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{{Pittsburgh TV}}
{{Pittsburgh TV}}
{{Johnstown/Altoona TV}}
{{CBS}}
{{CBS}}


Revision as of 07:48, 28 May 2006

{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:

{{Template disambiguation}} should never be transcluded in the main namespace.

KDKA-TV is the CBS owned and operated (O&O) television station in Pittsburgh. It broadcasts its analog signal on VHF channel 2, and its digital signal on UHF channel 25 from its transmitter in Pittsburgh.

History

As WDTV

The station went on the air on January 11, 1949 as WDTV, owned and operated by the DuMont Television Network. It originally broadcast on channel 3, moving to channel 2 in 1952 to alleviate interference with WNBK in Cleveland (now WKYC-TV, which for several years was a sister station to KDKA-TV).

At the time, Pittsburgh was the sixth-largest market in the country (behind New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington). However, WDTV's only competition came from UHF stations. In fact, no other commercial VHF stations signed on in Pittsburgh until 1957 (the only other VHF station in town was educational WQED-TV). At the time, UHF stations were unviewable without a very expensive converter. Even with a converter, the signals from these stations weren't very clear.

As a result, WDTV had a de facto monopoly on Pittsburgh television. Owning the only viewable station in such a large market gave DuMont considerable leverage in getting its programs cleared in large markets where it didn't have an affiliate. As CBS, NBC and ABC had secondary affiliations with WDTV, this was a strong incentive to stations in large markets to clear DuMont's programs or risk losing valuable advertising in the sixth-largest market. WDTV cleared the key DuMont network shows and rotated the other three networks' programming through its schedule, frequently on an every-other-week basis.

WDTV's sign-on was also significant because it was now possible to feed live programs from the East to the Midwest and vice versa. In fact, its second broadcast was the activation of the coaxial cable linking the two regions. It would be another two years before the West Coast received live programming, but this was the beginning of the modern era of network television.

By 1954, DuMont was in serious financial trouble. Paramount Pictures, which owned a stake in DuMont, vetoed a merger with ABC-who had merged with United Paramount Theaters, Paramount's former theater division, a year before. Since the FCC had ruled that Paramount controlled DuMont and there were still lingering questions about whether UPT had actually broken off from DuMont, Paramount didn't want to risk the FCC's wrath. Desperate for cash, DuMont was forced to sell WDTV to Westinghouse Electric Corporation for $9.75 million. While the sale gave DuMont a short-term cash infusion, it eliminated DuMont's leverage in getting clearances in other major markets. Within a year, the DuMont network was no more. Westhinghouse changed WDTV's calls to KDKA-TV, after KDKA-AM 1020, the station widely considered to be the first commercial radio station in the world. The station became a primary CBS affiliate, retaining secondary affiliations with NBC until 1957 (when WIIC-TV, now WPXI, signed on) and ABC until 1958 (when WTAE-TV signed on). It became the flagship station of Westinghouse's broadcasting arm, Group W.

(The WDTV calls now reside on a CBS in Weston, West Virginia, which is unrelated to the current KDKA-TV.)

As KDKA-TV

As a CBS affiliate, KDKA-TV dominated the ratings. It was not uncommon for newscasts anchored by Pittsburgh legend Bill Burns to draw a 50 percent share of audience (or higher). The station was known from the 1960s through the 1990s to pre-empt CBS programs that received low ratings, usually replaced by locally produced shows, high-rated syndicated programming, and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games. Even the daytime soap opera As The World Turns weren't immuned from this, as KDKA pre-empted the serial for most of its run, most notably in the 1960s (for movies), and from 1978 to 1990, where the 2 to 3PM hour usually reserved for the national CBS feed of ATWT was replaced by the popular talk program "Pittsburgh 2Day." After Pittsburgh 2Day's cancellation in 1990, KDKA would later give in to pressure from both CBS and ATWT fans to air the show.

Starting in 1993, KDKA stopped running CBS This Morning and instead ran syndicated Disney cartoons. As such, Pittsburgh became the largest market with a network affiliate running cartoons during the week.

In 1994 Westinghouse made a deal with CBS to convert the entire Group W television unit -- which included KDKA, KYW-TV in Philadelphia, WBZ-TV in Boston, WJZ-TV in Baltimore and KPIX-TV in San Francisco -- to CBS affiliates. KDKA and KPIX were already CBS affiliates; while KYW and WBZ were NBC stations and WJZ was an ABC station. The conversion was complete by the fall of 1995. Starting in the fall of 1994, KDKA began to run the entire CBS lineup with no pre-emptions, as mandated in Westinghouse's deal with CBS. In November 1995, Westinghouse merged with CBS, making KDKA-TV a CBS O&O after four decades as being simply a CBS affiliate. Viacom merged with CBS in 2000, making KDKA a sister station with Pittsburgh UPN affiliate WNPA-TV (now WPCW). Ironically, in 1994 Viacom had bought Paramount, which figured so prominently in DuMont's collapse, and in fact had announced plans to launch UPN prior to being acquired by Viacom.

In 2001, KDKA began producing a 10 p.m. newscast on WNPA. In 2005, KDKA launched a two-hour morning newscast on WNPA, now known as UPN Pittsburgh.

Today, KDKA-TV is owned by CBS Television Stations, while KDKA Radio is owned by CBS Radio. Both companies are subsidiaries of the CBS Corporation.

KDKA-TV used the distinct "stylized 2" "Group W" font for its logo for some years after it became a CBS O&O, dropping it in 2003 in favor of a plainer "2." (See below.) Its radio sister still uses the Group W font.

KDKA is also available on cable in the Johnstown and Altoona areas.

"CBS2"?

After KDKA dropped the Group W font, it adopted a much plainer logo similar to that of other CBS O&Os. The logo was misread by some as "KDKA CBS2" rather than simply "KDKA 2." This led to speculation that the station might soon call itself "CBS2", following the lead of WCBS-TV in New York, KCBS-TV in Los Angeles and WBBM-TV in Chicago in the near future. This was reinforced when the station updated the logo again in September 2005, this time more mimicking that of WBBM-TV.

Many Pittsburghers are upset that KDKA would even consider changing its on-air name to "CBS2" because of the KDKA call letters' 86-year history in Pittsburgh. Even though KDKA has long been with CBS, it is widely recognized that "KDKA" has more of a marketing advantage than "CBS2."

The switch has met with mixed results in other markets. KCBS has been an also-ran in Los Angeles for most of the last 30 years, and calling itself "CBS2" hasn't made much of a difference. Similarly, WCBS-TV has been in last place in New York for most of the decade, and the change to "CBS 2" hasn't brought it any closer to its glory days in the 70s and 80s. WBZ-TV, one of NBC's strongest affiliates, plummeted after the switch to CBS, and hasn't had much better luck since it began calling itself "CBS4".

Then again, KYW-TV was NBC's lowest-rated major-market affiliate for over a decade and continued to struggle after joining CBS, but saw a ratings revival after it became "CBS3". Also, WBBM-TV struggled for much of the mid-1990s, even after becoming "CBS2", but has seen a ratings revival in recent years. San Francisco sister station KPIX-TV was rebranded as "CBS5" in 2003, but its newscasts remained among the highest-rated local newscasts among CBS stations. Only time will tell if KDKA will follow suit, but for now, the station will still be known on-air as "KDKA".

Of note, there is one other CBS O&O broadcasting on channel 2 with a different branding than "CBS2", Utah's KUTV-which currently goes by the on-air name of "2News". WCCO-TV in Minneapolis uses its call letters as its main on-air name of "WCCO 4". And WJZ-TV in Baltimore also uses its calls as the on-air branding "WJZ 13."

Station trivia

  • Pop singer Christina Aguilera made her first TV appearance on KDKA-TV.
  • KDKA was also the home of early work by comedian and Pittsburgh native Dennis Miller, who in the early '80s hosted a local weekend entertainment show called Punchline that was produced by KDKA.
  • KDKA is credited with the first "network" TV feed in world history.
  • The station had the world's first father-daughter broadcast team. Beginning in the 1970s, KDKA's noon news broadcast was anchored by veteran Pittsburgh anchorman Bill Burns and his daughter Patti Burns, often referred to as the "Patti and Daddy show."
  • The station is one of the few east of the Mississippi River (along with KYW) whose call letters begin with "K."
  • KDKA is one of only four CBS O&O stations (in addition to KUTV in Salt Lake City, WCCO in Minneapolis and WJZ in Baltimore) that doesn't use the "CBS Mandate" for the on-air name (CBS [channel #] [city/market descriptor]).

Station Images

  • KDKA logo used from approximately 2001.
    KDKA logo used from approximately 2001.
  • KDKA logo used from approx. 2003-2005. This was a cobbled-together logo introduced after station manager Gary Cozen directed the station to drop it's heritage Westinghouse typeface.
    KDKA logo used from approx. 2003-2005. This was a cobbled-together logo introduced after station manager Gary Cozen directed the station to drop it's heritage Westinghouse typeface.
  • Current graphics seen on KDKA. This is a version inspired by WBBM-TV in Chicago. They switched to these grapics in mid September of 2005.
    Current graphics seen on KDKA. This is a version inspired by WBBM-TV in Chicago. They switched to these grapics in mid September of 2005.
  • Former KDKA morning anchor Bruce Pompeiani. He was fired from the station on January 7, 2005 after being accused of sexual harassment. [1]
    Former KDKA morning anchor Bruce Pompeiani. He was fired from the station on January 7, 2005 after being accused of sexual harassment. [1]
  • This is a picture of KDKA's main anchor team from late 2004. The anchor team has since lost hometown favorite Jennifer Antkowiak.
    This is a picture of KDKA's main anchor team from late 2004. The anchor team has since lost hometown favorite Jennifer Antkowiak.
  • This was used as a stinger for KDKA back around 2001-2005. A Hometown Hello was when a group would say "We're ____ and we'd like to wish you a hometown hello!" This would be used as a return from commercial for the weather.
    This was used as a stinger for KDKA back around 2001-2005. A Hometown Hello was when a group would say "We're ____ and we'd like to wish you a hometown hello!" This would be used as a return from commercial for the weather.
  • KDKA station logo from 1999 to 2003
    KDKA station logo from 1999 to 2003
  • KDKA station logo from 2003 to 2005
    KDKA station logo from 2003 to 2005

Newscasts

Weekdays

  • KDKA-TV Morning News - 5:00-7:00 a.m.
  • Pittsburgh Today Live - 10:00-11:00 a.m.
  • KDKA-TV News at Noon - 12:00-12:30 p.m.
  • KDKA-TV News at 4 - 4:00-5:00 p.m.
  • KDKA-TV News at 5 - 5:00-6:00 p.m.
  • KDKA-TV News at 6 - 6:00-7:00 p.m.
  • KDKA-TV News at 11 - 11:00-11:35 p.m.

Saturdays

  • KDKA-TV Saturday Morning - 6:00-8:00 a.m.
  • KDKA-TV News at 6 - 6:00-6:30 p.m.
  • KDKA-TV News at 7 - 7:00-7:30 p.m.
  • KDKA-TV News at 11 - 11:00-11:35 p.m.

Sundays

  • KDKA-TV News at 6:30 - 6:30-7:00 p.m.
  • KDKA-TV News at 11 - 11:00-11:35 p.m.
  • #1 Cochran Sports Showdown - 11:35-12:05 a.m.

Current On-Air Personalities

Anchors:

Weather:

Sports:

Heath Team:

Reporters:

Former On-Air Personalities

Local Programming

Past

Present

Contact Info

KDKA-TV
One Gateway Center
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Main Switchboard: 412-575-2200
News Desk 2: 412-575-2245
Newsroom Fax: 412-575-2871
Consumer Editor Yvonne Zanos: 412-575-2234
Marketing: 412-575-3275
Programming: 412-575-2347
Engineering: 412-575-2439
Public Events/Talent Appearances: 412-575-2365

External links

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=KDKA-TV&diff=prev&oldid=55539136

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