KDNL-TV

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KDNL-TV
St. Louis, Missouri
Branding	ABC30
Channels	30 (UHF) analog, 31 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	ABC (secondary, 1969-80s, primary since 1995)
Owner	Sinclair Broadcasting Group
Founded	June 8, 1969
Former affiliations	Independent (1969-1986) NBC (secondary, 1969-80s) Fox (1986-1995) UPN (secondary, 1995-98)
Website	www.kdnl30.com

KDNL-TV "ABC30" is the ABC television affiliate in St. Louis, Missouri. Owned and operated by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, KDNL-TV's transmitter is located in the parking lot of the Kenrick 8 Cine on Trianon Parkway (off Watson Road).

The station broadcasts in stereo and broadcasts a Secondary Audio Program (SAP) channel, used mainly for Descriptive Video Service (DVS).

KDNL-DT (KDNL-TV's digital channel) operates on channel 31.

Contents 1 History 2 Newscasts 3 Post-Super Bowl XL Criticism 4 Personalities 4.1 Past 5 External links

[edit] History

KDNL-TV started broadcasting on June 8, 1969 as the first UHF television station in the St. Louis market. It was St. Louis' second independent station until 1986. The station was owned by Evans Broadcasting. Initially, KDNL ran a format of business news, religious shows, old network sitcoms, rejected network programming from KSDK and KTVI, and old movies.

By 1979, business news had been eliminated. Evans sold the station to Cox Enterprises in 1981. Programming during most of 1982 and early 1983 continued to be general entertainment during the day and Preview Subscription Television at night. This included religious shows, old movies, classic off-network sitcoms and dramas. By 1984, cartoons had been added to the lineup. Also under Cox, the station won bids for stronger off-network sitcoms.

In 1986, KDNL joined the then-fledging Fox after KPLR-TV turned the network down, going under the name FOX 30. In addition, KDNL was the television home of the NHL's St. Louis Blues between 1976 and 1981, and again from 1983 through 1986. In 1991, Cox sold KDNL to St. Louis-based River City Broadcasting.

In 1994 New World Communications, bought St. Louis' longtime ABC affiliate, KTVI, along with 3 other stations from Argyle. New World had cut an affiliation deal with Fox. By the time KPLR took on affiliation with The WB, that station also turned down ABC despite being a VHF station. So instead KDNL took the ABC affiliation and also agreed to run UPN programming as a secondary affiliate. Despite its size, the St. Louis market did not have enough commercial stations at the time to support a full-time UPN affiliate until 2003. New World completed its acquisition of KTVI in the summer of 1995, and Fox moved to KTVI. After becoming the ABC affiliate, KDNL also began to air more first-run syndicated shows and reduced its reliance on older sitcoms. In 1996, Sinclair Broadcast Group bought River City. KDNL dropped UPN programming in 1997, and KNLC and KPLR began sharing UPN. St. Louis didn't have a full-time UPN affiliate until WRBU in East St. Louis took on the affiliation in April of 2003. In 2004 KDNL, preempted the movie Saving Private Ryan; all Sinclair-owned ABC affiliates preempted the movie.

Today, it is rated 5th, coming behind KPLR-TV, the CW affiliate.

[edit] Newscasts

Local news on KDNL premiered on January 1, 1995. Initially, news was limited to a daily 9 p.m. newscast. When KDNL became an ABC affiliate, the 9 p.m. news moved to 10 p.m. and an additional evening newscast was added. Although ratings were initially good, KDNL was never competitive with KMOV-TV, KSDK or even KTVI. The evening newscast fluctuated between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. and was even cancelled outright for a time. Turnover in the newsroom was very high, and it showed in the ratings.

In the spring of 2001, a transmitter failure left KDNL off the air for a number of days. What little audience there was for KDNL's news switched to other sources and never returned. KDNL finally dropped news altogther on October 12, 2001. To this day, KDNL-TV is one of the very few "big three" affiliates that does not have local news. KDNL is the second-largest (in terms of DMA) major-network affiliate that has no newscasts (only to CBS O&O WWJ in Detroit). Most major network affiliates are contractually obligated to air local news, but KDNL's affiliation agreement does not have such a clause. KDNL now occasionally employs its former news set to offer commentary on sporting events. The station has sufficient funds to cover sports.

KDNL has been one of ABC's lowest-rated affiliates in the decade since it joined the network. In contrast, KTVI was one of ABC's strongest affiliates.

[edit] Post-Super Bowl XL Criticism

Recently Channel 30 was criticized after Super Bowl XL for airing an hour-long local postgame show after network coverage instead of the much-hyped 'Code Black' episode of Grey's Anatomy, despite St. Louis not having any stake or connections to Super Bowl XL. The postgame show, followed by Grey's at 10:15pm, was listed in local paper listings and in electronic program guides, however the station did not disclaim it within any promos that aired through the game and those who use the new national TV Guide as their main listings source didn't know about the local postgame show, causing the station and other local media (such as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) to be overwhelmed with complaints about KDNL's problems as the city's ABC affiliate.

This incident, along with off-synced TiVo and VCR recordings nationwide which didn't capture the entire episode, was instrumental in forcing ABC to reair the episode the following Thursday, February 9, after Dancing with the Stars.

[edit] Personalities

[edit] Past

• Andy Banker, reporter. (January 1995 to October 2001; now at KTVI)
• Paul Brown, reporter.
• Maurice Drummond, sports reporter (now at KTVI).
• Rick Edlund, anchor. (? to October 2001; now at KPLR)
• Patrick Emory, anchor (1999-2000).
• Trish Gazall, traffic reporter (now at WVRV-FM).
• Derrin Horton, reporter.
• Steve Jerve, meteorologist. (January 1995 to 1998, now chief meteorologist at WFLA-TV, Tampa, Florida)
• Ric Kearbey, meteorologist (1997-2001; now at WHOI-TV, Peoria, IL).
• Darren Kramer, anchor. (January 1995 to ?)
• Gina Kurre, anchor (1997-2001).
• Leslie Lyles, anchor. (January 1995 to mid-1998)
• Don Marsh, anchor. (July 1995 to c. 1998)
• Rick Powers, sports reporter. (1997 to October 2001)
• Grant Rampy, reporter.
• Mitch Roberts, sports reporter. (January 1995 to 1997)
• Phil Rozen, anchor.
• Keryn Shipman, chief meteorologist. (1998 to October 2001; now chief meteorologist at KPLR)
• Kevin Slaten, sports reporter (now at KFNS).
• Joby Smith, sports reporter. (January 1995 to 1996)
• Jean Jackson, anchor.
• Jim Wicks, anchor. (January 1995 to July 1995)

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KDNL-TV