Colorado's own Channel 2 has updated elements of it's 2017 set and refreshed it's studio.

Colorado's own Channel 2, has a new background for there set according to a picture posted on twitter this morning. 
It kind of reminds me of the "Headline News / CNN Headline News set" from the late 1990s, it looks to have a very open feel.  It looks great, however I'll miss the different pictures of Colorado from John Fielder that channel 2 used  on it's background.  (the other background was put into place in May 2017).








     

TV Transmitter site.

I Thought this was cool, I was in Golden earlier today, so I snapped a picture of the "Lake Cedar Group, LLC Super Tower" that houses the transmitters for KUSA, KCNC, KMGH, & KTVD. 
Off to the right are transmitters for radio stations: KQMT, KALC,K276FK, KRFX, KPTT, & KOSI.

(The first 3 radio stations listed are Entercom Communications stations who have had transmitters there since 2003, the others joined in latter on or were added after entercom purchased stations, KOSI left there transmitter there, after entercom sold the station- they are now owed by Bonneville International)

KDVR's transmitter I believe is off to the left of the super tower and KWGN's transmitter is one of the towers behind the super tower. (KDVR & KWGN aren't part of "Lake Cedar Group, LLC" that's why they have separate antenna towers) 

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