KOLN, digital channel 10, is the
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
affiliate in
Lincoln, NebraskaThe City of Lincoln is the capital and the second most populous city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska...
. It operates a satellite station,
KGIN, on digital channel 11 in
Grand IslandGrand Island is a city in and the county seat of Hall County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 42,940 at the 2000 census, with an estimated 44,802 in July, 2007....
. KGIN repeats all KOLN programming, but airs separate commercials. The station also serves as the default CBS affiliate for
North PlatteNorth Platte is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It is located in the southwestern part of the state, along Interstate 80, at the confluence of the North and South Platte Rivers forming the Platte River. The population was 23,878 at the 2000 census, and an...
; it airs its programming on two translators in that city.
Combined, the two stations serve one of the largest coverage areas in the nation, stretching across 42 counties—almost two-thirds of the state's land mass—and an additional four counties in
KansasKansas is a state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, who inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was...
.
KOLN, digital channel 10, is the
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
affiliate in
Lincoln, NebraskaThe City of Lincoln is the capital and the second most populous city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska...
. It operates a satellite station,
KGIN, on digital channel 11 in
Grand IslandGrand Island is a city in and the county seat of Hall County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 42,940 at the 2000 census, with an estimated 44,802 in July, 2007....
. KGIN repeats all KOLN programming, but airs separate commercials. The station also serves as the default CBS affiliate for
North PlatteNorth Platte is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It is located in the southwestern part of the state, along Interstate 80, at the confluence of the North and South Platte Rivers forming the Platte River. The population was 23,878 at the 2000 census, and an...
; it airs its programming on two translators in that city.
Combined, the two stations serve one of the largest coverage areas in the nation, stretching across 42 counties—almost two-thirds of the state's land mass—and an additional four counties in
KansasKansas is a state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, who inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was...
. The stations, branded together on-air as
10/11 (pronounced
ten-eleven), are owned by
Gray TelevisionGray Television, Inc. is a communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with administrative offices in Albany, Georgia.Gray Television currently owns 36 television stations serving 30 mainly mid-size and small-size media markets...
.
The station is officially part of the Lincoln/
HastingsHastings is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 24,064 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Adams County. Hastings is home to Hastings College, a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1882...
/
KearneyKearney is a city in Buffalo County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 27,431 at the 2000 census with an estimated 30,129 in July, 2007. It is the county seat of Buffalo County and home to the University of Nebraska-Kearney...
television market. However, this market is outdated and does not efficiently serve the communities it covers. This leaves many areas around Lincoln and other areas without proper
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
and
CWThe CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
coverage. KOLN and
FoxThe Fox Broadcasting Company , commonly referred to as Fox , is an American television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, from 2004 to 2009 Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the 18–49 demographic...
affiliate KSNB-TV/KTVG-TV/KFXL-TV are the only full-power stations shared by the entire market. Lincoln and the far eastern portions of the market receive
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
from KLKN-TV in Lincoln, NBC from
WOWT-TVWOWT-TV, digital channel 22 and virtual channel 6 via PSIP, is the NBC affiliate in Omaha, Nebraska. WOWT also serves the state capital, Lincoln, 52 miles away, with broadcast and cable coverage...
in
OmahaOmaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
and CW from
KXVOKXVO Channel 15 is the The CW affiliated television station in Omaha, Nebraska. The station is owned by Mitts Telecasting Company and operated by Pappas Telecasting through a local marketing agreement. KXVO shares operations and studios with another Pappas-owned station, Fox affiliate KPTM...
in Omaha. The rest of the market receives ABC from
KHGI-TVKHGI-TV channel 13 is the ABC affiliate for most of central and western Nebraska. The station is licensed to the town of Kearney.KHGI is owned and operated by Pappas Telecasting Companies. Its programming is also aired on KWNB-TV channel 6 in Hayes Center, which repeats the KHGI signal except for...
in Kearney, NBC from
KHAS-TVKHAS-TV 5 is the NBC station in Hastings, Nebraska. It serves as the NBC affiliate for the western side of the Lincoln/Hastings/Kearney market. The station is owned by Hoak Media Corporation, which also owns and operates sister station KNOP-TV in North Platte...
in Hastings and no CW affiliate. Four counties in north central Kansas which border Nebraska (
JewellJewell County is a county located in North Central Kansas, in the Central United States. The population was estimated to be 3,324 in the year 2006...
,
PhillipsPhillips County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of 2000, the population was 6,001. The largest city and county seat is Phillipsburg.-Law and government:...
,
RepublicRepublic County is a county located in the state of Kansas. As of 2000, the population was 5,835. The largest city and county seat is Belleville.- Law and government :...
and
SmithSmith County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. In 2000, its population was 4,536. Its county seat is Smith Center. It is named in memory of Maj. J...
) are also part of the Lincoln/Hastings/Kearney market and receive programming from the Hastings/Kearney side of the market as well as satellites of
WichitaWichita is a city in and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2000 census its population was 344,284. The 2006 estimated population of 361,420 made it the 51st largest city in the country and the most populous city in Kansas...
stations.
KOLN/KGIN also operated a
UPNUnited Paramount Network was a television network that broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States, being in production for over eleven years. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries. It was later owned by CBS Corporation. Its first night of broadcasting was...
affiliate on its digital subchannels. Beginning on September 5, 2006, those digital subchannels switched to
MyNetworkTVMyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
programming.
Station history
KOLN signed on for the first time on February 18, 1953 as Nebraska's third television station and the first outside Omaha. It was owned by broadcasting pioneer
John FetzerJohn Earl Fetzer was a radio and television executive who was best known as the owner of the Detroit Tigers from 1961 through the early 1980s.- Biography :...
along with KOLN-AM 1400 (now
KLINKLIN is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, the station serves the Lincoln area. The station is currently owned by NRG Media and features programing from ABC Radio , Premiere Radio Networks and Fox News Radio.KLIN was founded in 1946...
). Originally broadcasting on channel 12, it moved to channel 10 in 1954 after donating the channel 12 facilities to the University of Nebraska for its educational station,
KUON-TVNebraska Educational Telecommunications is a statewide public broadcasting network of radio and television stations in Nebraska and is based in Lincoln. The network is operated by the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission, which owns the license for all but one station in the network...
.
The station was originally the
DuMont Television NetworkThe DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
affiliate for the Omaha/Lincoln market. Later in 1953, it became a primary ABC affiliate. However, after only a year on the air, Fetzer persuaded the
Federal Communications CommissionThe Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, directed, and empowered by Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President...
to merge Lincoln with the Hastings/Kearney market in central Nebraska. Lincoln has long been the cultural center for central Nebraska, and Fetzer felt that Lincoln had more in common with this area than Omaha. He also wanted an affiliation with a stronger network. Although Fetzer had a very good relationship with CBS, there was little prospect of taking the affiliation from Omaha's
KMTVKMTV-TV, channel 3 , is the CBS television station in Omaha, Nebraska. Owned by the Journal Broadcast Group, it broadcasts a digital television signal on UHF channel 45.-History:...
.
Soon after the FCC made Lincoln the center of the new Lincoln/Hastings/Kearney market, KOLN became a primary CBS affiliate. Omaha wouldn't have a primary ABC affiliate again until
KETVKETV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliate in Omaha, Nebraska and is owned by Hearst Television. KETV's nearest sister stations are CBS affiliate KCCI-TV channel 8 in Des Moines, Iowa, and fellow ABC affiliate KMBC-TV channel 9 in Kansas City, Missouri.The station's studios are located near 27th and...
signed on in 1957. DuMont shut down in 1956, and KOLN dropped the remaining ABC shows from the schedule in 1957. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the
NTA Film NetworkThe NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956. The network was not a full-time network like CBS, NBC, or ABC. Rather, it operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several first-run TV programs from major Hollywood studios...
.
Over the next few years, KOLN signed on translator after translator across its huge and mostly rural coverage area, cementing a dominance that continues to this day.
KGIN debuted on October 1, 1961 as a satellite of KOLN; since then, the two stations have been known on-air as "10/11."
Fetzer began selling off his stations in the 1980s. KOLN/KGIN was among the last to be sold, going to
Gillett CommunicationsGeorge Nield Gillett Jr. is an American businessman, former owner of the ice hockey team Montreal Canadiens, and co-owner of English Premier League team Liverpool F.C...
in 1984. Gillett sold the pair to Busse Broadcasting in 1987 to make room for Gillett's acquisition of the
Storer BroadcastingStorer Broadcasting, Inc. is a former owner of television and radio stations in the United States. It was incorporated in Ohio in 1927, and sold its broadcasting properties in 1983.-1920s—1940s:...
stations. Busse was bought out by current owner Gray Television in 1998.
Until
KLKNKLKN, channel 8, is the ABC affiliate in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. It is owned by Citadel Communications .-History:...
signed on in 1996, KOLN was the only commercial station in Lincoln, making it one of the largest cities in the country with only one full-power commercial station. However, KOLN had no need to air other networks' programming. Most of the Omaha stations provide at least secondary coverage of Lincoln, and all of them are available on cable.
Well into the 1980s, when nearly every other local television news broadcast began with the latest news, KOLN began its newscasts with the weather report as a service to its mostly rural audience. According to A. James Ebel, KOLN's general manager from 1954 to 1985, "The first thing I learned when I arrived here in 1954 is that the weather is the No. 1 story in Nebraska."
http://web.archive.org/web/2/http://journalism.unl.edu/an/spring98/ebel2.html
Mel Mains served as KOLN's main news anchor for 34 years, from 1961 to 1995.
http://www.ne-ba.org/hof-mel_mains.asp
For a time in January 2009, the KOLN/KGIN website included a section about a
FoxThe Fox Broadcasting Company , commonly referred to as Fox , is an American television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, from 2004 to 2009 Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the 18–49 demographic...
affiliate on its second digital subchannel (currently used for
MyNetworkTVMyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
, which was to have moved to the DT3 subcarrier). However, the station has stated that it does not intend to launch such a station; KSNB/KTVG continue to serve as the Fox affiliate for the Grand Island part of the market, while
KPTMKPTM is a Fox affiliate licensed to Omaha, Nebraska, seen on channel 43 digital. It is owned by Pappas Telecasting. Pappas also owns two other stations in the market, KXVO and KAZO-LP...
from Omaha, KFXL-TV, and a KTVG translator serve the Lincoln part.
UPN Nebraska / My Network TV
UPN was broadcast on a DT2 subchannel of KOLN and KGIN under the banner UPN Nebraska; the service switched to MyNetworkTV in September 2006. It not only airs syndicated programs and the entire network schedule, it offers rebroadcasts of KOLN/KGIN news and
The Oprah Winfrey ShowThe Oprah Winfrey Show is a United States syndicated talk show, hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey, and is the highest-rated talk show in American television history...
in primetime.
KOLN/KGIN broadcasts have been digital-only since midnight February 16, 2009; both stations returned to their analog channels for their digital broadcasts.
From Widescreen to High Definition Newscasts
On June 15, 2009, KOLN/KGIN became the first commercial station in Nebraska to broadcast local news in a widescreen format. Then on August 10, 2009, KOLN/KGIN took it one step further to become the first station in Nebraska to launch local news in high definition. With the change came new graphics and a new website
www.1011now.com http://www.1011now.com/home/headlines/52883667.html.
Personalities/Programming
On September 15, 2007, KOLN/KGIN started airing a Saturday and Sunday newscast from 7am-8am. It now competes with WOWT's "Channel 6 News Weekend Daybreak" (8am-9am) and KETV's "First News Saturday and Sunday" (5am-6am, 7am-8:30am) in Omaha.
Morning Show/Midday Personnel
5,6 & 10 Personnel
Saturday & Sunday Morning Personnel
Weekend Evening Personnel
Reporters
Translators
KOLN/KGIN serves its large coverage area with 13 translators. Repeaters in bold are owned by Gray Television; all others are owned by local municipalities or organizations.
Six of the translators directly repeat the KOLN signal, while seven directly repeat the KGIN signal.
KOLN translators
- Ainsworth
Ainsworth is a city in Brown County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,862 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Brown County.-Geography:Ainsworth is located at ....
: K11KW, channel 11
- Neligh
Neligh is a city in Antelope County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,651 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Antelope County.-History:...
: K53GC, channel 53
- Newport
Newport is a village in Rock County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 98 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Newport is located at ....
: K25GM, channel 25
- O'Neill
O'Neill is a city in Holt County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 3,733 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Holt County.-Geography:O'Neill is located at ....
: K43FX, channel 43
- North Platte
North Platte is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It is located in the southwestern part of the state, along Interstate 80, at the confluence of the North and South Platte Rivers forming the Platte River. The population was 23,878 at the 2000 census, and an...
: K57CZ, channel 57
- Valentine
Valentine is a city in Cherry County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 2,820 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Cherry County....
: K69AL, channel 69
KGIN translators
- Broken Bow
Broken Bow is a city in Custer County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 3,491 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Custer County.-History:...
: K04CV, channel 4
- Cambridge
Cambridge is a city in Furnas County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,041 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Cambridge is located at ....
: K30FV, channel 30
- Cozad
Cozad is a city in Dawson County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 4,163 at the 2000 census. The town is on the Great Plains of central Nebraska, along the Union Pacific Railroad and U.S. Highway 30, just north of the Platte River...
: K55AF, channel 55
- Gothenburg
Gothenburg is a city in Dawson County, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Lexington, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,619 at the 2000 census. Gothenburg was founded in 1882 by Olof Bergstrom and is noted for its Swedish heritage. Gothenburg, Nebraska is named...
: K28GC, channel 28
- North Platte
North Platte is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It is located in the southwestern part of the state, along Interstate 80, at the confluence of the North and South Platte Rivers forming the Platte River. The population was 23,878 at the 2000 census, and an...
: K04ED, channel 4
- Ord
Ord is a city in Valley County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 2,269 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Valley County. Ord was named in honor of Civil War general Edward O. C...
: K04HL, channel 4
- Wallace
Wallace is a village in Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the North Platte, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 329 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Wallace is located at ....
: K33FF, channel 33
External links