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KHNL is the NBC-affiliated television station for the state of Hawaii that is licensed to Honolulu. The station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 35 (or PSIP virtual channel 13) from a transmitter in Palehua. KHNL is owned and operated by Raycom Media, who also owns CBS affiliate KGMB and operates MyNetworkTV affiliate KFVE by virtue of a shared services agreement with KFVE's owner MCG Capital Corporation. All three stations share studios on Waiakamilo Road in Honolulu. KHNL is not currently available in HD on DIRECTV due to stalled contract renegotiations between KHNL's owner, Raycom Media, and DIRECTV.
[edit] ProgrammingKHNL clears all network programming. The station rarely pre-empts NBC for two reasons. First, NBC has historically been not as tolerant as the other networks although they have loosened up. Second, when KHNL picked up the network in 1995, NBC had less programming that local stations could pre-empt than they did in the past. Outside of network hours, KHNL airs various syndicated programming. Compared to the other major network affiliates in Hawaii, they air no sitcom or drama reruns. This can be attributed mainly to NBC's extensive overnight lineup which leaves very little room for affiliates to air syndicated programming during the late night hours. Syndicated programming on KHNL includes Entertainment Tonight, The Doctors, Extra, and TMZ on TV. [edit] Digital programmingThe station's signal is multiplexed. On DT2 is NBC Plus which is not seen on the digital tier of Oceanic Time Warner Cable. After Hawaii's analog television shutdown on January 15, 2009 [1], the three full-powered stations remained on their current digital channels using PSIP to display virtual channels for each station corresponding to their former analog channel numbers . [2] [edit] History[edit] As an independent stationThe station signed-on July 4, 1962 as KTRG airing an analog signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter on top of the Hawaiian Village Hotel in Waikiki. Owned by the Watumull Broadcasting Company and unaffiliated with a national network, they broadcasted English and Japanese language Independent programming. New ownership started on January 15, 1966. In 1967, KTRG switched call letters to KIKU and moved to Puuhale Road while offering English programming from 1 to 5 P.M. as well as 10 to 11 with Japanese programming from 5 to 10. The English shows included old movies, westerns, and cartoons. Mid-Pacific Television Associates bought the station on April 9, 1979. By this time, it ran English programming from 7 A.M. until 7 P.M. with Japanese programming from 7 to 10 and back to English after 10 until their sign-off. In 1981, the station became a full-time English speaking general entertainment station running a blend of cartoons, sitcoms, westerns, and movies. Japanese programming moved to various UHF stations. In 1984, the call letters were changed again to the current KHNL and the station branded itself as the "News Alternative" and "Free Movie Channel" while also beginning to air University of Hawaii at Manoa athletics. [edit] As Fox affiliateIn 1986, the year the station was acquired by the King Broadcasting Company of Seattle, KHNL contracted programming from the new Fox network to begin airing in April 1987. This included The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, The Tracey Ullman Show, and Married with Children. Also in 1986, they added translator station K21AG from Scala Broadcasting to rebroadcast KHNL on Maui. This was eventually divested to LeSea Broadcasting in July 1990. In June 1987, the station added K65BV from the Channel 13 Club of Kauai. In May 1989, KHBC-TV in Hilo became a full-time satellite of KHNL. In August 1990, KOGG began broadcasting on Maui as a satellite. It was not until September 1993, after King Broadcasting was sold to the Providence Journal Company, that KHNL adopted the brand name "FOX 13". On May 5 of that year, they entered into a local marketing agreement (a.k.a. LMA) with KFVE which merged its operations into KHNL's facility. In January 1994, all University of Hawaii sports moved to KFVE where it remains today. In August, KHON-TV announced it was dropping it affiliation with NBC to become the new Fox affiliate since its new owner was partly funded by the network. At first there was talk about NBC going with current ABC affiliate KITV. However, after Argyle purchased that station in 1995, they decided to keep KITV with ABC instead. On January 1, 1996, KHNL switched its affiliation to NBC while Fox moved to KHON. [edit] As NBC affiliateWith the new affiliation, KHNL began construction of the first fully digital newsroom in the world. It also became the first to utilize fiber optic technology to broadcast live feeds from the neighboring islands. Former KITV anchor Dan Cooke and sports anchor Robert Kekaula moved to KHNL during that time to start up the very first newscast on this station. On January 1, 1996, the station officially became Hawaii's new NBC affiliate dubbed "NBC Hawaii News 8" (for the station's dial position on most Hawaii cable systems). During that year, KHNL won the first Emmy Award for a local news broadcast. When the Providence Journal Company merged with Belo on February 28, 1997, the station struck a deal with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspaper to share polling services. On October 29, 1999, Belo sold KHNL and its LMA with KFVE to current owner Raycom Media along with KASA-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico (which has since been sold to the LIN TV Corporation). Raycom acquired KFVE outright two months after the company completed its purchase of KHNL creating one of the very first official co-owned commercially-licensed duopolies in the country. On May 11, 2002, KHBC added a digital signal on UHF channel 22. [3] In 2003, KHNL got national exposure for having Conan O'Brien's Triumph the Insult Comic Dog do the weather report at the station. Triumph was actually invited to the station after chatting with people auditioning for American Idol in Hawaii. [edit] SSA with KGMBOn August 18, 2009, KHNL and MCG Capital Corporation (owner of CBS station KGMB) announced a planned shared services agreement (a.k.a. SSA) under which KGMB's operations including news coverage would be combined with KHNL and KFVE. The proposal would see KGMB moved from its studios on Kapiolani Boulevard in downtown Honolulu to the KHNL/KFVE facilities on Waiakamilo Road; it would also see KGMB fall under Raycom ownership, moving from channel 9 to channel 5, while KFVE would move from channels 5 to 9 and fall under MCG Capital's ownership.[4] Citing "the economic reality... that this market cannot support five traditionally separated television stations, all with duplicated costs," and facing the risk of "the loss of one, or possibly two stations in Hawaii," Raycom President Paul McTear said the SSA would "preserve three stations that provide important and valuable local, national and international programming to viewers in Hawaii."[5] The plan, however, has met with criticism from organizations such as Media Council Hawaii which views the plan as a way to circumvent FCC rules preventing one company owning two of the top four stations in any market.[4] (The FCC only recognizes ownership of facility identifications and not a station's call sign or other properties, and as such Raycom's ownership of both KHNL and KGMB, once it moved to Channel 5, would be allowed). The SSA took effect on October 26, 2009, at which point KHNL dropped its "NBC 8" branding in favor of simply its call letters (KGMB and KFVE, who swapped dial positions on that date, adopted similar branding approaches as well). An estimated 68 positions from a total of 198 from the three stations would be eliminated as part of the agreement.[6] [edit] Satellite stationsThese stations, in addition to translator K65BV in Lihue, rebroadcast KHNL's signal throughout Hawaii. K65BV has a transmitter northwest of Omao.
[edit] News operationAs KTRG, the station had a start-up news program called Nightly News that aired from their original studios at Royal Block on Kalakaua Avenue. After joining NBC, it was the last of the major network television stations in Hawaii to debut a news telecast. In January 1995, they developed a new brand name and successfully mounted a challenge to top rated KHON. On April 17, 1995, the station launched a prime time newscast at 9 with a simulcast on KFVE. Further launches of broadcasts continued with the addition of 10 (on June 19), 5 (on July 24), and 6 o'clock (on November 30) shows. They added a two-hour long morning show on January 1, 1996. A audio simulcast of their 6 P.M. news was added to KUMU-AM 1500 on January 6, 1997. August 3 saw the original KFVE broadcast being dropped. On August 31, KHNL added a sports magazine and wrap-up show called Sports Sunday Hawaii. On June 1, 1999, the weeknight 6 o'clock show began began simulcasting on KCCN-AM 1420. They added "Chopper 8", the only television helicopter in the market, on April 5, 2000. On April 1, 2002, their weekday morning program was reduced to 90 minutes. A news share agreement was established with KKBG-FM 97.9, KLEO-FM 106.1, KHLO-AM, and KKOA-FM 107.7 on October 10. KIKU began a partnership with KHNL airing nightly news updates from this station on February 3, 2003. October 18, 2004 saw the relaunch of prime time news on KFVE. On January 7, 2007 that station debuted a weeknight 6:30 newscast alao produced by KHNL. December 3, 2007 saw the launch of Midday news on the station. This has since been dropped. On December 22, 2008, KHNL and KFVE became the first local stations in Hawaii to broadcast local newscasts in high definition. [7] The shared services agreement resulted in the termination of all but four KHNL on-air staff when their newsroom merged with KGMB on October 26, 2009. [8] The two stations now jointly produce and simulcast weeknight 5 and 10 o'clock newscasts while KHNL moved their 6 P.M. show to 5:30. KGMB continues to have its own weeknight 6 P.M. newscast. Weekday morning and weekend shows are simulcasted on the two but can be preempted on one station due to network obligations. The local news schedule on KFVE-TV remains unchanged. The combined news operation is known as Hawaii News Now. [9] [edit] News/Station Presentation[edit] Newscast titles
[edit] Station Slogans
[edit] News team[edit] Current personalitiesHawaii News Now Anchors
[edit] Past personalitiesThese personnel were the last news team seen on KHNL-TV until the consolidation with KGMB-TV. + denotes KHNL personnel kept after consolidation Anchors
Weather Anchors
Sports
Reporters
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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