST-TV (channel 39, now KNSD) picked up NBC and is now a NBC majority-owned station.

In April 2009, KGTV rebranded itself as "ABC 10" and launched new graphics and a new logo.^{[citation needed]}

On October 3, 2011, McGraw-Hill announced it was selling its entire television station group, including KGTV and Azteca America affiliate KZSD-LP, to The E.W. Scripps Company for $212 million. The deal was completed on December 30, 2011.

Programming

Syndicated programing on KGTV includes Rachael Ray, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, The Doctors, and Inside Edition.

News operation

KGTV first began to challenge KFMB's dominance in the mid-1970s when anchormen Jack White and Harold Greene, along with popular weatherman "Captain Mike" Ambrose and sportscasters Al Coupee and Hal Clement, led The News to popularity, albeit briefly.

Even with the brief return of Greene following his stints in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the station fell back to second place behind KFMB in the early 1980s. However, management succeeded in acquiring the services of popular anchorman Michael Tuck from KFMB in 1984; the move resulted in KGTV reclaiming first place and giving the station credibility by way of Tuck's infamous nightly commentaries titled "Perspectives."

KGTV also made history by being the first station in San Diego with a female anchor team with its 11 p.m. newscast, featuring Carol LeBeau and Bree Walker. After Walker left in 1987, Kimberly Hunt would team with LeBeau and form the city's longest-running anchor duo at 15 years. During that time, LeBeau and Hunt would anchor alongside Tuck (who left for Los Angeles in 1990, only to return to San Diego on KFMB), Stephen Clark (now at WXYZ-TV in Detroit), Steve Wolford, and a returning Hal Clement (who had switched from sports to news in 1983 while at KFMB).

Eventually, KGTV would decline after Hunt left to anchor the news at KUSI-TV alongside Tuck, at one point falling to third as KNSD rose to number one at 11 p.m. The Hunt-Lebeau team reunited in early 2008, before LeBeau retired the following year. On August 30, 2008, KGTV became the third station, behind KFMB-TV and KSWB-TV, to launch local news in High Definition.

KGTV is among the few United States television stations that broadcast local news programs at 7:00 p.m. on weeknights. In May 2010, the newscast was the top rated early evening newscast in the market in the 25-54 demographic.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• KFSD-TV News (1953–1961)
• KOGO News (1961–1965)
• Eyewitness News (1965–1977)
• The News (1977–1981)
• NewsWatch 10 (1981–1984)
• 10 News (1984–present)

Station slogans

• "The Team That Stands for San Diego" (1988–1994)
• "The Team You Count On Everyday" (1994–1998)
• "See What Leadership Can Do for You" (2000–2004)
• "San Diego's (Local) News Leader" (2004–2008)
• "San Diego's News Source" (2011–present)

News team

Current on-air staff

Anchors

• Steve Atkinson - weeknights at 5, 7 and 11 p.m.
• Virginia Cha - weeknights at 5:30 p.m.
• Bill Griffith - weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.) and midday (11 a.m.)
• Kimberly Hunt - weeknights at 5, 6, 7 and 11 p.m.
• Itica Milanes - weekends at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.; also weeknight reporter and fill-in anchor
• Chris Murphy - weekends at 5, 6, and 11 p.m.; also weeknight reporter and fill-in anchor
• Kaushal Patel - weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.) and midday (11 a.m.)

10 News Pinpoint Weather

• Pat Brown - chief weather anchor; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6, 7 and 11 p.m.
• Robert Santos - weather anchor; weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.), midday (11 a.m.), and fill-in news anchor
• Craig Herrera (AMS Seal of Approval) - weather anchor; weekends at 5, 6 and 11 p.m., also weeknight reporter
• Natasha Stenbock (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; fill-in

Sports team

• Ben Higgins - sports director; Sunday-Thursdays at 6 and 11 p.m.
• Steve Smith - sports anchor; Fridays and Saturdays at 6 and 11 p.m.

10 News TimeSaver Traffic

• Phil Konstantin - Sky10 reporter
• Melissa Mecija - weekday morning traffic reporter
• Larry Landeros - CHP traffic officer
• Jesse Udovich - CHP traffic officer

Reporters

• Allison Ash - Downtown Courthouse and general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
• Rachel Bianco - general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
• Mitch Blacher - "I-Team" investigative reporter
• John Carroll - general assignment reporter
• Sandy Castelblanco - freelance general assignment reporter
• Michael Chen - general assignment reporter
• Cary Chow - general assignment reporter
• Ariana Duarte - general assignment reporter
• Steve Fiorina - general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
• Vanessa Van Hyfte - freelance general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
• Jennifer Jensen - general assignment reporter
• Mike Kirsch - freelance "I-Team" investigative and general assignment reporter
• Bob Lawrence - Military and general assignment reporter
• Joe Little - South Bay and general assignment reporter
• Melissa Mecija - general assignment reporter
• Nannette Miranda - State Capitol reporter
• Hannah Mullens - general assignment reporter
• Preston Phillips - general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
• Salvador Rivera - freelance general assignment reporter

Former on-air staff

• Alejandra Cerball
• Hal Clement
• Luis Cruz
• Harold Greene - anchor/reporter (1974–1977 and 1980–1982; later at KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, now retired)
• Nina Jimenez
• Lisa Kim - anchor (1986–1994; last at KNTV in San Jose/San Francisco)
• Lisa Lake - weekday morning and midday anchor (1995-2008)
• Carol LeBeau
• Kerstin Lindquist
• Paul Magers (1981–1983; now at KCBS-TV in Los Angeles)
• Bryon Miranda
• Kent Ninomiya - reporter (1991–1993)
• Regis Philbin - KGTV talk show (1961–1964; now a talk and game show host, Live with Regis and Kelly and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire)
• Sarah Purcell - talk show host (late 1970s, later co-hosted NBC's Real People)
• Lauren Reynolds
• Larry Sacknoff - sportscaster (1978–1992)
• Billy Ray Smith - sportscaster (1993–1997, now at XX Sports Radio)
• Bree Walker - anchor/reporter (1980–1987)

Station personnel

• Jeff Block - vice president/general manager
• Joel Davis - news director
• Brad McLellan - news assignment manager

See also

• KGTV Tower

External links

• Official website
• Station Index @ TVJobs.com
• KGTV Talent @ TVJobs.com
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KGTV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KGTV-TV