KXTV, channel 10, is an
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting 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. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate television station in
Sacramento, CaliforniaSacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
. It is owned and operated by the
Gannett CompanyGannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, near McLean. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today and the weekly USA Weekend...
. Its transmitter tower (
shared with KOVRThe KXTV/KOVR tower is a guyed communication tower in Walnut Grove, California, United States that rises to 2,049 feet in height. Built in 2000, it is the tallest structure in California, the 4th tallest guyed mast in the world , and the 6th tallest structure to ever have existed if the destroyed...
) is located in
Walnut Grove, CaliforniaWalnut Grove is a census-designated place in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, and studios are located on Broadway, just south of Business Loop 80 at the south edge of downtown Sacramento.
History
The station went on the air on March 19, 1955 as KBET, owned by locally-based Sacramento Telecasters. McClatchy, owner of the Sacramento Bee newspaper, and Sacramento Telecasters had long fought over the television broadcast station permit before the Federal Communications Commission and ultimately in federal court.
In 1959, the call letters became KXTV (the "X" being the Roman numeral for the VHF channel it broadcasts on, channel 10) when Corinthian Broadcasting bought the station. Corinthian became part of
Dun & BradstreetDun & Bradstreet is a Fortune 500 public company headquartered in Short Hills, New Jersey, USA that provides information on businesses and corporations for use in credit decisions, B2B marketing and supply chain management...
in 1971. The
A.H. Belo CorporationBelo Corp. is a Dallas-based media company that owns 20 commercial broadcasting television stations and two regional 24-hour cable news television channels. The company was previously known as A.H. Belo Corp. after one of the early owners of the company, Alfred Horatio Belo, now the name of the...
bought all of Dun & Bradstreet's television stations (except for two in
IndianaIndiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, which went to
LIN BroadcastingLIN TV Corporation is an American holding company that operates 31 television stations.-History:LIN TV's roots trace back to the founding of its former parent, LIN Broadcasting Corporation, in 1961. LIN Broadcasting was engaged in radio, television, direct marketing, information and learning, music...
) in February 1984.
From its founding until 1995, KXTV was an affiliate of
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. As a CBS affiliate, the station preempted some lower-rated daytime (the 9-10am block in the 1980s and early 1990s) and late night (from the late 1980s until the arrival of
The Late Show with David Letterman in 1993) programs. KXTV also preempted Sunday morning cartoons that CBS offered from the 60's until the early 80's. In 1991, KXTV dropped
The Price Is RightThe Price Is Right is a television game show franchise originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, and created by Bob Stewart, and is currently produced and owned by FremantleMedia. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also includes merchandise such as video games, printed...
, due to the abundance of syndicated programming commitments. After several months of complaints, KXTV reinstated
The Price Is Right, but to make room for syndicated programming it was committed to carry, dropped
Guiding LightGuiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
due to low ratings in the early 1990s. While most CBS stations aired
The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
from 11 a.m.-noon, KXTV moved it to the 3 p.m. timeslot in 1994 where the soap did well. As a CBS affiliate, KXTV's station ID included an electronic alarm like version of the infamous CBS "ding".
Then, on March 6, 1995, in an unprecedented move in local television, KXTV swapped affiliations with
KOVRKOVR, channel 13, is an owned-and-operated station of the CBS Television Network located in Sacramento, California and licensed to Stockton. KOVR-TV shares its offices and studio facilities with sister station KMAX-TV in West Sacramento, California, and its transmitter is located in Walnut Grove,...
, switching networks from CBS to ABC. KXTV is the third station in Sacramento to affiliate with ABC. Low-performing ABC affiliate KCCC Channel 40 (now the home of
KTXLKTXL, channel 40, is a Fox Broadcasting Company-affiliated television station in Sacramento, California, owned by the Tribune Company. Its studios and offices are located in South Sacramento, and its transmitter is near Walnut Grove, California.-History:...
) had it first before shutting down and the network moved to
KOVRKOVR, channel 13, is an owned-and-operated station of the CBS Television Network located in Sacramento, California and licensed to Stockton. KOVR-TV shares its offices and studio facilities with sister station KMAX-TV in West Sacramento, California, and its transmitter is located in Walnut Grove,...
. As an
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting 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. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate, the station preempted the half-hour
soapA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
airing in the 12:30 timeslot (
Loving/The City/Port CharlesPort Charles was a daytime soap opera which aired on ABC from June 2, 1997 to October 3, 2003. It is a spin-off of the serial General Hospital, which has been running since 1963 and takes place in the fictional city of Port Charles, New York...
), at some point running it on overnights; but when the network axed the programming block outright in the early 2000s; KXTV has aired the entire schedule of ABC programming since then. For the first 6 months as an ABC affiliate, KXTV preempted an hour of ABC Saturday morning cartoons, but since the Fall of 1995 has run the entire Saturday morning block. KXTV aired
All My ChildrenAll My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
at 3 p.m. in the early years as an ABC affiliate (probably because it previously aired a soap from CBS in that timeslot and to maintain a similar type of show in that slot), before finally following the niche of airing it at noon alongside majority of the ABC stations—only after the midday newscast moved an hour earlier from noon to 11 a.m.
Four years later, in 1999, Belo traded KXTV to Gannett for that company's
KVUEKVUE, virtual channel 24 , is the local Austin, Texas-based ABC affiliate, owned by Belo Corporation. Its transmitter is located in West Lake Hills, just west of Downtown...
in
Austin, TexasAustin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. (This actually marked a re-entry into the Sacramento television market for Gannett, who briefly owned KOVR during the late 1950s.) That same year, KXTV began digital broadcasts on a new and separate
HDTVHigh-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
channel called 10.1. Then, in 2001, to reflect the station's commitment to its news coverage, KXTV decided to become better known as "News10". In 2006 News 10 started broadcasting a 24 hour weather channel on its second HDTV channel called 10.2.
Until recently, KXTV had first choice on all
King WorldKing World Productions, Inc. was a production company and a syndicator of television programming in the United States until its eventual 2007 incorporation into CBS Television Distribution...
programs offered locally—King World has since become
CBS Television DistributionCBS Television Distribution is a global television distribution company, formed from the merger of CBS Corporation's two domestic television distribution arms CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions, including its home entertainment arm CBS Home Entertainment...
and acquisition policies may have now changed. Nevertheless, KXTV holds the local syndication rights to
Jeopardy!Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
,
Inside EditionInside Edition is a thirty-minute American television syndicated news program, first aired on CBS on October 9, 1988. It was originally similar to the programs Hard Copy and A Current Affair, but now more closely resembles a condensed version of breakfast television, exclusively with pre-recorded...
, and
Wheel of Fortune (all King World-turned-CBS properties). Until 2002, the station also held the local syndication rights to
The Oprah Winfrey ShowThe Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
(now another CBS property seen locally on
KCRAKCRA-TV, channel 3, is a television station in Sacramento, California, United States. KCRA-TV is owned by Hearst Television, a subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation, and is an affiliate of the NBC television network...
/KQCA). It is these shows that have made News10 one of the highest-rated local stations in daytime television. Since 2002-2003, KXTV has been the local television home of the
Sacramento KingsThe Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California, United States. They are currently members of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
, the city's National Basketball Association franchise, which coincides with its network's coverage of NBA games. The station picked up the rights to Kings telecasts in the middle of the 2002-03 season due to the contractual dispute between the team and its then-rights holder, ex-UPN station
KMAXKMAX-TV, channel 31, is the CW affiliate serving the Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, California broadcast area. The station is owned by CBS Television Stations along with the local CBS station, KOVR; the two stations are two of the 3 English network O&Os in the market, along with Ion Television...
. As of 2009, the Sacramento Kings have moved their broadcasts exclusively to Comcast Sportsnet California.
In the late 2000s, KXTV heavily promoted its weather coverage as part of its "Connected to Our Community" marketing campaign. Over-the-air promotions introduced weather presenters and touted weather coverage on the internet (news10.net), on its dedicated digital weather channel (channel 10.2, referred to as "ten-dot-two"), and "on the 10s" (at :10, :20, :30, etc.) on "News 10 Good Morning," its 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. newscast.
Also in the late 2000s, KXTV intensively covered local high school football, especially during Friday news broadcasts. In 2007, for example, the segments were known as "Friday Night Football." The station's helicopter flew from one high school to another to capture aerial shots of the various games. KCRA had its own version called "High School Playbook."
On September 12, 2005, KXTV launched a morning program called Sacramento & Company (shows like this are on a number of Gannett stations) first hosted by Kristin Simones and later by Jodie Moreno, Melissa Crowley and Guy Farris. Sacramento & Co. is a local morning lifestyles and entertainment show that is sponsored by local companies. The show airs weekdays from 9-10 a.m. and is available online.
KXTV ended programming on its analog signal, on
VHFVery high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
channel 10, on June 12, 2009, as part of the
DTV transition in the United StatesThe DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...
. The station then moved back to channel 10 for its post-transition operations.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
News10 Weather Tower
The News 10
weather towerA weather beacon is a beacon that indicates the local weather forecast in a code of colored or flashing lights. Often, a short poem or jingle accompanies the code to make it easier to remember....
was debuted on August 24, 2001, the same day the
California State FairThe California State Fair is the annual state fair for the state of California. The fair is held at Cal Expo in Sacramento, California.- Schedule Change :...
opened. It was completed on October 11, 2000, but News10 decided to debut it later because of the
rolling blackoutA rolling blackout, also referred to as load shedding, is an intentionally-engineered electrical power outage where electricity delivery is stopped for non-overlapping periods of time over geographical regions. Rolling blackouts are a last-resort measure used by an electric utility company in order...
s at that time. It was built and designed by Nacht & Lewis Architects based in downtown Sacramento. The television station, an anchor facility and active proponent of improvements to the Broadway Street Corridor, elected not to construct a conventional broadcast tower, examples of which may be seen throughout Sacramento.
The proposed design melds the rather demanding engineering requirements for communications towers with sensitivity to the suggestions of the surrounding residents while creating an icon and gateway for the Broadway Corridor. The top glows with a different color based on the weather conditions or the result of a
Sacramento KingsThe Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California, United States. They are currently members of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
or the
Sacramento MonarchsThe Sacramento Monarchs were a basketball team based in Sacramento, California. They played in the Women's National Basketball Association from 1997 until folding on November 20, 2009...
win.
| Color |
Description |
| Yellow |
Sunny or clear conditions forecast for tomorrow |
| Green |
Rain is in the area, but there is no severe weather. |
| Blue |
High winds are in the area, but a severe weather watch has not been issued. |
| White |
Cloudy |
| Red |
The temperatures are above 100 degrees or a severe weather watch or warning has been issued. |
| Purple |
The Sacramento KingsThe Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California, United States. They are currently members of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
(during the NBA season) have won their latest game. |
KXTV is one of two Gannett-owned stations that operate a
weather beaconA weather beacon is a beacon that indicates the local weather forecast in a code of colored or flashing lights. Often, a short poem or jingle accompanies the code to make it easier to remember....
. The other is ABC-affiliated sister station WZZM (channel 13) in
Grand Rapids, MichiganGrand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...
at their studio in
Walker, MichiganWalker is a city in Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan and a suburb of Grand Rapids. The population was 23,537 at the 2010 census. Before incorporating as a city, it was known as Walker Township...
.
Digital television
Digital channels>
| Channel |
Video |
Aspect
ratioThe aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,...
|
Name |
Programming |
| 10.1 |
720p 720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan...
|
16:9 16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
|
KXTV-DT |
Main KXTV programming / ABC |
| 10.2 |
480i 480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC...
|
News 10 |
Live Well Network |
KXTV produces Friday Night Football highlights and Jonathan Mumm's "California Postcard" segments in high-definition. KXTV's talk show, "Sacramento & Co." produced an all-HD produced TV special called "The Future Is HDTV on News10", profiling the FCC's imposed transition from an Analog television signal to a Digital television signal. The special also show-cased HD produced shows from ABC as well as some syndicated shows.
On December 16, 2009 at 11 p.m., KXTV began broadcasting its newscasts in high definition, becoming the 3rd Sacramento TV station (behind Hearst's KCRA/KQCA and CBS' KOVR/KMAX), and 9th Gannett-owned station to do so. Only the in-studio portions are in HD; the remote field footage is in upconverted
16:916:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
widescreen
standard definitionSorete-definition television is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either enhanced-definition television or high-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same resolution as...
.
On KXTV's digital subchannel 10.2, was The AccuWeather Channel. It is available online. On August 23, 2011,
Disney-ABC Television GroupDisney-ABC Television Group manages all of The Walt Disney Company's worldwide entertainment and news television properties...
announced an affiliation agreement with KXTV to carry Live Well Network, a lifestyle-oriented digital broadcast network; the network replaced Accuweather.
Programming
Jeopardy!Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
and
Wheel of Fortune have aired on KXTV since the mid-1980s (back when it was CBS). Until 2002,
The Oprah Winfrey ShowThe Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
also aired on KXTV, but it has since moved to KCRA.
News operation
Prior to adopting the current
News10 newscast branding in 1983; KXTV's newscasts had successively identified as
Shell News,
The Big News,
Channel 10 News,
Newservice 10 (in the 1970s), and
Eyewitness NewsEyewitness News is a style of news broadcasting used by local television stations in different markets across the United States. It refers to a particular style of television newscast with an emphasis on visual elements and action video...
(early 1980s
http://ekimmell2.tripod.com/old.html). For the past two decades (dating back to its time as a CBS affiliate), KXTV has been a distant runner-up to KCRA. In recent years, KXTV's 11 p.m. newscast has frequently finished in last place in total households among all of the major stations' late-night newscasts (not counting the KCRA-produced 10 p.m. newscast on
KQCAKQCA is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for Sacramento, California, USA. Licensed to Stockton, the station broadcasts a digital-only signal on UHF channel 46. KQCA's transmitter is located northeast of Walnut Grove. The station is owned by Hearst Television as part of a duopoly with...
).
Hank Thornley was the station's first news anchorman (of
Shell News), from 1955 to 1960. Paul Meeks was the station's first news photographer.
News10 Information Center
The Information center located in the News10 newsroom debuted on February 5, 2007 where the
News10 Now updates are conducted and online stories are written for the web site. On June 12, 2008 KXTV revealed a new website that lets viewers create a profile and become members of News10.net that allows them to post comments, pictures, write blogs and communicate to News10 people provided by SiteLife.
Newscast titles
- Shell News (1955-1960s)
- KXTV News (1960s)
- The Wilson-Gray Report (1960s)
- The Big News
- Channel 10 News (1960s-1970s)
- Newservice 10 (1970s)
- Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News is a style of news broadcasting used by local television stations in different markets across the United States. It refers to a particular style of television newscast with an emphasis on visual elements and action video...
(1978-1986)
- News 10 (1986–present)
Station slogans
- The Spirit of California (1986–2005)
- Committed to News and Connected to Our Community (2005–present)
Current on-air staff
(Date person joined KXTV in parentheses)
Anchors
Weather Team
- Darla Givens - meteorologist; weekends (1999)
- Mellisa Paul - weather anchor; weekdays at 11 a.m. (2010)
- Monica Woods - meteorologist; weekday mornings "News 10 Good Morning" (2001)
Sports Team
- Bryan May - sports anchor; weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m. (1999)
- Ryan Yamamoto - sports anchor; weekends at 6 and 11 p.m., also sports reporter (2005)
Reporters
Notable former on-air staff
- Marcey Brightwell
Marcey Anne Brightwell was a former News10 Political Reporter at KXTV in Sacramento, California. She's now a Deputy Managing Director for Rose and Kindel Grayling Communications in Sacramento.Marcey was born on April 20, 1968 in Vallejo, California...
- Kiran Chetry
Kiran Carrie Chetry was a co-anchor of CNN's early morning cable news program, American Morning.-Early life:Kiran means "ray of light". Chetry refers to the large traditional caste of rulers and soldiers among Hindus in the Middle Hills of Nepal. Kiran's father Hom Chetry belongs to this caste...
(now with CNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
)
- Julie Durda
Julie Durda is a former cheerleader for the San Francisco 49ers, contestant on "The Bachelor", and current Miami weather anchor for WSVN. Before Julie joined the San Francisco 49ers, she was a featured member of the Comedy Central television show "BattleBots" and as a model for the EA Sports Tiger...
(now at WSVNWSVN, channel 7, is a television station located in Miami, Florida, USA. WSVN is owned by Sunbeam Television, and is an affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company. The station has its studio facilities located in North Bay Village and transmitter based in north Miami-Dade County.WSVN operates a Key...
in Miami)
- Dana Jacobson
Dana Jacobson is an ESPN anchorwoman. She joined the network as an ESPNEWS anchor in December 2002 and soon became a regular anchor on the 6 p.m. edition of SportsCenter. In March 2005, she was named co-host of Cold Pizza, and transitioned with the show as it became ESPN First Take...
(now with ESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
)
- Will Selva
Veteran sports anchor, Will Selva, joined ESPN in August 2007. During his time with the Sports Network he has anchored a number of the network's premiere shows including SportsCenter, SportsCenter America, NBA FastBreak, College Football Live, ESPN News and ESPN 2's First Take...
Out-of-market carriage
KXTV can be seen on cable in eastern portions of the Bay Area and in all of Butte County as a competitor to
KGOKGO-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, based in San Francisco, California...
and KRCR, respectively.
External links