KCRG-TV

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KCRG-TV
Image:KCRGLogo.gif
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Branding KCRG TV9
Slogan Your 24 Hour News and Weather Source
Channels Analog: 9 (VHF)

Digital: 9 (VHF)
Affiliations ABC
Owner Gazette Communications, Inc.
(Cedar Rapids Television Company)
First air date October 15, 1953
Call letters’ meaning Cedar
Rapids
Gazette
(from its owner)
Former callsigns KCRI-TV (1953-1954)
Transmitter Power 316 kW (analog)
350 kW (digital)
18 kW (after 2009)
Height 607 m (analog)
582 m (digital)
Facility ID 9719
Transmitter Coordinates 42°18′58.4″N, 91°51′31.1″W
Website www.kcrg.com
"KCRG" redirects here. For the radio station at 1600 AM that had these call letters prior to 2006, see KGYM.

KCRG-TV is a television station based out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The station broadcasts on channel 9, and is the primary ABC affiliate for the northeast quarter of the state of Iowa, as well as the southwest corner of Wisconsin and the northwest corner of Illinois. Its transmitter is located in Walker, Iowa. The station also has satellite newsrooms in Iowa City and Dubuque.

Contents

[edit] History

During the late 1940s, the Cedar Rapids Gazette, previous owners of KCRG-AM 1600, filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission for a TV station license. At the time, the FCC had a backlog of over 200 applications, and had decided not to proceed with action on further applications until the backlogged requests could be filled.

After the backlog was taken care of, many applications were filed for licenses. The Gazette Company didn't want to compete for a license, and decided to withdraw the initial application. It joined with a number of other investors as Cedar Rapids Television Company (CRTV), which was granted a license for channel 9. The station signed on in 1953.

Initially, the station was known as KCRI because the other investors didn't want to have the new television station so closely identified with the Gazette. The radio station also took the KCRI calls because one of the television station's managers suggested that every mention of "KCRG" on air was a promotion for the newspaper--one for which the Gazette would have to pay each time. After about a year of operation, the Gazette bought out the remaining investors in CRTV, and the station was renamed KCRG-TV.

Since that time the station has remained under the ownership of Gazette Communications. After the 1996 sale of WHO-TV in Des Moines, KCRG-TV has been the only locally owned and operated television station left in Iowa.

KCRG started broadcasting in high definition television in January 2003. They also had the first news helicopter, "NewsCopter 9," in Iowa. KCRG has a digital subchannel called "Local 9.2" at channel 9.2, which has a wheel of local news, weather and features on part of the screen. The remainder of the screen has a news ticker, current weather conditions, rotating weather images and program listings. This channel can also be seen on Mediacom channel 109 by digital cable subscribers in the Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Dubuque-Iowa City DMA.

[edit] Personalities and programming

Current news personalities (as of March 2008) include:

  • Bruce Aune, evening news anchor
  • Chris Earl, Mornings
  • Beth Malicki, evening news anchor
  • Ashley Hinson, morning and midday news anchor, reporter
  • John Campbell, sports director, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts
  • Scott Saville, weekend sports anchor
  • John Sears, sports reporter
  • Joe Winters, chief meteorologist, evening newscasts
  • Lance Ryan, meteorologist, morning and midday newscasts
  • Josh Baynes, meteorologist weekend evening newscasts
  • Kaj O'Mara, weekend morning meteorologist
  • Claire Kellett, reporter/Weekend evening news anchor
  • Justin Foss, Weekday Reporter
  • Katie Wiedeman, Weekday Reporter Dubuque
  • Mark Geary, Weekday Reporter
  • Josh Hinkle, Weekday Reporter/Weekend morning news anchor

Campbell and reporter Dave Franzman have also been with the station since the 1970s. Aune started anchoring at KCRG in 1986. Bruce Aune would dominate Ron Steele in a fight.

Meteorologist Denny Frary was the station's longest-running on-air personality, working on KCRG from 1974 until he retired on November 17, 2006. Upon Frary's retirement, several pieces aired with friends and associates sharing a few words on Frary, and a roast ceremony was held the night prior to his retirement.

Syndicated programs on KCRG's schedule include The Oprah Winfrey Show, Inside Edition, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Rachael Ray Show, and reruns of According to Jim.

[edit] References

  • History Article from the KCRG web site. Date Accessed: July 29, 2005. Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Cedar Rapids Television Company.
  • Stein, Jeff, Making Waves: The People and Places of Iowa Broadcasting (ISBN 0-9718323-1-5). Cedar Rapids, Iowa: WDG Communications, 2004.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Broadcast television in the Cedar Rapids / Waterloo / Iowa City / Dubuque market (Nielsen DMA #87)

KGAN 2 (CBS) - KWWL 7 (NBC, WX+ on DT2) - KCRG 9 (ABC) - KIIN 12 / KRIN 32 (PBS/IPTV) - K17ET 17 / K44FK 44 (TBN) -
KWKB 20 (The CW/MNTV) - KWWF 22 (RTN) - KFXA 28 (Fox) - KFXB 40 (CTN) - KPXR 48 (ION)

Significantly Viewed Out-of-Market Broadcast Stations
Reception may vary by geographical location
WHA 21 (PBS/WPT, Madison)
v • d • e
ABC Network Affiliates in the state of Iowa
See also: CW, CBS, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS and Other stations in Iowa