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owner = [[NBC Universal]]|
owner = [[NBC Universal]]|
licensee = |
licensee = |
sister_stations = [[KVEA]], [[KWHY-TV]]|
sister_stations = [[KVEA]], [[KWHY-TV]], [[KTLC-TV]]|
former_affiliations = |
former_affiliations = |
effective_radiated_power = 43.7 [[kilowatt|kW]] (analog)<br>380 kW (digital)|
effective_radiated_power = 43.7 [[kilowatt|kW]] (analog)<br>380 kW (digital)|

Revision as of 00:44, 9 November 2007

{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:

{{Template disambiguation}} should never be transcluded in the main namespace.

KNBC (Channel 4) is the West Coast flagship station of the NBC television network, serving the Greater Los Angeles Area. Its studios and offices are located at the NBC West Coast headquarters at 3000 West Alameda Avenue in suburban Burbank. KNBC serves as the sister station to Telemundo’s KVEA (Channel 52), Spanish-language independent KWHY (Channel 22), and houses the master control of local television station, KPXN (Channel 30), as well as San Jose's KNTV, KSTS, and San Diego's KNSD. The station’s transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson, located just north of the city of Pasadena.

KNBC’s standard and high definition signals are available nationally through DirecTV and Dish Network. It is only available nationally for only those DBS subscribers that reside in an area where they cannot over-the-air reception of network programming.

History

Channel 4 in Los Angeles was the next to last VHF station (among seven) to sign-on in the area, beating the then-KECA-TV (Channel 7; now KABC-TV) on the air by exactly eight months. The station then known as KNBH (for "NBC Hollywood" -- the KNBC call letters were already in use in San Francisco radio) went on the air for the first time on January 16, 1949. It was the last of five stations built from the ground up by NBC after its preceding sister stations in New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Cleveland -- and the last of four original NBC O&O's under continuous ownership after the Cleveland affiliate was sold. Channel 4 originally broadcast from the NBC Radio City Studios at Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, and became the permanent Los Angeles outlet for NBC television, after taking over for KFI-TV (Channel 9; now KCAL-TV), who had originally signed-on in August 1948. The station changed its call letters from KNBH to KRCA in February 1954, around the same time its New York City sister station, WNBT (Channel 4; now WNBC) changed theirs to WRCA-TV. The “RCA” in the calls stood for Radio Corporation of America, NBC’s original owner. Again following suit with what happened with New York City’s Channel 4, Los Angeles’ Channel 4 changed its call letters to the present-day KNBC in 1960. The KRCA call letters were resurrected years later on another local outlet, the Spanish-language independent station on the Riverside-licensed Channel 62.

In 1962, After 13 years broadcasting from Hollywood, KNBC relocated to the network’s color broadcast studio facility in suburban Burbank. NBC Color City, as it was then known, was already in operation since March 1955, and was at least four to five times larger than Radio City, and could easily accommodate KNBC’s locally-produced studio programming. NBC Radio’s West Coast operations eventually followed KNBC to Burbank not too long after.

For over the last 30 years, it has battled fellow network stations, KNXT/KCBS-TV (Channel 2) and KABC, for the top position for the #1 news operation in greater Los Angeles, although KCBS hasn’t been more of a factor until 2006. Throughout the late 1980s and in to the early 2000s, KNBC's newscasts were top-ranked in the region, beating out every other station for news ratings and coinciding with the network's ratings. Currently, KNBC’s 11pm newscast sits in third place (mostly thanks to NBC’s less than stellar primetime ratings, as well as shake-ups in the station’s higher management). However, most of the station’s other newscasts, including its popular morning news program, Today in LA (the area’s first local morning newscast, starting up in 1986), rates at or near the top of the local news ratings.

Among the branding names that KNBC has used over the years, they include “The Ford News” (1950-54; sponsored by the Ford Motor Company), “Jack Latham & The News” (1954-60), The “5th”, “6th”, and “11th” Hour Reports (1960-71; those titles were also used at WNBC during this time period), “KNBC News Service” (1971-75), “NewsCenter 4” (1975-81), “News 4 L.A.” (1981-85), and the present “Channel 4 News” (1985 to present).

Although the news was branded as “Channel 4 News”, the station adopted “NBC 4” (or the long-form “NBC 4 Los Angeles”) as the station’s branding name in 1995. It was among the first stations in the market to use the network-channel number (or region) as its identification (Fox’s KTTV was the first, in 1986-87).

KNBC has been long active in community events, including airing the annual Kingdom Day Parade (honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday) in South Los Angeles, sponsoring an annual two-day Health & Fitness Expo Fair at the Los Angeles Convention Center every summer, and since 2001 has been the exclusive local English-language carrier of the annual Los Angeles Marathon (sister station KVEA carries a Spanish-language version of the event). Sports director and lead sports anchor Fred Roggin’s production company, in conjunction with KNBC/KVEA, produces coverage of the Marathon.

Leaving "Beautiful Downtown Burbank"

On October 11, 2007, NBC Universal announced that it will sell its Burbank studios and construct a new all-digital facility near the Universal Studios backlot, in an effort to merge all NBC Universal operations into one area. As a result, KNBC and its sister stations KVEA and KWHY, along with NBC News's Los Angeles bureau will move to a new digital facility adjacent to the Universal City Metro Red Line Station. The Tonight Show and other studio productions will move to the studios backlot. NBC's Los Angeles operations have been in Burbank since 1955, when they left Hollywood. Construction plans to take place over the next four years.

Personalities

Longtime NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw began his long association with NBC, as an anchor and reporter for KNBC, starting in 1966. He left the station to work exclusively for the network in 1973, as a correspondent. Others that have worked at KNBC early in their careers include Bryant Gumbel, Pat Sajak, Kent Shocknek, David Horowitz, John Beard & Tom Snyder. Horowitz's long-running syndicated series, Fight Back!, originated from KNBC, aired on many NBC-owned and affiliated stations, and was produced and distributed by NBC and Group W Broadcasting.

In 1987 during a KNBC afternoon newscast, a gun-wielding mental patient gained access to NBC Studios, and took Horowitz hostage live on the air. With the gun pressed on his side, Horowitz calmly read the gunman's statements on camera. The unidentified man was caught with a toy gun, and was arrested by local police. It led Horowitz to start a successful campaign to ban "look-alike" toy guns in several states, including California and New York. [1]

Current KNBC personalities include Paul Moyer, Colleen Williams, Chuck Henry, chief weathercaster Fritz Coleman, and sports director Fred Roggin. Moyer, Williams, Coleman, and Roggin make up the station's 5 and 11PM Monday-Friday news team, while Henry co-anchors the 6 PM weeknight newscasts with Ana Garcia. Roggin and Coleman are KNBC's most notable current personalities. Roggin is nationally known because of his work with NBC Sports and for his appearances on The Tonight Show. Roggin also hosted a syndicated program, Roggin's Heroes and can also be seen on Early Today. Roggin also is a sports announcer for the Olympic Games. Coleman also makes occasional appearances on the Tonight Show, and once hosted a locally-produced late night variety "It's Fritz" which aired on KNBC from 1989 and into the early 90's. Colleen Williams is also another KNBC personaility who sometimes have a national appearance she also does reports for MSNBC and NBC News.

As with its East coast sister WNBC, KNBC has a very stable news team. There have been some changes among the reporting staff in recent years, but the anchors have remained unchanged. Williams, Roggin, and Coleman have been at KNBC for at least 20 years each, while Moyer arrived from rival KABC-TV in July 1992, replacing veteran anchor John Beard who anchored at KNBC for many years. Moyer started his Los Angeles broadcasting career at KNBC in 1972, as an anchor and reporter, before beginning a 13-year stint at KABC in 1979. Much like Moyer, Chuck Henry was also a mainstay at KABC, before making the move to Burbank in January 1994. He currently produces (through his self-titled production company) the travelouge series, Travel Cafe, which airs weekends on KNBC.

The most controversial departure was that of Christopher Nance, a popular longtime weathercaster on the weekend and, later, Today in L.A. newscasts. In 2002 Nance was fired from KNBC after years of what some say was "menacing and profane off-air behavior" contrary to Nance's on-air flamboyant and cheerful nature, a popular staple at KNBC, a reason for Today in L.A.'s high ratings. Shortly after he was fired, Los Angeles Magazine published an article on Nance and KNBC, further detailing his behavioral problems, including allegations that he had been involved with an intern at KNBC, and had been in altercations with many staff members. He alleges that the station fired him because of his religious beliefs. He is a Christian, and was known to have read the Bible during breaks, according to his website and the article on Los Angeles Magazine. In 2004 Nance sued his former employer citing he was fired due to racial and religious discrimination. [2][3]

Current Anchors

  • Kim Baldonado - Weekend Evening Co-Anchor; also fills in on the Midday Report
  • Jennifer Bjorklund - Today In LA/Midday Report Co-Anchor/Does Reports During The 25 And 55 Of Every Hour During The Today Show
  • Ana Garcia - 6 p.m. Co-Anchor and Investigative Reporter
  • Chuck Henry - 6 p.m. Co-Anchor and Nightside Reporter/Regularly Fills-In For Paul Moyer
  • Furnell Chatman - Weekend Evening Co-Anchor
  • Paul Moyer - 5 and 11 p.m. Co-Anchor
  • Beverly White - Weekend Today In LA Co-Anchor
  • Colleen Williams - 5 and 11 p.m. Co-Anchor
  • Chris Schauble - Today In LA and Midday News Co-Anchor/Does Reports During The 25 And 55 Of Every Hour During The Today Show
  • Ted Chen - Weekend Today In LA Co-Anchor

Weather Anchors

Sports Anchors

  • Fred Roggin - Sports Director
  • Mario Solis - Weekend Sports Anchor
  • Bill Seward - Sports Reporter

Reporters And Hosts

  • Cary Berglund - Feature Reporter
  • Angie Crouch - Reporter
  • Laurel Erickson - Senior Correspondent and News Conference Co-Anchor
  • Joel Grover - Investigative Reporter
  • Patrick Healy - Nightside Reporter
  • Dr. Bruce Hensel - Health Correspondent
  • Desiree Horton - Helicopter Pilot/Breaking-News Reporter
  • Paul Johnson - Today In LA Traffic Reporter
  • Robert Kovacick - Today In LA Reporter
  • Doug Kriegel - Reporter
  • Mekahlo Medina - News Raw Anchor
  • Conan Nolan - Senior Correspondent and News Conference Co-Anchor
  • Mary Parks - Chief Correspondent, Inland Empire Bureau
  • Gordon Tokumatsu - Reporter
  • Vikki Vargas - Chief Correspondent, Orange County Bureau

Former Anchors/Reporter/Hosts That Left KNBC

  • Cynthia Allison - reporter/anchor (c1980-1983)
  • Linda Alvarez - anchor/reporter (1985-1993, now at KCBS-TV)
  • Carla Aragon - Today In LA anchor (1986-1994, now at KOB-TV in Albuquerque)
  • Pablo Pereria - Today In LA & Midday Report Weathercaster
  • John Beard - anchor/reporter (1981-1993)
  • Ross Becker - anchor/reporter (2005-2006, now at KTVX in Salt Lake City)
  • Dave Bender - weather (1991-1996, now at KOVR in Sacramento)
  • Rachel Boesing - Today In LA/Midday Report Weathercaster and yourLA TV Host (Left in August 2007 to pursue "hosting opportunities")
  • Tom Brokaw - anchor/reporter (1966-1973) NBC Nightly News Anchor
  • Doug Bruckner - investigative reporter (1980-1989)
  • Rick Chambers - anchor/reporter (1992-1999, now at KCBS/KCAL)
  • Nick Clooney - anchor (1984-1986)
  • David Cruz - anchor/reporter (1990s-2007) now at WOAI-TV in San Antonio
  • Frank H. Cruz - anchor/reporter (1975-1985)
  • Paul Dandridge - anchor/reporter (1975-1982)
  • Carlos Del Valle - reporter (1995-2004)
  • Diane Diaz - anchor/reporter (1990-2002)
  • Linda Douglass - political reporter (1985-1993, now an ABC News Washington correspondent)
  • Bryant Gumbel - sports anchor/reporter (1972-1980) former NBC TODAY Show Host, then CBS's The Early Show Host, now host of Real Sports w/Bryant Gumbel
  • David Garcia - environmental reporter (1993-2001)
  • Jim Giggans- Anchor/reporter (1981-2004)
  • Saul Halpert - reporter (1979-1990)
  • David Horowitz - consumer reporter (1973-1992)
  • Lee Irwin - reporter (1972-1973)
  • Felicia Jeter - reporter (c1979), later worked at KHOU-TV
  • Bill Lagatutta - reporter (1985-1992)
  • Kyung Lah - reporter (2003-2006, now at CNN Newsource in Washington)
  • Kelly Lange - anchor/reporter (1971-1998, now an author)
  • Bret Lewis - sports anchor (1988-1995)
  • Kelly Mack - anchor/reporter (c1994-2007)
  • Andy Liscano (sports reporter c1986, later for KOVR and KEYE)
  • Jess Marlow - anchor/reporter (1966-1980 and 1986-1997)
  • John Marshall (husband of Joan Van Ark) - reporter (1971-1992)
  • Robert W. Morgan - host of Everywhere (late 1970s). Deceased May 1998.
  • Keith Morrison - anchor (1986-1992)
  • Stu Nahan - sportscaster (1976-1986)
  • Christopher Nance - weather anchor (1985-2002)
  • Bob Navarro - reporter (1978-1988)
  • Kevin O'Connell - weather anchor (1982-85)
  • Warren Olney - anchor/reporter (1975-1981)
  • Jack Perkins - anchor/reporter (1982-1986)
  • Bob Pettee - Chopper 4 pilot (1984-2001)
  • Ross Porter - sportscaster (1967-1977)
  • Joe Rico - reporter (1979-2001)
  • Danny Romero - weathercaster (2002-2005, Now With KABC-TV )
  • Michele Ruiz - anchor (1998-2005)
  • Pat Sajak - weathercaster (1977-1982, now current host of Wheel of Fortune)
  • Tracie Savage - anchor/reporter (1994-2001)
  • Bill Seward - reporter (2002-2004)
  • Phil Shuman - reporter (1982-1995, now with KTTV)
  • John Schubeck - anchor (1974-1983, deceased)
  • David Sheehan - entertainment reporter (1984-1994)
  • Kent Shocknek - Today In LA anchor/reporter (1983-2000, now at KCBS/KCAL)
  • Tom Snyder - anchor/host/reporter (1970-1974). Deceased July 2007.
  • Jim Thomas - anchor/reporter (1982-1984) "Team 4" correspondent first with Kirstie Wilde, then Laurel Erickson, joined CNN as west coast correspondent 1985-86
  • Howard Thompson - weathercaster (1977-1981)
  • Tritia Toyota - anchor/reporter (1976-1985)
  • Wendy Tokuda - anchor (1992-1997, later KRON In San Francisco now at KPIX-TV in San Francisco)
  • Denise Valdez - weekend anchor/reporter (2002-2006, now at KLAS-TV in Las Vegas)
  • Kathy Vara - Today In LA anchor/reporter (1994-2000, now at KABC)
  • Noelle Walker - reporter (2003-2005, now at NBC11 News KNTV in San Jose/San Francisco)
  • Kirstie Wilde - anchor/reporter (1984-1988)
  • Warren Wilson - reporter (1969-1984)

Newscasts

KNBC produces many hours of news. It is notable in the Los Angeles area for not showing car chases. Thus, when direct competitors KCBS-TV and KABC-TV switch to police chase coverage, KNBC continues on its regularly scheduled newscast, while staffers prepare a regular news story on the pursuit for airing on a later newscast.

The newscasts generally take a more "serious" tone covering the issues, including politics, government, education, and the economy, than other Los Angeles newscasts. On election nights, KNBC runs a special extended edition of their 11PM newscast to show early election results. KNBC's newscasts are well known in Los Angeles for the longetivity of their anchors and reporters, and based on that experience and serious coverage, they has been very competitive in the ratings.

In 2006 KNBC embarked on an all-news channel called News Raw, hosted by Mekahlo Medina. The news channel, on digital channel 4.4 and also on many local digital cable systems, provides news updates every hour, teases news stories in future newscasts on standard channel 4, and provides additional information about breaking news stories. Currently, News Raw runs the Phil Spector murder trial during the day. News Raw only runs Monday through Friday, and coverage occurs between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays. During off hours, previous broadcasts repeat. [4] Also, a new program, The Local Story, began in July 2006. The program takes an in-depth look at one major local story in the news, and was hosted by veteran television journalist Ross Becker. The program was cancelled in September to make way for The Ellen DeGeneres Show but still airs online. In October, the program returned to the airwaves, airing at 4:30 p.m, but was removed again in mid-November for good.

In September 2006, a new program called YourLA TV began. The program features videos about interesting things happening in the Southern California area. User-submitted videos and comments via MySpace are mixed with profiles of ordinary people similar to PM Magazine.

The station's radar is called "Live Weather Plus Doppler."

For many years, KNBC had a 4 p.m. newscast. It was dropped in 2002, in favor of Dr. Phil which moved to KCBS-TV in 2005, that slot was replaced by The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Sometime in 2007, KNBC will follow the lead of sister station WNBC-TV in New York and begin broadcasting newscasts in High Definition [5]. Although it is not in HD yet, KNBC in March 2007 - after requests by viewers on widescreen sets for a larger picture area, began broadcasting its newscasts in the 14:9 compromise aspect ratio instead of the 4:3 aspect ratio.

Investigations

KNBC is famous for their hard-hitting large scale investigations. One of them is their Home Depot investigation, uncovering internal problems in the company. That investigation is on their website. In another investigation, the team uncovers Jiffy Lube overcharging its customers.

Newscast Titles

Programming Notes

In Los Angeles, national news from the three major networks air at 6:30 PM instead of earlier, as in other West Coast cities. This includes NBC Nightly News here on KNBC.

Station Slogans

  • Number One in Southern California (1985-early 90s) Same slogan that rival KABC-TV used on their newscasts in the 1980s.
  • Coverage You Can Count On (1994-95 and again in 2000-02; later used on KCBS' slogan, no longer used since 2007)
  • Working 4 You (1998-2002)
  • Live from NBC4, This is The Channel 4 News (2000-present)
  • Trust Experience (2005-present)

Rebroadcasters

KNBC is rebroadcast on the following translator stations:

See also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=KNBC&oldid=170219325"