KOMU-TV

KOMU-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Mid-Missouri licensed to Columbia. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHFchannel 8 from a transmitter at studios on US 63 southeast of downtown. The station can also be seen on Mediacom, Suddenlink, andCharter channel 7 as well as CenturyLink channel 8. Syndicated programming on the station includes: Wheel of Fortune, Oprah, Dr. Phil, and Rachael Ray. It is owned and operated by curators of the University of Missouri making KOMU one of only two commercial television stations in the United States to be owned by a public institution. The other one is Class A This TV affiliate WVUA-CA controlled by theUniversity of Alabama.

Digital programming
On KOMU-DT2 is Universal Sports while on KOMU-DT3 is the area's CW affiliate. Known on-air as Mid-Missouri's CW, this channel receives all of its programming from The CW Plus.

History
From January 22 until April 23, 1955, KOMU temporarily originated a live prime time ABC network show, Ozark Jubilee. In 1982, ABC moved its affiliation to this station since the network was the highest-rated at the time and wanted a stronger outlet. By 1985, however, NBC had regained the ratings lead. Accordingly, KOMU rejoined NBC on New Year's Day 1986. Originally, KMIZ operated cable-only WB affiliate "KJWB" as part of The WB 100+. This service was known on-air as "Mid-Missouri's WB 5" after its cable channel location and, as a result, had call letters used in a fictional manner. After KMIZ's parent company went bankrupt in 2002, The WB handed over operation of "KJWB" to KOMU.The station began airing an analog signal on VHF channel 8 December 21, 1953 and carried programming from all four major networks at the time but was a primary NBC affiliate. It lost CBSin 1955 when KRCG signed-on from Jefferson City. The two shared ABC until 1971 when KCBJ-TV (now KMIZ) launched. This channel began as the brainchild of longtime University of Missouri (MU) journalism professor Edward Lambert who wanted to give journalism students a hands-on experience by working at a full-fledged commercial station.

In 2002, KOMU won the Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism for maintaining its policy banning political symbols on-air despite government and popular pressure in the aftermath of theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks. In December 2005, the station added NBC Weather Plus to a new second digital subchannel and live streaming video on its website. This was added to Mediacom digital systems on January 12, 2007. After the national service shut down on December 1, 2008, it was replaced with Universal Sports but was not added to other digital cable systems.

It was announced on April 12, 2006 that "KJWB" would become part of The CW and be added as a new third digital subchannel of KOMU to offer non-cable viewers access to the new network. "KJWB" joined The CW at the network's launch on September 18 and began to use the KOMU-DT3 call sign in an official manner. As a result, the station became the first and only educational institution-owned channel in the United States to affiliate with that network. Since KMIZ operated the area's cable-exclusive UPN station, this joined the other new network known as MyNetworkTV that was created to compete against The CW. KOMU's broadcasts became digital-only effective June 12, 2009. It moved the digital signal from pre-transition UHF channel 36 to its former analog assignment.

2011 Mediacom dispute
On January 3, 2011 KOMU was removed from the channel lineup of local cable provider Mediacom after talks to negotiate a new retransmission consent broke down, the previous carriage agreement with Mediacom was supposed to expire two days earlier, but KOMU and Mediacom agreed to extend their carriage agreement through midnight on January 3.[1] Mediacom replaced KOMU and its digital subchannels with three cable channels: Turner Classic Movies replaced KOMU on channels 7 and 707; Starz Kids and Family replaced Mid-Missouri CW on channel 5; and The Hub replaced Universal Sports on channel 101.[2] On January 7, 2011, Mediacom brought KOMU and its subchannels back on their respective channel slots after the company and KOMU reached a new carriage agreement.[3]

News operation
It has historically been the dominant station in Mid-Missouri for most of its history according to Nielsen ratings. For the most part, KRCG been a distant second in the ratings to KOMU. However, that channel has traditionally dominated the western side of the market because it has facilities in Jefferson City. Today, KOMU airs local news for 4½ hours on weekdays and 2½ hours on weekends. There is no early evening show on Sundays. Unusual for its market size, KOMU begins its weekday morning show at 4:30 reflecting a recent trend of television stations airing a pre-5 a.m. broadcast (most stations ranked #75 and above in the Nielsen rank usually air morning newscasts at 5:30 or 6 in the morning). KOMU is the only channel in the area that does this.Originally, MU School of Journalism students served as KOMU interns providing behind-the-scenes assistance with production and direction. However, since 1970, most of the station's reporters and photographers have been a rotating array of undergraduate and/or graduate students seen by week and portions of the semesters. In addition, weekend and substitute anchors as well as many producers are students. However, like other commercial outlets, the station does employ paid professional staff serving as managers, engineers, and sales representatives. The editors and main on-air anchors, as well as most of the producers, are actually School of Journalism faculty members. Due to the large number of unpaid interns, KOMU has a significantly larger news staff than a market of Columbia/Jefferson City's size would otherwise support.

On August 8, 2008, the station became first in the market to offer local newscasts in high definition making Mid-Missouri the third-smallest DMA in the country to feature local broadcasts in HD. [4] [5] On April 23, 2009, KOMU debuted a new set specifically designed for high definition television. Suddenlink and Charter currently do not offer this station's high definition feed resulting in reduced access to view HD newscasts. Starting July 5, 2010, the station began producing three newscasts for its CW-affiliated third digital subchannel. This includes KOMU 8 News Today on The CW weekday mornings at 7 for a half-hour and KOMU 8 News at 9 on The CW every night for a half-hour. [6]

The prime time show competes with the KMIZ-produced show on low-powered Fox affiliate KQFX-LD. Like all CW Plus stations in the Central Time Zone, KOMU-DT3 also offers the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz on weekdays from 5 until 8 except for pre-empting the first half of the third hour for local news. KOMU operates its own weather radar, known as "Live Doppler 8 First Alert Radar", next to its studios. Unlike most NBC affiliates, it does not offer midday news during the week. KOMU's website features a live streaming video feed of all newscasts except those seen on the CW subchannel.

Newscast titles

 * KOMU-TV News (1953-1964)
 * The News Camera (1964-1971)
 * News Eight Reports (1971-1974)
 * NewsCenter 8 (1974–1998)
 * NBC 8 News (1998-2002)
 * KOMU News (2002-2008)
 * KOMU 8 News (2008-present)

Station slogans

 * "Channel 8, Proud As A Peacock!" (1979-1981; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * "Channel 8, Our Pride Is Showing" (1981-1982; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * "Come on Along with Channel 8" (1982-1983; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "That Special Feeling on Channel 8" (1983-1984; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "We're With You on Channel 8" (1984-1985; local version of ABC ad campaign)
 * "Channel 8, Let`s All Be There" (1985-1986; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * "Come Home To Channel 8" (1986-1987; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * "Come On Home To Channel 8" (1987-1988; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * "Come Home To The Best, Only On Channel 8" (1988-1990; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * "Channel 8, The Place To Be!" (1990-1992; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * "Your News for the '90s" (1991-1995)
 * "It's A Whole New Channel 8" (1992-1993; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * "The Stars Are Back on Channel 8" (1993-1994; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * "Mid-Missouri's News Team' (1995-2002)
 * "Coverage You Can Count On" (2002-present, primary)
 * "Improve Your View" (2006-2008, secondary)

Newscast music

 * "KOMU 1975 News Theme" (1975-1978)
 * "Home Country" by Mayoham Music (1978-1980)
 * "KOMU 1980 News Theme" (1980-1982)
 * "You've Got A Friend Mid-Missouri" (1982-1985)
 * "Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence" by Lalo Schifrin (1986-1988)
 * "KOMU 1988 News Theme" (1988-1990)
 * "KOMU 1990 News Theme" (1990-1991)
 * "The Great News Package" by Gari Communications, Inc. (1991-1998)
 * "The NBC Collection" by Gari Communications, Inc. (1998-2009)
 * "The Tower" by 615 Music (2009-present)

News team
Anchors Live Doppler 8 First Alert Weather Sports team
 * Angie Bailey - weeknights at 5, 6, 9 (on KOMU-DT3) and 10 p.m.
 * Sarah Hill - weekdays at 11am & 5 p.m.; also reporter and "Sarah's Stories" and "Your View" segment producer
 * Megan Murphy - weekday mornings
 * Jim Riek - weeknights at 6, 9 and 10 p.m.
 * Dave Schmidt - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6, 9 (on KOMU-DT3) and 10 p.m.
 * Eric Aldrich (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings
 * Michelle Bogowith - meteorologist; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5 and weekends at 10 p.m.
 * Chris Gervino - sports director; weeknights at 6, 9 (on KOMU-DT3) and 10 p.m., also KOMU 8 Sports Show host
 * Eric Blumberg - sports anchor; Fridays at 6, and Friday-Saturdays at 9 (on KOMU-DT3) and 10 p.m., also sports reporter and "Blumberg off the Bench" segment producer, seen on This Week in Mizzou Football and This Week in Mizzou Basketball

Former staff

 * NBC News: Lisa Myers ('73), Mark Potter ('75)
 * ABC News: Elizabeth Vargas ('84), Kevin Roy ('87)
 * CBS News: Russ Mitchell ('82), Richard Schlesinger ('76)
 * CNN: Sophia Choi ('92), Chuck Roberts ('71)
 * Fox News: Jon Scott ('81), Phil Keating ('90)
 * ESPN: John Anderson ('87), Matt Winer ('90), Michael Kim ('88)
 * National Journal: Major Garrett ('84)