Radio-TV Broadcast History
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KOKI-TV, commonly referred to as "Fox 23" or "Fox 23 Tulsa" is the Fox affiliate television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is owned by Newport Television. KOKI broadcasts from its studios on South Memorial Drive in Tulsa, and its transmitter is located in Broken Arrow. KOKI is a typical Fox station with almost 40 hours a week of news along with syndicated first run court/reality shows, off-network sitcoms and dramas, Fox primetime and Saturday late night network programming, and sports.

The station broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 22, using its former analog channel assignment of 23 as its virtual channel via PSIP. On cable, KOKI-TV can be seen on channel 5 on Cox Tulsa.

KOKI is a relative newcomer to the field of local newscasts in Tulsa. KOKI began offering local newscasts in 2002, but has made significant gains in news viewership.


Contents

[hide]*1 History

[edit] History

The channel 23 slot in Tulsa was first occupied by KCEB, an affiliate of the DuMont Television Network. That station signed off shortly after the failure of the DuMont network in December 10, 1954.

The current incarnation of channel 23 first hit the airwaves on October 23, 1980. It was an independent station, Tulsa's first. It was also the first completely new commercial station to sign on in Tulsa in 26 years. The station was owned by a local group of businessmen known as "Tulsa 23, Ltd." The programming was a blend of old movies, westerns, a few old sitcoms, drama shows, and cartoons. It was known as "Tulsa 23 - Oklahoma's Independent". The station had fairly good ratings, but the programming was lower budget than most independent stations, being that it was owned by a local ownership group with relatively modest resources.

In 1983, Time-Life Inc. (now Time Warner), the parent company of pay cable channel Cinemax, filed a federal trademark infringement lawsuit against KOKI over the use of the slogan "We Are Your Movie Star" (which Cinemax had used at that time). That October, KOKI won its case in Tulsa Federal District Court.

The station affiliated with the fledgling Fox network in 1986, but it remained essentially an independent station since Fox only provided a couple of hours of network programming a day (not programming seven nights a week of programming until 1993), eventually becoming branded as FOX23. In the late winter/early spring of 1990, KOKI was sold to Clear Channel Communications. Clear Channel significantly upgraded channel 23's programming, adding more recent sitcoms, better movies, and some first-run talk shows.

In the 1990s, KOKI moved toward more talk, reality and court shows and away from the classic sitcoms during daytime. More recent sitcoms were added to the schedule during the evening hours. The station began a local marketing agreement with then-independent station KTFO (channel 41) in 1994, shortly before that station (now a MyNetworkTV affiliate) affiliated with UPN in 1995. As the children's shows disappeared from syndication, KOKI moved toward even more talk and reality syndicated shows.

In 2001, Clear Channel merged all of its holdings in Tulsa, including KOKI and KTFO, and its radio stations from South Yale to a newly converted state-of-the-art building located at 31st and South Memorial Drive, formerly home to a Burlington Coat Factory store. On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations group to Providence Equity Partners.[1]

KOKI was seen in a fictional sense in the 2000 film Where the Heart Is, starring Natalie Portman. This was rather unusual since KOKI at the time only broadcast news from a small studio on an hourly basis, as opposed to the more developed news operation that the station has now.

[edit] Digital television

KOKI-DT broadcasts on digital channel 22.

Digital channels


Channel Name Programming
23.1 KOKI-DT Main KOKI/Fox HD programming

[edit] Analog-to-digital conversion

On June 12, 2009, KOKI abandoned its previous analog channel assignment of channel 23, and moved its digital channel assignment to channel 22. However, digital television receivers will continue to display KOKI's virtual digital channel as 23.

[edit] Programming

KOKI clears the entire Fox network schedule (nightly primetime, Saturday late night, and Fox Sports programming, the Weekend Marketplace informerical block on Saturday mornings, and the political talk show Fox News Sunday). However, Fox News Sunday airs one hour later than on most affiliates airing at 10AM due to a three-hour block of Degrassi: The Next Generation on Sunday mornings in order to comply with their weekly E/I programming requirements. KOKI, like most Fox stations, airs a mix of talk/court/reality shows in the daytime and sitcoms in the evening. KOKI is one of numerous Fox stations that carry Judge Judy (which airs before the 5PM newscast) and Seinfeld (which airs in late night). The station also airs The Insider and TMZ on TV weeknights after the late airing of The King of Queens, and airs weekend telecasts of the sitcoms it airs on weeknights.

The station is also the 'official station' of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, airing shows involving the team, including the weekly shows of the head coach of the university's basketball, baseball and football teams, hosted by sports director Steve Layman. The shows are also syndicated on Oklahoma City's Fox affiliate KOKH (which is the 'official station' for the Cowboys for the Oklahoma City market). The station is also the Tulsa area home of The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon airing each Labor Day on KOKI, it is one of a few stations not affiliated with NBC, CBS or ABC to air the telethon.

[edit] News operation

Prior to its full-scale newscasts in 2002, KOKI provided only daily, three-minute updates during daytime and Fox primetime programming from a small closet studio. At the time, it was one of only a few Fox stations not owned by the network with some local news presence, albeit KOKI's was a minor one. The station also produced "First Weather on FOX23", a five-minute weathercast that was launched on January 26, 1997 immediately following Fox's telecast of Super Bowl XXXI and ran until shortly before KOKI's newscasts debuted; airing nightly at 10 p.m., with minute-long updates at 10:35 and 11:05 p.m.

The station launched its news department with the debut of "FOX23 News at 9:00", a nightly hour-long local newscast that premiered on February 3, 2002 immediately following Fox's telecast of Super Bowl XXXVI, becoming the first independently produced newscast in the Tulsa market outside of the major-network affiliates (NBC affiliate KJRH (channel 2); CBS affiliate KOTV (channel 6); and ABC affiliate KTUL (channel 8)), since now-sister station KMYT (then KGCT) dropped local news in the early 1980s. In June of the same year, KOKI added a daily early evening newscast at 5:30 p.m. Then a year later, a daily 5 p.m. newscast was added, creating an hour-long block of news weekdays from 5-6 p.m., allowing the station to compete with KJRH, KOTV and KTUL.

KOKI launched a four-hour weekday morning newscast ("FOX23 News This Morning") in April 2006, airing from 5-9 a.m.; it is currently the only four-hour local morning newscast in the Tulsa market (although KOTV did run a four-hour morning newscast until 2008, when the 8-9 a.m. hour of "Six in the Morning" was moved to sister station KQCW, channel 19). Upon the morning newscast's launch, KOKI moved its syndicated children's program block to Sunday mornings. Two months later, it launched an hour-long noon newscast, which competes against only KOTV's noon newscast (KJRH's midday newscast airs an hour earlier at 11 a.m. while KTUL, like Oklahoma's other ABC affiliates, does not air local news at midday).

KOKI currently broadcasts 39½ hours of local news per week (7½ hours on weekdays and one hour each on weekends), more than any other individual television station in the Tulsa market or the state of Oklahoma. The station's current newscast schedule is very similar to that of the stations formerly owned by New World Communications which have since been purchased by Fox, as well as those that Fox formerly owned and sold to Local TV, LLC. The main difference being that KOKI does not currently have weeknight 6 p.m. newscasts, or any weekend morning and/or early evening newscasts.

On January 18, 2010, KOKI debuted a 10 p.m. newscast airing immediately following the existing 9 p.m. newscast, which will compete against the 10 p.m. newscasts on rivals KJRH, KTUL, and KOTV; this brought the station's weekdaily newscast output to 7½ hours. With the addition of the 10 p.m. newscast, as previously mentioned, the 6-6:30 p.m. time slot is now the only traditional local news time slot that KOKI does not program on weekdays. KOKI is the second Fox station in the state with both a 9 and 10 p.m. newscast; KOKH in Oklahoma City has had a 10 p.m. newscast that follows its hour-long 9 p.m. newscast since 2004.

[edit] FOX23 Solving Problems Unit

KOKI has also gained a reputation in the Tulsa area for its investigative team, the "Solving Problems" investigative unit. The station is one of several Fox stations carrying investigative reports. The team is assigned to help people with various problems, and has uncovered numerous scams. Originally called the "FOX23 Problem Solvers", the unit was rebranded to its current name in 2007, in order to avoid confusion with NBC affiliate KJRH's similarly-named investigative unit, now known as the "2NEWS Problem Solvers".

[edit] Ratings

In the February 2008 Nielsen ratings, KOKI's newscasts had significant growth in all newscasts. "Fox 23 News at 9:00" was ranked second overall in late news behind KOTV and ahead of KTUL and KJRH. KOKI-TV was named the number one Fox affiliate in the country, according to the November 2007 Nielsen ratings. [2]

[edit] News/station presentation

[edit] Newscast titles

  • Tulsa 23 Newscheck (1980-1986)[1]
  • First Weather on FOX23 (10 p.m. weathercast; 1997-2002)
  • FOX23 News (2002-present)

[edit] Station slogans

  • There's Only One, Tulsa 23 (1980-1983)
  • We Are Your Movie Star (1981-1983; promotional slogan, also used as Cinemax's first slogan around same time frame)[2]
  • Where the Stars Are (1983-1985)[3]
  • Tulsa 23, Oklahoma's Independent (1985-1987)
  • First. Complete. Local. (2002-2004)
  • Breaking News. Breaking Weather. Solving Problems. (2004-present)
  • Accurate. Dependable. (2009-present; weather slogan)

[2] This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.===[edit] Notable on-air staff===

[edit] Current on-air staff (as of September 2, 2010)[4]

Anchors

  • Mia Fleming - weekends at 9 p.m.; also weeknight and "Solving Problems" investigative reporter
  • Chera Kimiko - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 9 and 10 p.m.
  • Clay Loney - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 9 and 10 p.m.; also "Solving Problems" investigative reporter
  • Emily Sinovic - weekdays at noon; also reporter
  • Ann Sterling - weekday mornings "FOX23 News This Morning"
  • Ron Terrell - weekday mornings "FOX23 News This Morning"

FOX23 Local Weather First

  • James Aydelott (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 9 and 10 p.m.
  • Michael Haynes (AMS Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekends at 9 p.m.
  • Andrew Kozak (AMS Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekdays at noon
  • Michael Seger (AMS Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekday mornings "FOX23 News This Morning"

FOX23 Sports Buzz

  • Steve Layman - Sports Director; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 9 and 10 p.m.
  • Nathan Thompson - Sports Anchor; weekends at 9 p.m.; also sports reporter

Reporters

  • Abbie Alford - "Solving Problems" investigative reporter
  • Douglas Clark - general assignment reporter
  • Janna Clark - general assignment reporter
  • Bernadette Flores - morning reporter
  • Lyndsay Levingston - general assignment reporter
  • Adam Paluka - general assignment reporter

Former on-air staff

  • Anne Bassett - reporter (2006-2008)
  • Sarah Bennett - "Solving Problems" investigative reporter (2005-2007; now assistant communications director at The Assembly at Broken Arrow)
  • Dave Briggs - weekend sports anchor (2002-2004; now at Fox News Channel)
  • Jack Bunds - anchor (200?-200?; later sports director at KTUL)
  • Kenny Choi - sports anchor/reporter (200?-200?; now with Sportsnet New York)
  • Kaci Christian - reporter (2008-2009)
  • Joe Daues - 5 p.m. anchor/reporter (2002-200?; now anchor at KSPR in Springfield, MO)
  • Darren Dedo - 9 p.m. anchor (2002-2004; now at KCPQ in Seattle)
  • Vic "Golden Hammer" Faust - sports director (2002-2004; now weekend sports anchor at WXYZ in Detroit)
  • Faith Feagans - chief meteorologist (1997-1999; first on-air talent launching "First Weather on FOX23"; now college instructor in St. Louis)
  • George Flickinger - weekend meteorologist (2002-2005; now weekend morning meteorologist at KJRH)
  • Jeff Gradney - reporter (200?-200?; now at KTNV in Las Vegas)
  • Paul Heggen - weekend meteorologist (2005-2009; now weekday morning meteorologist at WSMV in Nashville)
  • Sheinelle Jones - 5 p.m. anchor (2003-2006, now morning anchor and reporter at WTXF in Philadelphia)
  • Dave Jordan - reporter (2003; now reporter at KWTV in Oklahoma City)
  • Kathy Kuretich - reporter (2005?-2007?)
  • Patricia Lopez - reporter (2002-2003; now reporter at WPIX in New York)
  • Rob Loeber - sports director (2004-2008)
  • Marianly Mendez - reporter (2007-2009)
  • Noelle Newton - reporter (200?-2007; now reporter at KVUE in Austin)
  • Jennifer Pierce - reporter (2001-2003; now weekend morning anchor at KWTV in Oklahoma City)
  • Markova Reed - weekend anchor (2002; now morning anchor at WREG in Memphis)
  • Barak Shapiro - morning meteorologist (2006-2008; now at KSLA in Shreveport, LA)
  • Jon Slater - chief meteorologist (2002-2008; now weeknight meteorologist at KOKH in Oklahoma City)
  • J.R. Stone - morning reporter (200?-2008; now reporting at WKMG in Orlando, FL)
  • Diane White - weekend anchor (2004-2006; now vice president of media and production and principal at Emerge Interactive Media in Tulsa)
  • Marcus Washington - reporter (2006-2008; now reporter at WTVF in Nashville)
  • Justin Wilfon - weekend anchor (2005-2008; now morning and midday anchor at KJRH)

References

*Tulsa TV Memories: KOKI-TV

External links

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