KTLA

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KTLA

Los Angeles, California
Branding	KTLA5 The CW
Slogan	KTLA5 The CW: Where LA Lives
Channels	5 (VHF) analog, 31 (UHF) digital
Translators	See list of rebroadcasters, below
Affiliations	CW, The Tube on DT.5
Owner	Tribune Company (KTLA, Inc.)
Founded	January 22, 1947 (originally experimental W6XYZ 1942-1947)
Call letters meaning	Television Los Angeles
Former affiliations	DuMont (1947-1948) Independent (1948-1995) The WB (1995-2006)
Transmitter Power	44.7 kW/976 m (analog) 1000 kW/948 m (digital)
Website	ktla.trb.com

KTLA, channel five, is a television station in Los Angeles, California. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW television network. The station's signal covers the Southern California region, and KTLA is also available as a regional superstation via cable and satellite in the United States and Canada.

From January 1995 to September 2006, KTLA had been an affiliate of the WB television network. Prior to 1995, KTLA was one of the leading independent stations in the country.

[edit] History

Originally owned by Paramount Pictures subsidiary Television Productions, Inc., and located on the Paramount studio lot, the station was licensed by the FCC in 1939 as experimental station W6XYZ, on channel four, but did not go on the air until September 1942. Klaus Landsberg, already an accomplished television pioneer at the age of 26, was the station manager. On January 22, 1947, it was licensed for commercial broadcast as KTLA on channel five, becoming the first commercial television station to broadcast west of the Mississippi River. Estimates of television sets in the Los Angeles area at the time ranged from 350 to 600.

Bob Hope served as the emcee for KTLA's inaugural broadcast, which was broadcast that evening from a garage on the Paramount Studios lot. The program, titled as the "Western Premiere of Commercial Television", featured appearances from many Hollywood luminaries. Hope delivered what was perhaps the most famous line of the evening when, at the program's start, he identified the new station as "KTL", mistakenly omitting the "A" at the end of the call sign.

KTLA originally carried programming from Paramount's partner, DuMont, but discontinued the practice after the 1947-48 season. The KTLA-Paramount-DuMont relationship would later play a large role in the failure of the DuMont network, whose programming was splintered among other Los Angeles stations until the network's demise in 1956. In 1958, KTLA moved to the Paramount Sunset Studios on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, now the Warner Sunset Studios.

In 1964, KTLA was purchased by actor and singer Gene Autry and merged with his other radio properties (including Los Angeles' KMPC) into an umbrella company, Golden West Broadcasters. From 1964 to 1995, the station was the broadcast TV home of the Los Angeles/California Angels baseball team, also owned by Autry. KTLA carried selected Los Angeles Lakers games from the early-to-mid 1970s. During the 1970s, KTLA became one of the nation's first superstations, and was eventually carried on cable systems across much of the country west of the Mississippi.

In the 1960s and 1970s, KTLA ran a mix of syndicated westerns, drama shows, first-run talk shows, movies, and pro sports. It also launched a 10 p.m. newscast in the 1960s, the simply-titled News at Ten (now KTLA Prime News). In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the station added syndicated sitcom reruns into the mix.

[edit] The '80s and '90s

KTLA continued with this format into the 1980s. In 1982, Golden West sold KTLA to investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for US$245 million. In 1985 Kohlberg Kravis Roberts sold KTLA to Tribune Broadcasting. Under Tribune, they continued to acquire high rated off-network sitcoms as well as talk shows. In July 1991, KTLA added the first live, local morning newscast, the KTLA Morning News, to compete with major network morning shows. At first, the KTLA Morning News suffered from low ratings. However, the ability to cover breaking news live (as opposed to the network morning programs, which were aired on a three-hour tape delay) attracted more viewers to channel five. As time went on, the KTLA Morning News has enjoyed great ratings success, generally ranking number one in its main 7-9 a.m. time period. The program's success spawned rival KTTV to launch its own local morning program, Good Day L.A., in 1993.

In March 1991, KTLA was the first station to air the infamous video of the Rodney King beating by Los Angeles police. From 1994 to 1995 the station aired near gavel to gavel coverage of the O. J. Simpson trial.

[edit] The WB comes to KTLA

In January 1995, KTLA became a charter affiliate of the WB Television Network, in which KTLA's parent company Tribune held a 25 percent ownership stake. That fall, KTLA added an afternoon cartoon block from Kids' WB, entering the kids business for the first time in years. KTLA also broadcasts the annual Tournament of Roses Parade live from the city of Pasadena as well, with Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards as the commentators since 1978. The station has aired the Rose Parade since 1948, and while other local stations also broadcast the parade (most notably, one-time Sunset Boulevard neighbor, KTTV) over the years, KTLA remains the sole English-language outlet in the Los Angeles area to continuously broadcast the Rose Parades. The station has also returned as host broadcaster of the Hollywood Christmas Parade (which is syndicated to all Tribune and WB stations).

Tribune merged with Times Mirror, parent company of the Los Angeles Times, in 2000, bringing the Times into common ownership with KTLA. Ironically, the Times had been the original owner of Los Angeles' Fox O&O, KTTV.

[edit] "Where L.A. Lives"

The station launched a new branding campaign in January 2005, which omitted all references to its channel 5 position (Although when rebranding as The CW, the Channel 5 reference would return). It adopted a new logo, and became known on the air as KTLA The WB: Where L.A. Lives." The new look also featured a brand new black and orange color scheme for news broadcasts and other functions of the network.

In January 2006, the weekday Monday–Friday Kids' WB block was discontinued in favor airing an afternoon block of off-network programming including ER and 8 Simple Rules .

[edit] The CW

On January 24, 2006, Time-Warner and CBS Corporation announced it would be ceasing operations on its The WB and UPN networks in September 2006, and have created a joint-venture to form a network, The CW. KTLA became the Los Angeles affiliate of the new network. KCOP-TV became the area's My Network TV affiliation. The network offically rebranded themself as KTLA 5 The CW on September 18th, 2006.

[edit] KTLA Today

Today, KTLA is a typical CW affiliate running the usual blend of syndicated shows such as first-run talk and reality shows, off-network sitcoms and dramas, cartoons from Kids' WB, first-run prime time programming from the CW, early morning and 10 p.m. newscasts, and sports. KTLA is the over-the-air home of the Los Angeles Clippers; the station carried Clippers games from 1984 to 1991, and picked them up again in 2002 and was also the TV home of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1993-2001. Although not as wide-spread in national carriage as its Chicago sister station, WGN-TV, KTLA is available via satellite as a superstation, through out North America on Ku-band, C-band, and Dish Network systems, as well as on cable systems in selected cities throughout the Southwestern part of the United States and in Canada nationwide.

KTLA offers around 30 hours per week of local news, and its 10 p.m. newscast was #1 rated for decades until KTTV took the No. 1 spot consistently since 2000. The KTLA Morning News continues to be #1 though. This is one of many major stations in Los Angeles offering plenty of local news. However, they do not yet offer an early evening and midday newscast. They still run many syndicated sitcoms in the evenings, such as My Wife and Kids, Friends, and Everybody Loves Raymond.

KTLA is also home to Tribune Studios, where shows like Family Feud (current version), Greed, Fox's Celebrity Boxing specials, WKRP in Cincinnati, Judge Judy, Name That Tune (Tom Kennedy and Jim Lange versions), The Newlywed Game, and Judge Joe Brown have been produced over the years.

[edit] Potential Sale

In early November of 2006 the Tribune Company announced it would seek buyers for its stations in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. Tribune owns newspapers in all three cities, in New York City and Los Angeles they are operating under a temporary waiver but with the stations all coming up for license renewal in December 2006, Tribune is seeking a buyer in case they can't get a permanent waiver.

[edit] Logos

KTLA's first logo, with the Paramount mountain logo as backdrop, was used from 1947 to 1955	KTLA logo from 1977 to 1981	KTLA's first logo with the newly-stylized "5". This ident was used from 1981 to 1991	KTLA logo from 1991 to 1995
KTLA's first WB era logo, used from 1995-1997	KTLA's second WB logo, used from 1997 to 2004	KTLA's final WB logo, used from 2005 to September 2006	KTLA's current "KTLA5: The CW" logo

[edit] News operation

Several of its well-known evening news anchors include Hal Fishman and the late Larry McCormick, who died after a long illness in September 2004. Its veteran field reporters a Stan Chambers and Warren Wilson (who has since retired). Stu Nahan and Ed Arnold (who now anchors KOCE-TV's Real Orange) were formerly the sports anchors. Accompanying his news anchoring career, McCormick also hosted KTLA's own public affairs production called Making It!, which featured stories on the entrepreneurial successes of ethnic minorities.

KTLA News has a special partnership with the Los Angeles Times, which has been co-owned with the station since 2000. In 2005 according the Nielsen ratings KTLA's Morning News Show was #1 in Los Angeles, beating Good Day L.A. on KTTV 11.

Over the years, KTLA's newscasts have become more tabloid-based in nature, perhaps to compete with KTTV. Both stations have rivaled each other in ratings for many years. As part of the change, KTLA has placed more emphasis in entertainment news, and has featured personalities including Mindy Burbano Stearns, Zorianna Kitt, and recently Ross King as entertainment reporters. In 2004, KTLA debuted a reality show segment on its morning news titled The Audition, in which several actors and actresses competed for a role as weathercaster on KTLA's 10 p.m. Newscast. Ross King was the winner in the first installment, and Jessica Holmes, of Nickelodeon fame, won in the second and is now their morning traffic reporter. Although KTLA does not cover police pursuits like other stations, they have put more emphasis in local crime stories, as opposed to politics, health, and other serious news. As part of the 2005 graphics change, KTLA's graphics were significantly modernized, and a new, futuristic-looking set was constructed for their newscasts.

On May 29, 2006, the KTLA Morning News became The KTLA Morning Show. On August 7 of the same year, KTLA extended their Morning Show news broadcast by an hour, creating five straight hours of news between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m.

KTLA has also created synergy between Tribune Company entities. For example, entertainment reporter Sam Rubin is often seen on WGN in Chicago. Ron Olsen also frequently reports on upcoming stories in the Los Angeles Times from the paper's headquarters in Downtown L.A.

During the 1970s, KTLA operated a well-equipped helicopter known as the "Telecopter" for its news operations; the Telecopter was the most advanced airborne television broadcast device of its time, but was ultimately sold to another LA station.

[edit] Trivia

KTLA gained a bit of notoriety among fans of the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 on November 30, 1991 with the airing of their mockery of the movie War of the Colossal Beast. In the movie, there are scenes of a KTLA news anchor predicting where the title character Glen Manning will end up next. That anchor is the real KTLA reporter Stan Chambers, with the station since the beginning and still reporting daily from the field in 2006. The anchor ends up pronouncing the station's call letters as "KIT-lah". In a skit segment later in the show, Joel Robinson, portrayed by Joel Hodgson, mocks the anchor's "KTLA Predicts" style of newsreading. The phrase "KTLA Predicts" became a catchphrase among fans of the show.

[edit] Controversies

In 2004, Zorianna Kit, an entertainment writer for People and the Hollywood Reporter, was installed as an on-air reporter despite her having no television experience (although she was a panelist on the short-lived "AMC Movie Club with John Ridley"). Kit then raised ethical questions in January 2005 when she was critical of the appointment of Brad Grey to head Paramount Pictures (the aforementioned original owners of KTLA) on the air. She did not tell viewers that her husband, producer Bo Zenga, had sued Grey over profits from the film Scary Movie. The Los Angeles Times reported the issue and in mid-January, Kit apologized on-air: "I did not make the disclosure of a personal connection during my January 6 report, and I want to make it clear now."[1]. Kit left KTLA in July 2005.

In January 2006, KTLA management came under fire for changing the hosts for the station's annual broadcast of the Rose Parade in Pasadena. Stephanie Edwards, who emceed the parade for nearly three decades with Bob Eubanks, was moved out of the booth and became a street reporter, interviewing bystanders. She was replaced by Michaela Pereira in the booth. The move was widely seen as insensitive and created a storm of controversy, including a scathing column by Patt Morrison in the Los Angeles Times, which, like KTLA, is owned by Tribune Company. This situation was made worse by the fact that it was raining that day, and Edwards was forced to stay out in the rain.

Another ethical issue bubbled up in late February 2006 when the Pasadena Star-News reported that the three KTLA personalities -- Carlos Amezcua, Sam Rubin and Michaela Pereira -- accepted free rooms at the recently renovated Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena. The station was broadcasting an entire "Morning News" from Pasadena, although the hotel was not specifically mentioned. Still, it was widely seen as a significant ethical lapse, one that violated Tribune Company guidelines.

On March 4, 2006, the Los Angeles Times [2] reported that Michaela Pereira had accepted $10,000 worth of furniture for her Pasadena home. The furnishings, delivered in September 2005, were to be part of a "Extreme Home Makeover" segment on the "Morning News." But the segment never aired and the furniture company was never paid. The company said that it was under the impression that the work was in exchange for favorable coverage.[3]

[edit] Personalities

[edit] Present

Carlos Amezcua - morning news anchor
Gayle Anderson - morning news reporter and anchor
Damon Andrews - evening sports anchor
Frank Buckley - weekend news anchor (occasional substitute for Hal Fishman)
Cher Calvin - morning news anchor
Janet Choi - field reporter/special assignments
Jaime Chambers - field reporter
Stan Chambers - field reporter
Leila Feinstein - evening news anchor
Hal Fishman - evening news anchor and commentary
Ted Garcia - weekend news anchor
Jessica Holmes - Morning traffic from KTLA SkyCam
Ross King - evening entertainment news / field reporter
Kurt Knutsson - technology
Mark Kriski - morning weather
Bob McCormick - business news
Emmett Miller - morning news anchor
Ron Olsen - field reporter reporting from Los Angeles Times office
Lu Parker - weekend news anchor (occasional substitute for Leila Feinstein)
Michaela Pereira - morning news anchor
Walter Richards - field reporter
Lynette Romero - field reporter
Sam Rubin - entertainment
Willa Sandmeyer - field & traffic reporter
Analia Sarno Riggle - spanish language translator (SAP) for evening news
CommanderChuck Street""- Morning Traffic from Mountain Dew/Pepsi Jet Ranger 1
Bill Smith - field reporter
Marta Waller - health, occasional news anchor

[edit] Past

Larry McCormick - evening news anchor and host of Making It! - Passed away in 2004
Ed Arnold - sports anchor
Stu Nahan - sports anchor
Warren Wilson - field reporter
Jennifer York [4] - traffic (from helicopter) - Now a radio personality for KFSH-FM
Roland Galvan - evening weather
Desiree Horton - morning traffic
Sharon Tay - morning news anchor (initially an evening news anchor and field reporter)
Claudia Trejos - Weekend Sports Anchor
Mindy Burbano Stearns (Mindy Burbano) Entertainment Reporter - Returned as substitute entertainment reporter for Ross King on July 24, 2006
Barbara Beck - morning news anchor
Michele Ruiz - morning news reporter
Terry Anzur - evening news anchor
Giselle Fernández - morning news anchor

Tom Hatten - longtime KTLA personality 1956-1992, hosted Popeye cartoons and Family Film Festival [5]

[edit] Previous Owners

1947–64: Paramount Pictures Corporation (also owned a stake in the DuMont Television Network, and WBKB-TV, now CBS-owned WBBM-TV; of note both stations were considered by the FCC to be DuMont O&O's, leading to the collapse of DuMont)
1964–82: Golden West Broadcasters
1982–85: Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co.
1985–present: The Tribune Company, via its Tribune Broadcasting division

[edit] Newscast Titles

Channel 5 News at Ten (1960s-1997)
KTLA News @ Ten (1997-2005)
KTLA News (1990s)
KTLA Prime News (2005-present)
KTLA Morning News (1991-2006)
KTLA Morning Show (2006-present)

[edit] Movie Umbrella Titles

The Channel 5 Movie Theatre (1969-1997)
The Big Picture (1997-1999)
The Family Film Festival (1976-1991)
The Weekend Film Festival (1991-1997)
The KTLA Weekend Film Festival (1997-present)
The Channel 5 Saturday Movie Theatre (1986-1990s)
Movie for a Saturday/Sunday Evening (1977-1995)
The KTLA Saturday Night Movie (1997-2005)
The KTLA Saturday Night Screening Room (2002-present)
The KTLA Saturday Cinema Showcase (2002-present)
The KTLA WB Sunday Night Movie (1997-2002)
Movies 'Til Dawn (1969-2004)
Channel 5 Movie Special (1979-1997)

[edit] Station Slogans

The Number One Prime Time News Hour (1970s)
The WB 5, in LA! (1995-1997)
KTLA 5, LA's WB (1998-2004)
KTLA, the WB, Where L.A. Lives (2005-2006)

KTLA, the CW, Where L.A. Lives (2006-present)

[edit] Rebroadcasters

KTLA is rebroadcast on the following translator stations:

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Official Site
Query the FCC's TV station database for KTLA
Aerial photo of KTLA transmitter from Google Local
Look Out, W6XAO, Here Comes Paramount Metropolitan News-Enterprise column on KTLA when it broadcast as experimental TV station W6XYZ, taking on the sole existing experimental station in L.A. (now KCBS).
A Tale of Two Stations Metropolitan News-Enterprise column on operations in the 1940s of the stations that are now KTLA, Channel 5 (then W6XYZ, Channel 4) and KCBS, Channel 2 (then W6XAO, Channel 1)
BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information about Television Station KTLA

Coordinates: 34° 13' 36" N 118° 3' 56" W

Superstations in North American markets
United States: KTLA \| KWGN \| WAPA \| WGN / US feed \| WKAQ \| WPIX \| WSBK \| WTBS \| WWOR / EMI
Mexico: XEFB \| XEW \| XHAW \| XHDF \| XHGC \| XHIMT
See Also: American networks \| List of American Over-The-Air Networks \| Local American TV Stations (W) \| Local American TV Stations (K) \| Canadian networks \| Local Canadian TV Stations \| Mexican networks \| Local Mexican TV Stations \| Superstations \| North American TV \| List of local television stations in North America

Broadcast television in the Los Angeles market (Nielsen DMA #2)
KCBS 2 (CBS) - KNBC 4 (NBC) - KTLA 5 (The CW) (The Tube on DT5) - KSFV-LP 6 (Ind/Spanish/Religious) - KABC 7 (ABC) - KCAL 9 (Ind) - KTTV 11 (Fox) - KCOP 13 (MNTV) - KSCI 18 (Ind) - KWHY 22 (Ind/Spanish) - KVCR 24 (PBS) - KNET-LP 25 (Ind/Infomercials) - KNLA-LP 27 (Ind/Spanish) - KCET 28 (PBS) - KPXN 30 (i) - KMEX 34 (UNI) - KPAL-LP 38 (Ind) - KSKJ-CA 38 / KSKP-CA 25 (Ind) - KTBN 40 (TBN) - KXLA 44 (Ind) - KLAU-LP 45 (Ind/Infomercials) - KFTR 46 (TFU) - KOCE 50 (PBS) - KVEA 52 (TEL) - KAZA 54 (AZA) - K55KD 55 (Almavision) - KDOC 56 (Ind) - KJLA 57 / KSMV-LP 33 / KSGA-LP 64 (Ind) - KLCS 58 (PBS) - KRCA 62 (Ind) - KBEH 63 (Ind) - KHIZ 64 (A1) - KHTV-LP 67 (HSN)
Local digital television channels
KVMD 23 (Ind/A1)
Local cable television channels FSN West - FSN Prime Ticket
Past broadcast stations KKOG 16 (IND) - KVST / KEEF 68 (non-commercial)

WB Network Affiliates in the state of California Note: Networks in parenthesis indicate affiliations starting September 2006. Also, stations in bold are cable-only stations.
"KCWB" 5 (Palm Springs, The CW) - KTLA 5 (Los Angeles, The CW) - "KWCA" 5 (San Luis Obispo, ND) - "KIWB" 10 (Chico, ND)¹ - "KWFB" 12 (Bakersfield, ND) - "KMWB" 14 (Monterey, ND) - KBWB 20 (San Francisco, Ind)¹ - "KWBT" 31 (Eureka, ND)¹ - KQCA 58 (Sacramento, MNTV) - KFRE 59 (Sanger / Fresno, The CW) - KSWB 69 (San Diego, The CW)
¹The CW and My Network TV affiliations have already been decided in this market.
See also: ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, PBS, UPN, Telefutura, Telemundo, Univision, Independent, Other Spanish Network, Religious, Home Shopping and Other stations in California

CW Network Affiliates in the state of California

KGET-DT 17.2/"KWFB" (Bakersfield) - KCWQ-LP 2 (Palm Springs) - KTLA 5 (Los Angeles) - KSBY-DT 6.2/"KWCA" (San Luis Obispo) - KUVU-LP 17/9 (Eureka) - KNVN-DT 24.2/"KIWB" (Chico-Redding) - KMAX 31 (Sacramento) - KBCW 44 (San Francisco) - KFRE 59 (Fresno) - KSWB 69 (San Diego)
See also: ABC, CBS, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS, Telefutura, Telemundo, Univision, Independent, Other Spanish Network, Religious, Home Shopping and Other stations in California