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*[[Lloyd Lindsay Young]] - weather anchor (1981-1983, now working for both [[KERO-TV]] in Bakersfield and [[KGO-AM]])
*[[Lloyd Lindsay Young]] - weather anchor (1981-1983, now working for both [[KERO-TV]] in Bakersfield and [[KGO-AM]])
*[[Linda Yu]] - reporter/anchor (1976-1979, now at [[WLS-TV]] in Chicago)
*[[Linda Yu]] - reporter/anchor (1976-1979, now at [[WLS-TV]] in Chicago)
*[[Jan Carson]] - anchor/reporter (1980-1983)


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 20:40, 30 November 2010

{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:

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

KGO-TV, channel 7, based in San Francisco, California, is an owned-and-operated (O&O) television station of The Walt Disney Company subsidiary ABC. Its studios are located in the ABC Broadcast Center on Front and Vallejo streets in downtown San Francisco, while its transmitter is atop the iconic Sutro Tower, located between Mount Sutro and the Twin Peaks in central San Francisco, along with the Bay Area's other major television stations.

The station's signal is currently carried by a cable television-only ABC affiliate in the Salinas/Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay area. Until 2000, the local ABC station from San Jose was KNTV channel 11, and served the Monterey Bay Area until its transition to NBC.

For antenna viewers, KGO-DT was available over-the-air on RF channel 24 until the digital transition. It has since returned to RF channel 7.

In the few areas of the western United States where viewers cannot receive ABC programs over-the-air, KGO is available to Dish Network customers as part of All American Direct's distant network package.

History

The station signed on the air for the first time on May 5, 1949, as Northern California's second-oldest TV station, behind Associated Broadcasters' KPIX-TV (later sold to Westinghouse, now CBS-owned). In fact, KPIX had a hand in getting KGO-TV on the air, as the CBS channel 5 station produced informational programming on how to receive and view ABC's channel 7. KGO's original studios were located in the renovated Sutro Mansion atop Mount Sutro in San Francisco, next to the transmitter tower it shared with KPIX.

KGO is ABC's oldest original O&O station on the West Coast, as its sister station KECA-TV (now KABC-TV), also operating on channel 7, did not sign on the air until September 1949. In addition, it is the only ABC station to keep its original call letters which were inherited from KGO radio (AM 810 and FM 103.7, now KKSF). KGO was the fourth original ABC O&O (after WABC-TV, WLS-TV and WXYZ-TV in New York, Chicago, and Detroit, respectively) to begin broadcasting. In addition to airing ABC programming, KGO also aired syndicated programs from the Paramount Television Network. Among the Paramount programs aired were Time For Beany,[1] Hollywood Reel,[2] Sandy Dreams,[3] Hollywood Wrestling,[4] and Cowboy G-Men.[5]

Channel 7 had a limited broadcasting schedule during its first year on the air. It wasn't until September 1950 that the station announced, in the San Francisco Chronicle, that it would finally broadcast seven days a week.[6] For much of the 1950s, the station signed on late in the morning, especially on the weekends.

In 1954, KGO-TV moved to one of the most modern broadcasting facilities on the West Coast (at the time), at 277 Golden Gate Avenue.

For many years, Saturday programming began with King Norman's Kingdom of Toys, a popular children's program hosted by the owner of a San Francisco toy store, Norman Rosenberg.[7] Born in 1918, Rosenberg was a former naval officer when he began the program in 1954, joined by his wife Doris as Page Joy. It ran until 1961. The Rosenbergs eventually owned a chain of 21 stores in three states. Doris Rosenberg died from colon cancer on January 10, 2009, at the age of 85.[8]

As an ABC O&O station, KGO-TV originated some daytime network shows, including programs hosted by fitness advocate Jack La Lanne, singer Tennessee Ernie Ford, and entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee. Syndicated game shows Oh My Word and The Anniversary Game were also produced at KGO-TV for Circle Seven Productions. In the mid-1950s, KGO-TV telecast live week night variety shows hosted by KSFO disc jockey Don Sherwood, until Sherwood was fired for making a political commentary in defiance of a warning from the station's management. Today, KGO-TV broadcasts from studios at 900 Front Street, which it has occupied since 1985. It shares the facility with KGO Radio (AM 810), KSFO and KMKY, although the former two are now owned by Citadel Broadcasting. [9]

In 1962, KGO began carrying ABC's first color program, the animated series The Flintstones, followed by The Jetsons. In the mid 1960s KGO became the first Bay Area station to transmit local programs in compatible color, including its newscasts.

In 1973, KGO joined the other major Bay Area television stations in moving its transmitter to the Sutro Tower, located on a ridge between Mount Sutro and Twin Peaks.

For most of its existence, KGO-TV was the only network-owned-and-operated station in the Bay Area, even throughout the time when ABC was going through ownership changes when Capital Cities Communications bought out ABC and merged with the network in 1985 before being sold to Disney in 1996. As such, the station did not heavily pre-empt network programming unlike its local competitors or its sister stations -- such as Philadelphia's WPVI-TV, Houston's KTRK-TV and Fresno's KFSN-TV -- which were known for doing so in those days. The distinction ended in 1995 when several other stations over the next ten years became network-owned stations--notably KBHK (today's KBCW) becoming a charter member of UPN (which the station's then-owner was a partner in), KPIX becoming a CBS O&O and KNTV becoming an NBC O&O, in that order. (As of 2007, some exceptions to this policy may be made when breaking news events or selected ABC Sports programs warrant exclusive coverage, in which case Granite Broadcasting Corporation's independent station, KOFY, may pick up the pre-empted ABC programming scheduled for the time period.)

KGO-TV was the first station to transmit images of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake through ABC News and ABC Sports. At the time, ABC was televising the third game of the 1989 World Series, which was interrupted by the quake. Subsequent coverage of the earthquake won the station that year's Peabody Award.

Cable-only Monterey ABC station

File:Monterey abc.png
Logo for cable-only "ABC 7".

In 1999, KGO-TV reached an agreement with the Granite Broadcasting Corporation, then owner of San Jose's ABC affiliate KNTV. KGO-TV agreed to pay Granite in exchange for dropping ABC programming from KNTV, and as a result, KGO-TV became the exclusive ABC outlet in the Bay Area. The agreement, however, also saw the Salinas/Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay area lose over-the-air reception of ABC programming since KNTV (before the 1999 agreement) had also served those communities. In response, a cable-only ABC affiliate was set up for the Salinas/Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay area. The station simulcasts the signal from KGO-TV (including ABC programming and local newscasts) for part of the day and opts out of the station's signal during programming which KGO-TV is only allowed to show within the San Francisco Bay Area under syndication exclusivity.

The ABC affiliate is carried on channel 7 on area cable systems including Comcast, identifies itself on-air as "ABC 7", and has its own logo. The local Comcast Spotlight website claims this is the first cable-only big three network affiliate in the United States. [10] ABC's local station website lists Del Rey Gardens Drive in Del Ray Oaks as the studios of "ABC 7". [11] According to the website of satellite carrier DirecTV, KGO-TV is available in the Monterey / Salinas television market. It is part of the local channel's package on DirecTV in that area while DISH Network does not have KGO-TV available (nor any other local ABC channel) since a court order in 2006 forced them to cease offering distant network stations "a la carte". However, DISH Network customers in the Monterey/Salinas television market may still be able to receive KGO-TV through All American Direct. This service leases satellite space from DISH Network to provide distant network feeds to qualifying customers and chooses San Francisco as the source market for its west coast feeds.

ABC has since gained a 2nd cable-only affiliate, TV3 Winchester.

Logos

KGO-TV was one of the earliest ABC stations to use the original Circle 7 logo (along with sister station WLS-TV in Chicago). When it was rebranded from "Channel 7" to "ABC7" (temporarily branded "Channel 7 ABC" 1996-1997), the ABC logo was just simply attached to the Circle 7 on this station, its sister stations and others across the country.

Digital television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Digital channels
Digital Channel Programming
7.1 main KGO-TV/ABC programming
7.2 ABC News// Live Well Network
7.3 ABC7 AccuWeather NOW

Analog-to-digital conversion

After the analog television shutdown scheduled for June 12, 2009 [12], KGO-TV moved back to channel 7. [13] Now KGO-TV is the only station to retain the same channel allocation in the Bay Area post-transition and the only other station alongside KNTV to remain on the VHF dial.

KGO has applied for a fill-in translator on UHF Channel 35, serving the southern portion of the viewing area, including San Jose.[14]

Live Well HD

As of May 2010, Channel 7.2 ran Live Well HD network programming. In 2007, KGO was among the few commercial television stations in California that scheduled an alternative set of programs on a digital channel. Channel 7.2 then simulcast most KGO-TV-produced programs, but also re-ran them throughout the day. Channel 7.2 also re-ran ABC News programming at non-traditional times, such as World News at 7 pm on weeknights and Nightline at 9 am and 7:30 pm on many weekdays. Some programs on channel 7.2, such as Commonwealth Club Speaker's Luncheon and reruns of the 1960's ABC primetime western The Guns of Will Sonnett, were not shown on Channel 7.

Programming

The station carries a high profile lineup of daytime programming with shows such as Live with Regis and Kelly (produced by sister station WABC-TV in New York), Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. The latter two programs have aired on the station permanently since 1992 after moving from KRON. The station also airs the pre-show of the Academy Awards (produced by sister station KABC-TV in Los Angeles). The station sometimes aired the Bay to Breakers race in the 1980s and the KGO Cure-a-thon with its radio partner, KGO-AM 810. At one point, it also ran Donahue throughout the show's tenure, but come fall of 1995 KGO-TV became the first affiliate in the country to drop the talk show, one year before its cancellation. (NBC-owned WNBC in New York City was the only other affiliate to drop Donahue as well shortly/)

KGO-TV was the first station to produce earthquake documentaries of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake on April 8, 2006.

In the 1970s and 1980s, KGO-TV produced weekday talk/variety shows in the 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. timeslot, after the national Good Morning America broadcast ended each day. A.M. San Francisco was the name from about 1975 until late 1987 or early 1988, when it was replaced with Good Morning, Bay Area, hosted by Susan Sikora. Hosts of A.M. San Francisco included the husband-and-wife team of Fred LaCosse and Terry Lowry. (Other ABC owned-and-operated stations produced their own A.M. programs in the 1980s. For example, A.M. Chicago at WLS-TV evolved into the Oprah Winfrey Show, and Live with Regis and Kelly evolved from the similar A.M. program on WABC. For a week or two in the summer of 1988, A.M. Los Angeles was simulcast on KGO-TV, with a few KGO-TV produced segments.)

From early on, KGO-TV carried ABC's Daytime lineup, including General Hospital (1963-present), One Life To Live (1968-present), and All My Children (1970-present). Other soaps shown on KGO throughout the years include The Edge of Night (1975-84; had been on CBS from 1956-75), The Young Marrieds (1964-66), A Flame In The Wind (a.k.a A Time For Us, 1964-66), Never Too Young (1965-66), Dark Shadows (1966-71), A World Apart (1970-71), Ryan's Hope (1975-89), Loving (1983-95), The City (1995-97, a spin-off of Loving), and Port Charles (1997-2003, a spin-off of General Hospital).

The View From The Bay

From June 26, 2006 to September 10, 2010, KGO-TV broadcast a locally-produced weekday variety show called The View From The Bay, hosted by Spencer Christian and Janelle Wang. The hour-long show focused on hot spots as well as interviews and other interests in the Bay Area. Aimed toward female viewers, the show aired Mondays-Fridays at 3 p.m., and was available to watch online while the show was on the air.[1] The View From the Bay also aired nightly on weekdays in Los Angeles on KABC-TV digital subchannel 7.2 at 10 p.m. and at various times on digital subchannels of other ABC O&O stations. On Live Well HD, though, it was aired as "Everyday Living", which was aired on all ABC O&O stations as of July 2010. [2]

7 Live

On September 13, 2010, "7 Live" debuted in the 3 p.m. weekday time slot. It is a KGO-TV production hosted by Brian Copeland, a longtime KGO-AM radio host, former contributor to KTVU's "Mornings on Two" and playwright of the autobiographical "Not a Genuine Black Man" one-man show. Copeland is aided by Jennifer Jolly and Lizzie Bermudez, who stand at computerized podiums and alternatively act as "sidekicks" or "sounding boards" to Copeland and share material from their computers. Jolly specializes in "tech" issues; Bermudez focuses on "culture"/"pop" matters. "7 Live" has an innovative format with a studio audience called "The Voice Box" and continuous written commentary from viewers conveyed by e-mail, Facebook and Twitter and read aloud by Copeland, Jolly and Bermudez during the program. Copeland spends most of the program walking about the studio, peppering his material with humorous comments. "7 Live" ends with Copeland sharing a "Thought of the Day." The premiere focused on the San Bruno natural gas pipeline explosion (that occurred four days earlier), an offer of bail to an American detainee in Iran and germ contamination on supermarket grocery cart handles.

The "7" in its logo is not the familiar "Circle 7," but instead a modification of a northeastward-pointing arrow. The program's moniker is "tv_with_attitude." The program plays off the "seven" theme by incorporating a seven-item list (referred to as "The List") into the program. "7 Live" is reminiscent of "The Site," a program on the MSNBC cable network in 1996.

News operations

KGO-TV had followed the lead of its sister station in New York City, WABC-TV, and adopted the Eyewitness News format for its newscasts in the late 1960s. However, the Eyewitness News name was already used on KPIX-TV, which inherited the version of it from its then-sister station KYW-TV in Philadelphia. As a result, KGO-TV instead called its newscasts Channel 7 News Scene throughout the 1970s, and Channel 7 News during the 1980s and much of the 1990s before switching to ABC 7 News. Also, along with the other ABC O&O's, KGO-TV used an edited version of the "Tar Sequence" from the soundtrack of "Cool Hand Luke" as the opening/closing theme of news broadcasts starting in 1969.

The station broadcast a 4:30 p.m. newscast named Early News in 1970, anchored by Ray Tannehill and John Reed King, with Pete Giddings covering weather and Bob Fouts presenting sports. Lu Hurley provided live helicopter traffic coverage, one the first television programs in the San Francisco Bay Area to offer that feature. KGO-TV was one of the last ABC affiliates that broadcast the network evening news program in the 7:00 p.m. time slot. By early 1992, ABC World News Tonight had been displaced to 5:30 p.m, replacing the last half of the 5:00 p.m. news hour.

The station did, however, follow other aspects of news branding at the other ABC O&Os. The station currently utilizes the market's first helicopter equipped to shoot and transmit high definition (HD) video. The helicopter branded Sky 7HD made its on-air debut in February 2006. Due to current logistical and equipment limitations, video from Sky 7HD at times is only available in standard definition television (SD) 4:3 aspect ratio. When this occurs, the helicopter is branded as Sky 7. Also following the leads of its sister stations, KGO began broadcasting ABC7 News in high definition on Saturday, February 17, 2007, becoming the second news operation in the Bay Area to make this transition following KTVU. It should be noted that the KGO-TV affiliate in the Monterey/Salinas area does not transmit a high definition signal. KGO-TV also produces a 9 p.m. newscast for independent station KOFY; the only other ABC O&O to do this is WTVD in North Carolina. In the 2000s decade, a staple of the 11 p.m. Sunday newscast was Richard Hart's segment about technological developments, alternatively titled "Next Step and "Drive to Discover."

As of August 2010, KGO is currently one of the very few ABC O&O stations that carries a 4:30am newscast. However, ABC does not air "America This Morning" live on KGO, as it normally airs in that timeslot, so the station currently broadcasts it on a tape-delay at 4am. Since mid-2008, KGO is the second station to have a early-morning newscasts earlier than 5am, as KNTV added its 4:30am newscasts a few months later as a result of its 11am newscast being canceled. With that, KGO is the only station remaining in the San Francisco Bay Area to air an 11am newscast.

Death of Pete Wilson

On July 20, 2007 long-time main news anchor and KGO radio talk show host Pete Wilson died following a massive heart attack suffered during a hip replacement procedure at Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, California. He was 62 years old. The station aired extensive tributes to Wilson when his death was publicly announced the following day. His final newscast and radio show were on Wednesday July 18, 2007.

Failed single-anchor experiment

Buoyed by a sluggish economy and conversion to the "Ignite" automated control room system, KGO-TV briefly operated under what was -- by all accounts -- a failed experiment in having one person anchor an entire primary or "main" newscast. During this ill-fated experiment, Cheryl Jennings anchored the 5:00 p.m. weekday news by herself, and Dan Ashley anchored the 11:00 p.m. news solo. Research and ratings later proved both shows had suffered dramatically during the experiment, though Ashley still anchors an additional KGO-TV newscast produced for the independent station in San Francisco, KOFY, Channel 20.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

  • San Francisco Tonight (1950s)
  • 90 for News/The News (early 1960s-1965)
  • Newsbeat (weeknight newscasts; 1965-1969)
  • Morning News (morning newscast, 1965-1969)
  • Sunday Night News (Sunday evening newscasts; 1965-1969)
  • Channel 7 News Scene (1969-1983)
  • Channel 7 News (1983-1998)
  • ABC 7 News (1998-present)
  • ABC 7 News HD (2007-present)

Station slogans

  • Now is the Time, Channel 7 is the Place (1981-1982; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • Number One in Northern California (1987-1998)
  • Live. Local. Latebreaking. (1996-1999)
  • The Bay Area's #1 News (1999-2007)
  • Discover ABC 7 (2007-present)

News team

Current on-air staff

Anchors

  • Dan Ashley - weeknights at 5, 6, 9 (on KOFY) and 11 p.m.[15]
  • Teresa Garcia - Saturday mornings (6-7 a.m.)
  • Cheryl Jennings - weekdays at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., and Fridays at 6 p.m.
  • Carolyn Johnson - Sunday-Thursdays at 6 and 11 p.m.
  • Kristen Sze - weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.) and 11 a.m.
  • Eric Thomas - weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.)
  • Carolyn Tyler - Sunday mornings (6-7 and 9-10 a.m.)
  • Alan Wang - Saturdays at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.

Weather Team

  • Sandhya Patel (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 9 (on KOFY) and 11 p.m.
  • Lisa Argen - Meteorologist; weekend mornings
  • Spencer Christian - Meteorologist; weeknights at 6 p.m., also co-host of "View from the Bay" and 5 and 9 p.m. (on KOFY) fill-in meteorologist
  • Leigh Glaser (AMS Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekend evenings, also "View from the Bay" contributor
  • Mike Nicco (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekday mornings and 11 a.m.
  • Kristine Hanson - Weather Anchor; fill-in

Sports Team

  • Larry Beil - Sports Director; weeknights at 6, 9 (on KOFY) and 11 p.m.
  • Mike Shumann - Sports Director; Saturdays at 5, and weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.

Reporters

  • Lisa Amin Gulezian - general assignment reporter
  • Laura Anthony - general assignment reporter
  • Frances Dinglasan - traffic anchor and fill-in weather anchor
  • Michael Finney - consumer reporter
  • Wayne Freedman - general assignment reporter
  • Teresa Garcia - general assignment reporter
  • Katie Hammer - freelance reporter
  • Amy Hollyfield - general assignment reporter
  • Heather Ishimaru - general assignment reporter
  • Lilian Kim - general assignment reporter
  • Vic Lee - general assignment reporter
  • David Louie - financial reporter
  • Audrey Mansfield - "View From The Bay" correspondent
  • Janelle Marie - freelance weather and traffic anchor and fill-in host of "View from the Bay"
  • Terry McSweeney - general assignment reporter
  • Mark Matthews - political reporter
  • Lyanne Melendez - general assignment reporter
  • Nannette Miranda - Sacramento Bureau chief
  • Dan Noyes - investigative reporter
  • Karina Rusk - South Bay Bureau reporter
  • Don Sanchez - arts and entertainment reporter
  • Cecilia Vega - Oakland Bureau reporter
  • Janelle Wang - "View from the Bay" co-host

Notable former staff

See also

References

  1. ^ Walker, Ellis (1953-12-21). "Video Notes". The Daily Review. Hayward, CA. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  2. ^ "Tonight on TV". The Times. San Mateo, CA. 1950-04-28. p. 15. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  3. ^ Franklin, Bob (1950-11-16). "Show Time". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, CA. p. 63. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  4. ^ "The Nation's Top Television Programs". Billboard: 12. 1955-10-08. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  5. ^ "TV Programs". The Oakland Tribune. Oakland, CA. 1954-05-12. pp. 26 D. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  6. ^ San Francisco Chronicle, September 1950
  7. ^ San Bruno Herald
  8. ^ San Francisco Chronicle January 2009
  9. ^ Station Search - Citadel Broadcasting
  10. ^ http://montereybay.comcastspotlight.com/sites/Default.aspx?pageid=4693&siteid=115&subnav=1
  11. ^ http://abc.go.com/site/ca.html
  12. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  13. ^ CDBS Print
  14. ^ https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101329805&formid=346&fac_num=34470
  15. ^ "Dan Ashley". Retrieved 2007-10-19.
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