KHQ-TV

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For the radio station in Charlevoix, Michigan, see WKHQ.
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KHQ-TV
KHQ-TV-HD-Logo.png
Spokane, Washington/Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Branding KHQ (general; alternately known as "Q6")
KHQ Local News (news)
Slogan Right Now
Channels Digital: 15 (UHF)
Virtual: 6 (PSIP)
Subchannels 6.1 NBC
6.2 SWX
Translators (see article)
Owner Cowles Publishing Company
(KHQ, Inc.)
First air date December 20, 1952[1]
Call letters' meaning Named from former call letters of former sister radio station
Former channel number(s) Analog:
6 (VHF, 1952-2009)
Former affiliations Secondary:
ABC (1952-1954)
Transmitter power 1000 kW
Height 653 m
Facility ID 34537
Transmitter coordinates 47°34′53.1″N 117°17′49.7″W / 47.581417°N 117.297139°W / 47.581417; -117.297139
Website www.khq.com

KHQ-TV, virtual channel 6, is the NBC affiliate for Spokane, Washington. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 15. The station is owned by The KHQ Television Group, a subsidiary of Cowles Publishing Company, which owns The Spokesman-Review newspaper. KHQ is one of five local Spokane television stations available in Canada on satellite provider Shaw Direct and on Shaw Cable in Calgary, Edmonton, and other markets.

The station also operates a 24-hour sports and weather channel called SWX Right Now on digital subchannel 6.2. On cable, the station is available in standard definition on channel 6 on Comcast in the Spokane area and on Time Warner Cable in the Coeur d'Alene area; it is also available in high definition on Comcast digital channel 106 in Spokane and Time Warner Cable digital channel 706 in Coeur d'Alene and the Palouse. On satellite, it is available on channel 6 in both standard definition and high-definition on Dish Network and DirecTV.

Contents

Digital television [edit]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming
6.1 1080i 16:9 KHQ-HD Main KHQ-TV programming / NBC
6.2 480i 4:3 SWX SWX Right Now

Analog-to-digital conversion [edit]

KHQ-TV shut down its analog signal on February 17, 2009,[2] moving its digital broadcasts to channel 7 (where it was once KSPS-TV). It has since moved back to channel 15 due to adjacent channel interference with KSPS (now on channel 8).[3] Through the use of PSIP, KHQ-TV's main NBC signal is displayed as virtual channel 6.

History [edit]

While KHQ and KXLY were both granted authorization by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build television stations on July 12, 1952,[4] KHQ was first to sign on the air, going live on Saturday, December 20, 1952[citation needed] at 6 pm with the film Texas Trouble Shooters. The first NBC program KHQ broadcast was an episode of Your Hit Parade, which aired that evening at 7:30.[5] In addition to being the oldest television station east of the Cascades, KHQ is also the second-oldest station in Washington state. It was co-owned by Cowles Publishing along with KHQ radio (AM 590, now KQNT; and FM 98.1, now KISC). The radio stations were both sold off in 1985.

It was originally a dual NBC/ABC affiliate. KREM-TV took the ABC affiliation when it signed on air in 1954, but KHQ kept the NBC affiliation, which it retains to this day. It is the only major station in Spokane, and one of a few in the country, that has retained the same primary affiliation, owner and call letters throughout its history.

After being in its original studio for over forty years, KHQ moved its headquarters to 1201 W. Sprague Avenue in downtown Spokane in 2001, where it still is today. The reason for the move was to create an all-digital facility, so modern media technology could work well with the news station. In the process, KHQ became the first all-digital facility in Spokane.[6]

Traditionally, KHQ has been known as "Q6," but the station seems to have been shying away from that branding in recent years. KHQ still uses the "Q6" logo, but it's now exclusively verbally referred to on-air by its call letters.

Programming [edit]

KHQ's current syndicated programming offerings include Judge Joe Brown, Katie, Ellen, Judge Judy, Jeopardy!, and Wheel of Fortune.

News operation [edit]

Main article: SWX Right Now
KHQ newscast title card seen nightly at 5

In 2006, with the popularity of high-definition newscasts increasing around the country, the race to HD began in the Spokane television market when competitor KXLY became the first Spokane station to produce a local segment of the news in HD. Each week, one news story was presented in high-definition. Until 2008, KXLY was the only news station in Spokane to produce a segment of the news in HD.

On May 16, 2008, KHQ produced a live, on-the-air report in HD. It was officially announced on this date that KHQ was slated to become the first station in Spokane to broadcast its entire newscasts in HD, debuting on August 8, 2008 to coincide with the 2008 Summer Olympic Games on NBC.[6] However, after months of marketing this milestone, KXLY shocked KHQ and the Spokane television market when it made a surprise announcement on August 1, just two days before the start of its broadcasts, that it would beat KHQ in becoming the first station in Spokane to produce HD newscasts. KXLY's HD newscasts started August 3, just a mere five days before KHQ's scheduled date. Despite marketing their newscasts as being in HD, KHQ did not yet present its newscasts in true high definition, but in standard definition widescreen. However, with the implementation of a new master control hub (which handles the operations of KHQ, along with sister stations KNDU and KNDO and its SWX channels) using fiberoptic links, and the purchase of new studio equipment and cameras, KHQ migrated to full HD newscasts in late 2012.[7][8]

In 2008, KHQ and Northern Quest Resort and Casino started a partnership, and created SWX, a 24-hour sports and weather channel. SWX launched in January 2009, and officially launched on August 30, 2009.[9] The channel features live events including local high school sports, among other programming. Normal programming on SWX includes four minute weather briefs from "The Weather Authority" and sports updates called "SWX Sports Updates."

KHQ Newscasts [edit]

Weekdays

  • KHQ Local News Today – 4:30-7:00 a.m.
  • KHQ Local News at 5:00 – 5:00-5:30 p.m.
  • KHQ Local News at 6:00 – 6:00-6:30 p.m.
  • KHQ Local News 11@11:00 – 11:00-11:35 p.m.

Saturdays

  • KHQ Local News Saturday – 7:00-10:00 a.m.
  • KHQ Local News at 5:00 – 5:00-5:30 p.m.
  • KHQ Local News at 6:00 – 6:00-6:30 p.m.
  • KHQ Local News 11@11:00 – 11:00-11:35 p.m.

Sundays

  • KHQ Local News Sunday – 7:00-7:30 a.m.
  • KHQ Local News at 5:00 – 5:00-5:30 p.m.
  • KHQ Local News at 6:00 – 6:00-6:30 p.m.
  • KHQ Local News 11@11:00 – 11:00-11:35 p.m.

News/station presentation [edit]

Newscast titles [edit]

  • Front Page (1952–1956)
  • Your Esso Reporter (1956–1962)
  • The Six O'Clock Report/The Eleven O'Clock Report (1962–1965)
  • Channel 6 News (1965–1974; 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts)
  • 24 Hours (1965–1974; 10 p.m. newscast)
  • Q-6 Eyewitness News (1974–1978)
  • Q-6 News Alive (1978–1981)
  • Q-6 News (1981–2002)[10]
  • Q-6 Nightly News (1981–1987; evening newscast)
  • Q-6 Local News (2002–2007)[11]
  • KHQ Local News (2002–present)[12]

Weather titles [edit]

  • Fast Alert Weather (2002)
  • KHQ Weather Plus (2004–2008)
  • Weather Right Now (2009–2010)
  • The Weather Authority (2010–present)

Station slogans [edit]

  • "The Northwest's Rising Star" (1970–1974)
  • "Q-6 Eyewitness News: The Northwest's Most Complete and Comprehensive Coverage of News, Weather and Sports" (1974–1978)
  • "The Northwest's Number One News Team" (late 1970s–early 1980s)
  • "Always One Step Ahead" (1980s)
  • "Your Northwest NewsChannel" (early 1990s–1998)
  • "Your Local News Station" (1998–2002)
  • "Your Local News Leader" (2002–2006)
  • "Right Now" (2006–present)
Television.svg This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

News team[13] [edit]

Anchors

  • Dave Cotton - NewsBreak with Dave Cotton, weekdays at 10:00 a.m., noon and 2:00 p.m. on KHQ.com; also president of interactive media
  • Dan Kleckner - weeknights at 5:00 and 6:00 p.m.
  • Shelly Monahan - weekday mornings on KHQ Local News Today (4:30-7:00 a.m.)
  • Sean Owsley - weekday mornings on KHQ Local News Today (4:30-7:00 a.m.); also host of Invest Northwest (Sundays from 7:30-8:00 a.m.)
  • Kjerstin Ramsing - weeknights at 10:00 p.m. (KAYU)
  • Alex Rozier - weekend mornings on KHQ Local News Today (7:00-10:00 Saturdays and 7:00-7:30 a.m. Sundays); also weekday reporter
  • Stephanie Vigil - weeknights at 5:00, 6:00 and 11:00 p.m.
  • Kelsey Watts - weekends at 5:00, 6:00, 10:00 (KAYU) and 11:00 p.m.; also weekday reporter
  • Kalae Chock - weekday mornings and weekend mornings on KHQ Local News Today (4:30-7:00 weekdays and/or 7:00-10:00 Saturdays + 7:00-7:30 a.m. Sundays)

The Weather Authority (also seen on SWX Right Now)

  • Leslie Lowe - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5:00, 6:00, 10:00 (KAYU) and 11:00 p.m.
  • Blake Jensen - meteorologist; weekday mornings on KHQ Local News Today (4:30-7:00 a.m.)
  • Dave Law - meteorologist; weekend evenings at 5:00, 6:00, 10:00 (KAYU) and 11:00 p.m.
  • Amy Rose - meteorologist: weekend mornings on KHQ Local News Today (7:00-10:00 Saturdays and 7:00-7:30 a.m. Sundays)

SWX Sports (also seen as play-by-play announcers on SWX Right Now)

  • Sam Adams - senior sports anchor; weeknights at 6:00, 10:00 (KAYU) and 11:00 p.m.
  • Michelle Dapper - sports anchor; weekends at 5:00, 6:00, 10:00 (KAYU) and 11:00 p.m.
  • John Fritz - sports anchor; fill-in anchor and sports reporter
  • John Collett- sports anchor; fill-in anchor and sports reporter

Reporters

  • Cristy Aranguiz- general assignment reporter
  • Patrick Erickson - general assignment reporter
  • Lindsay Nadrich - digital reporter/director
  • Mike Perry - North Idaho reporter
  • Matt Rogers - weekday morning reporter (4:30-7:00 a.m.)
  • Katie Steiner - general assignment reporter
  • Dylan Wohlenhaus - general assignment reporter

Notable former on-air staff [edit]

Translators [edit]

KHQ is rebroadcast on the following translator stations:

References [edit]

  1. ^ KHQ TV channel 6 in Spokane, WA (NBC) begins broadcasting December 20 in History
  2. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  3. ^ CDBS Print
  4. ^ Spokane Daily Chronicle - July 12, 1952 - Page 2: KHQ and KXLY Authorized to Build Television Stations
  5. ^ Spokane Daily Chronicle - "1st Commercial TV Show for Area to Be Tonight" - December 20, 1952
  6. ^ a b KHQ Milestone: Armed Forces Torchlight Parade broadcast in HD
  7. ^ "KHQ Launches Centralcasting With ABS". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved 18 May 2013. 
  8. ^ "Retrans Deal Drives Cowles Centralcasting". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved 18 May 2013. 
  9. ^ Stealth powerbroker - - Sept. 13, 2009
  10. ^ 1987 KHQ Q6 11pm News Open
  11. ^ KHQ Spokane WA - 2002 5pm Open
  12. ^ KHQ Local News 11@11 HD Open - 2008
  13. ^ [1]
  14. ^ "Phil Keating Bio". Fox News. Retrieved 9 March 2013. 
  15. ^ http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=K03IN-D#station
  16. ^ http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=K22JF-D#station

External links [edit]
Newspapers
KHQ, Incorporated
Cowles California Media
Other properties
  • Inland Empire Paper Company
1: Station owned by Seal Rock Broadcasters, operated via a local marketing agreement.
Spokane
Coeur d'Alene
Quad Cities
(Lewiston/Clarkston/
Pullman/Moscow)
Defunct
NBC Network Affiliates in the state of Washington
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