KOB
  | |
| Albuquerque/Santa Fe, New Mexico | |
|---|---|
| Branding |
KOB 4 (general) KOB Eyewitness News 4 (newscasts) |
| Slogan | All Local, All the Time. |
| Channels |
Digital: 26 (UHF) Virtual: 4 (PSIP) |
| Affiliations |
4.1 NBC 4.2 This TV |
| Owner |
Hubbard Broadcasting (KOB-TV, LLC) |
| First air date | November 29, 1948 |
| Call letters' meaning | From former sister station KOB-AM |
| Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 4 (VHF, 1948-2009) |
| Former affiliations |
All secondary: DuMont (1948–1955) ABC (1948–1953) CBS (1948–1953) |
| Transmitter power | 270 kW |
| Height | 1277 m |
| Facility ID | 35313 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 35°12′42.8″N 106°26′58.9″W / 35.211889°N 106.449694°W |
| Website | www.kob.com |
KOB, virtual channel 4 (digital channel 26), is an NBC-affiliate television station based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. Its transmitter is located on Sandia Crest, east of Albuquerque, and the station has studios located on Broadcast Plaza just west of downtown (across the street from KRQE/KASA-TV).
History
KOB-TV started operations on November 29, 1948, after Albuquerque Journal owner and publisher Tom Pepperday won a television license on his second try. Pepperday, who also owned KOB radio (770 AM), had previously applied for one in 1943. It is the oldest television station in New Mexico, as well as the third-oldest television station between the Mississippi River and the West Coast (behind WBAP-TV in Fort Worth, now KXAS-TV and KDYL-TV in Salt Lake City, now KTVX). Initially, channel 4 ran programming from all four networks—NBC, ABC, CBS and DuMont Television Network. However, it has always been a primary NBC affiliate owing to its radio sister's long affiliation with NBC radio.
Later, in May 1952, the KOB stations were purchased by magazine publisher Time-Life (now Time Warner's Time Inc. subsidiary) and former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Wayne Coy. It was Time-Life’s first television asset.[1] In 1953, two new TV stations signed on within a week—KGGM-TV (channel 13, now KRQE) signed on and took CBS, followed by KOAT which took ABC; DuMont shut down in 1956.
Stanley E. Hubbard, founder of Hubbard Broadcasting, bought KOB-AM-TV from Time-Life in 1957.[2] KOB's radio cousins were sold off in 1986 and are now known as KKOB-AM-FM, owned by Citadel Broadcasting; many people still confuse the television and radio stations today.
In 2005, KOB-TV entered into a news partnership with KKOB.
Despite the KOB radio stations having changed their call letters, KOB-TV didn't drop the "-TV" suffix until June 13, 2009, when the FCC allowed a limited opportunity for stations to change their suffixes (adding "-TV" or "-DT") or drop them in the wake of the digital transition.
Digital television
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 4.1 | Main KOB-TV programming / NBC |
| 4.2 | This TV |
In September 2006, KOB-TV began broadcasting NBC WeatherPlus on digital subchannel 4.2, at first inserting its Doppler weather radar during time reserved for local segments. In December 2008, WeatherPlus was replaced with KOB's own locally programmed weather station. Weekly E/I programming required of broadcast television stations by the Federal Communications Commission came from NASA TV on weekend mornings.
On February 7, 2011, the subchannel began to carry programming from This TV.
Satellite stations
Two stations rebroadcast KOB's signal and insert local content for other parts of the media market:
| Station | City of license | Channels (Analog/ Digital) |
First air date | Former callsigns | ERP (Analog/ Digital) |
HAAT (Analog/ Digital) |
Facility ID | Transmitter Coordinates |
| KOBF | Farmington | 12 (VHF) 17 (UHF) |
October 20, 1972 | KIVA-TV (1972–1983) | 316 kW 290 kW |
125 m 102 m |
35321 | 36°41′44″N 108°13′17″W / 36.69556°N 108.22139°W |
| KOBR | Roswell | 8 (VHF) 38 (UHF) |
June 24, 1953 | KSWS-TV (1953–1985) | 316 kW 820 kW |
533 m 499 m |
62272 | 33°22′31.3″N 103°46′14.3″W / 33.375361°N 103.770639°W |
KOBF went on air in 1972 as KIVA-TV. It operated at about half of the class maximum (158 of 316 kW) from an antenna 410 feet (125 m) above average terrain. The station had always been an NBC affiliate.
Up until March 2007, KOBF had broadcast a fifteen minute Four Corners news, weather and sports segment, "Eyewitness News 12," during KOB news broadcasts every weekday at 6 pm & 10 pm. KOBF also produced four 5-minute news cut-ins every weekday morning during the Today show from 7 am-9 am with local news and weather information. KOBF also produced a local high school sports program called "Four Corners Gameday" every Friday night during the academic school year. Communities throughout the Four Corners region came to rely and depend on KOBF for local news, weather and sports information complimenting the statewide coverage from KOB in Albuquerque.
On March 1, 2007, most of the extra news and all of the extra sports content was ended for viewers of KOBF. KOB management fired three of the four members of the news department, in addition to two technical directors and the news director, Scott Michlin, who had been with KOBF for seventeen years. A similar practice of providing local newscasts had been done at KOBR, but to a much smaller extent. Those local broadcasts also ceased on March 1, 2007. KOBF and KOBR now serve as bureaus feeding a story or two each day for the statewide newscasts on KOB from Albuquerque. Each are staffed by one news reporter/photographer.
KOB, KOBF and KOBR's broadcasts became digital-only, effective June 12, 2009.[3]
KOBR has been a KOB satellite since 1983, after previously operating as a free-standing local station with a primary NBC affiliation and later as a satellite of NBC affiliate KCBD-TV in Lubbock, Texas. A separate article about KOBR includes more extensive details about the history of the Roswell station.
KOB formerly operated a third satellite station, KOBG-TV channel 6 in Silver City, which signed on in 2000. Its transmitter was located at 32°51′49″N 108°14′29.6″W / 32.86361°N 108.241556°W. KOBG had a permit to construct a digital station on channel 8, but these facilities were never built. After the digital transition on June 12, 2009, KOBG began operating with facilities on channel 12 identical to that of low-power translator stations under special temporary authority,[4] and was formally replaced with a translator (K12QW-D) on April 26, 2011,[5] though its license was not canceled until August 3.[6]
The last letter of the satellite station callsigns stands for the city or county where the station is located. KOBG was in Grant County.
In addition to KOB and its two satellite stations, there are dozens of low-powered repeaters that carry KOB's programming throughout New Mexico, as well as a handful in Colorado and Arizona.
News operation
KOB's newscasts identify themselves as Eyewitness News 4. Ordinarily, KOB airs five and a half hours of local news each weekday, three hours each Saturday, and an hour each Sunday. During the school year, KOB broadcasts a weekly 15-minute sportscast, "New Mexico Gameday," dedicated to high school sports.
KOB has a history of strong news talent. Despite this, it lost the ratings lead to KOAT-TV in the mid-1970s, and has been in second place ever since. The station's 1980 hiring of KOAT's top anchorman, Dick Knipfing, created the first big-dollar anchor in Albuquerque, and stood out in the industry as the "anchorman wars" moved to smaller markets. Knipfing's 1980 salary was approximately $90,000. However, channel 4 was never able to overtake KOAT in the news ratings, largely due to the staying power of anchor Johnny Morris and a folksy weatherman Howard Morgan. Knipfing, now in his third stint at KRQE, remains a fixture in the local TV news scene.
KOB produced an hour-long nightly newscast for Albuquerque's Fox affiliate, KASA, from September 2000 through September 14, 2006, called "Fox 2 News at Nine". The next day, KRQE took over production of that newscast as that station's parent company, LIN TV, began taking over KASA's operations as it purchased the station.
KOB began producing and broadcasting its newscasts in 16:9 widescreen standard definition on September 26, 2010, and debuted new on-air graphics and a new station logo (the logo used for its newscasts is very similar to that used by WABC-TV in New York City in its newscasts and Swedish television channel TV4 for its programming) on that date as well.
News/station presentation
Newscast titles
- New Mexico Newsreel (1950s)
- The Big News (1960s)
- Channel 4 News (-1970)
- TV-4 Eyewitness News (1970–1984)
- Eyewitness News Network(1984–1989)
- News 4 New Mexico/News 4 (1989–1994)
- Channel 4 Eyewitness News (1994–1998)
- (KOB) Eyewitness News 4 (1998–present)
Station slogans
- K Circle B
- New Mexico's Full Color Station
- Channel 4 is Alive in the Air
- Superstation KOB & Great Southwest Superstation
- We're There 4 You
- Eyewitness News Network, New Mexico's #1 Satellite Newscast
- When News Happens, You'll See it Happen on News 4
- New Mexico's Most Trusted News Source
- Live. Local. Latebreaking.
- Working 4 You
- All Local, All the time.
Newscast music
- KOB 1975 News Theme by unknown composer (1975–1977)
- Tap Root Manuscript: The African Suite by Neil Diamond (1977–1981)
- NewsCenter Theme by Michael Randall Music (1981–1983)
- Be There - NBC Affiliate Package by Rob Mounsey (1983–1984)
- KOB Eyewitness News Network Theme by unknown composer (1984-19??)
- News 88 by Tuesday Productions (19??-1989)
- KOB 1993 News Theme by unknown composer (1989–1994)
- Palmer News Package by Shelly Palmer Company (1994–1996)
- Third Coast by Stephen Arnold Music (1996–2003)
- News Matrix by Stephen Arnold Music (2003–present)
- Evolution by Stephen Arnold Music (2005–present)
On-air staff
Current on-air staff
Anchors (In alphabetical order)
- Nicole Brady - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
- Tom Joles - weeknights at 5, 6, 6:30 and 10 p.m.
- Danielle Todesco - Saturdays at 6 and 6:30, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m.; also reporter
- Chris Ramirez - Saturdays at 6 and 6:30, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m.; also 4 On Your Side Reporter
Pinpoint 4 Weather (In order of rank)
- Eddie Garcia - lead forecaster; weeknights at 5, 6, 6:30 and 10 p.m.
- Steve Stucker - meteorologist; weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.); also co-host
- Shar Spalding (AMS Seal of Approval; NWA member) - meteorologist; weekdays at noon and Saturday mornings (7-8 a.m.), also fill-in
- Jorge Torres (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; Saturdays at 6 and 6:30, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m.
Sports team (In order of rank)
- J.P. Murrieta - sports director; weekdays at noon and weeknights at 5, 6, 6:30 and 10 p.m.
- Lee Faria - sports anchor; Saturdays at 6 and 6:30, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m.
Reporters (In alphabetical order)
- Stuart Dyson - political reporter
References
- ↑ "KOB-AM-TV sale; official announcement made." Broadcasting - Telecasting, March 10, 1952, pg. 30.
- ↑ "Time sells KOB-AM-TV stations." Broadcasting - Telecasting, January 14, 1957, pp. 96-97.
- ↑ http://kob.com/article/593/
- ↑ "STA purpose statement" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. June 17, 2009. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
- ↑ "KOBG-TV Children's Television Programming Report". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
- ↑ Harding, Kevin R. (August 3, 2011). "Re: KOBG-TV, Silver City, New Mexico" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
External links
- KOB.com - Official KOB-TV Website
- NewMexico.ThisTV.com - Official This TV New Mexico Website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KOB
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KOBF
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KOB-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KOBF-TV
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||