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KDAF
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| KDAF | |
|---|---|
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| Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas | |
| Branding | CW 33 |
| Slogan | Get Into It, Putting Our Comminuty First |
| Channels | Analog: 33 (UHF) Digital: 32 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | CW |
| Owner | Tribune Company |
| Founded | 1967 |
| Call letters meaning | Dallas And Fort Worth |
| Former callsigns | KMEC-TV (1967-1968) KBFI-TV (1972-1973) KXTX-TV, KDTV (1973) KNBN-TV (1981-1984) KRLD-TV (1984-1986) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1967-1986) Fox (1986-1995) WB (1995-2006) |
| Transmitter Power | 5000 kW/520 m (analog) 780 kW/537 m (digital) |
| Website | www.cw33.com |
KDAF, channel 33, is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, and serving the Dallas-Fort Worth television market. The station is owned by the Tribune Company with its transmitter located on highway 67 in Cedar Hill. The station airs on cable channel 9 on cable systems in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.
From June 1995 to September 2006, KDAF was affiliated with the WB Television Network. Prior to that, KDAF spent nine years as an owned-and-operated station of the Fox Broadcasting Company.
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Channel 33 in Dallas has had several incarnations over four decades of operation. It first signed on-the-air as KMEC in October 1967, the second UHF station in the market after KFWT-TV (channel 21, now KTXA). The station aired a mix of syndicated programming and locally produced shows. KMEC signed off less than a year later. That short-lived attempt was followed by another in 1972, with channel 33 returning to the air using the call letters KBFI and a religious programming format. But, like its predecessor, KBFI signed off after only ten months on the air.
The Christian Broadcasting Network purchased channel 33's license and, on January 11, 1973, channel 33 returned to the air as KXTX-TV (for "Christ (X) for TeXas"), a station with a religious format and some general entertainment. But CBN's stay on channel 33 wouldn't be a long one: Doubleday Broadcasting wanted to get rid of their independent station, KDTV on channel 39. After an attempt to donate KDTV to non-profit interests, Doubleday instead donated the channel 39 license and assets to CBN. Then, in April 1973, CBN moved the KXTX call letters and its programming to channel 39, while Doubleday took over broadcasting channel 33 under the KDTV calls for another several months before turning the frequency off again in December. Channel 33 would remain dark for the next six and-a-half years.
In May 1980, channel 33 returned to the Dallas airwaves for a fourth time. The new station was called KNBN-TV, owned by a local firm, Hill Broadcasting. The station's call letters were derived from its on-air branding, "National Business Network". KNBN was a pioneer in airing "live" (primarily) business news and programming throughout the day; opening with The Morning Report anchored by Ian Kinsey, with reporters Joe Sullivan and Lisa Protter; closing off with Financial Final hosted by Ward Andrews. The evening hours were filled by subscription television from VUE, a program service owned by Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters. Again, this format turned out to be short-lived, and channel 33 revamped itself again. Within a year and-a-half, the business programming was gone, the subscription television service moved to rival UHF station KTWS (channel 27, now KDFI-TV), and KNBN-TV picked up programming from the Spanish International Network, the forerunner to today's Univision.
In late 1983, Hill Broadcasting sold KNBN to Metromedia, and on July 31, 1984, the station was renamed KRLD-TV after new sister station KRLD radio, which Metromedia later sold to comply with Federal Communications Commission rules at the time. Metromedia attempted to do the impossible: make channel 33 competitive and profitable, both at the same time. Immediately after taking over control, the station switched from Spanish to a general entertainment format. The new KRLD-TV was entering a very crowded marketplace -- its competition included KTXA, KXTX-TV, and the market's leading independent, KTVT (channel 11). Metromedia's programming investments featured the first 7:00 p.m. newscast ever attempted in the Dallas-Fort Worth market; anchors included Quin Mathews (late of WFAA-TV,) Joe Reardon, Dr. Dave Eiser, Carlton White (who later appeared as a contestant on The Price is Right) and Laurel Ornish. The news department was headed by DFW radio vet Tony deHaro and Ray Schonbak. The station programmed other first-run syndicated shows, cartoons, off-network sitcoms and news magazines. Also for four seasons starting in 1984, channel 33 was the broadcast home for Dallas Sidekicks indoor soccer club.
In 1986 Metromedia sold its group of independent stations, including KRLD-TV, to the News Corporation and the 20th Century Fox film studio. On March 6 of that year, channel 33's call letters were changed to the current KDAF, and it would become one of the cornerstones that formed the Fox television network. However, Fox closed down the station's news department shortly after assuming control. Though KDAF remained unprofitable into the early 1990s, by 1994 the station was turning modest profits. With an increase in revenues, Fox decided to reactivate channel 33's news department by launching a primetime newscast that would go head-to-head with KTVT. KDAF was well into their news plans when Fox made an announcement which put the station's immediate future in limbo.
In December 1993 Fox made a group deal with New World Communications to move its network affiliation in several markets, including Dallas-Fort Worth, to stations New World either owned outright or were currently purchasing. In Dallas, then-CBS affiliate KDFW-TV (channel 4, which ironically had also once used the KRLD-TV calls) was being sold by Argyle Television to New World, and was included in the New World-Fox deal. At once, Fox placed KDAF on the selling block, and plans for the newscast were shelved indefinitely. Fox network programming moved from KDAF to KDFW on July 1, 1995 (with the exception of Fox Kids programming, which moved to KDFI in September 1997). Two days later (on July 3, 1995), Fox finalized a sale of channel 33 to Renaissance Broadcasting, and KDAF took over the market's WB affiliation from KXTX-TV. Renaissance sold all of its stations, including KDAF, to Tribune Broadcasting in 1997.
On January 24, 2006, UPN and The WB networks announced that they would cease broadcasting and merge. The new network would be called The CW, the letters representing the first initial of its corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. KDAF was one of the Tribune WB affiliates named in the initial announcement of a new 10-year affiliation agreement deal with the new network until at least 2016.
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Digital channels
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 32.1/33.1 | Main KDAF programming |
| 32.2/33.2 | LATV |
KDAF had aired a 24-hour music network called The Tube on digital channel 33.2, but it ceased operations on October 1, 2007.
33.2 came back on the air around November 1, 2007 with bilingual latino programming from LATV
Tribune restored news on KDAF in 1999 by launching a weekday 9 p.m. newscast, and within a year it was expanded to seven nights a week. However, the ratings for the newscast have rarely been competitive, ranking far behind KDFW's 9 p.m. newscast.
- Anchors
- Terri Chappell - weeknights
- Tom Crespo - weeknights
- Jim Grimes - weekends
- Dawn Tongish - weekends
- Reporters
- Barry Carpenter
- Norris Deajon
- Sandra Hernandez
- Michael Rey
- Weather
- Fred Barnhill - weekends
- Bob Goosmann - chief meteorologist/weeknights
- Sports
- Dave Crome - weekend anchor
- Bob Irzyk - sports director/weeknight anchor
- Desmond Purnell - sports reporter
- Watch your Frog (2002-2005)
- Putting Our Community First (2003-present; Used for its promotion)
- We Play Favorites (2005-2006; also briefly used as slogan for Nick at Nite during 2006)
- The Future Home of the New CW33 (2006)
- Free To Be Together (2006-2007)
- Get Into It (2007-present)
 KDAF WB 33 logo. |
- Shannon, Mike (January, 2004). Dallas–Fort Worth TV Station History. The History of Dallas-Fort Worth Radio and Television.
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Local television stations Local Cable Television Channels |
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KCWX 2 (Fredericksburg/San Antonio) - KFDM-DT 6.2 (Beaumont) - KAUZ-DT 6.2 (Wichita Falls) - KRIS-DT 6.2 (Corpus Christi) - KVIA-DT 7.2 (El Paso) |
| See also: ABC, CBS, Fox, MyNetwork TV, NBC, PBS, Telefutura, Telemundo, Univision, Religious, Other English and Other Spanish stations in Texas |
Categories: Television stations in Dallas-Fort Worth | Television stations in Texas | CW network affiliates | Tribune Broadcasting | Fox network affiliates | Fox Television Stations Group | Metromedia | Channel 33 TV stations in the United States | Television channels and stations established in 1967