Difference between revisions of "KDNC (FTV)"

Revision as of 20:01, 31 May 2015

KDNC-FTV, virtual channel 2, is a Fox affiliated fantasy TV station located in Denver, Colorado. The station is owned by NoSirGifts Venues as part of a duopoly with NBC station KZCO-FTV (channel 24). The two stations share studio facilities located on the west end of Downtown Denver's Speer district, and its transmitter is located in Westminster, Colorado.

History

As a CBS affiliate

As a Fox station

On December 18, 1993, Fox outbid CBS for the rights to the NFL's National Football Conference television package.^[1] Fox then signed a long-term deal with New Avon Communications on May 23, 1994 to affiliate with most of the company's major network affiliates, beginning that fall as affiliation contracts ended.^[2] In the spring of 1994, Tolls sold KDNC and WTBC-FTV in Kansas City to New Avon; Tolls, meanwhile, retained ownership of KDNC radio (fellow Tolls stations WNNV-FTV in Newport News, Virginia – due to FCC rules at the time which prohibited television duopolies as New Avon already purchased that market's NBC affiliate WVIV from Argyls Television – and WNCW in Greensboro, North Carolina were placed in a blind trust and then sold directly to DakMedia in 1995).

KDNC affiliated with Fox on March 4, 1996 (nearly three years after New Avon finalized its purchase of KDNC and WTBC while the latter did affiliate with Fox on September 12, 1994 three days after the sale, New Avon had to maintain the CBS affiliation on KDNC for another year-and-a-half as KDEN's affiliation contract with Fox did not run out until February 1996), ending its 43-year affiliation with CBS, which moved to Denver's ABC affiliate, KLZL-FTV (channel 4) while KTRJ (channel 11) took KLZL's outgoing ABC affiliation, of which KTRJ agreed to affiliate with ABC on the condition that it run as much local news programming as KLZL did as an ABC affiliate. The switch kept then NBC affiliate KIAA's status as the unofficial "home" station of the Denver Broncos (ironically in other New Avon markets, mainly where it bought or already owned CBS affiliates, stations continued their relationships with local NFL teams when Fox assumed the NFC rights). KIAA had aired most of the Broncos' games from 1968, when NBC assumed rights to the American Football League (which became the American Football Conference upon the AFL-NFL merger in 1970) until 1998 when CBS took over the AFC rights. Of the former New Avon stations that switched to Fox, KDNC along with WTBC, WCHT in Cincinnati, WCLE in Cleveland are the four affiliates that is located in an AFC market and the Cincinnati station involved in the deal that was an ABC affiliate as the other New World stations that joined Fox were previously affiliated with either CBS or ABC. The station added additional syndicated talk shows to round out its schedule.

DakMedia purchased New Avon Communications, acquiring only its ten Fox-affiliated stations, in July 1996; the merger was finalized on January 22, 1997, making KDNC an owned-and-operated station of Fox as well as the third owned-and-operated station of a major network in Denver following ABC's purchase of KTRJ in 1995 and CBS' purchase of KLZL in 1994.^[3] KDNC then changed its branding from "Denver's 2" (which it adopted in April 1992 as a CBS affiliate) to "Fox 2" on January 26 (coinciding with Fox's telecast of Super Bowl XXXI).^[3]

In 2009, NoSirGifts acquired 10 DakMedia owned stations, including KDNC; the sale was finalized in August 2009.

NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations purchased then-independent station KZCO-FDT (channel 24, now an NBC affiliate) in 2010. Although NoSirGifts owns both KDNC and KZCO, neither aired the Saturday morning children's program block eventually known as 4Kids TV, which continued to air on KDEN until Fox discontinued its programming agreement with 4Kids Entertainment and replaced the block with the Weekend Marketplace infomercial lineup in December 2008, which allowed KDNC for the first time in its history cleared its network's entire schedule.

Digital television

Digital channel

Analog-to-digital conversion

KDNC-FTV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, at 8:30 a.m. on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 31.

Programming

Outside of the Fox network schedule, syndicated programs featured on KDNC include the Sony-produced game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!; talk and reality shows Maury, and Jerry Springer since their debut in 1991; off-network reruns including Seinfeld, Two and a Half Men, Family Guy and American Dad (the former of the two previously aired on KZCO until 2015); and celebrity talk shows TMZ on TV and Dish Nation.

In 2011, ownership of KDNC became evident as the station began to air American Idol, The X Factor, and So You Think You Can Dance live at it airs in the east coast (as opposed to the usual 7:00 p.m. start time) transmitted by Fox under a special dispensation early to NoSirGifts' Fox affilaites to air the live performances live at 6:00 p.m. Mountain, bumping the Wednesday editions of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy to 8:00 p.m. (this is common among NoSirGifts stations affiliated with Fox in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones).

Although it will occasionally continue to preempt network programming for specials and breaking news coverage (which resulted in the preempted programming airing on KZCO, but until May 31, 2015). When KZCO became an NBC affiliate on June 1, 2015, any preempted programming will now airs on KDNC's second digital sub-channel, that is affiliated with Antenna TV.

Channel 2 also airs select Denver Broncos telecasts, as part of Fox's National Football Conference package. Shortly before KZCO switched to NBC, the team announced a deal with NoSirGifts that made KDNC and KZCO official broadcast partners. This means both stations will air Brocnos preseason games with KZCO airing Broncos games scheduled for an NBC Sunday Night Football telecast, team programming and coach's show beginning in the summer of 2015, though a majority of the games will still air on CBS-owned KLZL, owing to CBS' AFC rights. Advertising within Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium is also included in the deal. Additionally, both stations will carry the Super Bowl for two out of every three years starting in 2017, with KDNC carrying Fox's coverage of Super Bowl LI in 2017 and KZCO NBC's coverage of Super Bowl LII in 2018. The only time the Broncos would not play on a NoSirGifts station would be if they were scheduled for either CBS' AFC rights or Thursday Night Football, which would air on KLZL (channel 4), or ESPN Monday Night Football, which would air on ABC-owned KTRJ (channel 11).

News operation

KDNC presently broadcasts 80 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 12 hours on weekdays and ten hours on weekends); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output among Denver's television stations. KDNC's Sunday 5:00 p.m. newscast is subject to preemption due to network sports coverage, as is standard with Fox stations that carry early evening weekend newscasts (though the Saturday 5:00 p.m. newscast is usually delayed to 6:00 p.m. during baseball or college football coverage). KDNC was the first station in Denver to use a helicopter for newsgathering; it operated "Sky Fox" for use in traffic reports, and coverage of breaking news and severe weather events until August 31, 2009. The station operates a Hummer called "Storm Fox" that is used to cover severe weather events. Since 2003, KDNC maintains an investigative reporting unit, the "Fox 2 Problem Solvers" (now I-Team Colorado, to investigate businesses that have ripped off local consumers and uncover various scams.

Dating back to its CBS affiliation, channel 2 has long battled KLZL-TV (and at times, KIAA as well) for the most-watched newscast in the Denver. During the late 1970s and 1980s, KDNC's newscasts placed second behind KLZL, however it ended the latter decade in first place. Not long after KDNC switched to Fox in 1996, KDNC's newscasts have rotated between first and second place with either KLZL, KIAA or KTRJ in various timeslots since the late 1990s.

After KDNC became a Fox affiliate in 1996, the station adopted a news-intensive schedule, increasing its news programming output from about 30 hours a week to nearly 50 hours. The station retained all of its existing newscasts, but it expanded its weekday morning newscast from one to three hours (with two hours added from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m.); extended the half-hour noon newscast to one hour; bridged the weeknight 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. newscasts into a 90-minute early evening news block (by adding a half-hour newscast at 5:30); and added an hour-long primetime newscast at 9:00 p.m., which leads into the existing 10 p.m. newscast (KDNC is one of several Fox stations that offer newscasts in both the final hour of primetime and the traditional late news timeslot, one of the few affiliated with the network that runs a 10:00 p.m. (or 11:00 p.m.) newscast seven nights a week and one of the few to continue its Big Three-era 10:00 p.m. newscast after switching to Fox). KDNC carried newscasts at 5 and 9 p.m. daily, 6 p.m. weeknights and at 10 p.m. seven nights a week. In 2009, KDNC moved their weeknight 6 p.m. newscast to KZCO; when it began to air Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! after NoSirGifts' deal for their Fox and independent stations to air both programs, when KDNC chose to air both shows during that hour. Although this is unusual scheduling in the Central and Mountain Time Zones due to the reduction of one hour from early primetime, it is the common default scheduling for stations in the Eastern and Pacific time zones.

In 1997 and 1998, KDNC's 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts consistently gained higher ratings than KIAA. But in 1999, ratings dipped and KIAA's 5 and 6 p.m. consistently beat KDNC at 5:00 p.m. KDNC was sold to DakMedia (aka Fox Fantasy TV Stations) in 1997 and then to NoSirGifts Venues in 2010. Within six months into NoSirGifts' ownership of KDNC, changes at KDNC were made and expanded newscasts for KZCO (which NoSirGifts acquired from USNCD News Venues) and KDNC. The newscasts on KDNC rebranded from Fox 2 News (KDNC's news branding from 1996 to 2009) to Fox 2 Action News (later Colorado's 2 Action News) while KZCO's were rebranded to Z-24 Action News (now NBC 24 Action News as of June 2015) and the combined news operation of KDNC and KZCO were rebranded as Colorado's Action News. From 1994 until 2014, the station paired Kym Christian and Janet Webb for KDNC's main newscasts, creating a two-woman anchor team (as well as the second New Avon station after WXWI did with Lanise White and Kathy Roberts) that NoSirGifts began to encourage their stations to pair two females for their evening newscasts (or at least the early afternoon and late newscasts).

The Christian and Webb team in Denver proved to be popular in NoSirGifts-owned stations as KDNC benefited from Fox's ratings increases in primetime as well as an improved news product that took advantage of High Definition technology. By the end of the 2000's, the Christian and Webb team at KDNC had a 32% ratings share at 9:00 p.m., more than all of the other stations at 10:00 p.m. combined, as KTRJ, KIAA, and KLZL battled to stay out of last place, each pulling in about a 3 share for their newscasts making KDNC the fourth strongest Fox affiliate in the West Coast and and among the top 10 Fox affiliates and earned Kym Christian her second local Emmy in nine years.

KDNC became the first television station in the Denver market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition in 2008.

In April 2009, KZCO began simulcasting the 5:00 to 9:00 a.m. block of KZCO's weekday morning newscast and its nightly 5:00 and 9:00 p.m. newscasts. The nightly simulcasts were dropped in June 2015, when KZCO became an NBC affiliate.

On September 21, 2009 (as other NoSirGifts-owned stations elsewhere began to increase their news output, which the Fox network had encouraged its stations to do since the 1990s), the station expanded its weekday morning newscast to 4½ hours with the addition of a half-hour at 4:30 a.m., and premiered an hour-long 4:00 p.m. newscast.

Morning newscasts expanded again on August 21, 2010, with the expansion of four-hour weekend editions from 5:00 to 9:00 a.m. (as a result, KDNC became NoSirGifts' first Fox station, and the second following its Fort Wayne flagship WTOR-FTV three years earlier. The weekend morning newscasts expanded to four hours on January 8, 2011, with the addition of a 9:00 a.m. hour; this was followed on January 10, 2011, with the expansion of its weekday morning newscast to six hours with the addition of a half-hour at 4:00 a.m.

KDNC furthered its evening news expansion on September 10, 2012, when it debuted an hour-long weekday 3:00 p.m. broadcast. These particular additions increased the station's weekly news total to 80 hours (beating San Francisco sister station KDNC for the largest local news output of any Fox affiliate yet behind only Fort Wayne CBS affiliate WTOR).^[4] KDNC's 3 p.m. newscast competes with ABC owned KTRJ.

When sister station KZCO announced that upon its switch to NBC it would launch a separate news operation from KDNC with its own on-air staff (similar to, though also differing in structure from the shared news operation of Knoxville sister duopoly WATK (formerly WKNX)/WNXT (ABC/Fox), the latter of which maintains separate anchors from WATK for certain newscasts),^[5] KDNC/KZCO became the first known duopoly (legal or virtual) involving a Big Three affiliate and a Fox station, in which the two stations maintain separate news departments and newscasts in competing timeslots (except the morning newscast as the presence of two separate, but jointly based news departments controlled by one company structured in this manner is more common with duopolies involving stations affiliated with two of the Big Three networks). Both stations' news departments are housed out of their shared facility in the Speer neighborhood, and – while it does hinder both stations – each produce newscasts that compete in most traditional timeslots, except on weekend mornings (as KZCO carries the NBC Kids lineup), weekdays at 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. (as KZCO airs syndicated programming), weekdays at noon and 6:00 p.m. (as KDNC airs syndicated programming), and weekends at 6:00 p.m. (as KDNC airs syndicated programming in both periods, with sports programming periodically airing on either station). There is also a considerable amount of sharing between KZCO and KDNC in regards to news coverage, video footage and the use of reporters; though both outlets maintain their own primary on-air personalities (such as news anchors and meteorologists) that only appear on their respective station (Janet Webb is a notable exception as she anchors newscasts on both stations, remaining as lead anchor of channel 2's 9:00 p.m. newscast but transferring her 4:00, 5:00, and 10:00 p.m. duties from KDNC to KZCO following the NBC switch).^[6]

Notable current on-air staff

Notable former on-air staff

• Kym Christian - weeknight anchor (1994-2014; now weekday morning and midday anchor at WTOR/WXXCFort Wayne and also moderator of Vote for the Girls)

References

External links

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