KOMU-TV

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KOMU-TV
Image:KOMU06.JPG
Columbia/Jefferson City, Missouri
Branding KOMU-TV8
KOMU 8 News
Slogan Coverage You Can Count On
Channels Analog: 8 (VHF)

Digital: 36 (UHF)
Translators K07SD Rolla
Affiliations NBC
NBC Weather Plus (DT2)
The CW (DT3)
Owner University of Missouri–Columbia
(The Curators of the University of Missouri)
First air date December 21, 1953
Call letters’ meaning K O MU
(MU references ownership by the University of Missouri)
Former affiliations Primary:
NBC (1953-1981)
ABC (1982-1985)
Secondary:
CBS (1953-1955)
DuMont (1953-1955)
ABC (1953-1971)
Transmitter Power 316 kW (analog)
1000 kW (digital)
Height 242 m (analog)
225 m (digital)
Facility ID 65583
Transmitter Coordinates 38°53′16.7″N, 92°15′48.6″W
Website www.komu.com
Broadcast center on U.S. Route 63 south of Columbia
Broadcast center on U.S. Route 63 south of Columbia

KOMU-TV (Channel 8) is the NBC affiliate serving the cities of Columbia and Jefferson City, Missouri along with several surrounding counties in central Missouri. The station is owned by the University of Missouri–Columbia, officially licensed to the "Curators of the University of Missouri" and operated by the university's Missouri School of Journalism, making KOMU the only commercial TV stations in the US to be owned by a major university. The station has paid, professional staff serving as managers, engineers, sales representatives, and so on. The managers and editors in the news department are School of Journalism faculty members. The main anchors are also considered faculty members, while the reporters, weekend/substitute anchors, and many producers are undergraduate and graduate broadcast journalism students. Its transmitter is located in Columbia.

KOMU's programming is repeated on low-power translator K07SD in Rolla.


Contents

[edit] History

KOMU-TV first broadcast on December 21, 1953. It carried programming from all four major networks, but was a primary NBC affiliate. It lost CBS in 1955 when KRCG signed on from Jefferson City. The two stations shared ABC until 1971, when KCBJ-TV (now KMIZ) signed on.

In 1982, ABC moved its affiliation to KOMU; ABC was the highest-rated network at the time and wanted a stronger outlet. By 1985, however, NBC had regained the ratings lead. Accordingly, KOMU rejoined NBC on New Year's Day 1986.

In September 2006 a KOMU digital subchannel began to serve as the new affiliate of The CW Television Network. The new CW network is also on local cable. KOMU's CW affiliate operates with the fake call letters KJWB. The move makes them the only educational institution-owned station to affiliate with the new network. While CW programming is carried on DT3, KOMU 8 WeatherPlus operates on DT2.

In 2002, the station won the Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism for maintaining its policy banning political symbols on air despite government and popular pressure in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

[edit] Current Staff Talent

Anchors

  • Lauren Whitney - KOMU 8 News Today
  • Megan Murphy - KOMU 8 News Today, KOMU 8 News at Noon
  • Sarah Hill - KOMU 8 News at Five
  • Angie Bailey - KOMU 8 News at Five, Six, and Ten
  • Jim Riek - KOMU 8 News at Six and Ten

Weather

  • Eric Aldrich - Meteorologist: KOMU 8 News Today, KOMU 8 News at Noon
  • Dave Schmidt - Weathercaster: KOMU 8 News at Five, Six, and Ten (weeknights)
  • Anthony Slaughter - Weathercaster: KOMU 8 News at Six and Ten (weekends)

Sports

  • Chris Gervino - Main Sports anchor; host, KOMU 8 Sports Show
  • Eric Blumberg - Sports anchor/reporter

Pepper & Friends

  • Paul Pepper - Host
  • James Mouser - Co-host

[edit] News/Station Presentation

[edit] Newscast Titles

  • The News Camera (1964-1971)
  • News Eight Reports (1971-1974)
  • NewsCenter 8 (1974-1997)
  • NBC 8 News (1997-2002)
  • KOMU News (2002-2008)
  • KOMU 8 News (2008-present)

[edit] KOMU Alumni

NBC News: Lisa Myers ('73), Mark Potter ('75)

ABC News: Elizabeth Vargas ('84)

CBS News: Russ Mitchell ('82)

CNN: Sophia Choi ('92), Chuck Roberts ('71)

Fox News: Jon Scott ('81), Phil Keating ('90)

ESPN: John Anderson ('87), Matt Winer ('90), Michael Kim ('88)

[edit] Station Logos

Station logo, April 1974.

Main station logo, used until December 2002.

Station news logo used until December 2002.

Special station logo commemorating KOMU-TV's 50th anniversary; used throughout 2003.

Station logo used since January 2003.

Current KOMU DT3/CW logo.


[edit] External links

v • d • e
University of Missouri
Academics
Athletics
Campus
History
Campus Life
Broadcasting
KBIA  • KCOU  • KOMU-TV  • MUTV
Secret Societies
v • d • e
Broadcast television in the Columbia market  (Nielsen DMA #137)

K02NQ 2 (KMIZ StormTrack 24/7) - KMOS 6 (PBS) - KOMU 8 (NBC, Weather+ on DT2, The CW on DT3) - KRCG 13 / K11OJ 11 (CBS) -
KMIZ 17 (ABC, K38II on DT2, KZOU on DT3, K02NQ on DT4) - KNLJ 25 (CTN/FamilyNet) - KZOU-LP 32 (MNTV) - K38II 38 (Fox) - K41OI 41 (TBN) - KRBK 49 (New)  - K56AU 56 (TBN)

Local cable television channels
KOMU-DT 8.3 / "KJWB" (The CW) - MUTV 23 (simulcast on Mediacom cable 20) (University of Missouri)
v • d • e
Broadcast television in the St. Louis market  (Nielsen DMA #21)

KTVI 2 (Fox) - KMOV 4 (CBS) - KSDK 5 (NBC)  (NBC WX+ on DT2) - KPTN-CA 7 (HSN) - KETC 9 (PBS) - KPLR 11 (The CW) - KNLC 24 (FamilyNet) - KEFN-CA 28 (EWTN) - KDNL 30 (ABC) - K33GU 33 / K22HG 22 (TBN) - WRBU 46 (MNTV) - W50CH 50 (REL) - KUMO-LP 51 (RTN) - KDTL-LP 64 (DS)
Outlying Areas:
K07SD 7 (NBC) - WSIU 8 (PBS) - KFVS 12 (CBS) - K16FE 16 (TBN) - W29CI 29 (3ABN)

Local cable television channels
Bostel - FSN Midwest - WUTV 22 (Washington University)
v • d • e
NBC Network Affiliates in the state of Missouri
See also: ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, PBS and Other stations in Missouri
v • d • e
CW Network Affiliates in the state of Missouri
See also: ABC, CBS, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS and Other stations in Missouri