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KPNX
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| KPNX | |
|---|---|
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| Mesa/Phoenix, Arizona | |
| Branding | Channel 12 (branding) 12 News (news) |
| Slogan | 12 Stands for Local News |
| Channels | Analog: 12 (VHF) Digital: 36 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | NBC NBC Weather Plus (DT2) |
| Owner | Gannett (Multimedia Holdings Corporation) |
| First air date | April 23, 1953 |
| Call letters meaning | K PhoeNiX |
| Former callsigns | KTYL-TV (1953-1955) KVAR (1955-1959) KTAR-TV (1959-1979) |
| Transmitter Power | 316 kW (analog) 819 kW (digital) |
| Height | 555 m (analog) 534 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 35486 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | 12 News |
KPNX is the NBC television affiliate in Phoenix, Arizona. It is licensed to the suburb of Mesa but its studios and offices are in Phoenix. Its transmitter and tower are located on South Mountain in Phoenix; the station broadcasts on analog channel 12. Owned by Gannett, it operates a full-power satellite, KNAZ channel 2 in Flagstaff, and numerous other translators throughout northern Arizona.
KPNX is the only station in Phoenix to never change its primary affiliation. The station was founded in 1953 as KTYL-TV, owned by the Harkins Theatre Group. It was a sister station to KTYL radio (AM 1490, now KXAM on 1490; and FM 104.7, now KZZP). Its appearance brought the metro Phoenix area a fulltime NBC affiliate; the other three networks were jammed into KPHO-TV, with CBS primary and ABC and DuMont secondary, as was NBC prior to 1953. The original studio was located in Mesa. Some DuMont programming was also carried on channel 12 prior to that network's demise in 1956.
John J. Louis, owner of KTAR-AM 620, bought channel 12 in 1955 and changed its calls to KVAR. The station then became KTAR-TV four years later. It moved into its current facility in Phoenix in 1959, after the FCC allowed stations to locate their studios to a location other than the city of license. It is still officially licensed to Mesa, identifying as "Phoenix-Mesa" on the air - unusual since the city of license is normally listed first.
Over the years, the Louis family bought several other broadcasting outlets, including WQXI-TV in Atlanta (now WXIA-TV) and WPTA-TV in Fort Wayne. Eventually, the Louis family's broadcasting interests became known as Pacific & Southern Broadcasting, headquartered in Phoenix with KTAR-AM-TV as the flagship stations.
Pacific & Southern was bought by advertising mogul Karl Eller in 1968, who then combined it with his existing business to form Combined Communications. Eller was also one of the original founding owners of the city's first major professional sports team, the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association. Channel 12 carried Suns games for years, from the team's 1968 inception until the 1980s, when Suns telecasts moved to KNXV (Channel 15).
Combined merged with Gannett in 1979, in what was at that time the biggest media merger in U.S. history. Combined's ownership of KTAR-AM-TV had been grandfathered earlier in the decade when the FCC forbade common ownership of television and radio stations in the same market. With the Gannett merger, KTAR-AM-TV lost its grandfathered protection. Gannett opted to keep channel 12 and sell off the radio station. KTAR-TV then renamed itself KPNX, since the radio station had held the call letters first.
The station had ranked third in the ratings for many years behind KTVK and KSAZ until a massive shift in network affiliations in Phoenix occurred in 1994. All of the market's major English-language commercial stations traded affiliations except KPNX. At that point, the station finally reached the number-one position, knocking former leader KTVK down to second place in the ratings. Gannett purchased Central Newspapers, owner of the Arizona Republic and the Indianapolis Star, in 2000. Central Newspapers had sold KTAR-AM when they bought the Republic (which owned KTAR) in 1946.
On 29 December 2005, the station began carrying NBC Weather Plus+ on subchannel 12.2 (digital channel 36). The subchannel is carried by Cox Communications on cable channel 83.
MSNBC and Weekend Today WEATHER PLUS+ Chief Meteorologist Sean McLaughlin worked at this station before going national. He now works at rival KPHO, Phoenix's CBS affliate, with his fellow partner from KPNX, Kent Dana.
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Digital channels
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 12.1 / 36.1 | Main KPNX programming / NBC HD |
| 12.2 / 36.2 | NBC Weather Plus |
KPNX's news operations (12News) is among one of the highest rated news operations in Arizona during primetime news hours[1].
KPNX (then KTAR-TV) was the Phoenix pioneer of what some call "happy-talk" news when it debuted "Action News" in late 1973, with long-time anchor Ray Thompson paired up with Bob Hughes (who later was the anchorman for WSBT-TV, the CBS affiliate in South Bend, IN and Pat Robertson's CBN cable network), weatherman Dewey Hopper (lately with KPHX 1480, the Phoenix affiliate of Air America Radio, and a long-time weather forecaster in Sacramento) & sportscaster Ted Brown (no relations to the former NFL football player of the same name). All but Hughes later spent time at KTVK.
The station had ranked third in the ratings for many years behind KTVK and KSAZ until a massive shift in network affiliations in Phoenix occurred in 1994. All of the market's major English-language commercial stations traded affiliations except KPNX (and PBS affiliate KAET). At that point, the station finally reached the number-one position, knocking former leader KTVK down to second place in the ratings. Gannett purchased Central Newspapers, owner of the Arizona Republic and the Indianapolis Star, in 2000. Central Newspapers had sold KTAR radio when they bought the Republic (which owned KTAR) in 1946.
While KSAZ and KTVK produce more individually separate local newscasts, KPNX airs the largest amount of news (local and national) in the market, running about 30 hours a week of local news, along with 25 hours a week of national news from NBC (Today Show, NBC News, etc). It also runs syndicated first-run talk and reality shows (Live with Regis & Kelly being one of them, which has aired on Channel 12 since its debut [as Live with Regis & Kathie Lee] in the 1980s) along with the entire NBC schedule.
On 2 November 2006, KPNX became the first station in Arizona to begin broadcasting local news programming in high definition, like its 6 Gannett sister stations, e.g. KARE, KUSA, KSDK, WKYC, and WUSA. The graphics and set were also redesigned by Giant Octopus and Production Design Group, respectively.
- Tram Mai
- Scott Light
- Meteorologist Sarah Walters
- Beat the Traffic Reporter Anna Laurel
- Jan D'Atri
- Destry Jetton
- Tram Mai or Scott Light or Kim Covington
- Meteorologist Sarah Walters
- Mark Curtis
- Fay Fredricks
- Chief Meteorologist Bill Kelly
- Mark Curtis
- Lin Sue Cooney
- Chief Meteorologist Bill Kelly
- Mark Curtis
- Lin Sue Cooney
- Chief Meteorologist Bill Kelly
- Luis Trujilo (SAP Spanish Translator)
- Brenda Durazo (SAP Spanish Translator)
- Mark Curtis
- Lin Sue Cooney
- Chief Meteorologist Bill Kelly
- Brahm Resnik
- Kim Covington
- Weather Forecaster Caribe Devine
- Robin Sewell (special segments reporter for 12News Weekend; substitute anchor)
- Robin Sewell -- hostess and executive producer
- Sports Director Kevin Hunt
- Bruce Cooper
- Chris Holden
- Joe Pequeno
- Weather Plus+ Chief Meteorologist Bill Kelly
- Weather Plus+ Meteorologist Sarah Walters
- Weather Plus+ Forecaster Caribe Devine
- Weather Plus+ Meteorologist Jerrid Sebesta
- Dave Cherry
- Rick DeBruhl
- Melissa Blasius
- Nick Calderone
- Dave Cherry
- Joe Dana
- Rick DeBruhl
- Rich Dubek
- Fay Fredricks
- Melissa Gonzalo
- Andy Harvey
- Kevin Kennedy
- Anna Laurel
- Nicole McGregor
- Brahm Resnik
- Syleste Rodriguez
- Tammy Rose
- Veronica Sanchez
- Sarah Sevier
- Jennifer Vogel
- Kent Dana, Anchor (1979-2004); now weeknight anchor at KPHO-TV
- Jineane Ford, Anchor (1991-2007); most recently anchored Arizona Midday[2]
- Sean McLaughlin, Chief Meteorologist (1992-2004); moved at first to MSNBC/NBC Weather Plus, now at KPHO)
- Ron Hoon, now morning show host at KSAZ-TV
- Marianne McClary, Morning anchor (1990-1995); now at KMAX/KOVR Good Day Sacramento in Sacramento, California)
- Vince Leonard, Anchor (1980-1989); retired
- Dave Marquis, Reporter (1980s-1993); now at KXTV in Sacramento
- Blair Meeks, General Assignment Reporter (until 2003); now at WXIA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia
- Trayce Hutchins, Reporter (1990s); now co-anchors morning show at WGCL-TV in Atlanta
- Deiah Riley, Anchor/Reporter (until 1999); now at WFTS-TV in Tampa, Florida)
- Jill Miles, Weekday Morning Anchor (1990s)
- Linda Alvarez, Anchor (1977-1985); no longer in broadcasting[3]
- Andy Cerota, Reporter (Late 1990s-early 2000s); now general assignment reporter at KTRK in Houston
- Rick Crabbs, Helicopter Pilot; now helicopter pilot at KSAZ-TV
- Aubrey Aquino, Traffic Reporter; now entertainment reporter for DECO Drive in Miami, Florida
- Kathleen Mascarenas, Anchor/Reporter (1990s); now editor of Latino Future magazine
- Carolyn Mungo, Reporter (1990s now managing editor at KRIV in Houston)
- Kim Holcomb, Reporter (until 2006)
- Dan Plante, Anchor (1990s)
- Al Owen, Reporter and Entertainment Editor (1980-1984) Moved from KPNX to Entertainment Tonight[4]
- Jerry Foster, Sky12 Pilot/Reporter
- Fred Roggin, Sports
- Mitch Truswell, Anchor/Reporter (1997-2003); noon anchor and investigative reporter for KVBC in Las Vegas
- Kathy Kirschner, Reporter/Anchor
- Mary Kim Titla, Reporter (1993-2005); publisher of Native Youth Magazine online; seeking Congressional seat in 2008[5]
- Julie Waters, Anchor/Reporter ( 1990's-2000's)
- Dawn Witt, Reporter (late 90's-early 2000's)
- Bill Denney, Sports
- Bob Salter, Anchor/Reporter
- "Come Home to the Best, Only on Channel 12" (1988-1990 using NBC's Come Home to the Best, Only on NBC campaign)
- "The 1-2 (pronounced like one-to) watch for NBC" (Used in radio promos for primetime shows, used infrequently for TV promos)
- "12 Stands for Local News"
- "The Leader in HD, Local Television Redefined"
- "Clearer, Sharper, Better"
 KTAR-TV NBC 12 logo used in 1970. |
 KTAR-TV ident from 1973. The "12" logo survived until 1985, long after the station became KPNX. |
 KPNX ident used in 1979 after Gannett purchased the station--an updated version of the last KTAR-TV logo |
 KPNX logo from 1985-90 |
 12 NEWS logo used from 1990-92. This was the first appearance of the current "12" logo. |
 12 NEWS logo used from 1992-94. |
 KPNX-TV 12 NEWS logo used in early 1994. This was the first appearance of a state map outline as background for the "12." |
 KPNX-TV 12 NEWS logo used from late 1994 to 1998 |
 12 NEWS ident from early 1996. As Phoenix TV stations were going through network affiliation changes, KPNX was the only station to stay consistent, thus the NBC logo was added to emphasize this. |
 12 NEWS logo from 1998-2006. A simplified, combined version was created with animated sunset and clouds in the Arizona state outline. (Immediately after the September 11th Terrorist Attacks, a red, white, and blue ribbon was placed on the upper right part of the logo.) |
 12 NEWS logo used since 2006. After almost a decade using the state outline for logo representation, Marketing management wanted to modernize the logo and continue to keep the brand look. This simple, flat, clean font look was created. |
 Alternate version of current logo, used as an alternate color version for light (white) backgrounds. |
 Enhanced HD version of 12 News logo. KPNX was the first station in Arizona to broadcast its news in high definition. A complete plant rewire, new set and graphics package were installed to showcase the high-tech, glassy-chrome look of high-definition. |
 On-air bug used beginning in 2007. |
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- K13XB Cedar Creek
- K42CQ Chloride
- K13XE Cibecue
- K35EI Dolan Springs
- K56FT Fort Apache
- K61FB Globe/Miami
- K50CY Kingman
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- K23DK Meadview
- K30BQ Needles, California / Bullhead City
- KPSN-LP 22 Payson
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- K57DC Verde Valley/Camp Verde
- K13XC Whiteriver
- ^ M. Hagerty (2007-05-24). News Ratings: May 2007. Radio-Info.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-15.
- ^ R. Cordova (2006-12-28). Signing off. Arizona Republic. Retrieved on 2007-01-03.
- ^ Harriet Steinberg (2007-12-09). Linda Alvarez Leaves CBS2. Canyon News. Retrieved on 2007-12-25.
- ^ About AOIP - Al Owen in print. Retrieved on 2007-08-25.
- ^ John Christian Hopkins (2007-05-09). Mary Kim Titla to run for Arizona Congress. Gallup Independent. Retrieved on 2007-12-25.
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| See also: ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, PBS, Religious, Spanish, and Other stations in Arizona |