KING-TV

KING-TV, channel 5, is a television station in Seattle, Washington, USA. It is affiliated with the NBC network and broadcasts on digital ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 48. Its offices and broadcasting center are located just east of Seattle Center. The station's transmitter is located in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. It shares television programming with its sister station KONG-TV, an independent station. Such programming includes local news and some syndicated programming. The chief newscasters for "KING 5 News" are Jean Enersen and Dennis Bounds.

The early years
When Channel 5 first came on the air as KRSC-TV on November 25, 1948, it became the first television station in the Pacific Northwest. The first broadcast was a live remote of a Thanksgiving Day high school football game and was plagued with technical difficulties, but local viewers reported being impressed nonetheless.[citation needed] After eight months on the air under the ownership of P.K. Lieberman's Radio Sales Corporation, Channel 5 was purchased by Seattle native Dorothy Bullitt's King Broadcasting Company, owners of KING radio (AM 1090, now KPTK; and FM 98.1). The station became KING-TV to match its radio sisters (Bullitt purchased the KING call letters while on a fishing boat). For many years, the stations' logo was King Mike, an anthropomorphized microphone in ermine robes and a crown, drawn byWalt Disney. Sister stations KGW-AM-FM-TV in Portland, Oregon used a similar logo, called Pioneer Mike.

The KRSC-TV call sign now resides on an independent educational station in Claremore, Oklahoma.

Channel 5 was a primary CBS affiliate, carrying secondary affiliations with NBC, ABC and (until 1956) DuMont Television Network. Once the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-imposed freeze on TV licenses was rescinded in the early 1950s, KING-TV lost its monopoly on the Seattle TV market. It lost CBS to KTNT-TV (now KSTW-TV, KIRO-TV picked up CBS in 1958) and NBC decamped first to KMO-TV (now KCPQ-TV) and then a few months later to KOMO-TV in 1953, leaving KING with the poorly performing ABC. Bullitt lobbied NBC for affiliation and in 1959 NBC pulled its affiliation from KING's cross-town rival KOMO and granted it to KING.

From the beginning KING was deeply committed to the Seattle area. Bulitt believed that a television station should serve the local public while remaining commercially viable. KING set up one of the first local news departments in the country and quickly gained national attention for its high quality and thourough approach. In 1952, KING kept Senator Joseph McCarthyfrom delivering a potentially libelous attack on the air. McCarthy threatened to have the station's license pulled citing undue bias (the Bulitts were staunch Democrats) but was forced to back down. Reporters such as Charles Herring, Ted Bryant, Mike James, Bob Faw and Seattle's first female news anchor, Jean Enersen, set high standards for television journalism in Seattle. KING-TV continues to be the leading station in the area[citation needed].

After Alaska was hit by a major earthquake in March 1964, KING-TV worked with NBC News to get the footage of the quake's aftermath broadcast on the network. This was prior to the launch of a trans-Pacific television broadcast satellite and footage from Anchorage was flown to Seattle and driven to KING to be fed into the NBC network. NBC was the first network to show footage of the quake's aftermath preceding ABC and CBS by several hours.

In 1961, Dorothy Bullitt's son Stimson Bullitt became president of the King Broadcasting Company, while his mother remained chairwoman of the board. In 1966, he took the almost-unprecedented step of airing an anti-Vietnam war editorial, angering the Johnson Administration. Stimson also expanded the company to include Seattle Magazine and a variety of other businesses, much to the dismay of his mother, who felt he was losing focus on the family's broadcast properties. Investigative reporter Don McGaffin gave significant coverage to growing racial tensions in the city as well as corruption in the Seattle Police Department.

1970s and 1980s
Dissatisfied with her son's management style, Dorothy Bullitt arranged for Stimson Bullitt's dismissal from King Broadcasting in 1971. Stimson sold his company shares to his sisters, Harriet and Patsy. He then received control of the family's real estate interests. Ancil Payne, who had served as general manager of the company's Portland stations since 1965, became president and CEO.

By the 1970s and 1980s, KING-TV was the flagship of a growing regional media empire which at various times included ventures in publishing, the film industry, cable television and even various timber assets in the Far East.

KING-TV was a pioneer of diversity in the newsroom. In 1972, KING-TV broke new ground by appointing Jean Enersen as an evening news anchor. According to the Washington Post, Enersen was the first permanent female evening news anchor in the country and is considered to be the longest-running female local evening news anchor.[1] Additionally, KING-TV appointed Seattle's first African-American evening news anchor, John Raye, who co-anchored with Enersen for several years in the mid-1970s.

During this time the KING-TV news department also groomed several network news reporters, including CNN's Aaron Brown and Lou Dobbs, CBS Early Show contributor Hattie Kauffmanand NBC correspondent James Hattori. Future meteorologist and author Jeff Renner joined KING-TV in 1977.

Also during this era, KING's staff of photojournalists were among the best in the nation. The National Press Photographers Association named KING the Television News Photography Station of the Year for 1979, 1981 and 1982.[1]

KING was a pioneer new types of newscasts. In 1979, KING programmed the first early morning newscast in Western Washington at 6:30am with Don Madsen (news anchor) and Larry Schick (weather). Don Madsen was known for coming in at 11:30 PM and working all night to prepare for his early morning newscast. The "KING 5 Morning News" became very popular with Western Washington viewers as well as viewers throughout British Columbia. In 1984, KING pioneered "Top Story" at 6:30 PM with Mike James and Lori Matsukawa. Top Story, was a local version of Nightline focusing primarily on the top news story of the day with in-depth reporting and interviews. Despite efforts to produce a high-quality newscast, Top Story never became popular and was canceled in 1988.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Locally produced programming included: Seattle Today, a midmorning talk show hosted by Cliff Lenz amd Shirley Hudson and later by Susan Michaels and Colby Chester; Seattle Tonight, Tonite!, hosted by Ross McGowan and later Dick Klinger; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_Live! Almost Live!], a Saturday night talk and sketch-comedy program originally starring Ross Shafer; and a local Evening Magazine franchise, first hosted by Penny LeGate and Brian Tracey. Of these only Evening Magazine exists today. How Come?, a half-hour early Sunday evening family television program hosted by Al Wallace, won several awards during its run during the 1970s and early 1980s. The show covered topics on how things were made or done in the world. Dick Klinger hosted the show after Al Wallace died.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">KING-TV and its sister stations in Spokane, Boise, and Portland formed the KING Northwest Network. They often shared news reports during and jointly covered significant stories such as the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980. The mid-morning talk show, Seattle Today, was re-named Northwest Today and expanded to 90 minutes. While the majority of the show was produced in Seattle, each member station had a local host who would provide short local segments.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">King Broadcasting stations included KGW radio and television in Portland, KREM-TV Spokane, KTVB-TV Boise, KHNL-TV and KFVE-TV Honolulu and KYA/KOIT radio San Francisco.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Long-time station-owner Dorothy Bullitt died in June 1989.

1990s
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Dorothy Bullitt's daughters Harriet Bullitt and Priscilla "Patsy" Bullitt Collins decided to sell the King assets in 1992—eventually selling King Broadcasting (including KING, KREM, KGW, KTVB, KHNL/KFVE and the cable system assets) to the Providence Journal (ProJo) Company. KING-TV and other King Broadcasting stations later became Belo properties as a result of a merger with ProJo in 1997. (KHNL/KFVE was later sold to Raycom in 1999.)

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Bonneville International Corporation purchased KING-AM in 1994 and changed the station's call letters to KINF (later KNWX) and switched to an all-news format. KNWX switched frequencies with KRPM 770 a year later, transferring ownership of the 1090 frequency allocation to EZ Communications, Inc. Since late 2004, CBS Radio-owned KPTK 1090 is home ofAir America Radio.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">KING-FM was donated to a non-profit partnership of the Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Opera, and ArtsFund. It continues the classical music format started by Dorothy Bullitt and is one of the few remaining commercial classical radio stations in the nation today. The station is scheduled to become a non-commercial public radio station by July 2011.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">The 1990s saw the end of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_Live! Almost Live!]. During this decade, the show launched the career of Bill Nye the Science Guy, Joel McHale (of The Soup fame) and locally, Pat Cashman and John Keister (who replaced Ross Shafer as host).

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">King 5 was also the home for Watch This!, KING 5's EMMY award winning fast-paced show for teens and children. The show lasted 5 years and was hosted by local anchors, Jim Dever and Mimi Gan.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">On December 18, 1995, King Broadcasting launched Northwest Cable News, a 24-hour regional cable news operation available to viewers primarily in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho with lesser viewership in Alaska, Montana and California. In the Seattle area NWCN is located on Comcast Channel 2 or WAVE Broadband Channel 54.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">King Mike, the original logo, was brought back for KING's 50th anniversary in 1998 and still appears in promotional announcements.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">In 1999, to compete against KOMO, KING began providing high definition (HD) newscasts. At the time it only had one studio camera that was HD. In April 2007 KING upgraded all of its studio cameras, graphics, and weather system to HD. "HDTV - KING5.COM". Field reports are still standard-definition (480i converted to 1080i HD for air) but are taped in a 16x9 aspect ratio, giving the appearance of high-definition. According to KING, it is "Seattle's First HD Newscast".

Present day
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Belo also operates KONG-TV, an independent station featuring some news programming (provided by KING) and syndicated shows. KONG is available on UHF channel 16, but on most Seattle cable systems is given the Channel 6 channel slot to compliment KING-TV. The station also carries Universal Sports over their 5.2 digital subchannel, which also receives digital cable carriage.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">KING opted not to carry NBC's telecasts of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals, the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, and the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals when the games began at 5 p.m. Pacific time and CBC telecasts were available to most regional cable subscribers via CBUT in Vancouver. KING chose instead to air its regular lineup of newscasts and syndicated shows. KONG picked up the NBC telecasts of the games. For the 2007 and 2008 Stanley Cup Finals, however, KING aired NBC's Saturday night telecasts of the Stanley Cup Final while KONG aired the other NBC Stanley Cup Final telecasts. As for the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals, KING aired games 1, 2 and 5 while KONG aired games 6 and 7.Currently, syndicated TV shows seen on this station include The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Dr. Phil, The Oprah Winfrey Show andInside Edition.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">For most of the last quarter-century, KING has waged a spirited battle for first place in the Seattle news race with KOMO. However, for the past couple of years, KING has been in first place in virtually every local newscast. Some of its newscasts rank higher than all the other newscasts combined.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">It is one of five local Seattle TV stations seen in Canada on the Bell TV and Shaw Direct satellite providers.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">KING is carried on several cable systems in south-eastern Alaska and Northwestern Oregon.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">In 2008, chief newscaster Jean Enersen celebrated her 40th year at KING (36 of those years as primary evening anchor—the longest serving female evening anchor in the country) with a 1-hour special which aired August 1. Recently, she stated in the Seattle Times that she has no plans to retire anytime soon.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">The station also has the distinction of having the longest-serving numeric logo in the Seattle market- the 'K5' logo with three dots over the "K" (representing a crown, like a king's crown, hence the call letters) having been in use since 1977, with the current italicized version first used in 1998 (during the 1980s, the "5" in the K5 was also seen by itself at times). The "K" part of the logo also served as King Broadcasting's corporate logo.

Anchors

 * Dennis Bounds - Weeknights 5 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 10 p.m. (on KONG (TV)) & 11 p.m.
 * Greg Copeland - Weekdays 12 p.m. and reporter
 * Meg Coyle - Weekend mornings & reporter
 * Jean Enersen - Weeknights 5 p.m. & 6:30 p.m. & HealthLink reporter
 * Brad Goode - Weekday mornings 4:30-7 a.m. & 7-9 a.m. (on KONG (TV))
 * Mimi Jung - Weekdays at Noon & Reporter
 * Margaret Larson - New Day Northwest Monday through Friday 11am-12pm
 * Lori Matsukawa - Weeknights 10 p.m. (on KONG (TV)) & 11 p.m.
 * Allen Schauffler - Weekend evenings 5 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 10 p.m. (on KONG (TV)) & 11 p.m. & 12 p.m. weekday rotating co-anchor
 * Charlotte Starck - Freelance Anchor
 * Joyce Taylor - Weekday mornings 4:30-7 a.m. & 7-9 a.m. (on KONG (TV))
 * Robert Mak - Upfront Anchor (weekly public affairs show)

First Alert Weather

 * Jeff Renner (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist - Weeknights 5, 6:30, 10 p.m. (on KONG (TV)) & 11 p.m.
 * Jim Guy (AMS Seal of Approval) - Weekend evenings
 * Rich Marriott (AMS Seal of Approval) - Weekdays 4:30-7 a.m., 7-9 a.m. (on KONG (TV)) & 12 p.m.
 * Lisa Van Cise - Weekend mornings
 * Keisha Burns - Fill-in & NWCN

Sports

 * Paul Silvi - Weeknights 5, 6:30, 10 p.m. (on KONG (TV)) & 11 p.m., Sports Director
 * Andrea Nakano- Weekends 5, 6:30, 10 p.m. (on KONG (TV)) & 11 p.m./Sports reporter
 * Chris Egan - Sports reporter/anchor

Reporters

 * Linda Brill - General assignment reporter
 * Linda Byron - Investigative reporter
 * Gary Chittim - General assignment reporter & ecological specialist
 * Chris Daniels - General assignment reporter
 * Glenn Farley - Aviation specialist & general assignment reporter
 * Deborah Feldman - General assignment reporter
 * Jim Foreman - General assignment reporter
 * Susannah Frame - Investigative reporter
 * Joe Fryer - General assignment reporter
 * Elisa Hahn - General assignment reporter
 * Chris Ingalls - General assignment reporter
 * Jesse Jones - Investigative reporter (off-air for cancer treatment eff. Dec 2010)
 * Owen Lei - General assignment reporter
 * Tricia Manning-Smith - General assignment reporter
 * Drew Mikkelson - South bureau chief & South bureau reporter
 * Tonya Mosley - General assignment reporter
 * Rob Piercy - General assignment reporter, primary evening anchor for NWCN (husband of co-reporter Kim Holcomb)
 * Roberta Romero - General assignment reporter
 * Tracy Taylor - Morning traffic reporter
 * Eric Wilkinson - General assignment reporter
 * Jake Whittenberg - Bureau Chief reporter <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[2]

Evening Magazine

 * Mark Erskine - Executive Producer
 * Meeghan Black - Host
 * Saint Bryan - Reporter
 * Josephine Cheng - Reporter
 * Jim Dever - Reporter
 * Kim Griffis - Reporter
 * Michael King - Reporter
 * Kim Holcomb - Reporter (wife of KING 5 reporter Rob Piercy)
 * Joan Kinsey - Producer
 * Eric Riddle - Producer
 * Michele Troxel - Show Producer

Notable past on-air staff

 * Aaron Brown: Was at KIRO-TV, ABC News, and CNN. Now anchoring at PBS & teaching at Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.
 * Jerry Burling, On-air booth announcer, Winner, National Emmy Award (1960–1972) [2]
 * Jim Compton: Also hosted "The Compton Report" (1985–1999)
 * Carlos Del Valle: Sports anchor.
 * Lou Dobbs: Anchor
 * Barry Judd: Anchor
 * David Kerley: Was at KIRO-TV. Currently at ABC News
 * Mark Mullen: Was at NBC News and ABC News. Currently at KNSD, San Diego
 * Shannon O'Donnell: Weather (1996–2000 and 2007–2009), now weekend weather anchor at KOMO-TV
 * Greg Palmer: Reporter (deceased)
 * Don Poier: Radio Voice of Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies (Deceased)
 * Drew Soicher: Sports anchor. Now at KUSA-TV, Denver
 * Tony Ventrella: Sports anchor; now at KIRO-TV.
 * Tim Robinson: Features reporter (Husband of sister station KREM-TV anchor Jane McCarthy), current affiliation unknown

Newscast titles

 * KING-TV News (1950s)
 * KING-TV Night Report (1960s)
 * KING News Final (1960s)
 * KING News (1960s-1971)
 * KING Newservice (1971-1978?)
 * NewsCenter 5 (used briefly in the mid 1980s)
 * KING 5 News (1978-present)

Station slogans

 * First in the Great Northwest (1950s-1960s)
 * News Headquarters for the Great Northwest (1970s)
 * KING-TV, Proud As A Peacock! (1979-1981; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * KING-TV, Our Pride Is Showing (1981-1982; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * We're KING-TV, Just Watch Us Now (1982-1983; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * KING-TV There, Be There (1983-1984; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * KING-TV, Let's All Be There! (1984-1986; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Come Home to KING-TV (1986-1987; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * The Home Team (1987-2014; general slogan)
 * Come on Home to KING-TV (1987-1988; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Come Home To The Best, Only on KING-TV (1988-1990; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * All the News for Western Washington (1990–1999)
 * Coverage You Can Count On (1999–2014; news slogan)
 * Community, Context, Commitment. (2001–2007; secondary slogan)
 * Western Washington's Home Team (2014-present)

Digital television and high definition
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">KING 5 started broadcasting its local news and public affairs programming in HD on April 16, 2007. [3]

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">On April 16, 2007, KING 5 also started using the tagline "KING 5 HD" when referring to the channel.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">Digital channels <p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">KING-TV began transmitting its scheduled programming in digital only on June 12, 2009 as mandated by the FCC.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[3] However KING-TV has continued its analog signal as part of the FCC's "Nightlight" program, running a DTV transition guide for two more weeks.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[4]

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em;">After the analog television shutdown, KING-DT remained on channel 48 <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FCCForm387_4-0" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[5] using PSIP to display KING-TV's virtual channels as 5 on digital television receivers.