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KCCI
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| KCCI | |
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| Des Moines, Iowa | |
| Branding | KCCI NewsChannel 8 |
| Slogan | "Iowa's News Leader" |
| Channels | Analog: 8 (VHF) Digital: 31 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | Hearst-Argyle Television |
| Founded | July 31, 1955 |
| Call letters meaning | Cowles Communications, Inc. (former owners) |
| Former callsigns | KRNT-TV (1955-1974) |
| Former affiliations | none |
| Website | www.kcci.com |
KCCI is a television station that broadcasts on channel 8 in Des Moines, Iowa. It is affiliated with the CBS television network and serves most of central Iowa.
KCCI's studios are located in downtown Des Moines, while the station's transmitter is located in Alleman, Iowa, about midway between Des Moines and Ames.
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KCCI started on the air on July 31, 1955, as KRNT-TV, the third television station in Des Moines and the ninth in Iowa. It was owned by the Cowles family, publishers of the Des Moines Register and Des Moines Tribune newspapers, along with KRNT radio (AM 1350 and the original KRNT-FM at 104.5, which went dark ). The calls stood for the papers' nickname in central Iowa, "the R 'n T."
The Cowles family and rival KSO-AM (now KXNO; also owned by the Cowles interests until 1942) both applied for the channel 8 frequency and fought over it. A decision was held up due to issues with the Cowles' ownership of Look magazine. Eventually, the two stations reached a settlement that allowed KRNT to own 60 percent of the TV station and KSO to own 40 percent. Yet once the FCC approved the station's license, KRNT immediately bought out KSO's share of the station. KRNT-TV's broadcasting day was originally about five to six hours long, and included a 15-minute news program later in the evening. The station has been part of the CBS network ever since signing on, owing to KRNT-AM's long affiliation with CBS Radio.
The FCC tightened its ownership rules in the 1970s, forcing the Cowles interests to sell one of their Des Moines broadcast outlets. They opted to sell KRNT-AM and KRNQ-FM (now KSTZ) to Stauffer Communications in 1974 and keep KRNT-TV, which became KCCI-TV, with the initials standing for owner Cowles Communications, Inc.
Over the years, Cowles Communications bought several other media outlets, including KTVH (now KWCH-TV) in Wichita, Kansas (and its satellites in the western part of Kansas) WESH in Orlando, Florida and WQAD-TV in the Quad Cities.
In 1983, the Cowles family announced it was breaking up its vast media empire, selling off most of its assets except the Minneapolis Star Tribune. While the Register went to Gannett and The Register and Tribune Syndicate (best known as syndicators of The Family Circus) went to Hearst as a King Features division, KCCI and WESH went to H&C Communications. H&C sold two of its television stations, KCCI and WESH, to Pulitzer in 1993. Hearst-Argyle Television bought all of Pulitzer's television holdings in 1998.
KCCI began broadcasting in high-definition television on channel 8.1 in 2002. On July 24, 2006, KCCI launched "Weather Now," a 24-hour local weather channel that appears on digital subchannel 8.2 as well as local Mediacom digital cable channel 247, and the station's website.
Even though it was the last of Des Moines' Big Three affiliates to sign on, KCCI has been the area's ratings leader for most of its history. It currently leads its nearest competitor, NBC affiliate WHO-TV, by a sizable margin. The news department receives regional and national awards of merit on a regular basis. Among the honors are a number of Edward R. Murrow awards, and the photojouralism staff was recently named "Station of the Year" (Small/medium market) by the National Press Photographers' Association.
The station operates a website at www.kcci.com. For several years the station's website was known as www.theiowachannel.com, following the practice of other Hearst-Argyle stations, and people going to kcci.com were redirected to theiowachannel.com. In October 2005, the station switched back to the kcci.com name for its web site, with theiowachannel.com serving as a redirect to the kcci.com website.
Current news personalities (as of February 2007) include:
- Kevin Cooney, 6 and 10 p.m. news co-anchor
- Mollie Cooney, noon news co-anchor
- Caitlin Coyner, morning news co-anchor
- Cynthia Fodor, reporter/5 p.m. news co-anchor
- Emily Price, reporter/weekend evening news anchor
- Geoff Greenwood, reporter
- Eric Hanson, reporter
- Stacey Horst, 6 and 10 p.m. news co-anchor
- Angie Hunt, Ames LiveLink Reporter
- Bob Kaple, reporter
- Steve Karlin, reporter/5 p.m. news co-anchor
- Sally Kidd, Washington DC Bureau reporter
- Laurie Kinney, Washington DC Bureau reporter
- Amanda Lewis, reporter/weekend morning news anchor
- Todd Magel, reporter/weekend evening news anchor
- Marcus McIntosh, morning and noon news co-anchor
- Traci Mitchell, Washington DC Bureau reporter
- Molly Nelson, reporter
- Michelle Parker, reporter
- John Pascuzzi, entertainment reporter/movie reviewer
- Katie Piper, reporter
- John McLaughlin, chief meteorologist, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts
- Jason Parkin, weekend evening meteorologist
- Metinka Slater, weekend morning meteorologist
- Kurtis Gertz, meteorologist, noon and 5 p.m. newscasts
- Bryan Karrick, morning meteorologist
- Andy Garman, sports anchor/ reporter/ photographer
- John Meyer, sports reporter/ photographer
KCCI added weekend morning newscasts on January 21, 2006.
In addition to CBS network programming, KCCI airs first-run syndicated programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil, Live with Regis and Kelly, and Inside Edition, as well as reruns of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and the original Star Trek.
A 200-foot weather beacon is on their auxiliary tower atop the station's downtown Des Moines studios and is a landmark of the Des Moines skyline. The lighted beacon changes colors depending on the forecast:
- "Weather Beacon red, warmer weather ahead.
- Weather Beacon white, colder weather in sight.
- Weather Beacon green, no change in weather foreseen.
- Weather Beacon flashing night or day, precipitation is on the way."[1]
- ^ KCCI. KCCI Weather Beacon. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
- Stein, Jeff, Making Waves: The People and Places of Iowa Broadcasting (ISBN 0-9718323-1-5). Cedar Rapids, Iowa: WDG Communications, 2004.
- KCCI-TV's official website
- KCCI-TV historical artifacts from DesMoinesBroadcasting.com
- Query the FCC's TV station database for KCCI
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KGAN 2 (Cedar Rapids) - KIMT 3 (Mason City) - KCCI 8 (Des Moines) - KMEG 14 (Sioux City) |
| See also: ABC, CW, Fox, NBC, MyNetworkTV, PBS, and Other stations in Iowa |
