KFOR-TV

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KFOR-TV, channel 4, is an NBC-affiliated television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. KFOR-TV is owned by Local TV, a subsidiary of the private equity group Oak Hill Capital Partners, with studios and transmitter are co-located on East Britton Road in Oklahoma City.

The station broadcasts its digital signal on digital channel 27, using its former analog channel assignment of 4 as its virtual channel via PSIP. KFOR also carries NBC Plus (branded as "4Warn 24/7") on digital subchannel 4.2 and Cox Digital Cable. On cable, KFOR-TV can be seen on channel 3 on Cox Oklahoma City and on channel 4 on other Cox systems in Central Oklahoma. KFOR-TV can also be seen throughout Oklahoma on four translator stations serving northwestern Oklahoma and several cable systems across the state.

History

The station signed on June 6, 1949 as WKY-TV, owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company, publishers of the Daily Oklahoman, along with WKY radio. The station was affiliated with the four major networks at the time (NBC, ABC, CBS and DuMont). It is Oklahoma's first television station, having signed on a few months before KOTV in Tulsa. Channel 4 took a primary affiliation with NBC due to WKY radio's association with NBC Radio. The station's original studios were located at the Municipal Auditorium in downtown Oklahoma City, with local programming broadcast from the Little Theatre.

Due to an FCC-imposed freeze on station licenses, WKY-TV was the only Oklahoma City television station until 1953 when KTVQ (channel 25, now KOKH-TV) signed on, taking an ABC affiliation. Later that year KWTV (channel 9) debuted as a primary CBS affiliate. WKY-TV continued as a dual NBC/DuMont affiliate until the DuMont network shut down in 1956. KTVQ closed its operations that year as well, and channel 4 picked up ABC once again. In 1958, ABC station KGEO (channel 5) was moved from Enid into Oklahoma City, becoming KOCO-TV, and that allowed WKY-TV to become an exclusive NBC affiliate.

In 1954, when NBC became the first television network to broadcast color programs, WKY-TV subsequently followed as one of the very first local TV stations in the U.S. to broadcast its own color programming many years ahead of most other local stations nationwide, most of whom did not follow suit until the mid-1960s.

In September 1954, not long before he left for rival KWTV, meteorologist Harry Volkman delivered the first tornado warning broadcast on television. WKY-TV station management believed that the FCC's ban on broadcasting tornado warnings (which they feared broadcasting such warnings would cause panic) was responsible for heavy loss of life, such as in the Flint-Worcester tornado outbreak sequence, a year earlier. They figured that giving advanced warning on such storms would save lives. The station bootlegged a Tornado Forecast from Tinker Air Force Base (which was first produced in 1948), in order to warn people of a tornado in the Oklahoma City area. Survivors sent letters of thanks following the storm to WKY-TV and Volkman for the advance warning.

In 1972 news director Ernie Schultz hired Pam Henry and she became the first female television reporter in Oklahoma. While at WKY she became the first female to anchor a news broadcast in Oklahoma. She had contracted polio at age 14 months and had been the national Poster Child for the March of Dimes in 1959. She had a 30-year career in television news despite walking on crutches.

Over the years, Oklahoma Publishing acquired several other television and radio stations, including WSFA in Montgomery, AL (in 1955), WTVT in Tampa, Florida (in 1956), WVTV in Milwaukee (in 1966), KHTV in Houston (launched in 1967), and KTVT in Fort Worth, Texas (in 1971). WKY-TV was their flagship outlet, and Oklahoma Publishing called their television subsidiary the WKY Television System. When the Federal Communications Commission disallowed same market co-ownership of newspapers and broadcast licenses in the early 1970s, the combination of the Daily Oklahoman and WKY-AM-TV was grandfathered under the new rule. But in 1976, WKY-TV was sold to Universal Communications, a subsidiary of the Detroit-based Evening News Association. Universal Communications changed channel 4's call letters to KTVY after the sale was finalized. Oklahoma Publishing retained WKY radio, and its television group was rechristened Gaylord Broadcasting, after the family which owned the company.

During the KTVY years, it aired one-hour edited replays of Oklahoma Sooners football games co-hosted by then-head coach Barry Switzer. This program was also syndicated on other stations, like KDOC in Orange County, California, at the same time that OU was challenging the NCAA's rules restricting the number of college football telecasts. The United States Supreme Court lifted the restrictions in 1984.

The Gannett Company bought the Evening News Association in 1986. Gannett had owned KOCO-TV since 1979, and FCC rules of the time forced Gannett to sell KTVY (along with KOLD-TV in Tucson, Arizona and WALA-TV in Mobile, Alabama) to Knight Ridder Broadcasting after just one day of ownership. In 1989, Knight Ridder sold all of its broadcasting properties to separate buyers, with KTVY going to Palmer Communications, owner of fellow NBC affiliate WHO-TV in Des Moines, Iowa (and former owner of what is today KWQC-TV in Davenport). Palmer changed the station's call letters to the current KFOR-TV in 1990. The New York Times Company purchased the two stations in 1996.

KFOR-TV eventually became the first station in the country to introduce color Doppler weather radar and in the 1990s, becoming the first television station to broadcast pictures and video of severe weather via cell phones.

On the evening of June 13, 1998, a severe thunderstorm which produced several tornadoes in northern sections of Oklahoma City (including one that caused minor damage the Frontier City amusement park and also caused minor damage to the studios of KOCO-TV, more than a block away from KFOR), also destroyed the old WKY-AM-TV tower, located not far from KFOR-TV's studios. The collapse of the tower, which was used as an auxiliary tower for KFOR-TV and WKY-AM, was caught on tape by KWTV through a camera on the station's tower.

KFOR became the first television station in Oklahoma City to launch a digital signal in June 1999.

On September 13, 2006, The New York Times Company announced that it plans to sell off its television stations, including KFOR. [1] On January 4, 2007, the New York Times Company entered into an agreement to sell the stations to affiliates of the private equity group Oak Hill Capital Partners. On May 7, 2007, KFOR officially became part of Local TV LLC.

Digital television

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

KFOR-DT

KFOR-DT broadcasts on digital channel 27.

Digital channels

Channel	Name	Programming
4.1	KFOR-DT	main KFOR-TV/NBC programming
4.2	4WARN 24/7	24 Hour Weather Channel from NBC with local updates

KFOR became the first television station in Oklahoma City (and the state of Oklahoma) to launch an over-the-air digital signal in June of 1999. NBC Weather Plus was offered on digital subchannel 4.2; branded as "4WARN 24/7," it was one of the few Weather Plus affiliates not using the "Weather Plus" name on the subchannel or in the station's main weather branding, and was not simulcast on KFOR or NBC WX+'s websites, unlike most NBC affiliates that carried the service; the national NBC WX+ network is defunct as of December 1, 2008.

On December 29, the channel was revamped as an affiliate of NBC Plus, utilizing the same graphics as Weather Plus (and is now a computer-updated loop of regional satellite/radar images, current temperatures, and national daily forecasts), with the 4WARN Storm Team logo (replacing the Weather Plus logo) and without the national on-camera meteorologist segments (though the local OCM segments remain). It also airs FCC-mandated "E/I" programming on weekend mornings (featuring syndicated children's programs carried by sister station KAUT-TV).

KFOR-TV's ceased analog broadcasts, effective June 12, 2009.

After the analog television shutdown is complete , KFOR-DT remained on its current pre-transition channel number, 27 [2] using PSIP to display KFOR-DT virtual channel as 4.

Ratings

KFOR-TV has waged a high-spirited battle with its rival KWTV in the Oklahoma City metro area for decades. It had recently run second in the news ratings behind it KWTV in the morning and late news time periods, and behind ABC affiliate KOCO-TV at 5:00 and 6:00 p.m until a problem with Nielsen Ratings was found to have a disconnect. In late 2008 the problem was solved and KFOR shot back to the top in Oklahoma. It is currently #1 in morning, noon and night. A rarity for an NBC affiliate in their current state.

Programming

KFOR-TV currently carries all of NBC's network programming offerings. Current syndicated programming includes Rachael Ray, The Bonnie Hunt Show, Inside Edition and Jeopardy!, with CSI: Miami and CSI: NY (the latter of which also airs on sister station KAUT) on weekends. Currently, Jeopardy! airs on KFOR-TV (it had previously aired on KWTV until 1999). Wheel of Fortune, on the other hand, airs on rival ABC affiliate KOCO-TV (Oklahoma City is one of the few media markets to carry Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune on separate television stations). Interestingly despite being an NBC affiliate, a decent proportion of the aforementioned syndicated programming is distributed by CBS Television Distribution.

News operation

KFOR-TV airs 32.5 hours of local news each week (with five hours on weekdays, two hours on Saturdays and 3½ hours on Sundays), second only to KWTV in the most hours of local news in the Oklahoma City area. The station also produces 12.5 hours of local news a week for sister station KAUT. The newscasts feature a balance of "serious" issues (such as politics, government, crime, the economy and investigative reports), and special-interest stories and other lighter fare. On election nights, KFOR-TV runs a special extended edition of their 10PM newscast to cover election results. KFOR-TV's newscasts are well known in Oklahoma City for the longevity of its anchors, and based on that experience and serious coverage, it has become one of the most-watched newscasts in the Oklahoma City area.

The station has three radar systems: "4WARN StormTracker", "4WARN Storm Scanner" (known as 4WARN SkyTracker from 2006 to 2008) and "4WARN Doppler". KFOR-TV has the characteristic of being only one of two stations in the state with two doppler radars (the other is KJRH in Tulsa), and has the most powerful Doppler radar in Oklahoma at 1 million watts of power (located near Newcastle). The station also uses a news helicopter "Chopper 4", to cover breaking news and track severe weather. On May 3, 1999, during wall-to-wall coverage of what became the prolific 1999 Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak, the helicopter caught footage of a destructive F5 tornado that tore through portions of Central Oklahoma from Amber to Midwest City which resulted in extensive damage and 44 fatalities. Video of the chopper's footage from 1999 is often still used today in the station's promos for Chopper 4.

One of the station's principal anchors, Linda Cavanaugh, has been with the station since 1978, and since Bob Barry's departure as sports anchor in 2008, is now the longest-tenured of KFOR-TV's on-air news staff. The Barrys and the Ogles are the prominent faces at KFOR. Kevin and Kent Ogle are two of three sons of the late Jack Ogle, who was the station's main news anchor during most of the WKY era and the early KTVY years (a period that also included prominent anchor/reporters George Tomek, Ernie Schultz and Jerry Adams). His other son, Kelly, ironically is evening co-anchor at rival CBS affiliate KWTV. Kevin Ogle is co-anchor of the 6:00 and 10:00PM newscasts, while brother Kent is co-anchor of the morning news on weekdays and sole anchor of the noon newscast.

Sportscaster Bob Barry, who was sports anchor for the 5:00 and 6:00PM newscasts until 2008 (he will now appear occasionally to do special interviews and sports specials), had been a fixture at KFOR since the 1960s and remains the longtime radio voice of the Oklahoma Sooners. His son Bob Barry Jr. currently is the station's sports director and 6:00 and 10:00PM sports anchor (assuming his father's duties at 5:00 and 6:00PM in 2008). Mike Morgan has served as KFOR's chief meteorologist since 1993 and had previously worked at rival ABC affiliate KOCO-TV and Tulsa NBC affiliate KJRH, where former KFOR staff meteorologist Dan Threlkeld is now chief meteorologist. For many years, the station's chief meteorologist was Jim Williams (1958-1990), who was among the few on-air personalities to work at Channel 4 under all three callsigns: WKY, KTVY and KFOR.

The station produces the Sunday morning political talk show Flash Point (which began in 1993), focusing on state and national political issues. It is moderated by weeknight anchor Kevin Ogle with Mike Turpin and former Oklahoma City mayor Kirk Humphreys as panelists. One of the station's most popular segments is Is This a Great State or What?, featuring Oklahoma's most interesting people and stories. Debuting in 1991, it airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on Extra Edition at 6:30 (Until 2008, it aired on the 5PM newscast, then briefly moved to the 6PM newscast) and is hosted by Galen Culver (husband of weekend morning anchor Tara Blume). In January 2009, KFOR began airing most of the Great State segments in high definition, despite the fact that the station's newscasts did not make the switch to HD until seven months later. The Rant with Kevin Ogle (airing Monday-Thursdays during the 10PM newscast), began in 2006 and similar to brother Kelly Ogle's My Two Cents segment on KWTV, features viewer comments via e-mail (and since 2008, also via voicemail) on selected news stories, with the Thursday edition being an "Open Topic" forum featuring viewer comments on various subjects.

On June 5, 2006, KFOR-TV launched a weeknightly half-hour 9PM newscast on sister station KAUT, to compete against Fox affiliate KOKH's 9PM newscast, which launched ten years earlier. On September 8, 2008, KFOR-TV launched a two-hour extension of its weekday morning newscast on KAUT.

On July 11, 2009 starting with its 10PM newscast, KFOR-TV became the second station in Oklahoma (after fellow NBC affiliate KJRH in Tulsa) and the first commercial television station in Oklahoma City to produce and broadcast its local programming in high definition, upgraded their master control and installed a character generator that allows the station to place 16:9 weather and news crawls over their programming.

In Your Corner

Since 1973, KFOR-TV has featured its In Your Corner investigative reports, which help people solve various problems with businesses who have ripped people off. Then-anchor Brad Edwards began In Your Corner in 1973, and did the segment until a few months prior his death in 2006 from a brain hemorrhage which came after an unexpected illness whose symptoms included bronchitis and inflammation of the lungs but were otherwise unknown. Lance West, Ali Meyer, Cherokee Ballard and Scott Hines covered stories on a rotating basis. In 2007, Hines was named as sole IYC reporter.

NewsChannel 4 Notable Personalities

Current On-Air Talent

(as of August 5, 2009)

Current Anchors

• Meg Alexander - weeknights at 5 and 6:30PM (also fill-in 4:30PM anchor and reporter)
• Tara Blume - weekend mornings (also reporter)
• Linda Cavanaugh - weekdays at 4:30, weeknights at 6 and 10PM (also reporter)
• Ed Doney - Sundays at 5 and 10PM (also fill-in anchor)
• Ali Meyer - weekday mornings (also investigative reporter)
• Bobbie Miller - Saturdays at 6 and 10PM
• Kent Ogle - weekday mornings and noon (also reporter)
• Kevin Ogle - weeknights at 6 and 10PM (also reporter and 4:30PM statewide newsreader)
• Lance West - weeknights at 5 and 6:30PM (also reporter and KAUT morning anchor)

Reporters

• Russell Carter - general assignment reporter
• Joleen Chaney - general assignment reporter (also fill-in anchor)
• Galen Culver - "Is This A Great State or What?" feature reporter
• Ashton Edwards - "Frugal Fridays" feature reporter
• Shane Faulkner - morning reporter (also managing editor)
• Jim Gardner - "Chopper 4" pilot reporter
• Scott Hines - investigative reporter ("In Your Corner")
• Marika Lorraine - general assignment reporter
• Chellie Mills - general assignment reporter
• Ernie Paulson - general assignment reporter (also KAUT 9PM anchor)
• Mike "Road King" Rogers - "Time Saver Traffic" reporter, seen weekday mornings
• Jesse Wells - general assignment reporter

Flash Point

• Kevin Ogle - "Flash Point" moderator
• Kirk Humphreys - "Flash Point" commentator
• Mike Turpen - "Flash Point" commentator (also political analyst)

4WARN Storm Team
In addition to providing forecasts on KFOR-TV, the 4WARN Storm Team also provides forecasts for its NBC Weather Plus channel on digital channel 4.2 and digital cable, and KTOK-AM, KEBC-AM, KHBZ-FM, KXXY-FM, KTST-FM and KJYO-FM radio.

• Mike Morgan (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist; weekdays at 4:30, 5, 6, 6:30 and 10PM (also KAUT 9PM meteorologist)
• David Payne (NWA Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekday mornings and noon (also KAUT morning meteorologist)
• Jonathan Conder - Meteorologist; weekend mornings

NewsChannel 4 Sports

• Bob Barry, Jr. - Sports Director; weeknights at 5, 6 and 10PM (also KAUT 9PM sports anchor and "Friday Night Heroes" and "Friday Sports Overtime" host)
• Brian Brinkley - Sports Anchor; Sundays at 5, Saturdays at 6 and weekends at 10PM (also sports reporter)
• Carson Cunningham - sports reporter
• Matt Reese - fill-in sports anchor/sports reporter

2 Movie Guys (also seen on KAUT-TV)

• Lucas Ross
• Ryan Bellgardt

Former On-Air Talent

• Jerry Adams - anchor/reporter (1970s-1980s)
• Curt Autry - anchor/reporter (1982-1991; now at WWBT in Richmond, Va.)
• Cherokee Ballard - KAUT 9PM anchor/reporter (2005-2008; now with Oklahoma County Medical Examiners' Office)
• Bob Barry, Sr. - sports anchor (1966-2008; will continue to appear for special interviews and specials)
• Troy Bridges - weekend meteorologist (2001-2004; now at WKMG-TV in Orlando)
• Bob Bruce - weeknight anchor (early 1990s)
• Uze Brown-Washington - weekend anchor/reporter (1988-1995)
• Steve Carano - weekend morning meteorologist (1998-2001; now at KOCO-TV)
• Rick De Reyes - reporter/anchor (1980)
• Brad Edwards - anchor/investigative reporter (1973-2006; deceased)
• Lee Evans - weekend anchor/reporter (1992-1997; died in a car accident in 1997)
• Damon Fontenot - sports reporter (2006-2008)
• Bob Frier - anchor/reporter (1998-2001; most recently with WKMG-TV in Orlando)
• Theresa Green - anchor/reporter (early 1990s?-2001)
• Tarra G. Haskins - reporter/producer (1983-1985)
• Pam Henry - anchor/reporter (1972-1978)
• Heather Holeman - Sunday evening-then-weekday morning anchor/reporter (2000-2007)
• Van Shea Iven - sports reporter (1992-2004; now host of Oklahoma High School Sports Express for KOKH)
• Grant Johnston - meteorologist (2000s-2009)
• Kathy Jones - anchor/reporter (Early 1990s; killed in a plane crash while on assignment in 1994)
• Herbert Kershaw, Jr. - meteorologist (1960s-1970s; deceased)
• Ronald Leary - reporter (1991-1993)
• Peter Maize - reporter (1980s; now an author in Hong Kong)
• Jack Ogle - evening anchor/reporter (1960s-1970s; deceased)
• Lara O'Leary - reporter (1994-1996; now spokesperson for EMSA)
• Tammy Payne - anchor/reporter (1980s-1994 and 1997-2003)
• Devin Scillian - anchor/reporter (1989-1995; now evening anchor at WDIV in Detroit and a children's book author)
• Ernie Schultz - anchor/reporter (1960s-1970s)
• Bella Shaw - anchor/reporter (1970s-1980s)
• Ed Stewart - reporter (1980s)
• Dan Threlkeld - meteorologist (1984-2001; now at KJRH-TV in Tulsa)
• George Tomek - anchor/reporter (late 1970s-1987; now at OETA)
• Quin Tran - weekend anchor/reporter (1994-2005; now media freelancer)
• Heather Unruh - 5 and 6:30PM anchor (1995-2001; now at WCVB-TV in Boston)
• Danny Williams - host of children's show "3D Danny" (1950s-1960s)/host of talk show "Dannysday" (1970s; later at KOMA-FM, now retired)
• Jim Williams - chief meteorologist (1958-1990)

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

• The Esso Reporter (1950s-1960s)
• 24 Hours (Late 1960s-Early 1970s)
• News Center 4 (Mid-Late 1970s)
• Action 4 News (Late 1970s-Mid 1980s; presented on air simply as Action 4)
• News 4 Oklahoma (Late 1980s-1990)

• News Team 4 (1990-1993)
• NewsChannel 4 (1993-1997 and 2008-present)
• Oklahoma's NewsChannel 4 (1996-2008; used interchangeably on-air with NewsChannel 4 branding from 1996 to 1997; and since 2008, still often used in reporter identifications)
• NewsChannel 4 HD (2009-present)

Station slogans

• We're 4 Oklahoma (late 1970s-1980)
• It's a New 4 (1980-1984)
• Action 4, Just Watch Us Now (1982-1983, localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• 4's the One (1984-1987)

• Going All Out 4 Oklahoma (1987-1990)
• 4 Strong, The Strength of Oklahoma (1990-1994)
• Where The News Comes First (24 Hours a Day) (1990-1997, used as primary slogan from 1994-1997)
• Expect The News First (1997-2001)
• Oklahoma's NewsChannel (1994-present)

Logos

KFOR has used its "Split 4" logo, a stylized dye-cut, italic "4" logo sectioned in three parts, since the 1990 callsign change from KTVY to KFOR-TV -- the logo is the longest-used numeric logo in Oklahoma television history. The logo's color changed from yellow to light blue on August 8, 2008, the first day of NBC's coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the first major modification to the logo since 1994, when the logo became one-dimensional and was slightly slimmed down.

Its previous logo, which was used from 1979 until 1990, was a tri-lined "4", similar to the logo currently used by ABC affiliate WTAE in Pittsburgh, which consisted of three thinner multi-colored lines until the late 1980s when the logo became solid and was overlaid on blue and red circles.

Office location

KFOR's studios are located at 444 East Britton Road. The transmitter facility is located across the street from KOCO-TV at 1400 E. Britton Road.

External links

• KFOR-TV's Webpage
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