KVOA-TV

KVOA is a full-service television station serving Tucson, Arizona as the NBC affiliate. It broadcasts in digital on UHF channel 23 from its transmitter on Mount Bigelow, northeast of Tucson. Per FCC regulations, the station identifies itself on television tuners as channel 4 throughPSIP. KVOA has a low-power digital translator in Casas Adobes and analog translators in Duncan/Safford and Sierra Vista. The primary station and the Casas Adobes and Sierra Vista translators are owned by Cordillera Communications, a subsidiary of the Evening Post Publishing Company of Charleston, South Carolina.

History
In September 1953, KVOA signed on as Tucson's second television station and NBC affiliate, eight months after KOLD-TV signed on as theCBS affiliate. Although KVOA was an NBC affiliate, it carried a secondary affiliation with ABC until 1956 when KDWI-TV (now KGUN) began operations. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[2]

It was originally owned by Chicago advertising executive John Louis, Sr., along with KVOA-AM 1290 (now KCUB). It was a sister station toKTAR in Phoenix. In October 1953, KVOA brought Tucson its first-ever live television event: a World Series broadcast.[3] The Louis broadcasting empire eventually became known as Pacific & Southern Broadcasting, headquartered in Phoenix; however, Louis did not keep KVOA for long. In 1955, Louis sold the KVOA stations to Clinton D. McKinnon, who would later acquire KOAT-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico and combine the two television stations to form Alvarado Television. In 1962, the Alvarado stations were sold to Steinman Stations, the owner of WGAL-TV in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

In 1968, the Steinmans sold a controlling stake in KVOA-TV to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulitzer,_Inc. Pulitzer Publishing], making it Pulitzer's first (partial) television station acquisition outside of its home base in St. Louis, Missouri; KOAT went to Pulitzer fully a year later. In 1972, Pulitzer was forced to spin off its share of KVOA to an employee group called Channel 4-TV after it purchased the Arizona Daily Star the year before due to the tightening of the Federal Communications Commission's cross-ownership rules. Channel 4-TV also acquired Steinman's stake in KVOA around the same time.

The station was acquired by the Hobby family of Houston, publishers of the Houston Post, in 1982. When the Post was sold a year later, the Hobby family reorganized its broadcasting interests as H&C Communications. H&C sold off its television stations in 1993, with KVOA going to the Evening Post Publishing Company.

For decades, KVOA had used the Eyewitness News moniker, and the slogan "Where The News Comes First". It also was the market's news leader: by 1995, KVOA had led the Tucson news ratings for 21 straight years, half of its history[4] –but only after Jon F. Ruby became the station's general manager in 1974 and initiated a major expansion of news. In 1995, KVOA's $750,000 satellite truck was the market's only microwave-based live news vehicle; Eyewitness News equaled or beat KGUN and KOLD combined in all time slots; was first with stereo, closed captioning, and microwave electronic news gathering; and had the largest television news staff in the market (second in size only to the Arizona Daily Star). However in February 2006 the name shortened to News 4, with the new slogan "Coverage You Can Count On". In November 2007, KVOA changed its slogan to "Balanced News You Can Count On".

In April 2007, KVOA became the first station in Tucson to broadcast local news in HDTV.

During the 2009 Super Bowl, Comcast's transmission of the station was interrupted for approximately 20 seconds replacing KVOA's broadcast of the game with soft-core porn, affecting Comcast's analog subscribers in portions of the Tucson area.[5] The substitution appears to have been made at Comcast, not at KVOA, leaving KVOA's over-the-air, satellite and other cable providers viewers unaffected. Also, Comcast's high-definition transmission of KVOA was not affected.[6]

Digital television
On June 15, 2000, KVOA was issued a construction permit to build digital station KVOA-DT on UHF channel 23. There were delays in building the new station, and on June 18, 2003, KVOA was granted Special Temporary Authority (STA) to operate the digital station at reduced power. The STA has been extended several times, and as of September 2006, KVOA-DT continues to operate under STA at reduced power.

KVOA upgraded its operations in April 2007. Changes included a new set, updated graphics and the transition to High Definition broadcasting. HD newscasts began Sunday, April 22 starting with the 10PM newscast. Southern Arizona News Network, a 24-hour news channel from KVOA is an exclusive to local Cox Cable subscribers, that premiered on June 7, 2007 and ended broadcasting on March 31, 2010. KVOA is the first station in Tucson to offer news in high definition and the second in Arizona (following KPNX in Phoenix). Sister stationWLEX in Lexington, KY also owned by Evening Post Publishing Company is also doing its newscast in HD.

In October 2006, KVOA requested companion digital LPTV channels for its Sierra Vista translator, K20FO, and Casas Adobes translator, K64BV. The FCC granted a construction permits for the Sierra Vista companion channel, K10QA-D, and the Casa Adobes companion channel, K04QP-D, on December 26, 2007.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">On June 12, 2009, at the end of the digital transition, KVOA ended analog broadcasts on channel 4, continuing digital operations on RF channel 23.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Analog_to_digital_6-0" style="line-height: 1em; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">[7] The same day, KVOA ended analog broadcasts on its channel 64 Casas Adobes translator, began digital operations on K04QP-D, and applied for a license to cover, which was granted June 16.

Current on-air staff
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Anchors


 * Emily Guggenmos - weekend evenings
 * Brandon Gunnoe - weekday mornings and noon
 * Tom McNamara - weekdays 5pm, 6pm, and 10pm
 * John Overall - weekend evenings
 * Lorraine Rivera - weekday mornings and noon
 * Kristi Tedesco - weekdays 5pm and 10pm (also fill in)
 * Martha Vasquez - weekdays 4pm and 6pm

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Reporters


 * Greg Dingrando
 * Angelique Lizarde
 * Lupita Murillo
 * Naomi Pescovitz
 * Sandy Rathbun
 * Danielle Todesco
 * Larissa Wohl - morning traffic

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Weather


 * Jimmy Stewart - chief meteorologist; weekdays 4pm, 5pm, 6pm, and 10pm
 * Jeff Beamish - weekend evenings
 * Chris Nallan - weekday mornings and noon

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Sports


 * Ryan Recker - sports director; weekdays 6pm and 10pm
 * George Savaricas - weekends

Newscast titles

 * Channel 4 Final (1950s)
 * Channel 4 Night Report (1950s)
 * The Bennett-Jackson Report (1950s-1960s)
 * 24 Hours (1960s-early 1970s)
 * (TV-4) Eyewitness News (early 1970s-1999)
 * Eyewitness News 4 (1999–2006)
 * Tucson 4 News (2006)
 * News 4 (referred in 2010 as News 4 Tucson) (2006–present)

Station slogans

 * Tucson's Television is TV-4 (early 1970s)
 * Tucson's Total News is on TV-4 (mid-1970s)
 * Eyewitness News: The News People (late 1970s-early 1980s)
 * TV-4, Proud as a Peacock! (1979–1981; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * TV-4, Our Pride is Showing (1981–1982; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * We're TV-4, Just Watch Us Now (1982–1983; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * TV-4 There, Be There (1983–1984; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * TV-4, Let's All Be There (1984–1986; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Come Home to TV-4 (1986–1987; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Come on Home to TV-4 (1987–1988; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Come Home To The Best, Only on TV-4 (1988–1990; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * TV-4, is The Place to Be! (1990–1991, localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * It`s A Whole New TV-4 (1992–1993, localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * The Stars Are Back on TV-4 (1993-1994; localized version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Where The News Comes First (early 1990s-late 2002)
 * Southern Arizona's News Leader (2002–2006)
 * Coverage You Can Count On (2006–2007)
 * Balanced News You Can Count On (2007–present)

Newscast music

 * WTOP 1968 News Theme by unknown composer (1970–1972)
 * WTLV 1972 News Theme by unknown composer (1972–1977)
 * News Views by Syd Dale (1977–1979)
 * TuesdayC by Tuesday Productions (1979–1982)
 * NewsCenter Theme by Michael Randall Music (1982–1984)
 * KVOA 1984 News Theme by unknown composer (1984-19??)
 * News Series 2000 by Gari Communications, Inc. (19??-19??)
 * Stimulus by Gari Communications, Inc. (1998–1999)
 * Eyewitness News by Gari Communications, Inc. (1999–2007)
 * The NBC Collection by Gari Communications, Inc. (2007–present)

Translators

 * K64BV Casas Adobes (serving the northwest part of the Tucson metropolitan area shielded by Mount Lemmon)
 * K43CN Duncan / Safford
 * K20FO Sierra Vista