KYUR
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KYUR, virtual channel 13 (digital channel 12), is an ABC-affiliated television station located in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. Owned by Vision Alaska, KYUR is operated through joint sales and shared services agreements by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company, LLC, which owns Fox affiliate KTBY.[1][2] KYUR currently shares studios with KTBY on 2700 East Tudor Road in Anchorage, and its transmitter is located at the Knik TV Mast in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. KYUR is the flagship station of a trio of ABC and digital CW affiliates covering the U.S. state of Alaska under the "Your Alaska Link" banner, which also includes KATN in Fairbanks and KJUD in Juneau.
History
KYUR signed on the air on October 31, 1967 as KHAR-TV. It was the third television station in Anchorage, after KTVA and KENI-TV (now KTUU-TV). The station was launched by Sourdough Broadcasters, a company headed by Willis R. "Bill" Harpel, on of Alaska's broadcasting pioneers. Harpel began his broadcasting career in the early 1940s at Anchorage radio station KFQD, and was previously the owner of radio stations in Ellensburg and Mercer Island, Washington. Prior to the launch of the television station, he started Anchorage radio stations KHAR-AM in 1961 and KHAR-FM (now KBRJ) in 1966. A short time after the television station signed on the air, on January 13, 1968, Harpel died in a snowmobile accident near Girdwood, south of Anchorage. He was 46 years old.[3] His widow, Patricia, took over the reins at a time when the station's future was uncertain.
For its first three-plus years on the air, KHAR was unable to obtain a network affiliation, forcing it to operate as an independent station. Finally, in 1970, it took the NBC affiliation from KENI. Patricia Harpel became sole owner of Sourdough Broadcasters at around the same time. KHAR swapped affiliations with KENI a year later and joined ABC; that same year, it changed its call letters to KIMO.
In 1972, KIMO opened its own taping facility in Seattle so it could tape ABC shows directly off the network feed without having to use Honolulu's KITV as a middleman.[citation needed] The station brought Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and some other PBS programs to Anchorage in the early 1970s, before KAKM signed on in 1975. The station had the top local newscasts in Anchorage from 1977 until 1986, when it was surpassed by KTUU.
In 1995, owner Smith Media bought KJUD in Juneau. Having bought Fairbanks' KATN a decade earlier, Smith merged all three of Alaska's ABC affiliates into the "Alaska's Superstation" network.
Smith sold KIMO and the remainder of the "ABC Alaska's Superstation" system to Vision Alaska LLC in 2010.[4] When the sale was completed, on May 13, 2010,[5] Coastal Television Broadcasting Company, LLC (which owns Fox affiliate KTBY) entered into a joint sales and shared services agreements with Vision Alaska to operate KYUR.[1][2] On January 1, 2011, KIMO changed its call letters to KYUR and all of the stations were co-branded as "ABC Alaska".
Digital television
Digital channels
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming[6] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13.1 | 720p | 16:9 | KYUR-DT | Main KYUR programming / ABC |
| 13.2 | 480i | 4:3 | KWBX-DT | The CW Plus |
Analog-to-digital conversion
KYUR shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 12.[7] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 13.
Notable former on-air staff
- John Seibel, sports director (1997–2000), later worked at ESPN Radio for nearly a decade
- Kathy Tebow Sharp, weather anchor (1980s), Miss Alaska in 1976
References
- ^ a b Joint Sales Agreement - Federal Communications Commission
- ^ a b Time Brokerage Fees - Federal Communications Commission
- ^ "Outing Fatal To Bill Harpel, Snowmobile Accident Claims KHAR Owner". Seattle Times. Seattle: (as hosted at Seattle-Tacoma Radio Guide). January 15, 1968. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
- ^ "Alaska TV group sold". Television Business Report. January 15, 2010. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
- ^ Consummation Notice - Federal Communications Commission
- ^ "RabbitEars.Info". rabbitears.info.
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.