KTVD
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| KTVD / KUPN | |
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| KTVD: Denver, Colorado KUPN: Sterling, Colorado |
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| Branding | My 20 Denver |
| Slogan | Denver's Entertainment Station |
| Channels | Analog: KTVD: 20 (UHF) KUPN: 3 (VHF) |
| Affiliations | MyNetworkTV |
| Owner | Gannett Company (Multimedia Holdings Corporation / Channel 20 TV Company) |
| First air date | KTVD: December 1, 1988 KUPN: December 28, 1963 |
| Call letters’ meaning | KTVD: TeleVision Denver KUPN: United Paramount Network (former affiliation) |
| Sister station(s) | KUSA-TV |
| Former callsigns | KTVD: none KUPN: KTVS (1963-2002) |
| Former affiliations | KTVD: independent (1988-1995) UPN (1995-2006) KUPN: CBS (relaying KGWN-TV, 1963-1999) UPN (1999-2006) |
| Transmitter Power | KTVD: 5000 kW (analog) 1000 kW (digital) KUPN: 60.3 kW (analog) 599 kW (digital) |
| Height | KTVD: 383 m (analog) 294.5 m (digital) KUPN: 232 m (analog) 204 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | KTVD: 68581 KUPN: 63158 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | KTVD: (analog) (digital) KUPN: |
| Website | www.my20denver.com |
KTVD, channel 20, is a MyNetworkTV affiliated television station based in Denver, Colorado, and owned by the Gannett Company. The station is a sister to KUSA, Denver's NBC affiliate and is housed and operated out of KUSA's high definition studios. It currently offers a general entertainment format of off-network sitcoms, first-run talk / reality shows, MyNetworkTV prime-time, cartoons, dramas, and news. Since 2003, it has been the broadcast home for Colorado Rockies MLB baseball. KTVD's newscasts, which are all produced by KUSA, have two weekday and five weekend editions.
KTVD operates a full-time satellite, KUPN channel 3, in Sterling, Colorado which serves northeastern Colorado, southeastern Wyoming (including Cheyenne), and southwestern Nebraska.
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[edit] History
KTVD first went on the air on December 1, 1988 with a general entertainment format featuring classic cartoons and sitcoms, old movies, and religious programming. The station was losing money, and filed for bankruptcy in 1991. At one point, it only had a few low-budget shows, religious programming, and infomercials. For a short while, the station did not have phone service to its studios.
However, the station soon began to turn a profit with the paid programming it aired, and gradually added a number of barter syndicated shows, such as cartoons, a few older sitcoms, and talk shows. It emerged out of bankruptcy by 1994, and became affiliated with the UPN network in 1995.
The station was sold to Newsweb Corporation in the late 1990s. Newsweb kept KTVD while selling its other station (WPWR-TV in Chicago) to Fox Television Stations Group. On December 15, 2005, Newsweb Corporation announced the sale of KTVD and its satellite KUPN to Gannett, despite rumors that FOX (who also owns KDVR in Denver) would buy the station. The transaction was finalized on June 26, 2006. [1]
On January 24, 2006, it was announced that the UPN and WB networks would combine to form a new "fifth" television network, known as The CW. It was then announced that the Tribune-owned WB affiliate, KWGN-TV, would become Denver's affiliate of The CW. After FOX announced that it would also start up a new network, known as MyNetworkTV, Gannett announced on July 12, 2006, that KTVD would become Denver's MyNetworkTV affiliate. [2]
To correspond with the network switch, which happened on September 5, 2006, KTVD began to air a daily 9 PM half-hour newscast produced by KUSA to compete with newscasts on KWGN and KDVR. [3] The newscast utilizes KUSA's on-air staff, including Mark Koebrich and Bazi Kanani as lead anchors. On December 5, 2006, KUSA launched a 2 hour extension of its weekday morning newscast on KTVD, using the KUSA morning news team. In addition, KTVD now airs morning newscasts on the weekends. As is the case with many duopolies between a major network affiliate and a minor network affiliate, KTVD airs KUSA-produced newscasts whenever KUSA cannot do so. KTVD may also air NBC programming when KUSA cannot such as in a news-related emergency.
On June 26,2006 KTVD Became the 2nd TV Station in Denver to broadcast it's News and network (UPN & MY Network TV) programing in High Definition.
[edit] KUPN
The original channel 3 was assigned to Pueblo, Colorado with the callsign KDZA-TV, which operated in 1955. The station was a DuMont affiliate, co-owned with KDZA-AM 1230 (now KKPC). After only a few months, KDZA's transmitter was destroyed in a wind storm, forcing the station to shut down. Star-Chieftain Publishing Corporation, owner of rival KCSJ-TV channel 5 (now KOAA-TV), then bought the license and moved it to Sterling. [4] A short time later, the station was soon sold to the McCracken family, owners of CBS affiliate KFBC-TV channel 5 (now KGWN-TV) in Cheyenne, Wyoming, which returned channel 3 to the air in 1964 as KTVS, a satellite of KFBC.
In September of 1999, Newsweb acquired KTVS from Benedek Broadcasting, then-owners of KGWN, with the intent of making KTVS a satellite of KTVD. In January of 2002, KTVS has its call letters changed to the current KUPN. Currently, Gannett have plans on changing its city of license to Fort Morgan, Colorado, though no word on if anything else would be affected. KUPN is one of very few stations in the U.S. where the satellite (KUPN, which signed on in 1964) is older than its parent (KTVD, in 1988).
[edit] Newscasts
All newscasts on KTVD are produced by Denver's NBC affiliate, KUSA. KTVD shares other news staff from KUSA as well.
KTVD shows KUSA's 9PM nightly newscast, 9 NEWS at 9 PM on My 20, anchored by Mark Koebrich & Bozie Kanani,Kathy Sabine,Drew Soicher, & Kirk Montgomery Week Days. Ward Lucas & Carrie McClure, weather with Marty Coniglio, and sports with Rod Mackey. Weekends. The newscast is generally only a half-hour in length.
KTVD also carries a morning newscast, 9 NEWS Saturday Morning on My 20, on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 6AM to 7 AM, anchored by Shawn Patrick & Cheryl Preheim and weather with Ashton Altieri.
[edit] Trivia
- In 2007, KTVD became one of three Gannett-owned TV stations to broadcast games of hometown MLB teams, joining WKYC-TV (Cleveland Indians) and KSDK (St. Louis Cardinals). However, unlike WKYC and KSDK, who are NBC affiliates, KTVD is with MyNetworkTV.
[edit] External links
- Official website
- KUSA Website
- Secondary web address used for links from KUSA's website.
- Mcsittel.com: screengrabs from 1983-1992 (including the old KTVS), taken from Kingsport, TN
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KTVD
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KUPN
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KTVD-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KUPN-TV
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