Today marks 23 years since "The Big Switch"

A LITTLE HISTORY OF DENVER TV.... 
 
Today September 10th marks 23 years since Denver's 3 major TV stations switched network affiliations.

The switch happened after Saturday Night Live ended at 12:07AM, it was due to FOX gaining the NFL's NFC Football rights from CBS.  It also allowed KDVR to launch a news department 5 years latter.

 KCNC was an NBC Owned & Operated Station (NBC Stations Management, Inc) it was sold to Group W/CBS the broadcasting division of Westinghouse.  This was not by choice, NBC didn't want to give up KCNC because it was a cash cow for the network, it was one of NBC highest rated stations in the country.  But it quickly became clear that CBS would potentially have 2 stations in Philly carrying CBS Programing, 1 carrying ABC and there would be no stations carrying NBC Programing.  NBC realized that it had to have a station in Philadelphia, so it reluctantly traded KCNC for WCAU in Philly plus KUTV in Salt Lake City which the network had acquired in December 1994, the KUTV part was added to the deal in August.  To compensate NBC for the loss of KYW & KCNC, CBS swapped transmitter facilities in Miami with WTVJ. (WTVJ moved to 6 from 4) moving WCIX to channel 4 & changing it's call letters to WFOR.(WCIX moved to 4 from 6, hence the call letters)

KUSA Picked up NBC by default as ABC had cut an affiliation deal with KMGH & McGraw-Hill in June 1995.   NBC Was still fighting to keep KCNC, when they cut a deal with Gannett to make KUSA there station. 

After the switch occurred, KCNC saw a huge drop in ratings almost right away.  It took until approx 2007 for the station to truly recover from the ratings losses suffered from the loss of NBC, meanwhile KUSA's ratings went through the roof during that period.   KMGH also saw a significant ratings improvement with ABC, even though KMGH was one of CBS's higher rated stations in the early 1990s.


KCNC Logo from 1993-1995

KCNC Logo from 1995-1997

KUSA Logo from 1984-1995




 KUSA Logo from September 1995-October 1995  (They used a version of this without the peacock from October 1995- January 1999, when the peacock was added to the right hand side.)













KMGH Logo 1991-1995

KMGH Logo from 1995-1997

Colorado's Own Channel 2 is cutting newscasts.

Colorado's Own Channel 2 (KWGN) is cutting back on newscasts--their lifestyle show/infomercial block "Colorado's Best" is being cut back to :30 mins & their 4PM newscast is also getting cut by :30 mins so they can re-air Colorado's best. 

According to GM Joan Barrett:

"We are going to shorten the Colorado’s Best show at 9am and the 4pm news to 30 minutes. Both shows will start at the top of the hour and run 30 minutes. We will then repeat the CB show at 4:30 PM to keep an hour of local content in the afternoon on Ch. 2. In short, we believe this creates two stronger shows and utilizes our resources in the best places for growth."


This appears to follow other Tribune outlets who have also trimmed back on news offerings.  Tribune is most likely going to put it's self up for sale soon--since it failed to get approval to merge with Sinclair Broadcast Group. 

H/T: ftvlive.com  

TaRhonda Thomas leaves 9NEWS & Channel 20.

After 11 years at 9NEWS & Channel 20 anchor & reporter TaRhonda Thomas is leaving for Philadelphia, where she and her family have a new opportunity.  Her last day on the air was this morning (Sunday August 12, 2018).

This leaves Denver with no African American anchors and only 3 African American reporters on TV.
(They are: Eddie Randal |KUSA/KTVD|, Shaul Turner |KDVR|, & Zora Stephenson |KDVR/KWGN|
**Note Shaul Turner mainly appears on KDVR, that's why it's marked that way**

From us at Colorado News Center, TaRhonda good luck on your new adventure in Philadelphia.

More here: https://www.9news.com/article/about-us/tarhonda-thomas-leaves-9news-after-11-years/73-580707277
https://www.westword.com/news/denvers-black-tv-journalist-shortage-and-exit-of-9news-tarhonda-thomas-10632119










                                                                                                       



 

KOAA Is up for sale.

NEWS5 KOAA in Pueblo/Colorado Springs is up for sale according to a press release. The television arm of Evening Post Industries, Cordillera Communications is being spun off.   Evening Post Industries is based in Charleston, SC while the broadcasting arm Cordillera is based in St. Paul, MN.

The reason for the sale is they feel that they are too small to effectively compete.

So who will buy Cordillera? , time will tell.

More here:   https://tvnewscheck.com/article/219866/cordillera-looking-exit-tv-business/






 

Sooo It sounds as if the Tribune/Sinclair deal is off.

It sounds as if the Tribune/Sinclair merger is over.  The F.C.C. today put it to a committee review.  Most of the time when this occurs it means the deal is over.   Sinclair & Tribune stock tanked today when this news came out.    This also means for now FOX Television Stations, LLC will not be buying 7 stations (including KDVR).   The only way I see anything happening with KDVR & KWGN now is if Tribune begins selling off individual stations.

The F.C.C. Chairman had this to say today: 
"The evidence we've received suggests that certain station divestitures that have been proposed to the FCC would allow Sinclair to control those stations in practice, even if not in name, in violation of the law," Pai said in his statement.

The issue that has the F.C.C. concerned is, the fact that even though Sinclair doesn't own a station it will still run the station (I.E.: Cunningham Broadcasting & Howard Stirk Holdings). In markets where the aforementioned companies own stations, so does Sinclair.

What will happen to KWGN & KDVR?  I Suspect that FOX in the end, will still get KDVR as for KWGN it's anyone's guess at this point, I think another buyer will eventually emerge.

Sinclair Broadcasting would be set to pay a  $135.5 Million breakup fee to Tribune if the merger doesn't happen.

STAY TUNED!!!!!!   









      

9NEWS/Channel 20 politics guy Brandon Rittiman is leaving.

After 7 years, 9NEWS Political reporter Brandon Rittiman is heading to sister station KXTV-ABC10 in Sacramento, CA his last day was Friday.  He was one of the first reporters on scene of the Aurora Theater Shooting on July 20, 2012. He also hosted balance of power a weekly political show following Meet The Press on Sunday's.  And if you were in politics in Colorado there was a good chance he was going to interview you at some point.

Good Luck in Sacramento.



















 

 

9NEWS/Channel 20 news director to GM position of the Louisville Tegna Station.

Tegna Media (KUSA/KTVD owner) today announced that Christy Moreno the news director of KUSA & KTVD will become the next GM of WHAS in Louisville, KY.  She has been the N/D in Denver since 2015 before joining the Denver stations she was the news director of WBIR in Knoxville, TN.

The search is now on for her replacement.

H/T: The Denver Business Journal
https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2018/06/05/9news-director-named-president-gm-of-louisville-tv.html 



PIC FROM:(KUSA-TV/KTVD-TV) Via 9NEWS.COM