KDLH

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KDLH
Duluth, Minnesota / Superior, Wisconsin
Branding	CBS 3 Duluth (normal) Northland's News Center (newscasts) Northland's CW (on DT2)
Channels	3 (VHF) analog, 33 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	CBS (since 1955) The CW via The CW Plus (on DT2)
Owner	Malara Broadcasting (operated by Granite Broadcasting through a LMA)
Founded	March 14, 1954
Call letters meaning	KDLH: DuLutH KWBD: Warner Brothers Duluth (refers to previous WB affiliation)
Former callsigns	KDAL-TV (1954-1979)
Former affiliations	KDLH: NBC (1954-1955) ABC (1954-1966) Fox (Secondary) 1996-? KWBD: The WB via The WB 100+ (1998-2006)
Website	northlandsnewscenter.com

KDLH, is a CBS affiliated television station serving Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin. Known on-air as "CBS 3 Duluth," the station is owned by Malara Broadcasting, but is operated by Granite Broadcasting through a local marketing agreement (LMA). KDLH is a sister station to the area's NBC affiliate KBJR, which is owned and operated by Granite. KLDH broadcasts an analog signal on VHF channel 3 and a digital signal on UHF channel 33 from transmitter located in Duluth. The station shares a website with KBJR.

The station operates a CW affiliate on its DT2 digital subchannel and Charter cable channel 2. The CW channel uses the fictional call letters of "KWBD" and is known on-air as "Northland's CW." KWBD is part of The CW Plus.

Contents 1 History 2 "KWBD" 3 Newscasts 4 News Team 4.1 Former Personalities 5 Logos 6 Sources 7 External links

[edit] History

KDLH began broadcasting on March 14, 1954 known as KDAL-TV. The station was affiliated with NBC. It was owned by Dalton LeMasurier along with KDAL-AM 610. It switched affiliations with WDSM-TV (now KBJR) in 1955 and joined CBS. It also aired some ABC programs, sharing them with WDSM, until WDIO signed on in 1966.

The LeMasurier family sold KDAL-AM-TV to what eventually became Tribune Broadcasting in 1960. Tribune sold KDAL-TV to Stauffer Communications in 1979, who changed the call letters to the current KDLH. Stauffer merged with Morris Communications in 1995, but Morris was not allowed to keep the former Stauffer television stations. KDLH, along with most of its sisters, was sold to Benedek Broadcasting. Benedek merged with Gray Television in 2001, but KDLH was not included in the merger and was sold to Chesley Broadcasting. New Vision Television bought the station in 2003.

KDLH was the last of the big 3 stations in Duluth to have a weekday 5 PM newscast. The station currently airs Judge Judy instead. In 2004, KDLH debuted a 5 PM news show that was hosted by Amy Rutledge, Meteorologist Phil Johnson, and Chris Earl with sports. This was replaced along with the 6 PM newscast with the current one at 5:30 PM when KDLH merged with KBJR. Judge Judy has since reclaimed the 5 PM spot on KDLH and the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric airs at 6 PM.

In March of 2005, Malara Broadcast Group purchased KDLH from New Vision and outsourced most of the station's functions, including local news, to longtime rival KBJR. That station was owned by Granite Broadcasting. Under this agreement, KDLH laid off most of its staff, and KBJR began to handle nearly all of KDLH's operations. Filings with the FCC showed Malara could operate KDLH with as few as two people on the payroll. Malara makes SEC filings jointly with Granite, leading to allegations that Malara is simply a shell corporation for Granite. If these allegations are ever found to be true, Granite would be in violation of FCC rules regarding duopolies. The FCC does not allow common ownership of two of the four largest stations in a single market. In addition, Duluth has only five full-power stations, which are too few to allow duopolies in any case.

As a result of the arrangement between KDLH and KBJR, KDLH now shares the Northland's NewsCenter newscast branding with KBJR and air local news. KDLH's weekday morning newscast is known as News Center Morning Plus with the NBC Weather Plus ticker scrolling across the bottom of the screen (Weather Plus is actually offered on KBJR's DT3 digital subchannel). KDLH's News Center at 5:30 newscast is anchored by Pat Kelly, who is the only KDLH news team member remaining after the KDLH sellout. Meteorologist George Kessler gives weather forcasts and Jason Kuss is the sports anchor. KDLH's weekday 10 PM newscast was known as News Center Express and was a 10 minute news "capsule." The other 25 minutes was a Seinfeld rerun. After 13 months of mediocre ratings, KDLH changed its 10 PM newscast to 35 minutes. The 10 PM newscast features the 5:30 PM news team. The 35 minute newscast greatly resembles the format of competitor WDIO. The weekend 10 PM newscast continues in the 10 minute format. It is anchored by Dan Hanger with Meteorologist Dave Anderson.

[edit] "KWBD"

"KWBD" was originally a cable-only station with WB affiliation. It was operated by KBJR and was part of The WB 100+, a group of cable-only WB affiliates that shared programming outside of The WB's primetime schedule. The WB 100+ was similar to The CW Plus, which KWBD is currently part of. On September 18, 2006, when The CW began broadcasting, KWBD began to be offered on KDLH's DT2 digital subchannel.

[edit] Newscasts

"KWBD" / KDLH DT2 "Northland's CW" airs The Daily Buzz syndicated newscast weekday mornings from 5 to 8 AM. KDLH does not air weekday newscasts at Noon, 5, or 6 PM. Instead, they air over on sister station KBJR. KDLH does not air morning or early evening newscasts on the weekends. However, there are local news and weather updates provided during The Saturday Early Show.

Weekdays

• News Center Morning Plus on CBS 3 (5 to 7 AM)
  • with local news and weather updates during CBS's The Early Show 7 to 9 AM
• News Center at 5:30 PM on CBS 3 (5:30 to 6 PM)
• News Center Tonight on CBS 3 (10 to 10:35 PM)

Weekends

• Northland Voices (10 to 10:30 AM)
  • Sundays, public affairs (airs on KBJR DT2 "My 9" 10:30 to 11 AM and KBJR Mondays 1:30 to 2 AM)
• News Center Express on CBS 3 (10 to 10:10 PM)
  • Saurdays and Sundays
• Sports Zone (11:35 PM to 12:05 AM)
  • Sundays, weekly sports replay (airs on KBJR 10:35 to 11:35 PM)

[edit] News Team

Anchors

• Pat Kelly - NewsCenter at 5:30 and 10:00 (was part of KDLH's pre-sellout news team)
• Edward Moody - NewsCenter Morning Plus and updates during The Early Show
• Dan Hanger - Newscenter Express weekends

Meteorologists

• George Kessler - Newcenter at 5:30 and 10:00
• Dave Anderson - Newcenter Express Weekend
• Ken Buhler - Fill-in Weathercaster

Sports

• Jason Kuss - 5:30 and 10:00 (Monday to Thursday)
• Joe Dufek - 5:30 and 10:00 (Fridays)

Reporters

• Kellie LaVoie
• Dan Hanger
• Barbara Reyelts - "I-Team 3"

[edit] Former Personalities

+ denotes the anchor being released at the KDLH sellout in 2004.

• Todd Nelson - Morning Weather (Now at KQDS-TV)
• +Amy Rutledge - anchor (Now at KQDS-TV)
• +Phil Johnson - meteorologist (now at WDIO in Duluth)
• Chris Earl - sports (now anchor at WEAU in Eau Claire)
• +Chris Long - sports (now sports director at WBBH in Fort Myers)
• Erin Jordan - weekend meteorologist- became morning meteorologist briefly after 2004 sellout. (now at KOLD in Tucson)
• +Matt Brode - morning meteorologist (now at KVOA in Tucson)
• +Melissa Ellefson - weekend anchor
• +Gil David - reporter
• +Trisha Volpe - reporter (now at KARE in Minneapolis)
• +Zach Wells - weekend anchor / reporter
• +Eliabeth Ries - weekend and morning anchor / reporter
• +Lauren Kalb - reporter
• Scott McLinden - morning anchor
• Bill Van Dusen - weekend meteorologist
• Sarah Carlstorm
• Andrew Green - reporter
• Liz Brummond
• Joe Thornton - anchor
• Lisa Blegen - reporter
• Marsh Nelson - sports
• Michelle Lee - anchor (now at sister station KBJR)
• Darren Danielson - anchor
• Earl Henton - anchor (KDLH's first)
• Sven Sundgaard - meteorologist (now at KARE in Minneapolis)
• Bisi Onile-Ere- Mornings
• Christina Munoz- Reporter
• Natasha Hassan- Reporter

[edit] Logos

Station logo in 1995.	Station logo used from 1996 until 2001.	Station logo used from 2001 until 2004	Newscast opening after the 2004 sellout.
Newscast opening after becoming Northland's News Center.	Current station logo.	Logo for "KWBD" / KDLH DT2 "Northland's CW."

[edit] Sources

"KDLH TV SOLD, LOCAL JOBS ELIMINATED", Duluth News-Tribune, March 9, 2005.

[edit] External links

• Station Website (shared with KBJR)
• "KWBD" / KDLH DT2 "Northland's CW" Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KDLH