KOKI-TV

KOKI-TV, virtual channel 23 (digital channel 22), is the Fox-affiliated television station in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is owned by Newport Television, a subsidiary of private equity firm Providence Equity Partners. The station's studios are located on South Memorial Drive in Tulsa, and its transmitter is located in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

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 in standard definition and on channel 705 in high definition on Cox Tulsa.

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. 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.

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 on December 10, 1954.

The current incarnation of channel 23 first hit the airwaves on October 23, 1980. KOKI, then branded as "Tulsa 23 - Oklahoma's Independent", was an independent station, the first such station in the Tulsa market. It was also the first commercial television station to sign on in Tulsa in 26 years. The new FCC license had been won and KOKI-TV was created by a group of Tulsa's most prominent corporate executives and community leaders, known as "Tulsa 23, Ltd." The partnership was led by managing partner Benjamin F. Boddie and investors also included John H. Williams and Charles P. Williams, two former CEOs of the Williams Companies who were also responsible for the redevelopment of over nine square blocks and one million square feet of new office and retail construction of downtown Tulsa including establishment of the Williams Center and Bank of Oklahoma Tower, the state's tallest office tower at 52 stories and 660 feet, and the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.

As reported in the Tulsa World, the ownership team was a "who's who" of Tulsa leadership of the era that also included Robert E. Thomas, Walter H. Helmerich II, C.W. Flint, Robert V. Sellers and Jim Lavenstein, general manager. The station's studios were first located on 46th Place in southeast Tulsa and the initial programming featured a blend of old movies, westerns, many popular sitcoms of the era, drama shows, and cartoons; the station had fairly good ratings.

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 Fox 23. On March 6, 1989 the announcement was made by managing partner Ben Boddie that Clear Channel Television, Inc., a Houston-based company had agreed to buy KOKI. In the late winter/early spring of 1990, KOKI was sold to Clear Channel; Clear Channel significantly upgraded channel 23's programming, adding more recent sitcoms, better movies, and some first-run talk shows. KOKI logo, used from 2002 to 2011.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, now MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYT) in 1994, shortly before that station 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] [2]

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

[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.[3] 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 10 a.m. 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 5 p.m. 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[4] 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.

On January 16, 2011, starting with the 9 p.m. newscast, KOKI became the second station in Tulsa (behind KJRH) to broadcast local news in high definition. With the switch to HD, KOKI introduced a new set, graphics and logos. The graphics and logo currently used is the typical style found on Fox owned-and-operated stations and some affiliates nationwide (although the Fox searchlights are noticeably absent from the station logo unlike other stations that use the Fox O&O graphics). The new FOX O&O graphics are the same as those used on KSWB, WAWS and WPMT.

[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".

In late 2009, KOKI re-branded, removing the 'Solving Problems' mantra from their 'Breaking News, Breaking Weather, Solving Problems' slogan.

[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.[5]

[edit] Newscast titles

 * Tulsa 23 Newscheck (1980–1986)[6]
 * First Weather on FOX23 (10 p.m. weathercast; 1997–2002)
 * FOX23 News (2002–present)

[edit] Station slogans
This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.===Notable on-air staff===
 * 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)[7]
 * Where the Stars Are (1983–1985)[8]
 * Tulsa 23, Oklahoma's Independent (1985–1987)
 * First. Complete. Local. (2002–2004)
 * Breaking News. Breaking Weather. Solving Problems. (2004–2009)
 * Breaking News. Breaking Weather. (2009–present)
 * Accurate. Dependable. (2009–present; weather slogan)

Current on-air staff (as of January 24, 2011)[9]
Anchors FOX23 Local Weather First FOX23 Sports Buzz Reporters
 * 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.
 * Michelle Linn - weekday mornings "FOX23 News This Morning"
 * Clay Loney - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 9 and 10 p.m.; also "Solving Problems" investigative reporter
 * Kristin Tallent - weekdays at noon; also weekday morning reporter
 * Ron Terrell - weekday mornings "FOX23 News This Morning"
 * 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 - meteorologist; weekday mornings "FOX23 News This Morning"
 * 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
 * Abbie Alford - "Solving Problems" investigative reporter
 * Douglas Clark - general assignment reporter
 * Janna Clark - general assignment reporter
 * Bernadette Flores - weekday morning reporter
 * Jamie Oberg - general assignment reporter
 * Adam Paluka - general assignment reporter
 * Ian Silver - general assignment reporter
 * James Tully - general assignment reporter

Notable 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)