KION-TV

KION-TV is a full-power television station in Salinas, California, broadcasting on digital channel 32 as a CBS affiliate. The stations continues to use UHF channel 46 as its virtual channel through the use of PSIP. KION-TV shows local news, weather, and sports programming, as well as syndicated and community-affair programs. Owned by Cowles California Media Company, a subsidiary of the Spokane, Washington-based Cowles Publishing Company, the station is sister to low-powered Telemundo affiliate KMUV-LP and full-service Fox affiliate KCBA. The latter is owned by Seal Rock Broadcasters but operated by Cowles through a shared services agreement.

KION can be seen on channel 5 on most cable systems. While most transmitters for the Monterey Peninsula is located on Fremont Peak, KION's transmitter is currently located on Mount Toro, about 10 miles south of Salinas.

History
KION originally started out as KMST-TV (Monterey-Salinas Televsion) on February 2, 1969 as a CBS affiliate, taking it over from NBC affiliate KSBW which had it as a secondary.[1] KMST was available in markets that reached from the Monterey Bay area to San Jose, California. Retlaw Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Retlaw Enterprises (a company owned by relatives of Walt Disney), acquired KMST from its original local owners in 1979.

By 1993, San Jose's TCI cable opted to drop KMST. Later that year Retlaw sold the station to a partnership between Harron Communications and Smith Broadcasting (with Smith Broadcasting controlling the joint venture). Through a share of Smith Broadcasting, current Newport Television CEO Sandy DiPasquale held a small stake in Channel 46 at that time. The new owners changed Channel 46's call sign to KCCN-TV. The next year Smith Broadcasting sold its share of the station to Harron in order to purchase KSBW. At that time KCBA (Fox 35), then owned by the Ackerley Group, signed a local marketing agreement with KCCN with Ackerley taking over the operations of both stations. The beginning of the LMA came at a time when CBS' ratings were (relatively speaking) at one of the lowest points in the network's history while Fox's ratings were on the rise. Although KCCN was longer-established, KCBA became the senior partner in the LMA. In 1997 KCCN changed its call letters again, this time to KION.

Late in 1998, Ackerley bought KION outright from Harron and sold KCBA to Seal Rock Broadcasters. It took more than a year for this transaction to receive Federal Communications Commission approval due to the then-pending license renewals for both stations, and the deal was completed on January 12, 2000. However, Ackerley continued to operate KCBA through an LMA with its new owners, resulting in KION now becoming the senior partner in the LMA. By that time CBS' ratings had recovered to the competitive level of ABC and NBC. Two years later, Ackerley merged with Clear Channel Communications. Clear Channel added the -TV suffix to KION's legal call sign when what was then KTXX (AM 1460, also owned by Clear Channel) took the KION call letters on August 14, 2002. From 1995 to 2003 KION and KCBA carried UPN programs such as WWF/E SmackDown! and the 2002 version of The Twilight Zone as a secondary affiliate.

On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to spin off its entire television stations group to Newport Television, a broadcasting holding company established by the private equity firm Providence Equity Partners.[1]

However, Newport Television could not keep KION or Telemundo affiliate KMUV-LP due to Providence Equity Partners' partial ownership of several media properties (specifically, several radio stations owned by Univision Radio that are located just outside the Monterey/Salinas Nielsen market) which serve parts of the market. KION and KMUV were sold to the Cowles Publishing Company, the owner of KHQ-TV and The KHQ Television Group in Spokane, Washington.[2] The deal closed on May 7, 2008. On that day, Cowles Publishing took over the LMA for KCBA from Newport Television. However, for some time afterward, Newport Television's website continued to list all three stations (KION, KCBA and KMUV) as being owned and/or operated by Newport. Subsequently, KION and the other former Clear Channel/Newport stations now owned by Cowles switched their web site CMS providers from Inergize Digital to WorldNow.

KION-AM 1460 is no longer co-owned with TV 46, as Clear Channel continues to operate the radio station. The radio station's logo still echoes that of KION-TV's previous logo, with a "1" and a "0" added to turn "46" into "1460".

Man On The Couch and Central Coast Deals
Man on the Couch is a promo that consists of a man sitting on a couch and showing previews for upcoming shows on KION (including its second digital subchannel) and KCBA, as well as on KCOY and KKFX. Each program preview consists either of a man commenting on the preview or saying the time slot and the branding. All four station's schedules are shown on its website, although Man on the Couch's website itself is hosted by KION. "Man on the Couch" is not shown on KMUV due to its programming from Telemundo, and the fact that the station is in Spanish.

Central Coast Deals is a marketing promo shown on KION (including its second digital subchannel), KCBA, KCOY, and KKFX. The promo consists of a deal that appears to attract consumers and giving gift certificates that generally is 50 percent off the discount price of what would be the normal price of a gift certificate. It is noted that it is exclusive to those four stations. Broadcasts for KION and KCBA uses a 16:9 format for station ID's, however, no station ID is shown (KION's second digital subchannel continues to show it in 4:3 ratio). There is a Spanish version of "Central Coast Deals" shown on KMUV, although it uses a Spanish version of the slogan.

Digital television
KION's broadcasts had become digital-only since February 17, 2009 using UHF channel 32. The stations virtual channel via PSIP remains UHF 46, its historical analog channel from 1969 to 2009.[3]

One of the digital subchannels carries the new CW network, which launched in September 2006.

KION's channels are multiplexed:

News operation
KION has morning and evening newscasts seven days a week, totaling 23 hours of news per week (including the broadcast on KCBA). On weekdays, a two-hour morning news block begins at 5am, followed by a half-hour newscast at 5, 6, and 11 pm, respectively. KION also produces its half-hour 10 pm newscast over on KCBA, seven nights a week. On weekends, asides from the KCBA broadcast, while KION does not have weekend morning newscasts, KION only has half-hour newscasts at 6 and 11 pm. The CBS Evening News has its timeslot at 5:30 pm due to current ownership. KION previously had the CBS Evening News at 6pm.

In October 2009, KION became the first station in the Salinas - Monterey market to begin broadcasting local newscasts in 16:9 widescreen high definition. (KSBW had been the first to launch a widescreen newscast—a few weeks before KION; however, the KSBW newscasts are in merely widescreen standard definition with pillarboxes around some of the content.) The 10 PM newscast on KCBA was included in the upgrade. KION and KCBA broadcast news in high definition using HD studio cameras, HD field cameras and a new HD control room installed in August 2009. Live shots are still done using upconverted widescreen standard definition signals. Sports segments originate from the KCOY studios and are pillarboxed in 4:3 standard definition. KCBA and KION were the only stations in the Monterey Bay and on the Central Coast to broadcast their news in HD until August 25, 2010, when rival KSBW started to broadcast its local news in HD.

Under current ownership (as of May 2010), the slogan has changed from "Your Eye on the Central Coast" to "Right Now" at the start of newscasts. This slogan is used on other Cowle media stations in California, where they are also branded as Central Coast News, however, the slogan mirrors other stations in that group, including The KHQ Television Group. KION has previously used the "Central Coast News" branding in the 1990s when it was branded as "KCCN Central Coast News".

As of late 2010, KION and KCBA introduced a new slogan, "A New Leader is Emerging." The new promos include viewership, news, weather, and political coverage. In addition, weekend weather anchors also produces weather segments for sister stations KCOY and KKFX.

[edit] "Friday Night Blitz"
During sports segments, and only during high school season, a special segment called "Friday Night Blitz" follows Central Coast schools that cover a variety of sports. However, when covering football, the station will fill in the final 20 minutes covering highlights and interviews with local high school athletes. The downside, however, is that unlike KSBW's special sports segment, KION and KCBA does not cover other local sports, such as local teams that would have been normally covered by sister station KCOY. (It is noted that KSBW currently has its own title during special sports segments, namely called "High School Playbook Blitz".)

[edit] KION Questions
During Central Coast newscasts on KION, viewers can ask questions directly via the station's website relating to local issues that was presented by various anchors and presenters can respond during various newscasts. [2] Many promos about KION questions are often viewed during commercial breaks as well as on station IDs.

On-air staff
(as of November 8, 2010)

Anchors

 * Nick Emmons - weekday mornings
 * Marc Cota-Robles - weeknights at 5, 6, 10 (KCBA), and 11 p.m.
 * Jasmine Biel - weeknights at 5, 6, 10 (KCBA), and 11 p.m.
 * Shannon Hogan - weekend evenings; also weekday reporter

"Titan" Weather

 * Norm Hoffmann - chief, seen weeknights
 * Tamara Berg - weekday mornings
 * Adonica Shaw - weekend evenings, also reporting during the week; seen also on KCOY and KCBA
 * Cassandra Treasure Jones - fill-in, also does weather reports on KMUV and reporting during the week

Sports
Sports segments are provided by CBS sister-station KCOY-TV as of 2010; see that article for more.

Reporters
(Note that some reporters also appear on Telemundo affiliate KMUV-LP.)
 * Claudia Otero - reporter, also anchor on KMUV
 * Lucero Benitez - general assignment reporter, also reporter on KMUV
 * Brooke Holmquist - general assignment reporter
 * Susanne Brunner - general assignment reporter
 * Azenith Smith - general assignment reporter
 * Matt Denesnera - general assignment reporter

Former on-air staff

 * John Reger - anchor, now weeknight anchor at KSBY[4]
 * Pedram Javaheri also known as P.J. Javaheri-Weekend Meteorologist (Now at CNN International)
 * Sharon Tay - reporter (mid-1990s) Now Anchor/Reporter At KCBS-TV/KCAL-TV
 * Jim Bunner
 * Claudia Cowan (now at Fox News)
 * Romney Dunbar
 * Carl Bell
 * Kimberly Hunt
 * George Reading

Newscast titles

 * KMST News (1969–1974)
 * Headline News (1974–1979)
 * Newsbeat (late 1970s)
 * The News 46 (1985–1987)
 * NewsCentral (1987–1991)
 * 46 Eyewitness News (1991–1993)
 * KCCN Central Coast News (1993–1996)
 * CBS 46 Eyewitness News (1996–1998)
 * NewsChannel 46 (1998–2000)
 * News 46 (2000–2005)
 * KION 46 News (2005–2009)
 * Central Coast News (2009–present)

[edit] Station slogans

 * The Spirit of 46 (1985?)
 * KMST... The 1 2 C (1989-1990?)
 * CBS for the Central Coast (1995–1997)
 * Your Eye on the Central Coast (1997 and 2007–present)
 * The Central Coast News Channel (1997–2000)
 * Right Now (2009–present)

Station branding

 * KMST TV 46 (1985–1993)
 * CBS 46 (1996–1998)
 * NewsChannel 46 (1998–2000)
 * News 46 (2000–2005)
 * KION 46 (2006–present)