KOMU-TV

Digital programming
On KOMU-DT2 and Mediacom digital channel 246 is Universal Sports. It is not offered on Charter, Suddenlink, or CenturyTel systems. On KOMU-DT3 is the area's CW affiliate. Known on-air as Mid-Missouri's CW, this can also be seen on Suddenlink channel 3, Mediacom and Charter channel 5, as well as CenturyTel channel 7. This channel gets all of its programming from The CW Plus.

History
Its studios, designed by Jamieson and Spearl, on U.S. 63 south of ColumbiaThe station launched on December 21, 1953 and carried programming from all four major networks but was a primary NBC affiliate. It lost the CBS affiliation in 1955 when KRCG signed on from Jefferson City. The two stations shared the ABC affiliation until 1971 when KCBJ-TV (now KMIZ) launched. It has been the dominant station in the area for most of its history.

Channel 8 began as the brainchild of longtime MU journalism professor Edward Lambert, who wanted to give journalism students a hands-on experience by working at a full-fledged commercial station. Originally, students served as interns. However, since 1970, much of the station's newsgathering has been handled by students.

From January 22 to April 23, 1955 KOMU temporarily originated a live prime time ABC network show, Ozark Jubilee. In 1982, ABC moved its affiliation to KOMU since the network was the highest-rated network 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.

In 1998, the station started 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. 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 the September 11, 2001 attacks. In December 2005, the station added NBC Weather Plus to its second digital subchannel and live streaming video on its website. This was added to Mediacom systems on January 12, 2007. After the national service shut down on December 1, 2008, it was replaced with Universal Sports.

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

News operation
Its news openKOMU airs a total of 21½ hours of local news per week (four hours on weekdays, an hour on Saturdays, and a half-hour on Sundays). The station has paid professional staff serving as managers, engineers, and sales representatives. The managers, editors, and main anchors are School of Journalism faculty members. The reporters, weekend and substitute anchors, and many producers are undergraduate and graduate broadcast journalism students. KOMU's reporters are a rotating array of University of Missouri journalism undergraduate or graduate students. The student reporters rotate by week and by portions of the semester. Due to the large number of students, KOMU has a significantly larger news staff than a market of Columbia/Jefferson City's size would otherwise support.

Also unusual for its marker size, KOMU airs its weekday morning newscast starting at 4:30 a.m. reflecting a recent trend of television stations airing a pre-5 a.m. broadcast (most stations ranked No. 75 and above in the Nielsen market ratings usually air its morning newscasts at 5:30 or 6 a.m.). On August 8, 2008, the station became the first in the market to broadcast local news in high definition making Mid-Missouri the third-smallest DMA in the country to feature local news in HD. [2] [3] On April 23, 2009, KOMU debuted a new set specifically designed for high definition television.

Beginning July 5, 2010, the station began to produce two newscasts for its CW-affiliated third digital subchannel. This includes KOMU 8 News Today on The CW (airing weekday mornings from 7 to 8) and KOMU 8 News at 9 on The CW (seen every night for a half-hour). [4] The prime time broadcast competes with the KMIZ-produced newscast on low-powered Fox affiliate KQFX-LD. Like all CW Plus stations in the Central Time Zone, KOMU-DT3 also airs the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz on weekdays from 5 to 8. The station operates its own weather radar, known as "Live Doppler 8 First Alert Radar", next to its studios. Unlike most NBC affiliates, it does not air midday news during the week. KOMU offers a live stream of all its newscasts (except those seen on its CW subchannel) on its website.

[edit] Newscast titles

 * KOMU-TV News (1953-1964)
 * The News Camera (1964-1971)
 * News Eight Reports (1971-1974)
 * NewsCenter 8 (1974-1997)
 * NBC 8 News (1997-2002)
 * KOMU News (2002-2008)
 * KOMU 8 News (2008-present)

[edit] 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 ABC ad campaign, used before the switch to ABC)
 * Come on Along with Channel 8 (1982-1983; local version of ABC ad campaign, used after the switch)
 * 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, used before the switch back to NBC)
 * 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! (1990-1991; local version of NBC ad campaign)
 * Your News for the '90s (1991-1995)
 * Mid-Missouri's News Team (1995-2002)
 * Coverage You Can Count On (2002-present; primary slogan)
 * Improve Your View (2006-2008; secondary slogan)

[edit] Newscast music

 * KOMU 1975 News Theme by Unknown Composer (1975-1978)
 * Home Country by Mayoham Music (1978-1980)
 * KOMU 1980 News Theme by Unknown Composer (1980-1986)
 * Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence by Lalo Schifrin (1986-19??)
 * KOMU 1990 News Theme by Unknown Composer (19??-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 - weeknights at 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.
 * Chance Seales - weekday mornings
 * 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; Monday-Thursdays at 6, and Sunday-Thursdays at 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

[edit] 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)