KTVL

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KTVL-TV
Medford, Oregon
Branding	News 10
Slogan	"Coverage You Can Count On"
Channels	10 (VHF) analog, 35 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	CBS The CW (on digital 35.2)
Owner	Freedom Communications, Inc.
Founded	October 3, 1961
Former callsigns	KMED-TV (1961-77)
Former affiliations	NBC (1961-83), ABC (secondary, 1961-84)
Website	www.ktvl.com SouthernOregonCW.com

KTVL Channel 10 (known as "News 10") is a CBS television affiliate based in Medford, Oregon and broadcasts its signal from their transmitter high atop Mount Ashland, 15 miles south of the city. The station covers eight counties in southern Oregon and northern California. Its studios are located on Rossanley Drive in Medford. The station can be seen on 27 translators. [1]

Contents 1 History 1.1 Jerry Lewis Telethon 1.2 KTVL Alumni 2 Digital Television 3 News 3.1 Former News Titles 4 After 10 5 The CW / KMFD 6 External links

[edit] History

Channel 10 signed on the air October 3, 1961 as KMED-TV, owned by Ray Johnson and his company, Radio Medford, Inc., along with KMED-AM 1440. Several groups contended for the second television station in the area, but Radio Medford received a substantial assist from Bill Smulin, owner of KTVM-TV (now KOBI), who offered Radio Medford space on KTVM's tower. KMED-TV was an NBC affiliate, since KMED-AM had been an NBC radio affiliate since 1937. It also shared ABC with KTVM.

In 1963, the station started a joint news department with its radio sister. KMED-AM had set up the first full radio news department between Portland and San Francisco in 1957.

In 1966, the station moved to a new tower on Mount Ashland, which added Klamath Falls to its city-grade coverage. It is the highest transmitting tower in the Pacific Northwest, with over 132,000 watts of power. To this day, channel 10 is the only Medford station that covers the entire market without a full-power satellite station.

KMED-TV bought the first color cameras in Southern Oregon in 1968, a year of many firsts for the station. That year also saw the area's first live remote broadcast, the first television editorials and the first use of live microwave technology.

In 1977, KMED was sold off, and KMED-TV became KTVL. Johnson sold KTVL to its current owner, Freedom Communications. Under Freedom's ownership, KTVL aired the first color weather forecast in Southern Oregon.

In 1983, KTVL traded affiliations with KOBI and became a CBS affiliate, though it continued to carry some ABC programming until KDRV signed on a year later. Kingsley Kelley currently serves as the station's general manager and is considered a community-minded individual.

[edit] Jerry Lewis Telethon

KTVL is also the only southern Oregon and northern California television station that has continuously broadcast the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon every Labor Day Weekend for over 35 years, starting in 1970. (Fellow CBS affiliate KHSL-TV in Chico, California, was the next closest station to do so before broadcasting the program was ceased after 1997 by new ownership.) The local portion of the telethon is now hosted by members of the News 10 newscast team including Trish Borucki, Janie Porter, Kendra Kostelecky, Tricia Leines, Kevin Lollis and Libby Dowsett. It is believed to be one of the most successful local telethon broadcasts in the country. The most emotional moment came in 2002 when a devastated Marvin Rhodes announced that Grants Pass, Oregon resident Ray Dimmick, who battled courageously against ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), had died in December 2001. Dimmick, accompanied by his wife Debra, appeared on the show every year for 10 years despite his condition deteriorating. A tribute video was broadcast in his memory.

Marvin Rhodes, who was the main host for 35 years, and Donna Hildebrand, who was co-host for over 25 years, ended their tenure as telethon hosts in 2005.

[edit] KTVL Alumni

Other notables that worked at KTVL included former news anchor and commentator Hank Henry (former Jackson County commissioner who died in 2003), legendary weatherman Leon Hunsaker (also formerly of KOBI, now retired), Fred Inglis (now weekend sports anchor at KTVU in Oakland/San Francisco), commentator Pete Belcastro (now serving as director of Rogue Valley Community Television (RVTV) at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon) and Ann Curry (telethon co-hostess, now of NBC's The Today Show).

[edit] Digital Television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Digital channels

Channel	Programming
10.1 / 35.1	Main KTVL programming
10.2 / 35.2	The CW

[edit] News

The newscasts are currently anchored at 5:00pm and 6:00pm by Libby Dowsett and Shannon Young. The chief meteorologist is Kevin Lollis and Matt Montgomery handles sports anchoring duties. Young also anchors the 11:00pm newscasts. Trish Borucki anchors the weekend news at both 6:00pm and 11:00pm. Matthew Workman co-anchors the 6:00pm weekend newscasts with Borucki.

[edit] Former News Titles

• "NewsCenter 10" (?) (?-1980's)
• "Channel 10 News" (1980s-2002)

[edit] After 10

On June 3, 2006, KTVL launched a new locally-produced late night program for young adults called After 10, hosted by Curtis Bartlett and Lindsey Matherly, every Saturday night at 11:30pm. It was dubbed as the only locally produced show that delivers news and information on the local music scene, video games, movie releases (in theaters and on video), graphic novels, music videos, viral videos from the internet, and websites.

After 10 was KTVL's attempt to compete against NBC's Saturday Night Live by producing a program for their target audience themselves, instead on relying on syndication. However, by the end of 2006 at the latest, KTVL cancelled the program, replacing it with Stargate Atlantis.

[edit] The CW / KMFD

On September 18, 2006, The WB and UPN merged to form the new CW Network. KTVL has picked up the affiliation to The CW, and is broadcasting its programming on a digital subchannel. It has been confirmed that KMFD, Medford's former WB "cable-only" station currently owned by Chambers Communications, is the new CW affiliate.

[edit] External links

• KTVL News 10 website
• SouthernOregonCW.com
• History of Television In Southern Oregon
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KTVL

Broadcast television in the Medford/Klamath Falls market  (Nielsen DMA #141)
Medford: KOBI 5 (NBC) - KSYS 8 (PBS/SOPTV) - KTVL 10 (CBS/The CW on DT2) - KDRV 12 (ABC) - KMCW 14 (TEL) - KMVU 26 (FOX) - K28GG 28 (AS) - KBLN 30 (3ABN) - K39EF 39 (HSN) - K41IX 41 (TBN) - KFBI 48 (i/MNTV)
Klamath Falls: KOTI 2 (NBC) - K07PU 7 (CBS) - KFTS 22 (PBS/SOPTV) - KDKF 31 (ABC) - K39DP 39 (HSN) - K41ID 41 (i/MNTV) - K44DZ 44 (FOX) - K48HV 48 (3ABN) - K58BG 58 (TBN)
Brookings: K07JT 7 (NBC) - K10LR 10 (CBS) - K18EP 18 (PBS/SOPTV) - K31GP 31 (FOX) - K36HM 36 (ABC) - KBSC 49 (Ind.) - K57GP 57 (3ABN)
Local cable television channels
KMFD cable 11 (The CW) - MCTV 15 (Weed, CA) - RVTV (Ashland) - The Oregon Channel (Salem)