KMOV

KMOV

St. Louis, Missouri United States
Branding	KMOV 4 (general) News 4 St. Louis (newscasts)
Slogan	News 4 Never Stops Watching Out For You
Channels	Digital: 24 (UHF) Virtual: 4 (PSIP)
Subchannels	4.1 CBS 4.2 Me-TV 4.3 Live Well Network
Affiliations	CBS (1954–present) Me-TV (2013-present) Live Well Network (2010-present)
Owner	Sander Media, LLC (sale to Meredith Corporation pending) (Sander Operating Co. IV, LLC D/B/A KMOV Television)
First air date	July 8, 1954
Call letters' meaning	Disambiguation of former KMOX-TV callsign
Former callsigns	KWK-TV (1954–1958) KMOX-TV (1958–1986)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 4 (VHF, 1954–2009) Digital: 56 (UHF, until 2009)
Former affiliations	Secondary: ABC (1954–1955)
Transmitter power	1000 kW
Height	341 m
Facility ID	70034
Transmitter coordinates	38°31′47″N 90°17′58″W / 38.52972°N 90.29944°W / 38.52972; -90.29944
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Profile CDBS
Website	www.kmov.com

KMOV, virtual channel 4 (UHF digital channel 24), is a CBS-affiliated television station located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. The station is owned by Sander Media, LLC. KMOV maintains studio and office facilities located at the Gateway Tower on Memorial Drive in Downtown St. Louis (near the Gateway Arch), and its transmitter is located in Lemay, Missouri.

History

The station first signed on the air on July 8, 1954 as KWK-TV. At its launch, channel 4 was owned by a consortium that included the Convey family and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, who jointly operated KWK radio (1380 AM, now KXFN); the owners of KXOK radio (630 AM, frequency now occupied by KYFI), which had to be sold as a condition of the license grant; and Saint Paul, Minnesota-based Hubbard Broadcasting.^[1] KWK-TV took the CBS affiliation from WTVI (channel 54, now KTVI channel 2). Until 1955, it also aired ABC programs that WTVI declined to broadcast.

CBS wanted its own television station in St. Louis to operate alongside its powerhouse radio station, KMOX (1120 AM). It originally won the construction permit for channel 11 – the last remaining commercial VHF license in St. Louis – in January 1957.^[2] But CBS decided in August of that year to buy KWK-TV instead for $4 million.^[3] CBS was then forced to give up its construction permit and license for channel 11, and the Federal Communications Commission transferred it to one of the failed applicants, a group led by St. Louis hotelier Harold Koplar, for no financial consideration.^[4] Almost immediately, the deal was held up after the St. Louis Amusement Company, one of the original applicants for channel 11, protested to the United States Court of Appeals in January 1958.^[5] The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately upheld the decision in November of that year.^[6] CBS had already took control of channel 4's operations that March, and changed its call letters to KMOX-TV in reference to its new radio sister.^[7] The following April, channel 11 signed on as independent station KPLR-TV.^[8]

By late 1985, CBS was in rough financial straits, an after-effect of successfully fending off a hostile takeover attempt by Ted Turner the year before. CBS spent the latter portion of 1985 repurchasing a large portion of its stock to help block the Turner takeover. Once Turner sold his stock, CBS was saddled with significant debt and needed to raise money.^[9] Not long after Laurence Tisch became the company's chairman, CBS decided to sell KMOX-TV, at the time its smallest owned-and-operated television station by market size.^[10] On May 16, 1986, former CBS subsidiary and future parent company Viacom completed its $122.5 million purchase of the station and modified its callsign to KMOV almost a month later on June 18.^[11] Despite the sale, channel 4's operations continued to be based alongside KMOX radio at their downtown studios on Memorial Drive, where both stations moved in 1968; KMOX would relocate from that building in 2012.

As a CBS-owned station, channel 4 cleared the entire network schedule. When Viacom took over in 1986, this changed rather drastically. KMOV began signing off the air at night, thus preempting the overnight news program CBS News Nightwatch. A barrage of scattered primetime preemptions later followed that was so rampant, the station earned a mention in Ken Auletta's 1991 book, Three Blind Mice. KMOV randomly replaced CBS prime-time shows with programming such as Billy Graham Crusades and National Geographic specials, syndicated movie packages, and occasional sporting events. According to Auletta, KMOV preempted 103 hours of CBS primetime programs in 1987, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the network primetime schedule. In the 1990s, the primetime preemptions eased, and currently, the station only occasionally preempts a CBS primetime show. The station also resumed a 24-hour broadcast schedule in the early 1990s.

Viacom purchased Paramount Pictures in 1994, and merged its five-station group (KMOV, WHEC-TV in Rochester, New York, WNYT in Albany, New York, WVIT in New Britain, Connecticut, and KSLA-TV in Shreveport, Louisiana – all of which were either affiliated with either CBS or NBC) into the Paramount Stations Group. However, in 1995, the company decided to divest itself of all of its major network affiliates to focus on stations that carried UPN and Paramount Television programming. Belo Corporation acquired KMOV in a three-way deal also involving two stations in the Seattle-Tacoma market. As part of the transaction, Belo sold KIRO-TV (included in the deal because the company had recently acquired that market's NBC affiliate KING-TV) to Cox Enterprises, who concurrently sold its existing Seattle-Tacoma station, KSTW, to Viacom.^[12] The deal was consummated on June 1, 1997. KSTW is now owned by CBS Corporation, but KMOV and KIRO-TV remain under their post-1997 owners to this day.

On June 13, 2013, the Gannett Company, owner of NBC affiliate KSDK (channel 5), acquired Belo. As the deal would violate FCC regulations that disallow common ownership of two of the four highest-rated stations in a single market (KMOV and KSDK have ranked as the top two stations in the St. Louis market in total-day ratings for several years), Gannett would retain KSDK, while it would spin off KMOV to Sander Media, LLC (owned by former Belo executive Jack Sander). Gannett intended to provide services to the station through a shared services agreement, KMOV's operations were to remain largely separate from KSDK, including separate and competing news and sales departments.^[13] However, on December 16, 2013, the United States Department of Justice threatened to block the merger unless Gannett, Belo and Sander completely divested KMOV to a government-approved third-party company that would be barred from entering into any agreements with Gannett. Justice claimed that Gannett and Sander would be so closely aligned that Gannett would have dominated spot advertising in St. Louis.^[14] On December 23, 2013, shortly after the Gannett/Belo deal was approved and completed,^[15] Meredith Corporation, which owns fellow CBS affiliate KCTV on the other side of Missouri in Kansas City, announced that it would purchase KMOV, along with KTVK and KASW in Phoenix for $407.5 million.^[16]

Digital television

Digital channels

KMOV's digital signal, broadcasting on UHF channel 24, is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

KMOV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 4, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 56, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to UHF channel 24 (which was previously used for the analog signal of KNLC).^[18][19] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 4.

Local programming

News operation

Current news open.

KMOV presently broadcasts 28½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 4½ hours on weekdays, and three hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). In addition, the station produces the half-hour sports wrap-up program Sports Sunday, which airs on Sundays after the 10 p.m. newscast. Many members of KMOV's on-air news staff have moved on to work for national news organizations (Richelle Carey and meteorologist Reynolds Wolf, for example, both joined CNN in 2006). While it would seem like a positive aspect, the "revolving door" turnover rate of its anchors and reporters has been one of KMOV's weaknesses over the years, leading to the unfamiliarity that many of the station's on-air personalities have in the market. Though this may have initially caused some issues for KMOV, ratings for channel 4's newscasts have since increased. Since the departure of Karen Foss from KSDK in December 2006, Larry Conners assumed the title of the longest-serving 10 p.m. news anchor in the market until he was fired by the station in 2013.

In 1976, KMOV became the second station to adopt Dick Marx's "WBBM Channel 2 News Theme", that eventually became the de facto official newscast music for CBS' owned-and-operated stations. The theme was dropped by the station in 1986 after Viacom took control, though from 2001 to 2008, the station used the Frank Gari-composed "CBS Enforcer Music Collection", which uses a music signature derived from the WBBM package. Ironically from 1989 to 1992, KMOV used Gari's "News Series 2000", which was traditionally associated with ABC stations, as its news theme.

KMOX-TV led the ratings in St. Louis for most of the period from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, as was common with most of its CBS-owned sister stations. From the early 1980s until recently, KMOX-TV/KMOV was a solid, if distant, runner-up to KSDK. However until the mid-1990s, the station had to fend off spirited competition from KTVI. Although KMOV's newscasts were critically favored, they were rarely rewarded with a ratings win over long-dominant KSDK, with the 10 p.m. newscast regularly winning at least a 20% share in viewership, while KSDK averaged about a 30% share. KMOV has seen significant ratings growth since 2004, and beat KSDK at 10 p.m. both during the November 2004 sweeps period – the first time in over a quarter-century that KSDK did not place first in any timeslot – and during the May^[20] and November 2006 sweeps periods; it also became the most-watched late evening newscast in the United States during the latter period. Most of the ratings growth at 10 p.m. was attributed to CBS' primetime ratings increases and NBC's large drop in viewership. However, KMOV also saw growth in all of its other newscast timeslots, even where the station does not benefit from a strong CBS lead-in.^[21] Starting in late 2013, KMOV started to dominate the news ratings in most newscasts, winning the noon, 5, 6 and 10pm newscasts. KSDK plummeted to last place at 5 and 6pm for the first time in the history of the station. Larry Conner-less KMOV has won the 10pm newscast in every demographic every month since Larry departed the station in May 2013.

On January 27, 2008, beginning with its 5:30 p.m. newscast, KMOV became the second television station in the St. Louis market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition (after KSDK, which has produced its newscasts in the format since 2006).

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• The KWK-TV Newsreel/KWK-TV News (1954–1958)
• KMOX-TV News (1958–1976)
• Big 4 News (c. 1968–1974)^[22]
• Channel 4 Newsroom (1976–1986)
• News 4 St. Louis (1986–1992 and 1995–present)
• Channel 4 News (1992–1993)
• News 4 (1993–1995)

Station Slogans

• Your 24-Hour News Source (1989–1992)
• The Vision of St. Louis (1992–1996)
• Your News, News 4 (1992–1999)
• This is 4, This is Your News (1995–1999)
• Where There's Always Something Extra (2004–2007)
• News 4 Never Stops (2007–2010)
• News 4 Never Stops Watching Out for You (2010–present)

On-air staff

Current on-air staff

Anchors^[23]

• Andre Hepkins - weekday mornings on News 4 This Morning (4:30-7:00 a.m.)
• Jasmine Huda - weeknights at 5:00 p.m.; also 10:00 p.m. reporter
• Claire Kellett - weekday mornings on News 4 This Morning (4:30-7:00 a.m.)
• Sharon Reed - weeknights at 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00 p.m.
• Steve Savard - weeknights at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m.
• Robin Smith - weekdays at noon; also weekday morning reporter
• Chris Stanford - weekend evenings; also reporter
• Diana Zoga - weekend mornings; also reporter

4WARN Storm Team^[23]

In addition to providing forecasts on KMOV, the 4 WARN Storm Team also provides forecasts for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and KEZK-FM (102.5).

• Steve Templeton (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m.
• Katie Horner - meteorologist; weekdays at noon and weeknights at 5:00 p.m.
• Kent Ehrhardt (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings on News 4 This Morning (4:30-7:00 a.m.)
• Kristen Cornett (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekend mornings (5:00-6:00 and 7:00-8:00 Saturdays; 6:00-8:00 a.m. Sundays) and Saturdays at 6:00, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10:00 p.m.
• Matt Chambers (AMS Seal of Approval; member, NWA) - meteorologist; severe weather coverage and fill-in

News 4 Sports^[23]

• Maurice Drummond - sports director; Sundays at 5:30, Monday-Thursdays at 6:00 and Sundays-Thursdays at 10:00 p.m.
• Doug Vaughn - sports anchor; Fridays at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m.
• Brian Feldman - sports anchor; Saturdays at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m., also sports reporter

Reporters^[23]

Great Day St. Louis

• Matt Chambers - host and co-producer
• Kent Ehrhardt - host
• Virginia Kerr - host

Notable former on-air staff

• Richelle Carey - reporter (2003–2006; now at HLN)
• Larry Conners - investigative reporter/anchor (1976–1979 and 1986–2013; fired in 2013)^[24][25]
• Roger Grimsby - reporter/news correspondent (1959–1961; deceased)
• Jim Hart - weekend sports anchor (former quarterback for the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals)
• Linda Lorelle - reporter (late 1980s; later worked at KPRC-TV in Houston)
• Russ Mitchell - anchor/reporter (late 1980s; later with CBS News, now at WKYC in Cleveland)
• Regis Philbin - hosted one of his early syndicated shows from the KMOX-TV studios (1972–1975), before moving to Los Angeles (former host of the ABC primetime version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and the syndicated talk show Live with Regis and Kelly)
• Barry Serafin - weekend anchor/reporter (became Washington, D.C. correspondent for CBS News in 1971; later with ABC News)
• Reynolds Wolf - meteorologist (2005–2006; later at CNN and at WSB-TV in Atlanta; now with The Weather Channel)

Other locally-produced programming

In February 2002, KMOV partnered with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to produce the weekly news discussion program Extra Edition, hosted by now-former weekday morning anchor Marc Cox. In 2003, KMOV began producing At the Zoo, a program that gives a behind-the-scenes look inside the St. Louis Zoo and was hosted by meteorologist Kent Ehrhardt (encore presentations of older episodes aired from 2009 to 2011). In September 2008, KMOV premiered Great Day St. Louis, an hour-long daytime talk show, mostly focusing on entertainment and lifestyle topics in the St. Louis area (the show is currently hosted by Virginia Kerr, Carol Daniel, Matt Chambers and Kent Ehrhardt). In January 2011, KMOV debuted At the Center, which features an inside look at attractions at the St. Louis Science Center.

References

External links

• KMOV.com - Official website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KMOV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KMOV-TV