KMSP-TV
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| KMSP-TV | |
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| Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota | |
| Branding | Fox 9 |
| Slogan | Stay Connected with Fox 9 The Most Powerful Name in Local News The Power of Fox 9 News Wake Up With Fox 9 (mornings) |
| Channels | Analog: 9 (VHF) |
| Translators | (see article) |
| Affiliations | Fox (1986-88, 2002-present) |
| Owner | Fox Television Stations (Fox Television Stations, Inc.) |
| First air date | January 9, 1955 |
| Call letters’ meaning | Minneapolis/St. Paul |
| Sister station(s) | WFTC |
| Former callsigns | KEYD-TV (1955-1956) KMGM-TV (1956-1958) |
| Former affiliations | DuMont (1955) independent (1955-1961) ABC (1961-1979) independent (1979-1986) independent (1988-1995) UPN (1995-2002) |
| Transmitter Power | 316 kW (analog) 691 kW (digital) |
| Height | 435 m (analog) 415 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 68883 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.myfoxtwincities.com |
KMSP-TV, channel 9, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The station serves the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and portions of western Wisconsin. KMSP-TV and sister station WFTC (channel 29, the Twin Cities' MyNetworkTV affiliate) are currently co-located in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and also share a transmission tower in Shoreview, Minnesota.
The station is noted for having a number of Emmy-winning photojournalists and reporters. The newscasts have been nationally honored with the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast and Spot News Coverage, in addition to Investigative Reporting, and Videography.
In October, 2007, KMSP won 17 Emmys, along with 1 Emmy for its sister station WFTC. Among the Emmys were wins for Best Website, Several Investigative Reports, along with several Emmys for Advertisements such as the "Wake Up With Fox 9" and the "Jeff & Robyne" spots. For a complete list visit National Television Academy Upper Midwest Chapter
The KMSP-WFTC duopoly is a union shop, with all technicians and photographers being required to join the IBEW Local 292.
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[edit] History
The station began broadcasting as KEYD-TV on January 9, 1955[2] and was affiliated with the DuMont Television Network. Harry Reasoner was the station's first anchor and news director.[1] DuMont shut down in late 1955, leaving the station as an independent outlet. When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer purchased the station in 1956, the news department was shut down and Reasoner was hired by CBS.[2]. Reasoner became an anchor for CBS's 60 Minutes when it debuted in 1968.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer changed the call sign to KMGM-TV.[3] KMSP became the new name of the station in 1958 when the station was sold to National Telefilm Associates, which later purchased WNTA in New York.[4]. KMSP was sold to United Television a few years later.
[edit] ABC affiliate (1961-1979)
In 1961, KMSP took over the ABC network affiliation from WTCN-TV (channel 11, now KARE), an affiliation it would keep until 1979. Throughout its years with ABC, KMSP was notorious for having a sub-standard news department with large staff turnover. Ratings were dismal with KMSP obtaining only one-third of the viewing audience of each of their two competitors, CBS affiliate WCCO-TV (channel 4) and NBC station KSTP-TV (channel 5).
Ratings improved by 1977 when ABC went from being the last-place network to being the first. To cash in, KMSP re-branded itself "ABC9" (approximately 20 years before U.S. stations began the network name in their branding en masse), and retooled their newscast. Unfortunately, KMSP's news department was still a distant third behind WCCO-TV and KSTP-TV.
In the late 1970s ABC steadily rose to first place in the network ratings. Accordingly, the network sought to upgrade its affiliate list, which was made up of some stations that either had poor signals or poorly-performing local programming. In early 1977, ABC warned KMSP that it would yank its affiliation unless improvements were made and fast.
[edit] Independent once again
On August 29, 1978, ABC announced that KSTP-TV would be its new affiliate in the Twin Cities. The signing of channel 5 made nationwide news, as it had been an NBC affiliate for 30 years. KSTP looked forward to affiliating with the top network, as third-place NBC had been in a long slump. In retaliation for losing ABC, KMSP immediately removed all ABC branding and regularly preempted network programming. KMSP then attempted to affiliate with NBC. However, NBC, miffed at losing one of its strongest affiliates, and not wanting to pick up ABC's rejects, turned down KMSP's offer almost immediately and signed an affiliation agreement with independent WTCN.
As a result of being rejected by both ABC and NBC, KMSP prepared to become an independent station. It would also be freed up from investing as heavily in their meager news department. Most of the on-air and off-air staffers resigned, not wanting to work for a down-scaled independent operation, and frustrated with the station's lack of competitiveness over the years.
The affiliate switch occurred on March 5, 1979, and KMSP debuted its new independent schedule featuring cartoons, syndicated shows and even the locally-based American Wrestling Association[5], with much of it coming from WTCN-TV. It re-branded itself as "Receptive Channel 9", and became quite aggressive in programming, obtaining broadcast rights to several state high school sports championships (MSHSL), the NHL's Minnesota North Stars and the Minnesota Twins baseball team. The stripped-down evening newscast was moved to 9:30, then by 1981 to 9:00 and expanded to a full hour.
As many people were predicting failure for the new channel 9, KMSP's transition into an independent station turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It was far more successful than it ever had been as an ABC affiliate. It became a regional superstation, available on nearly every cable system in Minnesota as well as large portions of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Over time, it became one of the most successful and profitable independent stations in the country.
In 1981, KMSP went through another ownership change when United Television was merged with Chris-Craft Industries.
[edit] First Fox affiliation
The station remained independent through 1986. Intrigued by the idea of being a network affiliate while not having to be tied down to a network-dominated schedule, KMSP became one of the original affiliates of the newly-launched Fox network. However, it did not remain a Fox affiliate for long. By 1988, KMSP was one of several Fox affiliates nationwide disappointed with the network's weak programming offerings, particularly on Saturday nights, which were bogging down KMSP's otherwise successful independent lineup. It started preempting and time-shifting network shows, much to Fox's irritation. After an ultimatum by the network to run the full schedule in pattern, Fox named KITN (channel 29, now WFTC) as its new Twin Cities affiliate, and KMSP returned to full independent status.
[edit] UPN affiliation
By the early 1990s, Fox's popularity improved. It had strong shows that were starting to rival the offerings of the 'Big Three' networks, and had just picked up rights to the NFL. In response to this, KMSP's then-owner, Chris-Craft/United Television, partnered with Paramount Pictures (which soon became part of media conglomerate Viacom) to create the United Paramount Network (UPN). Channel 9 became a UPN owned and operated station on January 16, 1995, the day the network commenced operations with UPN's two-hour pilot episode of Star Trek: Voyager.
KMSP became one of UPN's most successful affiliates. In addition, it was still enjoying success with local sports programming featuring the Minnesota Twins, as well as the MSHSL championships.
[edit] Back to Fox
KMSP remained as a UPN affiliate even after the station, along with several other stations owned by Chris-Craft, was sold to the Fox Television Stations Group in 2001. An affiliation swap was expected after KMSP's affiliation contract with UPN ran out. Besides Fox' presumed preference to have its programming on a station it already owned, KMSP's signal was much stronger than that of WFTC. Also, WFTC didn't have a news department. The move was made easier when Fox bought WFTC from Clear Channel shortly after in July 2001.
On September 8, 2002, KMSP and WFTC swapped network affiliations. This move (accompanied by a "Make the Switch" ad campaign on both stations) made KMSP a Fox station once again. At that time, KMSP took all Fox programming, including the Fox Box (now re-branded as 4Kids TV, which has since returned to WFTC). Notably, of all the former Chris-Craft stations Fox retained, KMSP was the only one not to retain its UPN affiliation. KMSP is one of three network-owned stations in the Twin Cities alongside sister WFTC and CBS-owned WCCO.
Fox proceeded to invest heavily in KMSP, creating the station's strongest news operation ever (it even briefly produced a newscast for sister station WFTC). In addition, Fox soon become a full-fledged competitor with NBC, ABC and CBS with a number of hit shows and an aggressive cable news operation. Ironically, the late night edition of "Fox9 News" today often draws better ratings than the newscasts on KSTP-TV, which obtained the ABC affiliation from KMSP decades earlier.
[edit] Video news release controversy
On June 16, 2006, KMSP played a "video news release" about convertibles produced by GM in its entirety. The narrator, Medialink publicist Andrew Schmertz, was introduced as reporter André Schmertz. KMSP did not disclose the corporate source of this segment to their viewers.[6]
[edit] News operation
KMSP, along with WDAF-TV in Kansas City, WITI in Milwaukee, WFLD in Chicago, KDFW in Dallas/Fort Worth, WBRC in Birmingham, KSAZ in Phoenix, and KTVI in St. Louis are the only Fox-owned stations to have a 10PM newscast in the Central and Mountain Time Zones (of the mentioned stations, KMSP, WFLD and KDFW do not run their 10PM newscast nightly and KMSP is the only one that airs their 10PM newscast on during the weekend, airing it on Sunday).
Sister stations WTVT in Tampa-St. Petersburg and WTTG in Washington, D.C. have a late newscast at the Eastern time zone equivalent of 11PM. On September 24, 2007, sister station WJBK in Detroit, Michigan became the third Fox O&O in the Eastern time zone to add an 11 pm newscast. This was when WJBK joined KMSP as being one out of several Fox O&Os to go with the FNC-look (new set, new rotating logo, etc.). Fox may have all the O&Os add an 11PM newscast should this become a success. This may mean more of the Fox O&Os in the Central and Mountain Time Zones could add a 10PM newscast as well (KTBC in Austin had a 10PM newscast for years after switching to Fox, which has since been scaled back to 9PM).
Conversely, KMSP is also one of a few Fox O&Os without a midday newscast (along with KDVR in Denver, WFXT in Boston and WOFL in Orlando) and one of five Fox O&Os with a 5PM newscast, but no 6PM newscast (along with KTBC, WHBQ in Memphis, WFXT in Boston, and WTXF in Philadelphia).
[edit] Programming
The station has had a long-running 9 p.m. newscast (now known as Fox9 News at 9), which airs an hour before all other news broadcasts in the area. The two primary news anchors are Jeff Passolt and Robyne Robinson, who have been paired longer than any other anchor team in the Twin Cities, according to the station. According to the station, KMSP's newscast will be broadcasted in HDTV starting in February.
[edit] News/Station presentation
[edit] Newscast titles
- Your Esso Reporter (1955-1961)
- Report to Minnesota (1961-1969)
- Eyewitness News (1969-1973)
- NewsNine (1973-1981)
- Channel 9 News (1981-1984)
- Prime Time News (1984-1991)
- Minnesota 9 News/Minnesota 9 Tonight (1991-1999)
- 9 News (1999-September 8, 2002)
- FOX 9 News (September 8, 2002-present)
[edit] Station slogans
- Channel 9, Your Eyewitness News Headquarters (1969-1973)
- NewsNine: You Just Watch (1973-1975)
- NewsNine: Keep on Watchin' (1975-1984)
- The Twin Cities' #1 Prime Time News (1984-1991)
- Minnesota 9 News: First in the Twin Cities (1991-1999)
- 9 News: It's About You (1999-September 8, 2002)
- Make the Switch (September 8, 2002; used to promote the affiliation switch to FOX)
- The Most Powerful Name in Local News (2002-present; used on news promos)
- Wake Up With FOX 9 (2002-present; used on morning news promos)
- Stay Connected with Fox 9 (2008 - present)
[edit] Notable personalities
[edit] Current on-air talent
FOX9 ANCHORS
FOX 9 Morning News (Mon-Fri)
Tom Butler- Anchor
Alix Kendall- Anchor
Keith Marler-Weather
Juli Jay-Traffic
M.A. Rosko-Feature Reporter
FOX 9 News at 5 and 9 (Mon-Fri)'
Jeff Passolt- Anchor
Robyne Robinson-Anchor
Marni Hughes-Fill in/Health Anchor
Ian Leonard-Weather
Jim Rich-Sports
FOX at 10 (Mon-Fri)
Jeff Passolt- Anchor
Marni Hughes-Anchor/Health Anchor
Ian Leonard-Weather
Jim Rich-Sports
FOX 9 Morning News (Weekends) Tom Halden-Anchor
Karen Scullin-Anchor
Erick Maitland-Weather
Todd Walker-Feature Reporter
Fox 9 News at 5 and 9 and FOX at 10 (Weekends)
Tim Blotz-Anchor
Christine Clayburg-Weather
Dawn Mitchell-Sports
FOX 9 REPORTERS Jody Ambroz, General Assignment Reporter
Jeff Baillon, Investigative Reporter
Dave Berggren, General Assignment Reporter
Ellen Galles, General Assignment Reporter
Jeff Goldberg, General Assignment Reporter
Maury Glover, General Assignment Reporter
Juli Jay, Traffic Reporter
Bill Keller, General Assignment Reporter
Tom Lyden, Investigative Reporter
Jason Matheson, Entertainment Reporter
Beth McDonough, General Assignment Reporter
Richelle McGinnis, General Assignment Reporter
Jacqueline McLean, Investigative Reporter
Rob Olson, General Assignment Reporter
Jamie Reese, General Assignment Reporter
M.A. Rosko, Feature Reporter, seen Weekday Mornings
Dawn Stevens, Morning General Assignment Reporter
Van Pilsum, Investigative Reporter
*Todd Walker, Feature Reporter, seen Weekend Mornings
Scott Wasserman, General Assignment Reporter
[edit] Former anchors & personalities
- Lori Aoki, Anchor
- Tony Burden, Anchor at 9:30 & 10
- Pete Busch, Traffic
- Joe Digiovanni, Chief Meteorologist
- Rod Grams, Anchor
- Jeff Grayson, Sports Director (Now with FOX Sports Net)
- Angela Hampton, 10:00pm News Anchor
- Heather Harden, Anchor
- Don Harrison, anchor (1975-1979; later with Headline News, died 1998)
- Jack Horner, Sports (1950s, died 2005)[3]
- Leslie Jones, Morning Reporter
- Ernie Martz, Weatherman (1970s-1980s)
- Mike Nicco, Weekend Meteorologist (December 2003-December 2006)
- George Noory, News Director (late 1970s, now host of Coast To Coast AM) [4]
- Janie Peterson, Chief Meteorologist (2000-2006)
- Harry Reasoner, Anchor (1950s; later with CBS and ABC, died 1991)
- Gary Rebstock, Anchor
- Carl Rochelle, Anchor (1970-1973; later with CNN and NBC)
- Beth Ruyak, Anchor
- Sam Scaman, Chief Meteorologist
- Dave Sheehan, Sports (1980s)
- Tim Sherno, Morning News Anchor (1997-2005; Now at rival KSTP-TV)
- Mike Tsolinas, Morning Weather
- Sue Turner, Weekend Anchor
- Robin Wolfram, Morning News Anchor
- Lara Yamada, Weekend Morning Anchor (August-October 2006)
- Ron Trenda, Weekend Meteorologist (now at WCCO-TV)
- Fidel "Phil" Ferro, Executive Producer (1988 - 1991) Now Chief Meteorologist WSVN Miami
[edit] Broadcasting facilities
The KMSP TV Tower is located in Shoreview, Minnesota. KMSP owns the tower, which stands 1466 feet (446.8 m) tall, but shares it with sister station WFTC and the Twin Cities Public Television stations, KTCA and KTCI. Several FM stations are also on the tower: KQRS, KXXR ("93X"), KTCZ ("Cities 97"), KTIS, KSJN, KTLK-FM, KDWB, KEEY ("K102"), WLTE, and KZJK.
KMSP has an extensive network of broadcast translators to carry its analog signal throughout much of the state.
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[edit] References
- Your Newsnine Station: The saga of KMSP-TV Minneapolis - St. Paul in the 1970s
- Minnesota TV Translators and Satellite Channels - Northpine.com
- Center for Media and Democracy
- FCC Listing of All Low Power, Full Power, and Translators, both Analog and Digital.
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
- MyFox Twin Cities (official KMSP-TV website)
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KMSP
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KMSP-TV
- Fox 9 at Twin Cities Tv Source
- Your Newsnine Station: The saga of KMSP-TV Minneapolis - St. Paul in the 1970s
- Ken Wagner - KMSP-TV's legendary Grandpa Ken
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