KFOR-TV

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KFOR-TV
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Branding	Oklahoma's NewsChannel4
Channels	4 (VHF) analog, 27 (HDTV, UHF), 4.2 (NBC Weather Plus) digital
Affiliations	NBC
Owner	The New York Times Company (sale to Oak Hill Capital Partners pending)
Founded	1949
Call letters meaning	K F O uR
Former callsigns	WKY-TV (1949-76), KTVY (1976-90)
Former affiliations	ABC, CBS, DuMont (1949-1956)[1]
Website	www.kfor.com

KFOR-TV, referred to on-air as "Oklahoma's NewsChannel4" is the NBC affiliate based out of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Owned by the New York Times Company and known for its stability in the anchor seat, KFOR made significant gains in viewership in the 1990s before settling into a three-way battle for news leadership with Griffin Communications-owned KWTV and Hearst-Argyle station KOCO.

The station broadcasts its analog signal on VHF channel 4, and its digital signal on UHF channel 27. KFOR also operates 4Warn 24/7 featuring weather information from NBC Weather Plus on digital subcarrier 4.2 and Cox Digital Cable. On cable, KFOR-TV can be seen on channel 3 on Cox Oklahoma City and on channel 4 on other Cox systems in Central Oklahoma. KFOR-TV can also be seen throughout Oklahoma on three translator stations serving northwestern Oklahoma and several cable systems across the state. The station is also available to DirecTV and Dish Network customers within the Oklahoma City market. Its studios and transmitter are co-located on North Britton Road in Oklahoma City.

It has the characteristic of being only one of two stations in the state with two doppler radars (the other is KJRH in Tulsa), the southwest Oklahoma City doppler being the most powerful at 1 million watts of power.

Contents 1 History 2 4Warn 24/7 3 News operations 4 Oklahoma's NewsChannel 4 on OK43 5 Personalities 5.1 Current On-Air Talent 5.2 Former On-Air Talent 6 News/Station Presentation 6.1 Newscast Titles 6.2 Station slogans 7 Logos 8 Office location 9 Translators 10 External links

[edit] History

The station began in 1949 as WKY-TV, owned by the Gaylord family's Oklahoma Publishing Company, publishers of the Daily Oklahoman, along with WKY-AM. The station was affiliated with the four major networks at the time, NBC, ABC, CBS and DuMont. It is Oklahoma's first television station, having signed on a few months before CBS affiliate KOTV in Tulsa. When KTVQ signed on, WKY-TV shared ABC with KTVQ Channel 25 (now KOKH-TV) until later in 1956 when KTVQ shut down. When KWTV signed on in 1953, CBS programming moved there. WKY-TV continued as a hybrid ABC/NBC/DuMont affiliation until the DuMont network shut down in 1956, which it began an exclusive NBC affiliation.

In 1954, when NBC became the first television network to broadcast color programs, WKY-TV subsequently followed as one of the very first local TV stations in the U.S. to broadcast its own color programming many years ahead of most other local stations nationwide, most of whom did not follow suit until the mid-1960s.

Over the years, the Gaylords acquired several other television and radio stations. The Gaylords sold WKY-TV to Universal Communications, a subsidiary of Detroit's Evening News Association (then owner of the Detroit News), in 1976. Universal Communications changed WKY-TV's call letters to KTVY after the sale was finalized.

After Gannett bought Universal Communications (whose television holdings included KTVY, KOLD-TV in Tucson, KVUE in Austin, Texas, WALA-TV in Mobile, Alabama and WDVM-TV in Washington, D.C.) in 1986, it sold KTVY (along with KOLD and WALA) to Knight Ridder Broadcasting after just one day of ownership. In this case, Gannett had to sell KTVY because it already owned ABC affiliate KOCO-TV at the time, since FCC rules then in effect did not allow television duopolies. In 1989, Knight Ridder sold the station to Palmer Communications, owner of fellow NBC affiliate WHO-TV in Des Moines, Iowa. Palmer changed the station's call letters to the current KFOR-TV in 1990.

The New York Times Company purchased KFOR and WHO-TV from Palmer Communications in 1996. KFOR became the first television station in Oklahoma City to launch a digital signal in June of 1999.

On September 13, 2006, The New York Times Company announced that it plans to sell off its television stations, including KFOR. [2] On January 4, 2007, the New York Times Company entered into an agreement to sell the stations to affiliates of the private equity group Oak Hill Capital Partners. KFOR will be operated as part of Local TV LLC.

[edit] 4Warn 24/7

KFOR-DT also operates a second channel, KFOR-DT 4.2, which broadcasts weather information from NBC Weather Plus and features local weather forecasts and severe weather updates from KFOR's 4Warn Storm Team. It is branded as "4Warn 24/7," making it one of the few Weather Plus affiliates not to use its parent branding. KFOR does not simulcast the 4Warn 24/7 weather channel on the station's website, also unlike nearly all NBC affiliates that carry NBC Weather Plus on its digital signal.

[edit] News operations

KFOR has waged a high-spirited battle with KWTV in the Oklahoma City metro area for decades; currently it continues to run second in the news ratings behind its Oklahoma City rival in the late news time period, and behind ABC affiliate KOCO TV at 5:00 and 6:00 p.m.

KFOR adopted the NewsChannel format in 1990, following the station's change from KTVY. Currently, KFOR airs 32.5 hours of local news each week, second only to KWTV in the most hours of local news in the Oklahoma City area. On Sunday mornings, the station also airs Flash Point, a political/public affairs program focusing on state and national political issues, moderated by weekday evening anchor Kevin Ogle with Burns Hargis and Mike Turpin as panelists.

KFOR is the only station in Oklahoma City with an hour-long midday newscast and is only one of two stations in Oklahoma, Lawton ABC affiliate KSWO is the only other, with an hour-long newscast at 6:00PM.

One of the station's principal anchors, Linda Cavanaugh, has been with the station since 1978. The Barrys and the Ogles are the prominent faces at KFOR. Kevin Ogle is a son of the late Jack Ogle, who was the station's main news anchor during most of the WKY era and the early KTVY years (a period that also included prominent anchor/reporters George Tomek, Ernie Schultz and Jerry Adams). Sportscaster Bob Barry, who is sports anchor for the 5:00PM and 6:00PM newscasts, has been a fixture at KFOR since the 1960s and is also the longtime radio voice of the Oklahoma Sooners. His son Bob Barry Jr. currently is the station's sports director and 10:00PM sports anchor. Kevin Ogle is co-anchor of the 6:00PM and 10:00PM newscasts, while brother Kent is co-anchor of the morning news on weekdays and principal anchor of the Noon newscast.

Mike Morgan has served as KFOR's chief meteorologist since 1993 and had previously worked at rival ABC affiliate KOCO-TV and Tulsa NBC affiliate KJRH, where former KFOR staff meteorologist Dan Threlkeld is now chief meteorologist. For many years, the station's chief meteorologist was Jim Williams (1958-1990), who was among the few on-air personalities to work at Channel 4 under all three callsigns: WKY, KTVY and KFOR.

KFOR was known for its In Your Corner investigative reports by Brad Edwards, which ran from 1973 to 2006. Sadly, Edwards died in April 2006 after suffering a brain hemorrhage which came an unexpected illness whose symptoms for the most part were unknown but included Bronchitis and inflammation of the lungs. KFOR recently decided to continue the In Your Corner segments with four reporters solving problems: Lance West, Cherokee Ballard, Ali Meyer and Scott Hines.

KFOR is also known for the segment Is This a Great State or What? with Galen Culver, airing Monday, Wednesday and Fridays during the 5:00PM newscast, which began in 1991. The segment, which is more of a lighter fare, features some of Oklahoma's most interesting stories and interesting people.

KFOR started a segment called The Rant with Kevin Ogle running Monday through Thursdays during NewsChannel 4 at 10:00 in early 2006, a segment similar to brother Kelly Ogle's My Two Cents segment on KWTV. The main difference is every edition of The Rant is a rant or rave by viewers who submitted an email on their take on the selected topic on KFOR's website. Each Thursday night edition is an Open Topic forum which features rants and raves from viewers on various subjects.

Following the sale of KAUT-TV to The New York Times Company, KFOR created a repurposed half-hour newscast called Oklahoma's NewsChannel 4 at 9:00 on 43 airing Monday through Friday nights. The newscast is anchored by Cherokee Ballard (who previously anchored the weekend evening news for rival KOCO before joining KFOR in 2005) and Ernie Paulsen (who previously worked for Little Rock NBC affiliate KARK).

[edit] Oklahoma's NewsChannel 4 on OK43

On May 5, 2006, KFOR debuted a half-hour 9:00 newscast produced for KAUT Channel 43, entitled Oklahoma's NewsChannel 4 at 9:00 on OK43 airing Monday through Friday nights. This newscast runs directly against the Fox Primetime News @ 9:00 on KOKH.

[edit] Personalities

[edit] Current On-Air Talent

NEWSCHANNEL 4 ANCHORS

• Meg Alexander, 5PM and 6:30PM Anchor/Fill-in 4:30PM Anchor/Reporter
• Cherokee Ballard, 9PM Anchor (KAUT)/General Assignment Reporter
• Tara Blume, Weekend Morning Anchor/Reporter
• Linda Cavanaugh, 4:30, 6PM and 10PM Anchor/Reporter
• Heather Holeman, Sunday Evening Anchor/Reporter
• Ali Meyer, Saturday Evening Anchor/Sunday Evening Fill-in Anchor/Reporter/"In Your Corner" Reporter
• Kent Ogle, Morning, Noon Anchor/Reporter
• Kevin Ogle, 4:30, 6PM and 10PM Anchor/"Flash Point" Moderator/Reporter
• Ernie Paulson, 9PM Anchor (KAUT)/General Assignment Reporter/Fill-in Anchor
• Lance West, 5PM and 6:30PM Anchor/Reporter/"In Your Corner" Reporter

NEWSCHANNEL 4 REPORTERS

• Lauren Brown, General Assignment Reporter
• Russell Carter, General Assignment Reporter
• Galen Culver, "Is This A Great State or What?" Feature Reporter
• Ed Doney, General Assignment Reporter/Fill-in Anchor
• Shane Falkner, General Assignment Reporter/Managing Editor, seen weekday mornings
• Jim Gardner, Chopper 4 Pilot Reporter
• Burns Hargis, Political Analyst/"Flash Point" Commentator
• Scott Hines, General Assignment Reporter/"In Your Corner" Reporter
• Bobbie Miller, General Assignment Reporter
• Mike Turpin, Political Analyst/"Flash Point" Commentator

4WARN STORM TEAM METEOROLOGISTS

• Mike Morgan (AMS Certified), 4:30, 5, 6, 6:30 and 10PM Chief Meteorologist
• David Payne (NWA Certified), Weekday Morning and Midday Meteorologist/Fill-in Meteorologist
• Jonathan Conder, Weekend Evening Meteorologist/Fill-in Meteorologist
• Grant Johnston (AMS/NWA Certified), Weekend Morning Meteorologist/Fill-in Meteorologist

SPORTS ANCHORS/REPORTERS

• Bob Barry, Sr., 5PM and 6PM Sports Anchor
• Bob Barry, Jr., Sports Director/10PM Sports Anchor/Fill-in 6PM Sports Anchor/"Friday Night Heroes" and "Friday Sports Overtime" Host
• Brian Brinkley, Weekend Sports Anchor/Reporter
• Matt Reese, Fill-in Sports Anchor/Sports Reporter
• Damon Fontineau, Sports Reporter

[edit] Former On-Air Talent

• Jerry Adams, Anchor/Reporter (1970s-1980s)
• Curt Autry, Anchor/Reporter (1982-1991; now at WWBT in Richmond, Va.)
• Troy Bridges, Weekend Morning Meteorologist (2001-2005; now chief meteorologist at KLRT-TV in Little Rock)
• Uze Brown-Washington, Anchor/Reporter (1991-1995)
• Steve Carano, Meteorologist (1998-2001; now at KOCO-TV)
• Brad Edwards, Anchor/Investigative Reporter (1973-2006; deceased)
• Lee Evans, Weekend Anchor/Reporter (1992-1996; died in a car accident)
• Bob Frier, Anchor/Reporter (1993-1996; now at WKMG-TV in Orlando)
• Van Shea Iven, Sports Reporter (1992-2004; now host of Oklahoma High School Sports Express for KAUT-TV)
• Jack Ogle, Anchor/Reporter (1960s-1970s; deceased)
• Lara O'Leary, Reporter (1994-1996; now spokesperson for EMSA)
• Tammy Payne, Anchor/Reporter (1995-2000)
• Ernie Schultz, Anchor/Reporter (1960s-1970s)
• Dan Threlkeld, Meteorologist (1984-2001; now at KJRH-TV in Tulsa)
• George Tomek, Anchor/Reporter (Late 1970s-1987; now at OETA)
• Quin Tran, Weekend Anchor/Reporter (1994-2005; now at OETA)
• Jim Williams, Chief Meteorologist (1958-1990)

[edit] News/Station Presentation

[edit] Newscast Titles

• News Center 4 (Mid-Late 1970s)
• Action 4 News (Late 1970s-Mid 1980s)
• News 4 Oklahoma (Late 1980s-1990)
• NewsTeam 4 (1990-1993)
• NewsChannel 4 (1993-1997) while KFOR has since reverted its branding to Oklahoma's NewsChannel 4, some reporters still occasionally sign off their reports with "(reporter's name), NewsChannel 4." Currently, the only reporter who does this is Galen Culver.
• Oklahoma's NewsChannel 4 (1996-present (used interchangeably with NewsChannel 4 branding from 1996 to 1997))

[edit] Station slogans

• Going All Out 4 Oklahoma (1980s-1990)
• 4 Strong (1990-1994)
• The Strength of Oklahoma (1990-1994)
• Oklahoma's NewsChannel (1994-present)
• Where The News Comes First (1994-1997)
• Expect The News First (1997-2001)

[edit] Logos

Logo used in the early to mid 80's.

Current logo used since 1994.

[edit] Office location

KFOR's studios and transmitter are located at 444 East Britton Road.

[edit] Translators

KFOR-TV is rebroadcast on the following translator stations serving the western portion of Oklahoma:

• K18BV May/Gage
• K53CI Seiling
• K60ER Cherokee/Alva
• K61CW Mooreland/Woodward

Coordinates: 40° 42' 43" N 74° 0' 49" W

[edit] External links

• Query the FCC's TV station database for KFOR-TV
• KFOR-TV's Webpage

Broadcast television in the Metropolitan Oklahoma City market  (Nielsen DMA #46)
KFOR 4 (NBC) - KOCO 5 (ABC) - KOHC 7 (AZA) - KWTV 9 (CBS) - KETA 13 / KWET 12 (PBS / OETA) - KTBO 14 (TBN) - KLHO 17 (LFN) - KUOT 19 (Almavision) - KTOU 21 (HSN) - KOKH 25 (Fox) - KGBN 27 (A1) - KTUZ 30 (TMD) - KWEM 31 (A1) - KXOK 32 (A1) - KOCB 34 (The CW) - KUOK 35 (UNI) - KCHM-LP 36 (UNI) - KOHC 38 (AZA) - KXOC 41 (A1) - KAUT 43 (MNTV) - KOCM 46 (DS) - KWDW-LP 48 (UNI) - KSBI 52 (Ind) - KOPX 62 (ION)
Local cable television channels City Channel 20 -  News Now 53