KTVK

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KTVK (known on-air as 3TV) is a full-service, independent television station in Phoenix, Arizona. It broadcasts in digital on UHF channel 24 from a transmitter located on South Mountain in Phoenix, and can be seen across northern Arizona on a network of nearly two dozen translator stations. Per FCC regulations, the station identifies itself on television tuners as channel 3 through PSIP. KTVK is owned by the Belo Corporation of Dallas, Texas.

From its sign on in 1955 until 1995, KTVK was affiliated with ABC and was one of that network's strongest affiliates.

History

As an ABC affiliate

Former Senator Ernest McFarland, author of the GI Bill, was awed by the new medium of television. With a few friends, he formed the Arizona Television Company and applied for a television license. On March 1, 1955—shortly after McFarland was elected governor of Arizona—KTVK signed on as Phoenix's fourth television station. It immediately became an ABC affiliate. McFarland chose the calls "because TV will be our middle name."

KTVK cleared most of ABC's network schedule except lower-rated daytime shows, as well as an occasional show during prime time. It was broadcast across the whole state of Arizona, including Tucson except on certain hours not to interfere with its local ABC affiliate KGUN channel 9. Despite the pre-emptions, ABC was generally satisfied with KTVK, one of its strongest affiliates.

KTVK's news department was a very distant second to longtime leader KOOL-TV (now KSAZ-TV) for many years, even when KTAR-TV's 1979 sale to Gannett (and call letter change to KPNX) made it the only locally-owned network affiliate in the market. When McFarland died in 1984, the station's ownership was taken over by his daughter Jewell and her husband Delbert Lewis.

The station's fortunes began to improve significantly after several news managers from KTSP defected to KTVK in 1986. An aggressive marketing campaign, a new brand ("NewsChannel 3"), and a popular new anchor team finally helped make KTVK a truly competitive player in news. By the late 1980s, KTVK was the top-rated station in Arizona. A Saturday morning newscast (from 7–9am) was launched in 1993.

KTVK's atmosphere was somewhat different from what was typical for a Big Three-affiliated major-market station. McFarland ran his station as a "mom and pop" business, and had an open-door policy which the Lewises continued when they took over the station. Employee turnover was very low, and hugs were very common in the newsroom. This was an outgrowth of the station's longtime slogan, "Arizona's Family."

In the spring of 1994, New World Communications announced an affiliation deal with Fox in which most of its stations became Fox affiliates. One of the stations to switch was KSAZ, Phoenix' longtime CBS affiliate. CBS, not wanting to affiliate with KNXV-TV (which was to lose its Fox affiliation), approached KTVK for an affiliation. KTVK turned it down in anticipation of having its affiliation agreement with ABC renewed.

However, much to the Lewises' surprise, KNXV's owner, Scripps, forced ABC to switch its affiliation to KNXV as a condition of keeping ABC on Scripps' two biggest stations, WEWS-TV in Cleveland and WXYZ-TV in Detroit. The Lewises were very upset at how they had been treated after so many years of loyalty. KTVK immediately began purchasing more programming and increasing local news production. In August, they dropped "Good Morning America" and launched "Good Morning Arizona" in the 6–9 AM slot, featuring anchor Jodi Applegate and meteorologist Royal Norman. The 6–7 AM slot had previously been occupied by a more traditional newscast. Since KNXV was on its way to becoming an ABC affiliate, they began to air "Good Morning America" beginning in September of 1994.

By December 1994, KTVK also dropped Mike and Maty (of which KTVK had only aired 30 minutes daily), World News Now, and Nightline, which were also picked up by KNXV. At that point, ABC's cartoons also moved to KNXV, with KTVK dropping its Saturday morning newscasts and running Fox Kids (which had been turned down by KSAZ) instead. By then, KTVK was only airing prime time programming, sports, and the major soaps from ABC.

KTVK renewed Oprah and Inside Edition, and purchased all the available King World shows such as Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! (which was not renewed by KSAZ, and are now seen on KNXV), American Journal (not renewed by KPNX), Rolanda, Branded (for weekends), and The Little Rascals (for weekends). KTVK also affiliated with the WB Network.

As an Independent Station

KNXV officially became Phoenix's ABC affiliate in January 1995, and KTVK nominally became the market's WB affiliate. Initially, The WB only had one night a week of programming, which KTVK chose to air on Saturday nights. The WB added a second night of programming in mid-1995, which KTVK aired on Sunday. With WB only occupying two nights of programming, KTVK was still essentially an independent station. It also broadcast Fox Kids in the early afternoons and weekend mornings for about a year. The station aired Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and several off-network sitcoms during prime time. A quirk of the Fox Kids schedule on KTVK was that Animaniacs & Mighty Morphin Power Rangers aired on Sundays at 6PM & 6:30PM, after the news and before their 7PM movie.

KTVK owned a substantial programming inventory, but lacked time in its broadcast day to air it all, even after dropping ABC. As such, when the Brooks family launched a new station, KASW, in September 1995, KTVK immediately entered into a local marketing agreement with the new station. KASW became the WB affiliate, and KTVK bought the new station's entire broadcast day. KTVK then reinstated Saturday morning newscasts. On the same day KASW took over the WB affiliation, the Arizona Television Company officially changed its name to MAC America Communications, after its founder's nickname, "Mac." By this time, it had grown to include two FM stations, a magazine and two local cable news channels: Arizona's first Spanish language news channel ¡Más! Arizona and Arizona News Channel (English).

MAC America decided to sell off most of its media assets, including KTVK, in 1999, but was very selective about a buyer. It wanted to sell to a company that would continue to keep a local presence at the station (particularly important to the Lewises, as KTVK was the last locally-owned station in the market) and allow the station to continue its growth of the last decade. In the end, it sold KTVK, the LMA with KASW and the two cable channels to the Belo Corporation in 1999, ending 44 years of McFarland-Lewis ownership. (Belo eventually bought KASW outright in 2001.)

Without a network affiliation, KTVK fills primetime with Dr Phil, Oprah, and an hour-long newscast. The station's newscasts, each with its own name ("Good Evening Arizona," "The News Show," etc.), still receive high ratings. Its evening newscast regularly outperforms the national networks' broadcasts by a large ratings margin. KTVK is one of the nation's most successful independent stations.

KTVK was the original over-the-air home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, beginning broadcasts when the team joined the National League in 1998. The team remained on KTVK through the end of the 2007 season, when the team chose not to renew the contract. English-language broadcasts of Diamondbacks games will now only be available on FSN Arizona.

On April 26, 2007, KTVK became the third station in Arizona (following KPNX in Phoenix and KVOA in Tucson) to broadcast its news in high definition. The station broadcasts nearly 50 hours of HD news content per week.

On February 24, 2009 it was announced that KTVK, KPHO-TV and KPNX will share a helicopter starting March 1, 2009.

Helicopter crash

Main article: 2007 Phoenix news helicopter collision

On July 27, 2007 at around 12:45pm MST, KTVK's News Chopper 3 was involved in a mid-air collision when local ABC affiliate KNXV-TV's helicopter struck it from behind. The collision occurred above Steele Indian School Park, near Third Street and Indian School Road, while both aircraft were covering a police car pursuit in downtown Phoenix. All four people on both helicopters were killed, including KTVK pilot Scott Bowerbank and photographer Jim Cox. The cause of the crash is now being investigated.

Good Morning Arizona

Among the station's flagship broadcasts is "Good Morning Arizona," one of the country's original long-format local TV morning newscasts. Running from 4:30am until 9am weekdays (and 7am to 10am on weekends), the show has been a long-time ratings winner and the highest-rated program of its kind in the nation. "GMAZ" has its own budget, writers and air staff. The show is also simulcast on Tucson Belo station KMSB-TV. It features a long-time host, Tara Hitchcock. Jodi Applegate was the host of Good Morning Arizona from 1994 until 1996, when she joined NBC as a weekend Today Show anchor.

Digital television

On June 12, 2009, the day mandated by the US federal government for TV stations to cease analog transmissions across the country, KTVK ended regular analog programming and switched to the nightlight service on channel 3, while continuing digital broadcasts on channel 24, which they chose for their post-transition channel. Through the use of PSIP, KTVK's digital broadcast identifies to television receivers as virtual channel 3.

KTVK's "nightlight" service, which was intended to remind TV viewers of the switch to digital, was originally to last 30 days, but was instead ended on June 26 after two weeks.

Current Personalities

Anchors

• Frank Camacho - weekdays 11am
• Tara Hitchcock - weekday mornings on Good Morning AZ
• Kirsten Joyce - weekends 5pm and 9pm
• Beverly Kidd - weekdays 9pm
• Patti Kirkpatrick - weekdays 4:30pm-6:30pm on Good Evening AZ
• Scott Pasmore - weekday mornings on Good Morning AZ
• Tess Rafols - weekend mornings on Good Morning AZ

Reporters

• Tyler Baldwin
• Suzanne Bissett
• Steve Bodinet
• Jared Dillingham
• Bruce Haffner - Traffic Reporter
• Gary Harper - 3 On Your Side Investigator
• Kristine Harrington
• Kirsten Joyce
• Carey Pena - 3 On Your Side Investigator
• Tess Rafols
• Javier Soto
• Mike Watkiss
• Marissa Wingate

Helicopter Pilots/Reporters

(As part of a Local News Service the helicopter is shared with KPHO-TV and KPNX and operated by Helicopters Inc.)

• Scott Clifton - weekdays 4:30am-9am on Good Morning AZ
• Tammy Rose - weekdays 4:30pm-6:30pm on Good Evening AZ

Weather

• Royal Norman (AMS Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weekdays 4:30pm-6:30pm on Good Evening AZ and 9pm
• Britney Shipp - weekends
• April Warnecke - weekdays 4:30am-9am on Good Morning AZ and 11am

Sports

• Brad Cesmat - weekends 5pm and 9pm
• Tim Ring - weekdays 4:30pm-6:30pm on Good Evening AZ and 9pm

Past personalities

Name	Position at KTVK	Years Active	Whereabouts
Jodi Applegate	Good Morning Arizona Anchor	1993-1996	Left to become Today Show anchor. Now anchors news programs on News 12 Long Island.
Scott Bowerbank	News Chopper 3 Pilot/Reporter	2004-2007	Killed in collision
Mike Chamberlin	Sports Anchor, later News Co-Anchor	Early 1990s-2004	Weekend sports anchor at KPHO Phoenix, retired in 2008
Olivia Fierro	Good Morning Arizona Anchor	2003-2009	Left to become evening news anchor at Fox affiliate KVVU in Las Vegas
Jim Cox	News Chopper 3 Camera Operator	1996-2007	Killed in collision
Dan Davis	Anchor for Good Morning Arizona	1982-2009	Laid off.
Kim Dillon	Meteorologist	to 2005	Terminated after being arrested for theft.
Heidi Fogelsong	Nighttime Anchor	1985-1992	At KTAR-FM
Jerry Foster	News Chopper 3 Pilot/Traffic Reporter	Mid 1990s	Fired for alleged drug charges after substance fell from the helicopter.
Liz Habib	Reporter	to 2000's	Left after a highly publicized fracas at a local bar. Now at KTTV.
Cameron Harper	Nighttime Anchor	1984-1993	At WPTY in Memphis, Tennessee
Jim Howl	Weather Forecaster	Mid 1970s-1996	Weathercaster for KFNX-AM Phoenix; ran for Arizona governorship in 1998
Cater Lee	Weekday Evening Anchor	Mid 90's	Currently a reporter and anchor for KCBS-TV/KCAL-TV
Brad Perry	Reporter/Weatherman for Good Morning Arizona	1998-2009	Laid off. Plans to start music career.
Rock Rote	Sports Director/Anchor/Host/Color Commentator	1980s	Managing Director at Weather Central Inc. in Madison, WI
Ray Scott	Sports Anchor	1980s	Former CBS play-by-play broadcaster, deceased
Ross Shimabuku	Sports Anchor	2000s	Currently sportscaster for KSWB-TV
Ray Thompson	Weekday Evening Anchor	Late 1970's	Previously at KTAR (KPNX); retired
Gil Tyree	Sports Anchor	1986-2001	At WGCL in Atlanta, Georgia

Logos

• The circle 3 logo in a TV. The TV portion was from 1996 and used to 2003; the circle 3 dates back to 1982 and is meant to be an offshoot of ABC's circle 7 logo, as the circle was used when KTVK was an ABC affiliate.
  The circle 3 logo in a TV. The TV portion was from 1996 and used to 2003; the circle 3 dates back to 1982 and is meant to be an offshoot of ABC's circle 7 logo, as the circle was used when KTVK was an ABC affiliate.
• KTVK returned to NewsChannel 3 branding in 2003, resulting in this variation used from 2003 to 2005.
  KTVK returned to NewsChannel 3 branding in 2003, resulting in this variation used from 2003 to 2005.
• Variation used from 2005-2007.
  Variation used from 2005-2007.

Station name and slogan over the years

• Total News 3, You know you can count on us (1977-1980)
• Eyewitness News 3, Arizona's Choice for News (1980-1983)
• Channel 3, Arizona's Very Own (1983-1986)
• NewsChannel 3, Arizona's News People (1986-1993)
• NewsChannel 3, The Place With More Stuff (1994–1996)
• 3TV, The Place With More Stuff (1996–2003) NOTE: NewsChannel 3 was still used infrequently for several years after 1996
• News Channel 3, Arizona's Family (2003–2004, used infrequently until early-2005)
• 3TV, Arizona's Family (2004–present)
• 3TV, Everywhere, Always There (breaking news, developing story) (present)
• The Place With More News (2007-present)

Rebroadcasters

KTVK is rebroadcast on the following translator stations:

• K26FS Blythe, California
• K12OF Bullhead City
• K16EV Bullhead City
• K49HP Camp Verde
• K02PE Carrizo
• K02PF Cibecue
• K27EJ Colorado City
• K38AI Cottonwood
• K47DA Duncan/Clifton/Morenci
• K54GI Flagstaff
• K15DX Fredonia
• K48FC Fort Apache
• K57BO Globe/Miami
• K23FV Kingman
• K29FD Lake Havasu City
• K25DH Meadview
• K11LC Prescott
• K53GM Williams

KTVK is available on cable in the Yuma, Arizona, the Imperial Valley, California and Coachella, California Country Cable services.

See also

• Jane Dornacker, a reporter who died in a helicopter accident while being on air.
• Jim Carr, Director of Digital Media for KTVK, Inc.
• List of news aircraft crashes

External links

• KTVK Website
• The McFarland Collection - KTVK-TV (Photo gallery maintained by Pinal County, Arizona)
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