Radio-TV Broadcast History
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KRCR-TV/KAEF-TV
KRCR: Redding/Chico, California

KAEF: Arcata/Eureka, California

Branding KRCR Channel 7

KAEF Channel 23 (general) KRCR NewsChannel 7 (newscasts)

Slogan Accurate, Reliable

Severe Weather First Start Here

Channels Digital:

KRCR-TV: 7 (VHF) KAEF-TV: 22 (UHF)

Subchannels 7.1 HD

7.2 SD

Translators (see article)
Affiliations ABC
Owner Bonten Media Group, LLC

(BlueStone License Holdings, Inc.)

First air date KRCR-TV: August 1, 1956

KAEF-TV: August 1, 1987

Call letters' meaning KRCR-TV: Redding Chico Red Bluff

KAEF-TV: Arcata Eureka Fortuna

Former callsigns KRCR-TV: KVIP-TV (1956-1963)

KAEF-TV: KREQ (1987-1989)

Former channel number(s) Analog:

KRCR-TV: 7 (VHF, 1956-2009) KAEF-TV: 23 (UHF, 1987-2009) Digital KRCR-TV: 34 (UHF, 2003-2009)

Former affiliations Primary:

NBC (1956-1978) [2]Secondary: Fox (1986-1994)

Transmitter power KRCR-TV: 25 kW

KAEF-TV: 45 kW

Height KRCR-TV: 1103 m

KAEF-TV: 549.9 m

Facility ID KRCR-TV: 8291

KAEF-TV: 8263

Transmitter coordinates KRCR-TV:

40°36′9.8″N 122°39′0.2″W / 40.602722°N 122.650056°W / 40.602722; -122.650056 KAEF-TV: 40°43′41.9″N 123°58′21.4″W / 40.728306°N 123.972611°W / 40.728306; -123.972611 (KAEF-TV)

Website www.krcrtv.com (KRCR-TV)

www.kaeftv.com (KAEF-TV)

Contents[]

[hide]*1 History

  • 2 KAEF-TV
  • 3 Past ownership
  • 4 News/station presentation
    • 4.1 Newscast titles
    • 4.2 Station slogans
  • 5 On-air
    • 5.1 Current
    • 5.2 Notable former staff
  • 6 Digital television
    • 6.1 Analog-to-digital conversion
  • 7 Cable systems
  • 8 Translators
    • 8.1 Possible merger
  • 9 What Makes News Channel 7?
  • 10 Logos
  • 11 References
  • 12 External links

[edit] History[]

The station was founded in 1956 as KVIP-TV by William B. Smullin of California Oregon Broadcasting, Inc. (COBI), owners of KOBI in Medford, Oregon and KOTI Klamath Falls, Oregon as a primary NBC affiliate with a secondary ABC affiliation. The full ABC schedule was available by way of translators of Stockton's KOVR in Chico and Redding. Channel 7 became KRCR in 1963.

It suddenly flipped from a primary NBC affiliation to a full-time ABC affiliation in 1978, which in turn started the seven year process for building KCPM (now KNVN) shortly after. This was an unusual arrangement for a two-station market (especially one of Chico/Redding's size). A local ABC affiliate finally came to Northern California after 15 years of several unsuccessful attempts at ABC affiliates.

KRCR, KAEF, and KFWU (now KUNO) aired Fox full-time on off-network hours until 1994 when KCVU switched to Fox and KBVU signed on.

It was purchased by Lamco Communications of Texas in 1995, KRCR was operated by California Broadcasting, Inc., run by general manager Bob Wise, until 2004, when the station was sold to current owners Bluestone Television. Then in December 2006, the station was sold (along with 12 other Bluestone stations) to Diamond Castle Holdings, a New York-based private equity firm.

The station also operates a semi-satellite in Eureka, KAEF-TV (channel 23). It operated a local cable-only WB affiliate KIWB, but that station was sold to rival Catamount Broadcasting following the merger between the WB and UPN to form the new CW Network. KRVU was previously a UPN affiliate, but now is a My Network TV affiliate.

KRCR was one of very few ABC affiliates that broadcast on channel 7, but didn't use any kind of Circle 7 logo. However, that changed when it debuted its new set and its new logo on April 11, 2006.

Under COBI ownership, KRCR's logo was an interstate highway sign, with the name "7R", matching its sister stations. The "7R" was adopted due to TV Guide's reference to KRCR in text (non-bulleted) listings to differentiate it from KGO-TV San Francisco (both stations were listed in the Central California edition).

KRCR is now the dominant station in Northern California, placing #1 in all newscasts and is also #2 in profitability.

[edit] KAEF-TV[]

KAEF is a satellite station of KRCR, broadcasting primarily in Humboldt County, California. KAEF channel 23 broadcasts ABC programming and top syndicated programming. The local KAEF facility is located at 540 E St. in Eureka.

KAEF began broadcasting in 1987 under the call sign KREQ. Prior to 1987, ABC programming was available off-hours under secondary affiliation with KIEM and KVIQ. Later, KRCR was broadcast over the local cable provider. However, those residing in the coastal areas were unable to receive KRCR’s analog signal, thus necessitating the satellite station. In 1989, Channel 23 adopted the call letters K-A-E-F, (for Arcata, Eureka, Fortuna) and coastal residents of Humboldt County were able to receive off-air ABC programming.

KAEF shares some much of the same programming as KRCR, although KAEF does not currently offer a local news program. Review KAEF programming at [Titan TV][1]. KAEF airs local commercials and, with access to KRCR’s advanced weather technology, provides local weather updates throughout the day, and a weather brief each night at 11pm. KAEF’s traffic and broadcast functions are provided by KRCR.

[edit] Past ownership[]

  • California Oregon Broadcasting, Inc. (William B. Smullin, Founder) (1956-1995)
  • Sacramento Valley Television, Inc. (operators) (?-1990)
  • Lamco Communications (owners) & California Broadcasting, Inc. (operators) (1995-2005)
  • Bluestone Television (2005-2006)
  • Bonten Media Group, LLC (Bluestone License Holdings, Inc.)(current)

[edit] News/station presentation[]

[edit] Newscast titles[]

  • NewsBeat/NewsFinal (1970s)
  • 7R News (1970s-1980s)
  • The News/Northstate News (1980s-1995)
  • NewsChannel 7 (1995-present)

[edit] Station slogans[]

  • Your Local News Leader (1995-2006)
  • Your Local News Station (2006-2008)
  • Accurate, Reliable (2008-present; news slogan)
  • First With Severe Weather (2008; weather slogan)
  • Start Here (2008-present; localized version of ABC ad campaign)
  • Severe Weather First (2009-present; weather slogan)
This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.==[edit] On-air==

[edit] Current[]

Anchors/Reporters

  • Jennifer Scarborough - 5 and 5:30p.m. weekdays (News Director)
  • Mike Mangas - 5 and 5:30p.m. weekdays (Also a reporter)
  • Tim Mapes - 6:30pm and 11p.m. weeknights
  • Courtney Laydon - 6:30pm and 11p.m. weeknights (Also a reporter)
  • Colin McAvoy - Daybreak and Good Morning America cut-ins (Also a reporter)
  • Carrie Marchese - Good Morning America Sunday cut-ins and 6 and 11p.m. weekends (Also a reporter)
  • Orville Thomas - Good Morning America Saturday cut-ins and occasional co-anchor at 6 and 11 p.m. weekends (Also a reporter)

Weather

  • Chief Meteorologist Mike Krueger - 5, 5:30, 6:30, and 11p.m. weekdays and evenings (AMS/NWA)
  • (AMS) Chita Johnson - Daybreak and Good Morning America cut-ins
  • (AMS) Pete Wilkos Good Morning America Weekend cut-ins and 6 and 11 p.m. weekends

Sports

  • Eric Naktin - 5:30, 6:30, 11p.m. weekdays and evenings
  • Nick Emmons - 6 and 11p.m. weekends

[edit] Notable former staff[]

  • Cristina Mendonsa- General Assignment Reporter (Now at KXTV in Sacramento)
  • Marcey Brightwell- Anchor/ Reporter (Now at KXTV in Sacramento as a Political Reporter)
  • Cal Hunter - News Director/Anchor (now of KBLF Radio in Red Bluff)
  • Mark Eubank - Meteorologist
  • Kurtis Ming - Anchor/Reporter (Now Consumer/Investigative Reporter at KOVR in Sacramento
  • Jane Yamamoto- Anchor/ Reporter (Now at KTTV in Los Angeles)
  • Rich Eisen (now of NFL Network, formerly of ESPN)
  • Craig Padilla - Chief Creative Services Editor and Production Manager (Now full-time self-employed professional musician & video editor)
  • Katy Brown - News Reporter/Weather Anchor (Now sports director at KATU in Portland, Oregon)
  • Royal Courtain - Sports Anchor (formerly of KHSL-TV; Now with Charter Media in Chico)

[edit] Digital television[]

The station's digital channels are multiplexed:

KRCR:

Digital channels

Channel Programming
7.1 main KRCR-HD/ABC programming
7.2 main KRCR-SD/ABC programming

KAEF:

Digital channels

Channel Programming
23.1 main KAEF-SD/ABC programming

[edit] Analog-to-digital conversion[]

After the analog television shutdown scheduled for June 12, 2009 [2], KRCR-TV moved back to channel 7.[3]

KAEF currently does not broadcast in HD, but plans to broadcast an HD signal over the air and to the cable systems by fall of this year, possibly as a full-time repeater of KRCR-TV.

[edit] Cable systems[]

HD:

Cable Provider Area HD SD
Comcast Butte & Glenn Counties 707 7
Charter Shasta & Tehama Counties 787 7
New Day Broadband Eastern Shasta County/Trinity County/Quincy Coming Soon 7
Windjammer (SD via Translator, HD via satellite) Eastern Shasta County 707 7
Northland (SD via Translator, HD via satellite) Siskiyou County 402 7
CalNeva Broadband Chester & Lake Almanor Coming Soon 7
Suddenlink Humboldt County (KAEF) Coming Soon 7

KRCR will soon carry its HD signal to every cable/satellite company in the Northstate and on the coast by year's end. KRCR and area cable companies Comcast and Charter have had numerous contract disputes and the rural cable companies have been incapable of carrying broadcast HD signals.

Dish Network began broadcasting Chico/Redding HD locals on May 6, 2009, meaning smaller cable systems in the area will pick up HD feeds. No date has been announced by DirecTv on when they will be launching Chico/Redding HD locals. Additionally, Comcast began broadcasting HD to Chico on May 13, 2009. Comcast is also interested in taking over the Redding cable system owned by Charter, who is also interested in selling the Alturas system to Windjammer.

New Day Broadband is currently in the process of upgrading to digital cable, so HD may be offered later on. On the other hand, CalNeva Broadband in Chester is currently digital, but no HD of any sort is currently available. The company also acquired the cable system in Quincy from Quincy Community TV Association (Wave Broadband) and will feature the same exact lineup as in Weaverville and Palo Cedro, but with stations from Reno instead of Chico, but it will carry KRCR, KIXE, and KHSL.

Like many other HD channels on Charter Cable in Redding, KRCR-DT can be picked up on basic cable by connecting the cable directly into an HDTV with a built-in QAM tuner, channel 104.1. It can also be picked up the same way on Comcast Cable in Chico, corresponding directly to the over the air number.

On June 3, 2010, DISH Network began offering Eureka channels to residents in Humboldt and Del Norte counties.[4] DirecTV does not yet offer local channels in that market.

[edit] Translators[]

KRCR is rebroadcast on the following translator stations:

  • Butte County, California (Chico, Paradise, & Oroville)
    • K05EM-D Channel 5 Paradise Digital
    • K15CX Channel 15 Oroville Analog
  • Modoc County, California
    • K11LD Channel 11 Alturas May Go Digital
  • Plumas County, California (Sacramento market)
    • K59AU Channel 59 Chester Unknown
  • Shasta County, California
    • K02FF Channel 2 Lakehead May Go Digital
    • K03FU Channel 3 Mountain Gate Likely to shut down
    • K04EZ Channel 4 Big Bend Analog
    • K05DQ-D Channel 5 Burney Digital
  • Siskiyou County, California (Medford market)
    • K04EQ Channel 4 Fort Jones Likely to Shut Down
    • K05BR Channel 5 Dunsmuir Digital Fate Unknown
    • K13LO Channel 13 Yreka Digital Fate Unknown
    • K27BH Channel 27 Lake Shastina Likely to Shut Down
    • K33DI Channel 33 Weed Likely to Shut Down
  • Tehama County, California (Also Chester & Lake Almanor)
  • Trinity County, California (Weaverville, Lewiston, Hayfork, & Trinity Center)
    • K03CT Channel 3 Lewiston Analog
    • K04EM Channel 4 Hayfork Likely to Shut Down
    • K05CF-D Channel 5 Weaverville Digital
    • K05FZ Channel 5 Trinity Center Likely to Shut Down
    • K05EX Channel 5 Burnt Ranch Likely to Shut Down
  • Mendocino County, California (San Francisco market)
    • K04GZ Channel 4 Covelo Unknown
  • Humboldt County, California (Eureka market)
    • K05EQ Channel 5 Green Point Analog
    • K12JJ Channel 12 Benbow Analog
    • K34BW Channel 34 Willow Creek Analog

KAEF translators:

  • K20CN Channel 20 Fortuna
  • K36BT Channel 36 Blue Lake
  • K45DS-D Channel 45 Eureka Digital
  • K51EG Channel 51 Eureka Analog

The Weaverville translators serve nearly all of Trinity County with the use of one translator per station.

The fate of the Mt. Shasta and Yreka translators are unknown, but if they go digital, they will each serve a major portion of Siskiyou County, and the others will shut down.

Burney's translators are going digital, and will serve a large portion of eastern Shasta County.

Residents in the Chico area will soon have a digital fill-in translator, like KCVU and KHSL are doing in Redding and KIXE is doing in Chico.

[edit] Possible merger[]

There is a chance all of KAEF's translators could switch to KRCR because it (KRCR) is in the process of increasing its power to 25 kW or more which could be just enough to power the translators on the North Coast with a fair to good signal. Along with that, KAEF is (and has been) slowly becoming a full-time repeater of KRCR, and the cost of just upgrading KAEF to high definition with its own programming and commercial inserts would be substantial, and sourcing everything from KRCR would significantly reduce costs.

[edit] What Makes News Channel 7?[]

In the fall of 1995, Continental Cablevision of Mt. Shasta (now part of Northland Cable Television) filmed, produced and broadcast a 30-minute documentary special called "What Makes News Channel 7?" as part of its news magazine series In Focus: Siskiyou Magazine. It took a look behind the scenes of what went on at the station and mainly focused on the news team, featuring a behind-the-scenes look at how a newscast is done as well as interviews with key personalities such as Mike Mangas, Rich Eisen, Sandra Geist, Warren Wright, Gary Gunter and Katy Brown. The program aired on Mt. Shasta cable channel 3 in the winter and spring of 1996 and starting showing on YouTube and MySpace in February 2010. [5][6][7] It will soon be rebroadcast to the Mt. Shasta cable airwaves again on MCTV 15 sometime in 2010.

[edit] Logos[]

[edit] References[]

  1. ^ http://www.titantv.com/programming/channel.aspx/callsign/KAEFDT/channel/22/major/22/minor/1/sid/5549/pid/2095/cid/5549/network/ABC/pt/2/hd/1/lid/fdcbdcc2-ced9-46f0-a30a-804b8060caa8/date/20100225/
  2. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-138A2.pdf
  3. ^ CDBS Print
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ In Focus: Siskiyou Magazine Show #4: "What Makes News Channel 7?" - Part 1
  6. ^ In Focus: Siskiyou Magazine Show #4: "What Makes News Channel 7?" - Part 2
  7. ^ In Focus: Siskiyou Magazine Show #4: "What Makes News Channel 7?" - Part 3

[edit] External links[]

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