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KDKA-TV
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Branding	KDKA-TV KDKA-TV News
Slogan	Your Home (general) Local News First (news)
Channels	Analog: 2 (VHF) Digital: 25 (UHF)
Affiliations	CBS (secondary until 1955)
Owner	CBS Corporation
Founded	January 11, 1949 (roots trace to the experimental station W8XT begun in 1928 by Vladimir Zworykin)
Call letters meaning	taken from sister radio station KDKA-AM
Former callsigns	WDTV (1949-55)
Former channel number(s)	3 (1949-1952)
Former affiliations	DuMont (1949-55) NBC (secondary, 1949-57) ABC (secondary, 1949-58)
Transmitter Power	100 kW/254 m (analog) 1000 kW/367 m (digital)
Website	www.kdka.com

KDKA-TV is the CBS owned and operated (O&O) television station in Pittsburgh. Its studios are located at One Gateway Center in Downtown Pittsburgh. It broadcasts its analog signal on VHF channel 2, and its digital signal on UHF channel 25 from its transmitter in Pittsburgh.

Contents 1 History 1.1 As WDTV 1.2 As KDKA-TV 1.3 CBS 2? 1.4 Image Campaign 2 Digital Broadcast Signal 3 Local Programming 3.1 Seasonal 3.2 Past 3.3 Ratings 4 Personalities 4.1 Anchors 4.2 Anchor/Reporters 4.3 Weather 4.4 Sports 4.5 Reporters 4.6 Notable alumni 5 Newscast branding 6 Logos 7 Trivia 8 References 9 External links

The station went on the air on January 11, 1949, as WDTV (W DuMont TeleVision), owned and operated by the DuMont Television Network. It originally broadcast on channel 3, moving to channel 2 in 1952 to alleviate interference with WNBK in Cleveland (now WKYC-TV), which for several years was a sister station to KDKA-TV. It was one of the last stations to be granted a construction permit before the Federal Communications Commission imposed what turned out to be a four-year freeze on new licenses.

At the time, Pittsburgh was the sixth-largest market in the country (behind New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington). However, WDTV's only competition came from UHF stations, as well as grade B signals from stations in Johnstown, Altoona, Wheeling and Youngstown. Despite its large market size, no other commercial VHF stations signed on in Pittsburgh until 1957 (the only other VHF station in town was educational WQED-TV). This was because the major cities in the Upper Ohio Valley are so close together that they must share the VHF band. After the FCC lifted the license freeze in 1952, it refused to grant any new commercial VHF construction permits to Pittsburgh in order to give the smaller cities in the area a chance to get on the air. At the time, UHF stations were unviewable without a very expensive converter. Even with a converter, the picture quality was marginal at best. UHF stations in the area faced an additional problem because Pittsburgh is located in a somewhat rugged dissected plateau, and UHF stations usually do not get good reception in rugged terrain.

As a result, WDTV had a de facto monopoly on Pittsburgh television. Like its sister stations, WABD in New York (now WNYW) and WTTG in Washington, it was far stronger than the network as a whole. Owning the only viewable station in such a large market gave DuMont considerable leverage in getting its programs cleared in large markets where it didn't have an affiliate. As CBS, NBC and ABC had secondary affiliations with WDTV, this was a strong incentive to stations in large markets to clear DuMont's programs or risk losing valuable advertising in the sixth-largest market. WDTV aired all DuMont network shows live and cherry-picked the best shows from the other networks, airing them on kinescope on an every-other-week basis.

WDTV's sign-on was also significant because it was now possible to feed live programs from the East to the Midwest and vice versa. In fact, its second broadcast was the activation of the coaxial cable linking the two regions. It would be another two years before the West Coast received live programming, but this was the beginning of the modern era of network television.

By 1954, DuMont was in serious financial trouble. Paramount Pictures, which owned a stake in DuMont, vetoed a merger with ABC who had merged with United Paramount Theaters, Paramount's former theater division, a year before. Since the FCC had ruled that Paramount controlled DuMont and there were still lingering questions about whether UPT had actually broken off from DuMont, Paramount didn't want to risk the FCC's wrath.

Desperate for cash, DuMont was forced to sell WDTV to Westinghouse Electric Corporation for $9.75 million in late 1954. While the sale gave DuMont a short-term cash infusion, it eliminated DuMont's leverage in getting clearances in other major markets. Within two years, the DuMont network was no more.

After the sale closed in 1955, Westhinghouse changed WDTV's calls to KDKA-TV, after KDKA radio (AM 1020 and FM 92.9, now WLTJ). It became a primary CBS affiliate, retaining secondary affiliations with NBC until 1957 (when WIIC-TV, now WPXI, signed on) and ABC until 1958 (when WTAE-TV signed on). It became the flagship station of Westinghouse's broadcasting arm, Group W. (The WDTV calls now reside on a CBS affiliate in Weston, West Virginia, which is unrelated to the current KDKA-TV.) Westinghouse had wanted to sign on a television sister station to KDKA radio--the world's oldest radio station--for some time, but when it became obvious the FCC wouldn't grant any VHF construction permits in the near future, it opted to approach DuMont.

As a CBS affiliate, KDKA-TV dominated the ratings. It was not uncommon for newscasts anchored by Bill Burns to draw a 50 percent share of audience (or higher). It is still the market leader today, though WTAE and WPXI have closed the gap in recent years.

The station was known from the 1960s through the 1990s to pre-empt CBS programs that received low ratings, usually replaced by locally produced shows, high-rated syndicated programming, and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games. Group W's other stations were known for pre-empting network programming in a similar manner. However, CBS didn't mind, given KDKA's near-absolute dominance of the market.

For example, channel 2 pre-emmpted As The World Turns for a large portion of its still-continuing run, most notably in the 1960s (for movies and The Mike Douglas Show), The Marie Torre Show during the early 1970s, and from 1978 to 1990, where the 2 to 3 P.M. hour usually reserved for the national CBS feed of ATWT was replaced by the popular talk program Pittsburgh 2Day. On November 22, 1963, as CBS broke into ATWT to report shots fired at President Kennedy's motorcade, KDKA was airing The Mike Douglas Show when newscaster Bill Burns broke in with the first bulletin. After Pittsburgh 2Day's cancellation in 1990, KDKA would later give in to pressure from both CBS and ATWT fans to air the show. In September 2006, it moved Guiding Light from its longtime 3pm slot to 10am placing Dr. Phil at 3pm.

Starting in 1993, KDKA stopped running CBS This Morning and instead ran syndicated Disney cartoons, an unusual move for a major-market station. However, only a year later, Westinghouse made a long-term affiliation deal with CBS to convert the entire Group W television unit--KDKA, KYW-TV in Philadelphia, WJZ-TV in Baltimore, WBZ-TV in Boston and KPIX-TV in San Francisco--to CBS affiliation. As part of the deal, in the fall of 1994 channel 2 began running the entire CBS lineup in pattern, with no pre-emptions except in the case of breaking news.

In early 1996, Westinghouse merged with CBS, making KDKA-TV a CBS owned-and-operated station, after four decades as being simply a CBS affiliate. Viacom merged with CBS in 2000, making KDKA a sister station with Pittsburgh UPN (now The CW) affiliate WNPA-TV (now WPCW). Ironically, in 1994, Viacom purchased Paramount Pictures, which figured so prominently in DuMont's collapse, and in fact had announced plans to launch UPN prior to being acquired by Viacom.

In 2001, KDKA began producing a 10 P.M. newscast on UPN Pittsburgh. KDKA added a two hour morning newscast in 2005 on UPN.

To this day, KDKA-AM/TV is the last heritage television/radio cluster in Pittsburgh.

KDKA is also available on cable in Johnstown, Altoona and Wheeling, as well as several other out-of-market cable systems in northwestern Pennsylvania, northwestern Maryland and North-Central West Virginia.

From 1965 to 2003, KDKA's logo was a stylized "2" in the font made famous by Group W. It retired the font in 2003 in favor of a much plainer logo similar to that of sister station KCBS-TV in Los Angeles. In 2005, it adopted the logo seen above, which is virtually identical to that of WBBM-TV in Chicago. However, it has not fallen into complete compliance with the CBS Mandate as of 2007.

WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, WBZ-TV in Boston and WJZ-TV in Baltimore also do not follow any form of the mandate.

In August 2007, KDKA revealed a new image campaign, entitled Your Home, with music and lyrics performed by singer-songwriter Bill Deasy. The promo features scenes of Pittsburgh and its surrounding areas, as well as three of the station's personalites. In September 2007, the station unveiled another promo featuring the Joe Grushecky song "Coming Home". Later, a third spot called "Long Way Home" will feature the voice of Kelsey Friday. ^[1]

As of November 2007, KDKA currently uses one of its three designated digital broadcast signals over the airwaves [DTV Ch 25 / 2.1 -- Main Format: 1080i, DD2.0] which will broadcast in HD when programming permits. No information is currently available about plans for use of 2.2 or 2.3.

• Hometown High-Q: Saturdays at 11 A.M. - "quiz bowl" format show with three teams composed of local high school students
• KDKA Sports Showdown: Sundays at 11:35 P.M. - sports talk show
• KD/PG Sunday Edition: Sundays at 8:30 A.M. - public affairs programming
• The Lynne Hayes-Freeland Show: Sundays at 6 A.M. - public affairs programming
• Pittsburgh Today Live: 9:00 - 10:00 A.M. - Kristine Sorensen and Jon Burnett are the hosts, with weather from Valerie Abati; local general interest program
• The Sunday Business Page: Sundays at 6:30 A.M. - public affairs programming

KDKA presently offers seven-and-a-half hours of live news each weekday, collectively, on channels 2 and 19 (WPCW). On Saturdays, news is broadcast four-and-a-half hours per day, and there is 90 minutes of news on Sunday.

• The Free-Care Fund - (Holiday Season)- yearly pledge drive
• The Hines Ward Show - (during the NFL season) - Saturdays at 11:35 P.M. - Bob Pompeani, Hines Ward, Jim Lokay and a rotating member of the Pittsburgh Steelers
• Steelers Trivia Challenge - Sundays at 12:00 A.M. - Bob Pompeani hosts a "quiz bowl" format, modeled after Hometown High-Q, with three teams composed of three Pittsburgh Steelers fans who answer team-related trivia questions

• The Jerome Bettis Show
• Evening Magazine
• Pittsburgh 2Day
• Punchline
• Wake Up With Larry Richert

Pittsburgh is a perennially competitive market for local news, with news ratings usually differing by less than a full ratings point. KDKA is the market leader for local news, with the highest audience for the newscasts at noon, 4, 5, 6 and 11 P.M., according to the Nielsen November 2007 ratings period. ^[2]

Sonni Abatta - KDKA from 5 to 7 A.M. and noon; WPCW from 7 to 8 A.M. Patrice King Brown - 4, 6, and 11 P.M. Keith Jones - KDKA from 5 to 7 A.M.; WPCW from 7 to 8 A.M. Ken Rice - KDKA at 5 and 11 P.M.; WPCW at 10 P.M.; host, Hometown High-Q and KD/PG Sunday Edition Stacy Smith - Noon, 4 and 6 P.M.; host, KD/PG Sunday Edition Kristine Sorensen - 5 P.M.; host, Pittsburgh Today Live Don Cannon - anchor, weekends; 6,7, & 11 Brenda Waters - anchor, Saturday mornings from 6 to 8 Stephanie Watson - anchor, KDKA weekend evenings; 6,7,11, & WPCW at 10 P.M.

Valerie Abati - AMS meteorologist: KDKA from 5 to 7 A.M. and noon; WPCW from 7 to 8 A.M Jon Burnett - weathercaster: weekends; also, host, Pittsburgh Today Live Jeff Verszyla - chief meteorologist: weekdays at 4, 5, 6, and 11 P.M. on KDKA; 10 P.M. on WPCW Dennis Bowman - AMS meteorologist -freelance: weekends, weekday morning fill-in Bob Pompeani - sports director - weekdays at 5, 6 and 11 P.M. on KDKA; host, KDKA Sunday Sports Showdown and The Nightly Sports Call on WPCW Jory Rand - sports anchor/reporter - various times (Starting January 2008) John Steigerwald - formerly, sports/anchor reporter; now, makes occasional appearances on sports talk shows and special-edition Steelers programming Mike Zappone - fill-in sports anchor/reporter/producer - various times

Bob Allen Mary Berecky - Westmoreland County bureau chief Dave Crawley - "KD Country" reporter Jon Delano - money and politics editor Kym Gable - freelance reporter (also a spokeswoman for Comcast) Marty Griffin - investigative reporter Ross Guidotti - Butler/Beaver/Lawrence Co. bureau chief Harold Hayes Lynne Hayes-Freeland - general assignment reporter David Highfield

Ralph Iannotti Mary Robb Jackson Jim Lokay - traffic and transportation reporter Paul Martino Alison Morris Larry Richert - former weathercaster, now "Larry On The Job" reporter Andy Sheehan - investigative reporter John Shumway Dr. Maria Simbra - medical editor Yvonne Zanos - consumer editor

Eddie Alexander - sports Jennifer Antkowiak - anchor (1993-2006), now hosts jennifer on WTAE and edits At Home With Jennifer magazine) Susan Barnett - anchor (1999-2003), now at KYW in Philadelphia Jessica Borg - anchor/reporter (2000-2004), now at WPVI in Philadelphia Andy Briggs - reporter (1997-2003), now reporter at WHTM in Harrisburg) Bill Burns - anchor (1953-1989), died in 1997 Patti Burns - anchor/reporter (1974-1997), died in 2001 John Cater - anchor/reporter (2004-2007), now at WSB in Atlanta Bill Currie - sports Alan Cutler - sports (1984-1987), now a motivational speaker based in Lexington, KY Gabrielle DeRose - weekend anchor/reporter (2001-2003) George Eisenhauer - station announcer (1949-1987), died in 2007 Rehema Ellis - anchor/reporter (1980-1985), now at NBC News Stu Emry - reporter (1988-1998), retired Bill Flanagan - business reporter (1982-2003), Executive Vice President, Corporate Relations, Allegheny Conference on Community Development and host of "Our Region's Business" on WPXI) Tim Fleischer - reporter (1982-1985), now at WABC-TV in New York City Rebecca Hower - meteorologist/reporter (2000-2007), now lives in Erie Sheila Hyland - fill-in morning anchor (2006), now runs a public relations firm Al Julius - commentator (1973-1978; 1981-1991), died in 2002 C.S. Keys - meteorologist (1994-1995), now sports director at XETV in San Diego

Ron Klink - weekend anchor/reporter (1977-1991), former Congressman now running a lobbying firm Bob Kudzma - meteorologist (1968-2002), retired Ken Meese - sports (?-1985), now communications officer for the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development Liz Miles - host Evening Magazine Kelli Olexia - anchor (2001-2005), now director of communications at Weirton Medical Center Paul Nemiroff, M.D. - medical correspondent (2002-2007) Bruce Pompeani - anchor (1997-2005), now works in advertising Locke Roberts- weather (2002-2003) John Sanders - sports (19??-1990), now play-by-play announcer for Cleveland Indians Lynn Sawyer - consumer reporter (1977-1999), now a contributor for OnQ on WQED) Jacque Smith - weekend anchor/reporter (1995-2000), now reporter at WKYC in Cleveland Paul Steigerwald - sports (1987-1998), now the play-by-play announcer for the Penguins on FSN Pittsburgh Dick Stockton - sports (1967-1971), play-by-play man for NFL on FOX Steve Talbot - sports Ray Tannehill - anchor (1976-1999), died in 2007 Marie Torre - anchor/reporter (1962-1977), died in 1997 Wayne Van Dine - reporter (1978-2003), retired

• Eyewitness News - used until 1996; news format inspired by KYW
• KDKA-TV News - used in accompany with Hometown Advantage from 1996-2005; and Local News First from 2005-present

KDKA logo pre-1999, features Stylized "Group W Font"	KDKA logo used from 1999-2001	KDKA logo used from 2001-2002	KDKA logo from 2002 - 2003
KDKA logo from 2003 - 2005; changed to meet CBS standards	KDKA logo from 2005-present, inspired by WBBM

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• Pop singer Christina Aguilera made her first TV appearance on KDKA-TV.
• In the early 1980s Dennis Miller hosted The Trolley Show, a Saturday-afternoon newsmagazine for teenagers on KDKA. ^[1] He also produced humorous essays for the syndicated PM Magazine television program.
• KDKA is credited with the first "network" TV feed in world history.
• The station had the world's first father-daughter broadcast team. Beginning in the 1970s, KDKA's noon news broadcast was anchored by veteran Pittsburgh anchorman Bill Burns and his daughter Patti Burns, often referred to as the "Patti and Daddy show."
• The station is only one of two television stations east of the Mississippi River (the other being KYW-TV) whose call letters begin with "K."
• KDKA is one of only five CBS O&O stations (in addition to KUTV in Salt Lake City, WCCO in Minneapolis, WJZ in Baltimore, and WBZ in Boston) that doesn't use the "CBS Mandate" for the on-air name (CBS [channel #] [city/market descriptor]).
• KDKA has aired the PA Lottery drawings in the Pittsburgh market since 1980 following an incident where WTAE personality Nick Perry, who called the lottery drawings for the Pennsylvania Lottery, fixed the PA Lottery's Daily Number so that the drawing could come up as "666".
• KDKA uses a variation of the VIPIR system for its radar.
• It once carried Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune in the 5pm hour back in the '80s. They've been on WPXI since 1987, airing in the prime access hour.

1. ^ TV Q&A with Rob Owen/KDKA's Image Campaign. post-gazette.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-27.
2. ^ TV News Ratings: November 2007. post-gazette.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-07.

• KDKA-TV Homepage
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KDKA-TV
• Pittsburgh Television history page
• Article on early Pittsburgh Television

v • d • e Broadcast television in the Pittsburgh market  (Nielsen DMA #22)
KDKA 2 (CBS) - WTAE 4 (ABC, The AccuWeather Channel on DT2) - WPXI 11 (NBC) - WQED 13 (PBS) - WQEX 16 (ShopNBC) - WPCW 19 (The CW) - WPMY 22 (MNTV) - WNPB 24 (PBS/WVPB) - WIIC 29 (NOYZ) - WBYD 35 (Ind) - WGPT 36 (PBS/MPT) - WPCB 40 (CSTV) - WLLS 49 (A1) - WPGH 53 (Fox) - WBGN 59 (Ind) - W63AU 63 (Ind) - WPTG 69 (Ind) Local cable television channels FSN Pittsburgh - PCNC
See also Broadcast television in the Erie, Johnstown, Wheeling, Clarksburg and Youngstown markets

v • d • e Broadcast television in the Johnstown / Altoona / State College market (Nielsen DMA #99)
Local television stations WPSU 3 (PBS) - WJAC 6 (NBC) - WWCP 8 (FOX) - WTAJ 10 (CBS) - W13BY 13 (Ind) - WPCW 19 (The CW)1 - WATM 23 (ABC) - WHVL 29 (MNTV) - W36BE 36 / W39BE 39 (ABC) - WKBS 47 (CSTV) - WLLS 49 (A1) 1 Technically a Pittsburgh market station. See article. Local cable television channels WIUP 20 (Ind) Significantly Viewed Out-of-Market Broadcast Stations Reception may vary by geographical location Pittsburgh: KDKA 2 (CBS) - WTAE 4 (ABC, The AccuWeather Channel on DT2) - WPXI 11 (NBC) - WPMY 22 (MNTV) - WPGH 53 (FOX) Scranton/Wilkes-Barre: WNEP 16 (ABC) - WSWB 38 (The CW) Harrisburg: WLYH 15 (The CW) New York City: WPIX 11 (The CW)
See also Broadcast television in the Susquehanna Valley and Pittsburgh markets

v • d • e Broadcast television in the Youngstown, Ohio / Warren, Ohio market  (Nielsen DMA #106)
WFMJ 21 (NBC) (The CW on DT2 "WBCB") - WKBN 27 (CBS,Fox/WYFX on DT.2) - WYTV 33 (ABC, MNTV/ABC/A1 on DT2 "My YTV") - WNEO 45 (PBS) - W52CX 52 (TBN) - WPCP-LP 56 (Ind) - WYFX-LP 62/WFXI-CA 17 (Fox) Significantly Viewed Out-of-Market Broadcast Stations Reception may vary by geographical location Cleveland: WKYC 3 (NBC) - WEWS 5 (ABC) - WJW 8 (Fox) - WOIO 19 (CBS) - WVPX 23 (ION) - WVIZ 25 (PBS) - WUAB 43 (MNTV / The Tube) - WBNX 55 (The CW) - WQHS 61 (Univision) - WOAC 67 (S@H/JTV) Pittsburgh: KDKA 2 (CBS) - WPXI 11 (NBC) - WQED 13 (PBS) - WQEX 16 (AS) - WPCW 19 (The CW) - WPMY 22 (MNTV) - WPGH 53 (Fox) Erie: WQLN 54 (PBS)
See also: Broadcast television stations in the Wheeling-Steubenville market

v • d • e Broadcast television in the Wheeling / Steubenville market  (Nielsen DMA #159)
WTRF 7 (CBS) - WTOV 9 (NBC) - WJPW-CA 18 / WVTX-CA 28 (Ind/WBGN) - WSSS-LP 29 (MTV2) - W41AA 41 (PBS/WVPB) - WWVW-LP 56 (JTV) Significantly Viewed Out-of-Market Broadcast Stations Reception may vary by geographical location Pittsburgh: KDKA 2 (CBS) - WTAE 4 (ABC) - WPXI 11 (NBC) - WQED 13 (PBS) - WPMY 22 (MNTV) - WPGH 53 (Fox) Youngstown: WFMJ 21 (NBC) - WKBN 27 (CBS) - WYTV 33 (ABC) Columbus (Cambridge): WOUC 44 (PBS)
See also: Broadcast television stations in the Cleveland, Columbus, Parkersburg and Zanesville markets

v • d • e Broadcast television in the Clarksburg / Weston market  (Nielsen DMA #166)

WDTV 5 (CBS/ABC, AccuWeather Channel on DT2) - WBOY 12 (NBC) - WNPB 24 (PBS/WVPB) - WVFX 46 (FOX) (The CW on DT2) Significantly Viewed Out-of-Market Broadcast Stations Reception may vary by geographical location Pittsburgh: KDKA 2 (CBS) - WTAE 4 (ABC) - WPXI 11 (NBC) - WQED 13 (PBS) - WPCW 19 (The CW) - WPMY 22 (MNTV) - WPGH 53 (FOX) Wheeling / Steubenville: WTRF 7 (CBS) - WTOV 9 (NBC) Charleston/Huntington: WCHS 8 (ABC) (Weston only)

v • d • e CBS Network Affiliates in the state of Pennsylvania
KDKA 2 (Pittsburgh) - KYW 3 (Philadelphia) - WTAJ 10 (Altoona) - WHP 21 (Harrisburg) - WYOU 22 (Scranton) - WSEE 35 (Erie)
See also: ABC, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS, and Other stations in Pennsylvania

v • d • e CBS Corporation
Corporate directors: David R. Andelman · Joseph A. Califano, Jr. · William S. Cohen · Philippe Dauman · Charles K. Gifford · Bruce S. Gordon · Leslie Moonves · Shari Redstone · Sumner Redstone · Ann N. Reese · Judith A. Sprieser Broadcast radio stations owned by CBS Radio Radio networks: CBS Radio Network · Free FM · Westwood One Broadcast television networks: CBS · The CW (co-owned with Time Warner) Television production and distribution: Big Ticket Entertainment · CBS Broadcast Center · CBS Paramount Television · CBS Studio Center · CBS Television City · Spelling Television · CBS Television Distribution · CBS Studios Broadcast TV stations owned by CBS Television Stations Cable television networks: Showtime Networks · College Sports TV · MountainWest Sports Network Web properties: CBS Interactive · CBS Innertube · Last.fm Publishing: Simon & Schuster Miscellaneous assets: CBS Consumer Products · CBS Records · CBS Outdoor · Westinghouse Electric Corporation · CBS Properties · CBS Home Entertainment · CBS Feature Films · CBS Games
Annual revenue: $14.54 billion USD (2005) · Employees: Unknown at this time Stock symbol: NYSE: CBS, NYSE: CBSA · Website: www.cbscorporation.com