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KOMO-TV
Seattle, Washington
Branding	KOMO 4
Slogan	Working 4 You
Channels	4 (VHF) analog, 38 (HDTV, UHF) digital
Translators	K55AQ ch.55 (UHF)Neah Bay, Washington
Affiliations	ABC
Owner	Fisher Communications
Founded	December 11, 1953
Call letters meaning	Unknown, yet it's pronounced "Como"
Former affiliations	NBC (1953–1958)
Website	www.komotv.com

KOMO-TV ("KOMO 4") is a television station in Seattle, Washington. It is affiliated with the ABC network. It broadcasts on analog channel 4 and digital channel 38. Its sister stations are KATU in Portland, KUNS-TV in Bellevue (Univision), KIMA in Yakima, KEPR in Pasco, and KLEW in Lewiston, Idaho (the last three are CBS affiliates).

KOMO-TV began operation on December 10, 1953 as an NBC affiliate. KOMO-TV was licensed as Fisher Television Co. owned by Fisher's Blend Station, Inc. currently known as Fisher Communications along with its immediate sister radio station, KOMO-AM 1000. The station's studios are located just south of the Seattle Center in the Denny Regrade neighborhood in a new broadcasting center, Fisher Plaza, opened in 2000. The station's transmitter is located on Queen Anne hill.

KOMO-TV has won the most broadcast awards out of any Seattle TV station.^{[citation needed]} "KOMO 4 News", was awarded the Edward R. Murrow award for best large market newscast in 2002.^[1]

Currently, the station carries syndicated programming such as Live with Regis and Kelly, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and Ebert & Roeper.

It is one of five local Seattle TV stations seen in Canada on the Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice satellite providers.

Contents 1 History 2 Past personalities 3 Current Personalities 4 Newscasts 5 KOMO in Popular Culture 6 Logos 7 External links 8 References

KOMO-TV has set many broadcast "firsts" in the industry. In 1954, a KOMO news photographer discovered a way to develop color film in a new process that took just a couple hours instead of days. His discovery allowed KOMO-TV to become the first TV station in the nation to broadcast in true color.

KOMO became an ABC affiliate in 1959.

Well known ABC shows from the late 1960's and early 70's, The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family originally aired on KOMO TV.

In 1985, KOMO became the first TV station to broadcast daily programming in full stereo sound.[1]

In 1994, KOMO applied for the first test license for broadcasting new high-definition signals. KOMO began broadcasting HDTV in 1997, and on May 18th, 1999, KOMO became the first TV station in America to broadcast its daily newscasts in HDTV.[2]

KOMO nearly lost one of its own in the catastrophic eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18th, 1980. Dave Crockett, who had been with KOMO since 1975, had been covering the mountain every day for three weeks until being rotated out a few days prior. On the morning of May 18th, he woke up at 3AM in Seattle on a hunch that he would get some impressive video that day, and loaded up his news car and headed towards Mount St. Helens without anyone at KOMO knowing about it. He arrived at the mountain just as it was erupting. His news video, which shows an advancing ash cloud and mud flows down the South Fork Toutle River, was made famous by its eleven-minute long "journey into the dark", six of those minutes of which were recorded in "total darkness" as Crockett narrated to what he thought would be his "last day on Earth."

His video made worldwide news and was used in a movie remake of the disaster starring Art Carney. The car he drove, with the remains of KOMO lettering still visible, is now a part of a Mount St. Helens Volcano Museum just outside Toutle.

During the 1960s, local television personality Don McCune became well known for two programs. Mr. McCune was known to thousands of Seattle-area children who came to know him in the role of Captain Puget, hosting a children's entertainment program. KOMO and Don McCune also produced the "Exploration Northwest" documentary series, which explored many of the places and people of the Pacific Northwest.

NBC Nightly News weekend anchor John Seigenthaler Jr. was once a reporter and anchor at KOMO-TV. He married Kerry Brock, another KOMO News anchor and reporter in 1992, left the station and moved to Nashville, Tennessee.

Current NBC reporter John Larson was a reporter at KOMO-TV from 1989 to 1994, winning several Emmy Awards.

Bill Brubaker was a long time newscaster with KOMO-TV for 25 years from 1962 to 1987.

Keith Jackson, now retired after a long career with ABC Sports, had his start at KOMO TV in the 1960's.

Bruce King was a long time sportscaster with KOMO TV for 31 years, starting in 1968 and retiring in 1999. He also worked at WABC for one year in 1981 and can be seen in a video promo of the station at the "80's TV Themes SuperSite."

Reporter Steve Osunsami of ABC News was a reporter with KOMO TV in the mid 90s. His reports included stories on a severe snowstorm that struck Washington State in 1996.

• Jim Castillo - Meteorologist (6 and 11 a.m. weekdays)
• Natasha Curry - Anchor (weekday mornings)/Northwest Afternoon Co-host
• Mike Dardis - Anchor (weekday mornings)
• Keith Eldridge - Reporter/Anchor
• Michelle Esteban - Reporter
• Mike Ferreri - Weekend Sports Anchor/Reporter
• Joe Furia - Reporter
• Kathi Goertzen - Anchor (5, 6 and 11 p.m. weeknights)
• George Howell - Reporter
• Elisa Jaffe - Reporter "Problem Solver"
• Bryan Johnson - Senior correspondent/Analyst
• Eric Johnson - Anchor & Sports Director (5pm Anchor & Sports Anchor 6 & 11pm)
• Todd Johnson - Meteorologist & Reporter (Weekend weather, weather related reports weekdays)
• Dan Lewis - Anchor (6 and 11 p.m. weeknights)
• Matt Markovich - Reporter/Producer
• Rachelle Murcia - Morning Reporter
• Mary Nam - Anchor (First News @ 4p.m. weekdays)
• Kent Phillips - Northwest Afternoon Co-host
• Steve Pool - Chief Weathercaster
• Kevin Reece - Reporter
• Cindi Rinehart - Northwest Afternoon "Queen of Soaps"
• Liz Rocca - Crime Reporter "Problem Solver"
• Ken Schram - Commentator
• Molly Shen - Anchor (weekend eveninigs)
• John Sharify - Reporter
• Connie Thompson - Anchor (11 a.m. weekdays)/Consumer Reporter "Problem Solver"
• Tracy Vedder - Reporter "Problem Solver"
• Herb Weisbaum - Consumer Reporter "Problem Solver"
• Denise Whitaker - Anchor (Weekend Mornings) / Reporter
• Theron Zahn - Anchor/Weathercaster (weekend mornings)
• April Zepeda - North Puget Sound reporter

KOMO anchors Dan Lewis, Kathi Goertzen, and weather forecaster Steve Pool have the third longest-running tenure out of any anchor team in America, having anchored KOMO News together since 1987. The station's evening newcast has long been co-anchored by Lewis and Goertzen, and was praised by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as being the "Best First-String anchor unit in town."[3]. The show now airs at 6pm, but originally aired from 5-6pm and 6:30-7PM until August 14, 2006 when it made the 5PM newscast a half-hour and moved ABC World News Tonight to 5:30PM in order to compete with KIRO-TV's airing of the CBS Evening News and to challenge KIRO's Eyewitness News at 6PM.

Dan Lewis came to KOMO in 1987 after working at WJLA in Washington DC, replacing retiring news anchor Jim Harriott. Previous to his work with WJLA, he also worked for WISN-TV, also in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and at WLKY-TV in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1993, he became the first reporter to interview then-president Bill Clinton following the inauguration ceremony[4]. The interview was conducted at the White House.

Kathi Goertzen joined KOMO-TV just after the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980, fresh from the Washington State University. Prior to her work with KOMO, she was an intern for Spokane's KREM-TV and also was an anchor for WSU's campus newscast. In 1981, Goertzen became a general assignment reporter, and took weekend news anchoring duties from Kerry Brock in 1982. In 1984, she became the female co-anchor for the weeknight editions of "KOMO 4 News" alongside Jim Harriott. In 1989, she was the first American local TV news reporter to broadcast live from Germany as the Berlin Wall came down. Her broadcasts originated at the Brandenburg Gate from what was then known as "West Berlin." After a three-year absence from the late-night newscasts to spend time with her two daughters[5], it was announced on December 9, 2006 that Kathi Goerten will return to the co-anchor chair alongside Dan Lewis for KOMO's 11PM newscasts starting on January 3, 2007 [6].

On Sept. 16th, 2005, Goertzen announced she was taking a leave of absence to treat a benign brain tumor {{{2}}} is a dead link; use the Internet Archive link instead[7]. She had a similar one removed seven years before. Upon her return to work then, coanchor Dan Lewis welled up with tears, saying "Kathi, don't ever leave me like that again."

Weatherman Steve Pool has been at KOMO since 1977, starting out as KOMO's lead science reporter. In 1984, Pool was promoted into the role of chief weather forecaster upon the retirement of former longtime weather forecaster Ray Ramsey, and has held the position at KOMO ever since. In 2006, he co-wrote a book called "Somewhere I Was Right: Why Northwest Weather is So Predictably Unpredictable" with KOMO-TV producer Scott Sistek. Steve Pool also has a column titled "Ask Steve" in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Additionally, Steve Pool has been called in on a number of occasions to substitute for the Good Morning America weather anchor (his last substitute fill-in was when Spencer Christian was at Good Morning America), having done so from both the KOMO Weather Center and the Good Morning America studios in New York City.

KOMO reporter Bryan Johnson has been with KOMO for more than four decades. In 2002, he celebrated 40 years with KOMO. Having started at KOMO Radio, and actually serving as KOMO Radio's news director, he moved to KOMO TV in 1976 and has been a reporter and anchor at KOMO TV ever since. His reporting has won him several Emmy awards and a National Unity in Broadcasting award.

Reporter Keith Eldridge is also a longtime reporter at KOMO. Having been with the station since 1983, he often reports on political issues and news issues in the south Puget Sound area of Washington State. In, 1996 and 1999, he was the only reporter to cover the extensive flooding of the Skokomish River valley during a period of unusually heavy rain. In the 1996 flooding event, he actually became stranded for three days, as well as two other KOMO news vehicles and one other reporter, as the raging Skokomish River ripped up stretches of Highway 101. His route north was also blocked by large landslides that also blocked stretches of 101. His reporting has won him several Emmy awards and has been twice the recipient of the Associated Press' "Reporter of the Year" for the State of Washington.

KOMO sports director Eric Johnson came to KOMO in 1994, replacing KOMO weekend sports anchor and former KOMO Radio broadcaster Bob Rondeau. In 1998, he was named weeknight sports anchor and sports director upon the retirement of longtime KOMO sports director Bruce King. The 1997 movie Prefontaine, a movie dedicated to distance runner Steve Prefontaine, lists a very young Eric Johnson in the credits as the "Olympic Trials Reporter.[8]" In 2006, it was announced in a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article that Johnson will succeed Dan Lewis as KOMO's primary anchor upon Lewis' retirement. [9]

Weekdays

• KOMO 4 Morning News - 5:00 to 7:00 a.m.
• KOMO 4 News at 11AM - 11:00 a.m. to Noon
• First News @ 4PM - 4:00 to 5:00 p.m.
• KOMO 4 News @ 5PM - 5:00 to 5:30 p.m.
• KOMO 4 News @ 6PM - 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.
• KOMO 4 News @ 11PM - 11:00 to 11:35 p.m.

Weekends

• KOMO 4 Morning News - 6:00 to 9:00 a.m.
• KOMO 4 News @ 5PM - 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
• KOMO 4 News @ 6:30PM - 6:30 to 7:00 p.m.
• KOMO 4 News @ 11PM - 11:00 to 11:35 p.m.

In the movie Life or Something Like It (2002), Angelina Jolie's character works for a fictional Seattle TV station, KQMO 4, which is based on the real-life KOMO-TV. Parts of the movie were shot on location at KOMO's studio, and KOMO's equipment was also shown in some scenes (with KOMO's logo on the equipment and in the studio modified to say "KQMO" instead). Some of KOMO's anchors (such as Steve Pool, Margo Myers, Dan Lewis, and Theron Zahn) also made appearances in the movie. (Margo Myers has since moved to rival KIRO-TV.)

Longtime anchors Dan Lewis and Kathi Goertzen also made a brief appearance in the movie Assassins (1995) starring Antonio Banderas and Sylvester Stallone.

In Harry and the Hendersons (1986) starring John Lithgow, then-hosts Dana Middleton and Dick Foley of KOMO-TV's Northwest Afternoon made an appearance as news anchors on KOMO 4 News, reporting the mysterious appearance of a Sasquatch in downtown Seattle. Several of KOMO-TV's news vehicles, bearing KOMO's old logo and paint scheme, also made an appearance.

In the movie Black Sheep starring Chris Farley and David Spade, a KOMO News vehicle and a fictionalized version of the KOMO News 4 anchor team are seen in a sequence close to the ending of the movie. The only other real-life Washington State TV station to be featured (even though it was only a news vehicle) in the movie is KCPQ Channel 13.

A person holding a KOMO camera makes a brief appearance in the beginning of the 1974 Warren Beatty thriller Parallex View.

In WarGames, a KOMO newscast featuring then-anchor Jim Harriott describes the first incidents between Matthew Broderick's character and the WOPR computer.

KOMO-TV and its sister station in Portland, KATU-TV (the only ABC affiliates owned by Fisher Communications), were the only two stations in the lower 48 states that delayed Monday Night Football for one hour from 1970 - 95, to accommodate local newscasts. The only time that it would be shown live if the Seattle Seahawks were playing. However in 1996 after protests by fans both stations aired the games live.

KOMO-TV's home, Fisher Plaza, is featured in bumper scenes of ABC's Greys Anatomy.

This was the logo KOMO used when they debuted on December 10, 1953. This was used until 1957, when KOMO began broadcasting in color. At that time, KOMO started using a different logo.	This logo was used after the ABC logo change in Fall 1962.	KOMO TV's logo from the early-to-late 1970s. Sourced from an old KOMO-TV station promo, and was the first version to feature a "Square-4"-styled logo.	This is KOMO TV's logo from 1985-1987, and this logo can be seen on the mic flag of one of KOMO's microphones in Harry and the Hendersons.
KOMO TV's logo from 1987-1998 - simliar to current logo by unrelated KMOV in St. Louis	KOMO-TV's Logo from 1998 to 2000. The Blue Square 4 dates to the 1980s, the call letters position was below in previous versions, and did not include the ABC circle.	KOMO-TV's Logo from June, 2000 to September, 2006	KOMO's Updated Logo, since September, 2006. Notice the capital letters on "KOMO."

• KOMO-TV Homepage
• Fisher Communications
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KOMO-TV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for K55AQ