KSBY

KSBY

San Luis Obispo/Santa Barbara/Santa Maria, California
City of license	San Luis Obispo, CA
Branding	KSBY 6 (general) KSBY News (newscasts)
Slogan	Spirit of the Central Coast (general) Live, Local, News (news) "Get The Whole Story" (alternative)
Channels	Digital: 15 (UHF) Virtual: 6 (PSIP)
Subchannels	6.1 NBC 6.2 The CW
Translators	K10PV-D Santa Barbara
Affiliations	NBC
Network	NBC
Owner	Cordillera Communications (KSBY Communications, Inc.)
First air date	May 25, 1953
Call letters' meaning	a disambiguation of former sister station KSBW
Former callsigns	KVEC-TV (1953-57)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 6 (VHF, 1953-2009)
Former affiliations	All secondary: DuMont (1953-1956) ABC (1953-1960) CBS (1953-1969)
Transmitter power	1000 kW
Height	515 m
Facility ID	19654
Transmitter coordinates	35°21′37.3″N 120°39′21.4″W / 35.360361°N 120.655944°W / 35.360361; -120.655944 (KSBY)
Website	www.ksby.com

KSBY is the NBC affiliate television station for the Central Coast of California. The station covers San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria and Santa Barbara. The station is currently owned by Cordillera Communications, a subsidiary of Evening Post Industries. Its studios are located at 1772 Calle Joaquin off Highway 101 in San Luis Obispo. KSBY also maintains a Santa Maria Studio located at 2370 Skyway Drive, Ste 102 in Santa Maria, CA near the Santa Maria Airport. KSBY also carries programming from The CW on its DT2 channel, originally known to cable viewers as KWCA.

History

The station went on the air in May 1953, as KVEC-TV. The VEC stood for Valley Electric Company, which also built the original cable television system in San Luis Obispo, Sonic Cable. KVEC-TV was the first broadcasting station in the Central and South Coast, and aired programming from NBC, ABC, CBS, and DuMont. During its first four years on the air, the station was co-owned with radio station KVEC.

Ownership with KSBW

From 1957 to 1996, the station was a sister station to KSBW channel 8 in Salinas, which is why the station currently has a similar call sign. From 1957 to 1979, KSBY was largely a semi-satellite of KSBW, with the exception of local commercials, its local newscasts, and pre-empting the CBS network programming also carried by KCOY in adjacent Santa Maria. During this period, the KSBY sales office was located at co-owned Sonic Cable, and its local programming originated at the transmitter site. Also during this period, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties were becoming consolidated into a single market, and ABC programs also carried by KEYT in Santa Barbara were dropped. Finally, in 1969, KSBY became the sole NBC station for both counties. KSBY and KSBW were owned by Blair Broadcasting, beginning in 1979, until they were sold to Gillett Communications in 1986.

Ownership Changes

After Gillett restructured into SCI TV in the early 1990s, it sold KSBY and KSBW to EP Communications in 1994. EP, in turn, sold both stations to Smith Broadcasting in 1995. Almost immediately, KSBY was spun off to SJL Broadcasting in 1996 because Smith Broadcasting already owned rival station KEYT, and Federal Communications Commission rules of the time did not permit duopolies. Even today, common ownership of KEYT and KSBY would be a violation of FCC duopoly rules which forbid one entity to directly own two of the four largest stations in a single media market. In addition, the Santa Maria / Santa Barbara / San Luis Obispo market has only five full-power stations, which are too few to legitimately support a duopoly between full-power stations.

In September 2002, SJL sold KSBY to the second incarnation of New Vision Television, a company which was partially related to the most recent incarnation of that company that sold all of its stations to the LIN Media in 2012. Evening Post, KSBY's current owners, acquired the station in 2004.

Recent History

In 2006, the station was featured in an episode of The Surreal Life, in which the cast of the reality-based series were hired as anchors and reporters for the station's 6:30 p.m. newscast. Ryan Bennett, a one time KSBY Sports anchor from 1999-2006 died on May 31, 2006 in Utah in an accident.

Syndicated/NBC programming

Syndicated programming on KSBY includes: The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jeopardy!, and Wheel of Fortune. On September 10, 2012, it will add Family Feud, The Jeff Probst Show, and The Ricki Lake Show to the lineup.

KSBY currently airs Days of our Lives at 12 noon, an hour earlier than the 1pm recommended time slot.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

KSBY shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 6, on February 17, 2009, the original date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 15.^[2][3] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 6.

Rebroadcasters

KSBY also rebroadcasts its signal on translator station K10PV-D (formerly K59CD) in Santa Barbara. K10PV-D currently holds a permit to operate its digital signal on channel 10 and as of early 2010 has intermittently been on-air with two digital subchannels in Santa Barbara. A translator was previously operated in Springville on K11FU (owned by Springville Community TV) but the station's license was cancelled in December 2007.^[4]

Central Coast CW

KSBY-DT2 is the The CW affiliate for the Central Coast of California. The station is part of The CW Plus, and is carried on cable systems in San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria and Santa Barbara. It is available solely in standard definition on Central Coast cable systems on channel 5 and digitally over-the-air on KSBY channel 6.2 in high definition. Since May 2010, 10 p.m. newscasts produced by KSBY are carried on KSBY-DT2.

News operation

KSBY currently carries 24.5 hours of local news, with 4.5 hours on weekdays and only one hour on weekends. On weekdays, besides carrying a weeknight 10 p.m. newscast over on its second digital subchannel, a two-hour block is carried at 5 a.m., follows by a half-hour block at 5 p.m., one-hour block at 6 p.m., and a 35-minute wrap at 11 p.m. On weekends, KSBY carries half-hour news blocks at 6 and 11 p.m. Despite having new graphics in mid-2010, KSBY does not air newscasts at noon or weekend mornings. On September 26, 2011, began broadcast news in widescreen standard definition. Meanwhile, KSBW currently airs its newscasts in high definition as of August 25, 2010.

Anchor Change

Since late 2009, KSBY has made several anchor changes at the station. Shortly before the end of 2009, KSBY did not renew the contract of former anchor Shari Small, who was eventually replaced by Jeanette Trompeter,^[5] after Trompeter was laid off from her recent job at another station.^[6]

On September 27, 2010, Richard Gearhart announced during the evening newscasts that John Reger, the former anchor for KION/KCBA, will join Trompeter for the evening and late night newscasts while Gearhart will return to the morning team with co-anchor Carina Corral later on October 4.^[7] This comes a few months after a major anchor change at KSBY in which Gearhart was forced to temporarily co-anchor on weeknights after Tony Cipolla has departed KSBY on June 3.^[8]

Current on-air staff

Anchors

• John Reger - weeknights at 5, 6, 6:30, 10, and 11 p.m.
• Dan Shadwell - weekday mornings "KSBY News Daybreak" (5-7 a.m.)
• Jeanette Trompeter - weeknights at 5, 6, 6:30, 10, and 11 p.m.
• Victoria Johnson - weekends at 6, 10, and 11 p.m.
• Kathy Kuretich - weekday mornings "KSBY News Daybreak" (5-7 a.m.)

Weather

• Dave Hovde - weeknights at 5, 6, 6:30, 10, and 11 p.m. (AMS & NWA Seals of Approval and Certification)
• Richard Gearhart - weekday morning weather anchor "KSBY News Daybreak"
• Victoria Johnson - weekend weather anchor

Reporters

• Nikki Ibarra - general assignment reporter
• Caroline Lowe - Santa Maria Bureau chief/general assignment reporter
• Keli Moore - general assignment reporter
• Cameron Polom - general assignment reporter
• Connie Tran - general assignment reporter
• Hope Hanselman - general assignment reporter

Sports

• Andrew Masuda - sports director seen weekdays
• Bill Halter - weekend sports anchor and weekday sports reporter

News/station presentation

Newscast Titles

• Your Esso Reporter (1953-1960)
• The Central Coast Report (1960-1966)
• The 5th Hour Report/The 6th Hour Report/The 11th Hour Report (1966-1974)
• NewsCenter 6 (1974-1979)
• KSBY News (1979-1984)
• Action News (1984-1996)
• 6 Action News (1996-2007)
• KSBY 6 Action News (2007-2009)
• KSBY News (2009–present)

Station slogans

• KSBY-TV, Let's All Be There (1984-1986; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• Hello, Central Coast (1987-1991)
• Come Home to the Best, Only on Channel 6 (19??-19??; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
• Informed. Involved. In Touch. (Early 1990s)
• The Spirit of the Central Coast (1994-present)
• Get The Whole Story (2010–present alternative slogan)
• Live, Local, News (2012–present primary slogan)

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See also

• KVEC (AM)

References

External links

• KSBY's Official Website
• KSBY-TV @ Facebook
• Central Coast CW 5 Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KSBY
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K10PV-D
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KSBY-TV