KONG (TV)

KONG

Everett/Seattle, Washington
Branding	KONG 6/16 (general) KING 5 News (newscasts)
Slogan	The 10 O'Clock Choice
Channels	Digital: 31 (UHF) Virtual: 16 (PSIP)
Subchannels	16.1 KONG-DT (HD) 16.2 KONG-DT (SD)
Affiliations	Independent
Owner	Belo Corporation (KONG-TV, Inc.)
First air date	July 8, 1997
Call letters' meaning	counterpart of KING-TV, as in King Kong
Sister station(s)	KING-TV
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 16 (UHF, 1997-2009)
Transmitter power	700 kW
Height	218 m
Facility ID	35396
Transmitter coordinates	47°37′54.6″N 122°21′3.9″W
Website	www.kongtv.com

KONG, virtual channel 16, is a television station based in Seattle, Washington. Owned by the Belo Corporation, KONG's city of license is Everett, Washington. It is a sister station to KING-TV, and is run out of KING's studios just east of Seattle Center.

KONG broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 31, transmitted with 1MW of power from Seattle's Queen Anne Hill, and can be received over much of the Puget Sound area. Western Washington cable TV systems usually carry KONG on cable channel 6, next to its sister station KING-TV channel 5. Local-area cable companies, Comcast and Wave Broadband also carry the high-definition simulcast on channel 106.

The call letters were retained as a tongue-in-cheek reference to King Kong, which made both stations easily marketable together.

History

The KONG call sign was first granted on April 6, 1984. When it was applied for, it immediately drew a legal complaint from King Broadcasting against Carl Washington's KONG TV, Inc., the first broadcaster to apply for a license for Everett's channel 16. They had planned to go on the air June 1st of that year, with studios in Everett and a sales office in Seattle, but kept getting bogged down by years of legal challenges from residents on Cougar Mountain who objected to the Electromagnetic radiation from an additional broadcaster. After the legal challenges to the transmitter, KONG lay dormant until broadcasters came up with innovative ways to program additional stations in their area.

KONG signed on the air July 8, 1997. It was locally owned, but managed by KING-TV (which Belo had just acquired) through a local marketing agreement. Belo bought Channel 16 outright in 2000, when the Federal Communications Commission began to permit duopolies.

Digital television

KING-TV and KONG TV ceased analog broadcasting, effective June 12, 2009, and became digital-only.

In 2009, KONG became one of the first four TV stations in the country to air mobile DTV signals. The OMVC chose KONG and KOMO in Seattle and WPXA and WATL in Atlanta as the stations to beta test the ATSC-M/H standard, which has since been officially adopted for free-to-air broadcast TV with clear reception on mobile devices, overcoming many of the defects of the original ATSC standard.

Programming

KONG is independent of any network affiliation. Initially, the station ran a general entertainment format with classic sitcoms, westerns, old movies, cartoons, and a 10 p.m. newscast. Along with the newscast, the station now airs KING-TV's syndicated shows (such as Oprah) during primetime or other time slots, giving viewers a second chance to watch the shows that day. It also carries a few syndicated shows not aired on KING-TV, like Extra, Access Hollywood, America's Funniest Home Videos and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

KONG also broadcasts NBC network programs, including Meet the Press and Early Today. KING also produces extra newscasts for KONG including an extension of the KING5 Morning News and a 10pm newscast.

Because of its relationship with KING, KONG can air NBC programming that may get displaced by other programming such as local events, or by local interest. An example of this is when in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, KONG aired NBC's coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals for games that occurred on the East Coast, with KING airing local programming and news in its place and ceding that more viewers usually watched CBC's NHL coverage on CBUT. For the 2008-2010 NFL preseasons, non-national telecasts of Seattle Seahawks pre-season football games aired on KONG as NBC held the rights to the Summer Olympic Games.

Newscasts

KING 5 Morning News on KONG
(weekday mornings 7-9 a.m.)

• Anchors:
  • Joyce Taylor
  • Mark Wright
• Weather:
  • Rich Marriott
• Traffic:
  • Tracy Taylor

KING 5 News at Noon
(weekdays 1-2 p.m.; replay of KING's noon newscast)

• Anchors:
  • Greg Copeland
  • Mimi Jung
• Weather:
  • Rich Marriott

KING 5 News @ 10 on KONG (10 to 11 p.m.)
Weeknights

• Anchors:
  • Lori Matsukawa
  • Dennis Bounds
• Weather:
  • Jeff Renner
• Sports:
  • Paul Silvi

Weekends

• Anchor:
  • Allen Schauffler
• Weather:
  • Jim Guy
• Sports:
  • Andrea Nakano

Northwest Sports Tonight (Monday-Saturdays 11-11:35 p.m.; rebroadcast Northwest Cable News primetime program; first segment is occasionally live on KONG if a sporting event ends late)

• Host:
  • Paul Silvi

KONG features additional news personnel from KING-TV. See that article for a complete listing.

External links

• KONG 6/16
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KONG
• Query TV Fool's coverage map for KONG
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KONG-TV