KGO-TV
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| KGO-TV | |
|---|---|
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 San Francisco / Oakland/San Jose/Monterey, California |
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| Branding | ABC7 |
| Slogan | Number One In Northern California |
| Channels | 7 (VHF) analog, 24 (UHF) digital |
| Affiliations | ABC |
| Owner | Disney / ABC |
| Founded | May 5, 1949 |
| Call letters meaning | K General Electric Oakland (KGO radio's former owner) |
| Transmitter Power | 316 kW / 509 m (analog) 561 kW / 437 m (digital) |
| Website | www.abc7news.com |
KGO-TV ("ABC7") is an owned-and-operated television station of The Walt Disney Company-owned ABC, based in San Francisco, California.
The station's signal covers the San Francisco Bay Area from its transmitter located on the Sutro Tower. In addition, its signal is currently carried by a cable-only ABC affiliate in the Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Area.
Contents |
[edit] History
The station signed on the air for the first time on May 5, 1949, as Northern California's second-oldest TV station, behind Associated Broadcasters' KPIX-TV (later sold to Westinghouse, now a CBS O&O). In fact, KPIX had a hand in getting KGO-TV on the air, as Channel 5 produced informational programming on how to receive and view Channel 7.
KGO is ABC's oldest original owned and operated station on the West Coast, as sister station KECA-TV (now KABC), also operating on Channel 7, did not sign on the air until September 1949. In addition, it is the only ABC station to keep its original call letters which were inherited from KGO-AM radio. KGO is the fourth original ABC O&O (after WABC-TV, WLS-TV and WXYZ-TV) to begin broadcasting on the air.
KGO had a limited broadcasting schedule during its first year on the air. It wasn't until September 1950 that the station announced in the San Francisco Chronicle that it would finally broadcast seven days a week.[1] For much of the 1950s the station signed on late in the morning, especially on the weekends. Saturday programming began with King Norman's Kingdom of Toys, a popular children's program hosted by the owner of a San Francisco toy store, Norman Rosenberg.[2]
As an ABC owned and operated station, KGO originated some daytime network shows from its 277 Golden Gate Avenue studios, including programs hosted by fitness advocate Jack La Lanne, singer Tennessee Ernie Ford, and entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee. Syndicated game shows Oh My Word and The Anniversary Game were also produced at KGO-TV for Circle Seven Productions. Today, KGO-TV broadcasts from studios at 900 Front Street, which it has occupied since the mid 1980s.
In 1961 KGO began carrying ABC's first color programs, the animated series The Flintstones and The Jetsons. In the mid 1960s KGO became the first Bay Area station to transmit local programs in compatible color, including its newscasts.
For many years, KGO-TV was the only network owned-and-operated station in the Bay Area, even throughout the time when ABC was going through ownership changes when Capital Cities Communications bought out ABC and merged with the network in 1985 before being sold to Disney in 1996. As such, the station did not heavily pre-empt network programming unlike its local competitors or its sister stations -- such as Philadelphia's WPVI-TV, Houston's KTRK-TV and Fresno's KFSN-TV -- which were known for doing so in those days. The distinction ended in 1995 when several other stations over the next ten years became network-owned stations--notably KBHK (today's KBCW), KPIX and KNTV in that order. (As of 2007, some exceptions to this policy may be made when breaking news events or selected ABC Sports programs warrant exclusive coverage, in which case Granite Broadcasting Corporation's independent station, KBWB, may pick up the pre-empted ABC programming scheduled for the time period.)
KGO-TV was the first to transmit images of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake through ABC News and ABC Sports. At the time, ABC was televising the third game of the 1989 World Series, which was interrupted by the quake. Subsequent coverage of the earthquake won the station that year's Peabody Award.
In 1999, KGO-TV came to an agreement with Granite Broadcasting Corporation, the owner of San Jose's ABC affiliate KNTV-TV. KGO agreed to pay Granite in exchange for dropping ABC programming from KNTV, and as a result KGO-TV became the exclusive ABC outlet in the Bay Area. The agreement, however, also saw the Monterey/Salinas area lose over-the-air reception of ABC programming, as KNTV (before switching markets to the Bay Area) served those communities. In response, a cable-only ABC affiliate was set up for the Monterey/Salinas area; the station simulcasts the signal from KGO (including ABC programming and KGO's newscasts) for part of the day, and opts out of KGO's signal during programming which KGO is only allowed to show within the San Francisco Bay Area (under syndication exclusivity). The ABC affiliate is carried on channel 7 on area cable systems, and also identifies as "ABC 7". According to both websites of satellite carriers DIRECTV and DISH Network, KGO-TV is available in the Monterey-Salinas television market. KGO-TV is part of the local channel's package on DIRECTV in that market area, while DISH Network has KGO-TV available via a la carte package for that market as well.
[edit] Logos
For many years, KGO-TV was one of the earliest ABC stations to use the original Circle 7 logo (along with sister station WLS-TV in Chicago). When it was rebranded from Channel 7 to ABC7 (temporarily branded Channel 7 ABC 1996-1997), the ABC logo was just simply attached to the Circle 7 on this station, its sister stations and others across the country.
[edit] Programming
The station carries a high profile lineup of daytime programming with shows such as Live with Regis and Kelly (produced by sister station WABC-TV in New York), Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. The station also airs the pre-show of the Academy Awards (produced by sister station KABC-TV in Los Angeles). The station sometimes aired the Bay to Breakers race in the 1980's and the KGO Cure-a-thon with its radio partner, KGO-AM 810.
KGO-TV was the first station to produce earthquake documentaries of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake on April 8, 2006.
In the 1980s, KGO-TV produced weekday talk/variety shows in the 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. timeslot. A.M. San Francisco was the name until late 1987 or early 1988, when it was replaced with Good Morning, Bay Area, hosted by Susan Sikora. Hosts of A.M. San Francisco included the husband-and-wife team of Fred LaCrosse and Terry Lowry. (Other ABC owned-and-operated stations produced their own A.M. programs in the 1980s. For example, A.M. Chicago at WLS-TV evolved into the Oprah Winfrey Show. For a week or two in the summer of 1988, A.M. Los Angeles was simulcast on KGO-TV, with a few KGO-TV produced segments.)
On June 26, 2006, KGO-TV began a new locally-produced weekday variety show called The View From the Bay,hosted by Spencer Christian and Janelle Wang. This hour long show focuses on hot spots as well as interests in the Bay Area. The show airs Mondays-Fridays at 3 PM, and is available to watch online while the show is on the air. [1] The View From the Bay also airs nightly on weekdays in Los Angeles on KABC-TV DT 7.2 at 10 pm and at various times on ABC O&O's digital subchannels.
[edit] News Operations
KGO-TV had followed the lead of its sister station in New York City, WABC-TV, and adopted the Eyewitness News format for its newscasts in the late 1960s. However, the Eyewitness News name was already used on KPIX-TV, which inherited the version of it from KYW-TV in Philadelphia. As a result, KGO-TV instead called its newscasts Channel 7 Newscene throughout the 1970s, and Channel 7 News during the 1980s and much of the 1990s before switching to ABC 7 News. The station did, however, follow other aspects of news branding at the other ABC O&Os, eg. using the theme from Cool Hand Luke by Lalo Schifrin (and later the News Series 2000 theme by Frank Gari). And as of 2006, like its sisters, KGO has begun to using the Eyewitness News Music Package also by Gari. The station currently utilizes the market's first helicopter equipped to shoot and transmit high definition (HD) video. It became the last ABC O&O station to retire Cool Hand Luke in 1992 (two years after KABC), though it retured in 1988, after a five year absence. The helicopter branded Sky 7HD made its on-air debut in February 2006. Due to current logistical and equipment limitations, video from Sky 7HD at times is only available in standard definition television (SD) 4:3 aspect ratio. When this occurs, the helicopter is branded as Sky 7. Also following the leads of its sister stations, KGO began broadcasting ABC7 News in High Definition on Saturday, February 17, 2007, becoming the 2nd news operation in the Bay Area to make this transition following KTVU. Another ABC O&O that airs its newscasts on a secondary station is WTVD ABC11 Eyewitness News at 10PM on CW22 in Raleigh N.C.
[edit] Newscasts
Monday-Friday
- ABC7 Morning News HD - 5-7 AM
- ABC7 News HD at 11 AM - 11-11:30 AM
- ABC7 News HD at Five - 5-5:30 PM
- ABC7 News HD at Six - 6-7 PM
- ABC7 News HD at Nine on Your TV20 (KBWB) - 9-10 PM
- ABC7 News HD at Eleven - 11-11:35 PM
Saturday
- ABC7 News HD - 6-7 a.m.
- Assignment 7 Weekend - 4:30-5 p.m. (features various anchors)
- ABC7 News HD at Five - 5-5:30 p.m.
- ABC7 News HD at Six - 6-6:30 p.m.
- ABC7 News HD at Eleven - 11-11:35 p.m.
Sunday
- ABC7 News HD - 6-7 and 9-10 a.m.
- Assignment 7 Weekend - 4:30-5 p.m. (features various anchors)
- ABC7 News HD at Five - 5-5:30 p.m.
- ABC7 News HD at Six - 6-6:30 p.m.
- ABC7 News HD at Eleven - 11-11:35 p.m
As of January 8, 2007, KGO-TV is now producing a 9 PM newscast that airs on KBWB, entitiled ABC7 News HD at Nine on Your TV 20.
[edit] Current Personalities
Anchors
- Jessica Aguirre - 6 p.m. weeknights
- Dan Ashley - 9 and 11 p.m. weeknights
- Cheryl Jennings - 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays
- Carolyn Johnson - weekend evenings
- Kristen Sze - weekday mornings and 11 a.m.
- Eric Thomas - weekday mornings
- Carolyn Tyler - weekend mornings (solo Sundays at 9 a.m.)
- Alan Wang - weekend mornings
- Pete Wilson - 6 p.m. weeknights
Weather
- Lisa Argen - weekend mornings
- Joel Bartlett- weekday mornings
- Spencer Christian - 6 p.m. weeknights (also co-host of View from the Bay)
- Leigh Glaser - weekend evenings (also environmental reporter and "Perfect Pet" feature on Fridays)
- Kristine Hanson - fill-in weather anchor
- Mike Nicco - weekday mornings and 11 a.m.
- Sandhya Patel - 5, 9, and 11 p.m. weeknights
Sports
- Larry Beil - weekdays
- Mike Shumann - weekends
Reporters
- Laura Anthony
- Leslie Brinkley (early evenings)
- Frances Dinglasan - traffic
- Dr. Dean Edell - medical reporter
- Michael Finney - consumer reporter
- Wayne Freedman
- Teresa Garcia (mornings)
- Amy Hollyfield (mornings)
- Heather Ishimaru
- Lillian Kim
- Vic Lee
- David Louie - financial reporter
- Mark Matthews - political reporter
- Lyanne Melendez
- Nannette Miranda - Sacramento Bureau chief
- Willie Monroe - Oakland Bureau chief
- Dan Noyes - investigative reporter
- Ross Palombo
- Erik Rosales - South Bay Bureau
- Karina Rusk - business reporter
- Don Sanchez - arts and entertainment reporter
- Debora Villalon
- Janelle Wang - View from the Bay co-host
[edit] Past Personalities
- Van Amburg - longtime anchor (1969-1987)
- Ed Arnow - reporter (1965-1970)
- Marcia Brandwynne - anchor/reporter (1976-1980)
- Richard Brown - anchor (1990-1996, now at KXLY-TV in Spokane, Washington)
- John Buren - sports anchor (1984-1985)
- Jan Carson - anchor/reporter (1979-1983)
- Jim Celania - sports anchor
- Rigo Chacon - South Bay Bureau chief (1974-2003, now at KRQE in Albuquerque)
- Anna Chavez - anchor/reporter (1984-1991)
- Arthur Lawrence Cribbs - East Bay Bureau chief (1977-1982)
- Steve Davis - reporter (1971-1992)
- Jim Dunbar - reporter (1965-1979)
- Mark Gibson - sports anchor (1971-1991)
- Pete Giddings - weather anchor (1969-1998)
- Marty Gonzalez - East Bay Bureau chief (1988-1995, now at KRON-TV)
- Susan Gregory - reporter
- Roger Grimsby - anchor (1961-1968, deceased)
- Greg Gurule - reporter (1995-2002, now at KRQE-TV in Albuquerque)
- Brian Hackney - weather anchor (1990-1995, now at KPIX-TV)
- Barbara Harrison - reporter (1980-1981, now at WRC-TV in Washington, D.c.)
- Jack Hanson - anchor/reporter/A.M. San Francisco host (1970s-1990s)
- Stacey Hendler - reporter (1995-2005, now working for the homeless)
- Tony Hernandez - sports anchor/reporter (1976-1977)
- Carol Ivy - reporter (1972-1990, now in public relations)
- Tom Janis - sports reporter/anchor
- Paul Jeschke - reporter (1980s)
- Jerry Jensen - longtime anchor (1969-1984, deceased)
- Terilyn Joe - anchor (1991-1999)
- John Reed King - anchor (1970-1971)
- Sydnie Kohara - reporter (1987-1989, now at KPIX-TV)
- Frank Kracher - anchor/reporter (1980s, now at WTVH-TV in Syracuse)
- [[Fred LaCosse - A.M. San Franciso co-host (1982-1987 [2])
- Ed Leslie - political reporter (1970s)
- Pia Lindstrom - entertainment reporter (1968-1973)
- Vicki Liviakis - reporter (1985-1986, now at KRON-TV)
- Dan Lovett - sports anchor/reporter (1988-1993)
- Terry Lowry - A.M. San Franciso co-host (1982-1987)
- Jeanne Lynch - anchor/reporter (1984-1989)
- Laura Marquez - anchor/reporter (1989-2004, now at ABC News in Washington)
- Ken Matz - anchor/reporter (early 1980s)
- Larry Moore - anchor (1979-1981, now at KMBC-TV in Kansas City)
- Melanie Morgan (KGO radio) - reporter (1981-1984, now at KSFO radio)
- Valerie Morris - reporter (1982-1985, now at CNN)
- Jennifer Moss - reporter/anchor (1995-2002, now at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, Michigan)
- M.G. Perez - reporter/anchor (1992-1995)
- Maury Povich - anchor/A.M. San Francisco co-host (1978-1980)
- Wanda Ramey - reporter (1968-1970)
- Gary Rebstock - anchor (1982-1988)
- Suzanne Saunders-Shaw - anchor (1977-1988)
- Jeffrey Schaub - traffic reporter (1985-1990, now at KPIX-TV)
- Sam Shane - anchor/reporter (1997-2000, now at KOVR-TV in Sacramento)
- Karna Small - anchor/reporter (1972-1976, now Karna Bodman and an author [3])
- Karl Sonkin - reporter (1975-1979)
- Lisa Stark - anchor/reporter (1984-1993, now at ABC News in Washington, D.C.)
- Ray Tannehill - anchor (1957-1970)
- Jim Wieder - reporter
- Martin Wyatt - sports anchor (1980-2007)
- Paul Wynn - reporter
- Janet Yee - technology reporter
- Linda Yee - reporter (1977-1978)
- Lloyd Lindsey Young - weather anchor (1981-1983, now working for both KGO-AM in San Francisco and KERO-TV in Bakersfield, California)
- Linda Yu - reporter/anchor (1976-1979, now at WLS-TV in Chicago)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- KGO-TV ABC 7 Web Site
- Modern TV: Happy News and Van Amburg
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KGO
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Greater San Francisco Bay Area |
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| Ukiah-Mendocino County: KUNO 8 (AZA) - K17CG 17 (Ind) - K21CD 21 (TEL) - K27EE 27 (PBS) - K29DF 29 (Ind) - K39AG 39 (Fox) - K41AF 41 (MNTV) - K43AF 43 (CBS) - K45AH 45 (ABC) - K51AQ 51 (The CW) - K55GX 55 (PBS) - K67BV 67 (Ind) - K69DF 69 (PBS) |
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| Defunct television stations |
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| Local cable television channels FSN Bay Area - Comcast SportsNet West - Tri-Valley Community Television |
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| Broadcast television in the Monterey / Salinas / Santa Cruz market (Nielsen DMA #125) | ||
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KOTR-LP 2 (MNTV) - KMMD-CA 3 (MTV3) - KSBW 8 (NBC) - K15CU 15 (TEL) - KCAH 25 (PBS) - KDJT-CA 33 (TFU) - KCBA 35 (Fox) - KMCE-LP 43 (AZA) - KION 46 (CBS/The CW on DT2) - KSMS 67 (UNI) |
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Local cable television channels |
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Out-of market television stations available on cable |
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KEYT 3 / K57BC 57 (Santa Barbara / San Luis Obispo) - KABC 7 (Los Angeles) - KGO 7 (San Francisco) - KRCR 7 (Redding) - KECY-DT 9.2 (El Centro) - KGTV 10 (San Diego) - KXTV 10 (Sacramento) - KAEF 23 (Eureka) - KERO 23 (Bakersfield) - KFSN 30 (Fresno) - KESQ 42 (Palm Springs) |
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| See also: CBS, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS, Telefutura, Telemundo, Univision, Independent, Other Spanish Network, Religious, Home Shopping and Other stations in California | |
