| Las Vegas, Nevada | |
|---|---|
| Branding | Channel 3 (general) News 3 (newscasts) |
| Channels | Digital: 2 (VHF) Virtual: 3 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 3.1 NBC 3.2 Untamed Sports TV 3.3 Universal Sports Antenna TV (starting 1/1/12) |
| Affiliations | NBC |
| Owner | Intermountain West Communications Company (Southern Nevada Communications) |
| First air date | January 23, 1955 |
| Call letters' meaning | Southern Nevada |
| Sister station(s) | KRNV-DT, KENV-DT |
| Former callsigns | KLRJ-TV (January–September 1955) KORK-TV (1955–1979) KVBC (1979–2009) KVBC-DT (2009-2010) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 2 (VHF, 1955–1967) 3 (VHF, 1967–2009) |
| Transmitter power | 27.7 kW |
| Height | 386 m |
| Facility ID | 69677 |
| Website | MyNews3.com |
KSNV-DT, channel 3 (digital channel 2), is the NBC-affiliated television station in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the flagship station of Intermountain West Communications Company (formerly Sunbelt Communications Company). KSNV's studios are on Foremaster Lane in Las Vegas, and its transmitter is located on Black Mountain in Henderson, Nevada.
Contents |
| Channel | Name | Video | Format | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | KSNV-HD | 1080i | 16:9 | Main KSNV-DT programming / NBC |
| 3.2 | KSNV-UT | 480i | 4:3 | Untamed Sports TV |
| 3.3 | KSNV-US | Universal Sports (To be replaced by Antenna TV on 1/1/12)[1] |
The station went on the air as KLRJ-TV on channel 2 on January 23, 1955, licensed to Henderson and owned by the Donrey Media Group (now Stephens Media LLC) along with the Las Vegas Review-Journal and KORK radio (920 AM, now KBAD; and 97.1 FM, now KXPT). Soon after, the station changed its calls to KORK-TV, matching its radio sisters, and moved its license and studios to Las Vegas. It has always been an NBC affiliate, but shared ABC with KLAS-TV (channel 8) until KSHO-TV (channel 13, now KTNV-TV) signed on in 1956. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[2]
In 1967, KORK-TV moved to channel 3 to avoid interference with newly signed-on KTVN (channel 2) in Reno. In 1971, a group of local residents led by Las Vegas attorney James E. (Jim) Rogers began an effort to take control of channel 3. Rogers' group gained more support when Donrey began heavily preempting NBC programming in order to sell more local advertising in the late 1970s. NBC was far less tolerant of this than the other networks at the time. The most notable of these preemptions was the 1978 World Series, angering both NBC and several Las Vegas area viewers, some of whom complained to the Federal Communications Commission. Facing pressure from both NBC and the FCC, Donrey was forced to sell the station to the Rogers group's holding company, Valley Broadcasting Company, in 1979. Donrey retained KORK radio, and as a result on October 1, 1979 the station became KVBC, reflecting the new ownership. Since then, the station has more or less cleared the whole NBC lineup.
For a few years, KVBC used a portion of Styx's 1978 hit "Come Sail Away" and Steve Winwood's "While You See A Chance" before going to a commercial break.
In the late 1980s, KVBC's sign-on to sign-off ratings climbed to an all-time high, thanks in part to a strong primetime line-up by NBC, in the late 1980s. News anchors Dave Courvoisier, Gwen Castaldi, and Rikki Cheese, weatherman Mike Bradley, and the sports team of Scott Reynolds and Colin Cowherd, supported by a strong team of reporters that included Scott Andrus, Deborah Brada, Dan Burns, Jamie Garcia, Rick Kirkham, Lonni Leavitt, Dan Monson, Darwin Morgan, Denise Rosch, and Laura Stephenson led News 3 when it surpassed KLAS-TV as the market leader.[3]
Two major "events" aided KVBC's rise to the top. In May 1988 an explosion and fire rocked the Pacific Engineering and Production Company (Pepcon) in Henderson. KVBC was knocked off the air for a few minutes, because its TV tower atop Black Mountain was positioned just above the blast site. Once KVBC was back on the air it was the first local station to continuously broadcast its breaking news coverage. Later that year, CBS produced "48 Hours in Las Vegas," a feature about Las Vegas that portrayed the city as full of gamblers and riddled by crime. In response, KVBC produced a one-hour documentary entitled, "Las Vegas, Beyond 48 Hours," which painted a more realistic picture of "Sin City" and its residents.
KVBC was first to document the Mirage volcano explosion during its initial test in front of an unsuspecting nighttime audience. Overnight coverage, by reporter/anchors Steve Eager and Sarah Hoeveler and photographer Mike Dixon, helped to establish the newscast as #1 in the mornings from its inception in the summer of 1989. Hoeveler and photographer Jeff Lonetree won a regional Emmy award for coverage of breaking news overnight. Businessman Mike Moody later joined the anchor team to report on business news in southern Nevada.
Channel 3 created and hosted a community "EarthFair" in the summer of 1990. The Arts and Environmental Science Expo featured science fair projects, pine tree giveaway, and booths by up to 120 exhibitors. 15,000 people showed up for that first EarthFair at the Sunset Park. The Fair continued annually for several years.
From October 25, 1996 to June 6, 2000, KVBC had its own radio station, KVBC-FM on 105.1 FM dial. One of the shows on the air was called "Nate at Night", and was hosted by KVBC Chief Meteorogist Nathan Tannenbaum.
With the digital transition completed, the station officially added the -DT suffix to its legal call sign on June 23, 2009.[4]
On June 18, 2010 KVBC announced a call letter change to KSNV, reflecting the renaming of Valley Broadcasting Company (by this time the subsidiary of Sunbelt that held the station's license) to Southern Nevada Communications, as well as better reflecting the station's relationship with sister stations KRNV-DT in Reno and KENV-DT in Elko via the "Nevada Information Network".[5] The change to KSNV-DT became official on July 9, 2010.[4][6]
Channel 3's newscasts were called Eyewitness News for many years. That name was changed to the current News 3 in 1982, and Eyewitness News was picked up shortly thereafter by KLAS-TV (channel 8). It was the first station to report the deadly Las Vegas Hilton fire in February 1981, interrupting regularly scheduled programming to provide live coverage.
KVBC premiered "News 3 at Sunrise," its morning newscast, in 1989 with overnight team coverage by reporter/anchors Steve Eagar (former Detroit Tigers catcher, now with KDFW in Dallas-Ft. Worth), Sarah Hoeveler, traffic reporter Tom Hawley and news photographer and editor Mike Dixon. In June 1991, News 3 at Noon premiered; It later expanded to one hour. On April 4, 2006, KVBC began a local 10 o'clock newscast on KVWB (now KVMY). The newscast moved to KVCW until September 2009 when it was cancelled and revived on KTUD on October 26, 2009.
On July 9, 2007, KVBC changed their morning newscast name to News 3 Today, phasing out the long-standing News 3 at Sunrise. With the promotion of Sue Manteris to evenings, and the reduction of Mitch Truswell to just the noon newscast. The morning team consists of husband-and-wife co-anchors Kim and Dana Wagner, chief meteorologist John Fredericks, and traffic reporter Tom Hawley. On August 11, 2007 KVBC became the second TV station in the Las Vegas market to broadcast its local news programming in High Definition.
On January 5, 2009, longtime meteorologist John Fredericks retired from the station after 12½ years at KVBC. According to the anchors, John felt it was hard to say goodbye on the air, therefore he left an audio message for the viewers and the station, as it does with any person that leaves after a long tenure, showed a montage of clips of John's career at KVBC. Dana Wagner was posted as replacing John during the morning and noon newscasts.
On June 9, 2011, Sue Manteris, a veteran news anchor at Channel 3 for over 20 years, signed off on her final newscast following the expiration of her contract, which was not renewed by station management. Sue, born in Varanasi, India, filed a lawsuit on May 17, 2011 in U.S. District Court for Nevada against the station ownership and management, alleging ethnic, gender and age discrimination. The lawsuit is pending.[7]U.S. District Court Original Filing
Weekdays
Saturdays
Sundays
KVBC launched a campaign to advertise the new slogan. In late November, KVBC introduced billboards with the phrase "We are WOFY" displayed throughout the city. In December, the station began running commercials featuring WOFY in the shape of Pepperoni, WOFY spelled out in alphabet soup, and even spelled out WOFY in children's blocks. The station also teamed up with Henderson Hyundai by spelling out WOFY in cars in the car dealership's backlot. In late December, early January, KVBC launced the website wearewofy.com (now shut down) to help direct comments about what WOFY may mean. WOFY was later announced as "Watching Out for You," in January on News 3 Today with Kim & Dana Wagner. In October 2009, KVBC eliminated the "Watching Out for You" slogan from its newscasts.
KSNV's signal is rebroadcast on the following translators:
KSNV, as KVBC, also previously maintained two full-power satellite stations. KVNV (channel 3) in Ely served as a KVBC satellite from its sign-on in 2001 until it was sold to PMCM TV, LLC in 2008, while KMCC (channel 34) in Laughlin was a KVBC satellite from its sign-on in 2003 until it was sold to Cranston II, LLC in 2005. Additionally, the signal for KVBC was to have been relayed over KBMO-TV (channel 9) in Tonopah, Nevada, but construction of this station was not completed before the FCC construction permit expired in 2002.
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