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KRON-TV
San Francisco, California
Branding	KRON 4 (general/news) My KRON 4 (MNTV promos)
Slogan	The Bay Area's News Station
Channels	Analog: 4 (VHF) Digital: 57 (UHF)
Affiliations	MyNetworkTV Retro Television Network (on DT2)
Owner	Young Broadcasting
Founded	November 15, 1949
Call letters meaning	KRON sounds like "chron," for former owner (Chronicle)
Former affiliations	NBC (1949-2001) independent (2002-2006)
Transmitter Power	100 kW (analog) 1000 kW (digital)
Height	506 m (analog) 446 m (digital)
Facility ID	65526
Transmitter Coordinates	37°45′18.8″N, 122°27′10.4″W
Website	www.kron4.com

KRON-TV (Channel 4) is the MyNetworkTV affiliate for the San Francisco Bay Area. Licensed to San Francisco, the station broadcasts its analog signal on VHF channel 4, and its digital signal on UHF channel 57. The station's transmitter is located atop Sutro Tower in San Francisco. The station is the flagship of Young Broadcasting. The station brands itself as "My KRON 4", keeping the station's previous branding while adding "My" to go with the network's naming conventions, only during MyNetworkTV Shows. It is changed again to "KRON 4" during other programming. KRON can also be seen in Ukiah on K41AF channel 41.

When the channel 4 allocation in the Bay Area--the third and final one licensed by the FCC before the VHF freeze took place--came open for bidding, it soon became obvious that the license would go to either NBC or the deYoung family, publishers of the San Francisco Chronicle. NBC badly wanted an owned and operated station in the Bay Area alongside its radio station in the area, KNBC (AM 680, now KNBR). However, in an upset, the deYoungs won the license. They brought the station on the air on November 15, 1949 as NBC affiliate KRON-TV. The station's call letters come from a modification of the paper's nickname in the Bay Area, "The Chron." KRON-TV originally broadcast from studios located in the basement at Fifth and Mission streets (929 Mission) in the same building that housed the newspaper.

KRON-TV originally broadcast from transmitter facilities on San Bruno Mountain; huge white letters "NBC" were placed near the summit of Radio Peak. In August 1959, the Chronicle reported that the tower was severely damaged by an unusually strong thunderstorm, requiring major repairs before KRON could return to the air.

In the 1950s, the Chronicle added an FM station, KRON-FM, at 96.5 on the FM dial, which had a limited broadcasting schedule (evenings only), devoted to classical music and an hour (7 to 8 p.m.) featuring an entire Broadway show album. Broadcasting without commercials, the station was sold in 1975 to Bonneville International and renamed KOIT-FM.

In the 1950s and 1960s, local programs produced by KRON-TV included the award-winning documentary series Assignment Four, Fireman Frank with George Lemont and his puppets (including Scat the Cat and Carl the Carrot), and a live children's program hosted by Art Finley in the role of Mayor Art. Bay Area kids (collectively known as the "City Council") joined Mayor Art in the studio each day. The show featured Popeye cartoons mixed with science demonstrations, a newsreel feature entitled "Mayor Art's Almanac," games, prizes, and a sock puppet named "Ring-A-Ding."

In 1967, KRON-TV and KRON-FM moved to a new studio on Van Ness Avenue, where channel 4 is still headquartered today. The television transmitter was moved to the Mount Sutro tower on July 4, 1973. The FM transmitter remained on San Bruno Mountain.

Until the late 1970s, KRON-TV was infamous for being very San Francisco-centric in its news coverage and audience targeting, an approach that would become costly to the station as growth in areas outside San Francisco soared. Realizing this enabled KRON-TV to become the dominant station in the Bay Area.

Since the 1970s, KRON-TV has used a "circle 4" logo, with the "4"'s design based upon the Golden Gate Bridge. The vertical component is a bridge tower, the horizontal component is a portion of the bridge deck, and the curve is a portion of a suspension cable. Notably absent from KRON's on-air identity was the NBC Peacock logo, even during its days as an NBC affiliate.

A 3D animated Golden Gate ID was introduced in June 1984, where some station IDs and newscast openings included animations wherein the "4" logo was superimposed upon a section of the bridge.

KRON's Animated Golden Gate Bridge ID used from 1984-1989. This animated ID open as well as many other KRON ID's and promos are designed by Pacific Data Images of Palo Alto, CA.

As an NBC affiliate, KRON-TV branded its newscasts using the NewsCenter 4 name from the 1970s until it adopted the KRON 4 News branding scheme in late 2000, early 2001.

Appropriately for a station owned by the Chronicle, KRON-TV was a very news-intensive station. For example, its 6 p.m. newscast was called NewsCenter 4 at 6. However, KRON-TV also had other names for its newscasts. Before MY/KRON 4 Morning News was used for the entire 5-10 a.m. slot on weekday mornings, the 5-7 a.m. newscast was called Daybreak. Its 11:30 a.m. weekday noon-time newscast was called NewsCenter 4 Midday. Its 4 p.m. weekday newscast was called First 4 News when it first premiered in 1996. For much of the 1980s, the 5 p.m. weekday newscast was Live at Five; Bob Jimenez was the solo anchor in the mid-1980s. Its 11:00 p.m. weekday newscast was called NewsCenter 4 Nightbeat. Sometimes anchors would refer the 11 p.m. newscast as The Nightbeat. In the mid-1980s, the 11 p.m. weekday newscast was known as NewsCenter 4 Update; originally it was anchored by Roz Abrams and Jim Paymar. Later after Abrams left for WABC in 1986, Jim Paymar and Sylvia Chase anchored. In the 1990s, the station branded itself as 24 Hour News, with 30 to 60 second news updates every hour. The station adopted the slogan The Bay Area's News Station in 2001.

Daybreak debuted as a half-hour program (6:30 a.m.-7 a.m.) on September 1, 1986 (Labor Day), leading in to NBC's Today program. Anchored by Lloyd Patterson and Lila Petersen, it was then the only morning newscast in the San Francisco television market (aside from local cut-ins into network programs). Daybreak successively expanded to earlier timeslots until it ran from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. The name Daybreak pre-dated the newscast that began in 1986; KRON had earlier used the Daybreak name with its five-minute news briefs at 6:45, 7:25, and 8:25 a.m.

KRON-TV newscasts in the mid- and late-1980s ran commentaries by Wayne Shannon in a segment called "Just 4 You." Shannon's name received billing in newscast introductions along with the anchors and weather and sports presenters.

Another staple of KRON-TV newscasts in the 1980s was live traffic reports and news coverage from the station's helicopter "Telecopter 4." Bob McCarthy, Rita Cohen, and Janice Huff were among the personalities who reported from Telecopter 4. Their traffic reports appeared regularly in the Daybreak cut-ins during Today and during Live at Five.

T.G.I.Four was a one-hour light local news program which ran at 4 p.m. in the early-1980s. It began with shots of various landmark Bay Area clocks chiming four o'clock. In the mid-1980s, KRON-TV produced and aired a talk program called Bay City Limits, which ran in the afternoon. (Rival TV stations also produced talk programs in that era: A.M. San Francisco at KGO-TV and People Are Talking at KPIX.)

In the late 1980s, KRON was among the few TV stations in the United States that produced a game show. Claim to Fame was a weekly half-hour show hosted by Patrick Van Horn. It usually ran on Saturday evenings. In that era, KRON also produced a Saturday morning children's program called Buster and Me^[1].

Despite its status as NBC's second-largest affiliate (and largest on the West Coast), KRON occasionally pre-empted NBC programming, usually during daytime (most notably the soap opera Another World, which would since re-air on the station in the early 1990s). Two NBC daytime game shows, 50 Grand Slam and Just Men!, never aired an episode on KRON-TV. Also, the station did not air NBC soap operas in the traditional pattern. For example, KRON-TV aired Days of Our Lives after Another World instead of the standard network programming -- at 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. depending on the season and time slot. KRON-TV also pre-empted some prime time programming on NBC. Like NBC counterpart KCRA-TV in Sacramento, KRON-TV stopped airing the T-NBC lineup on Saturday mornings in the early 1990s. NBC has been far less tolerant of preemptions than the other networks, and even had to buy stations to switch affiliates to in the mid-1990s because of this. However, despite losing valuable advertising in the nation's fifth largest market, NBC was very satisfied with KRON-TV, which was one of its strongest affiliates.

For the years 1992-1993, KRON-TV participated in the "Early Prime" experiment in which prime time programs were aired an hour earlier, with the 30-minute late night newscast moved from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m. While KRON-TV moved prime time NBC programming back to its normal time, KPIX-TV continued its experiment with an hour-long newscast at 10 p.m. until 1998, when it moved its CBS newscast back to 11 p.m. for 35 minutes. KTVU has dominated the 10 p.m. newscast for decades.

KRON-TV was at one time the flagship station of the Oakland Athletics baseball team from 1993-1998. This caused a problem in 1996, when the final day of the USA Olympic track and field trials conflicted with a scheduled Athletics broadcast, as KRON-TV's contract required them to show the baseball game, and, as a result, KRON-TV broadcast the trials at midnight.

In 1999, the deYoung family, owners of the parent corporation Chronicle Publishing, decided to liquidate their assets.

NBC had made many offers for channel 4 over the years, but the deYoungs had rebuffed them each time. It finally saw a chance to get an O&O ("owned and operated") in the Bay Area, and quickly jumped into the bidding war for channel 4. It was seen as the frontrunner until it was outbid at the last second by New York City-based Young Broadcasting (then-owner of KCAL-TV in Los Angeles and several medium-small market stations). Young's purchase price for the station, $750 million (U.S.) at the outset which rose to $820 million by closing, was a record price for a single station that stands to this day. For the down payment, Young was forced to sell WKBT in La Crosse, Wisconsin to Morgan Murphy Stations.

NBC responded with a list of demands that would have required Young to run the station under the conventions of an NBC O&O. For example, NBC wanted Young to rebrand KRON as "NBC 4," and run the entire NBC schedule in pattern with no pre-emptions except for local news emergencies. Rather than give in to NBC's demands, Young decided not to renew channel 4's affiliation contract with NBC when it ran out in 2002. Granite Broadcasting's KNTV in San Jose later approached NBC with a proposal to pay $37 million annually for the rights to broadcast NBC programming. NBC accepted the deal, however, in December of 2001 NBC purchased KNTV for a fraction of KRON's sale price — $230 million in cash. That makes NBC the only network in the Bay Area to switch from one local station to another.

The affiliation switch became official at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day 2002, ending KRON-TV's 52-year affiliation with NBC.

Also from July 4, 1994 until August 30, 2001 KRON-TV operated a 24-hour news cable and local programming channel, BayTV. BayTV, on channel 35, was co-operated with then AT&T Broadband, now Comcast. BayTV ceased operations in 2001. KRON-TV's NewsCenter 4 newsroom also offered news updates on MSNBC and CNN Headline News on the cable systems around the Bay Area. KRON 4 News at 9 actually started on BayTV in the 1990s and when BayTV went off the air and KRON became an independent, the newscast officially went to channel 4 in 2002 until September 5, 2006. The channel's daily Silicon Valley news recap New Media News also aired nationally on Jones Media Group cable channel Mind Extension University/Knowledge TV until that channel ended broadcasting in 2000.

KRON was one of the first major market stations in the U.S. to adopt the controversial videojournalist, or VJ, model. In smaller markets, this is called one-man banding, a cost-saving practice in which journalists shoot, report, and edit their stories themselves, instead of having a cameraperson/tape editor in the production van with the reporter.^[2] Most, if not all, tape editor positions have been eliminated and the union editors typically given the choice to become VJs or leave. Some media watchers have criticized the move as a shift towards "reality programming" such as MTV's The Real World.^[3] Many staff and critics have charged the move to "videojournalism" was done simply to cut costs, eliminate long-time staffers, and break the unions by pitting them against one another. Since KRON instituted the "VJ" scheme in 2005, scores of long-time employees have left -- including editors, producers, writers, reporters, photographers, and operations staff. However, some photographers and producers have welcomed the transition to telling the story themselves.^[4]

Main article: MyNetworkTV

KRON-TV is the largest MNTV station that did not lose a WB or UPN affiliation.

When KRON-TV began carrying MNTV programming, it eliminated the hour-long 9 p.m. newscast.^[5] However, KRON-TV is not following the standard practice of airing MNTV programming from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. like most Pacific Time Zone affiliates. Instead, it airs Dr. Phil at 8 p.m., and MNTV programming from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., one hour later than most affiliates. The MyNetworkTV affiliate in Sacramento, KQCA-TV, also deviates from the standard My Network TV programming schedule, airing it from 7-9 p.m.

In October 2007, Retro Television Network, a network owned by Equity Broadcasting which specializes in airing classic sitcoms and dramas, was expected to launch as a digital subchannel on KRON-DT2 as part of a test of the network by Young Broadcasting, along with sister stations WBAY in Green Bay and Albany's WTEN [5].

• If it goes on in , it goes on 4. - slogan said by viewers during a KRON-TV promotional campaign circa 1990. These usually took the form of five-second promotions before programs.

• It's _____ o'clock and the news is next. - how KRON-TV anchors ended pre-newscast teasers in the mid-1980s.

• Proud to be Independent. - slogan used in KRON promos during the loss of NBC affiliation from January 1, 2002 – September 4, 2006.

• KRON 4 - The Bay Area's News Station.

Doug McConnell [6]- Bay Area Backroads
Henry Tenenbaum [7]- weekend mornings/Henry's Garden/Bay Area Bargains

• Heather Donald - 5 p.m. weekdays
• Ysabel Duron - weekend mornings
• Marty Gonzalez - weekend mornings
• Darya Folsom - weekday mornings
• Catherine Heenan - 4 and 5 p.m. weekdays
• Vicki Liviakis - weekend evenings
• Pam Moore - 6 and 11 p.m. weeknights
• Chris Murphy - 4, 6, and 11 p.m. weeknights
• Teo Torres - weekday mornings

• Mark Danon - chief meteorologist seen weekday mornings
• Michael Kelting - weeknights
• Stacey Sawyer - weekend evenings
• Mark Tamayo - weekday mornings
• Brent Alan - weekend mornings

• Vernon Glenn - weekends
• Gary Radnich - weeknights

• Jeff Bush
• Charles Clifford
• Christine Connolly
• April Cummings (primarily seen mornings)
• Belva Davis - special projects
• Terisa Estacio
• Rob Fladeboe
• Mark Jones - Contra Costa Bureau
• Holly Juscen
• Dan Kerman
• Gabriel Slate
• Henry Tenenbaum - entertainment reporter/host of Henry's Garden
• Jan Wahl - film critic
• Stanley Roberts - People Behaving Badly

• Roz Abrams - anchor (1983-1986)
• Dick Albert - weather anchor (1975-1976), now at WCVB-TV in Boston
• Sam Allred
• Fred Blankenship - now at WSB-TV in Atlanta
• Dionne Anglin - reporter (1999-2004), now at KDFW-TV in Dallas
• Lisa Argen - weather anchor (1995-2004) now at KGO-TV
• Ed Arnow - reporter (1983-1985)
• Jack Bates - reporter
• Jim Bernard - weather anchor now at KIEM and also on KPIX
• Susan Blake - anchor/reporter (1990-2005), now at HGTV
• Art Brown - anchor/reporter (circa 1960s), deceased
• Cheryl Casone - reporter (2002-2004), now at Fox News
• Steve Centanni - reporter (1989-1996), now at Fox News
• Sylvia Chase - anchor (1985-1990)
• Noel Cisneros - education reporter (1994-2006), now at KGO-TV
• Mary Civiello - anchor/reporter (1978-1980 and 1996-1999), now runs a communications company^[6]
• Valerie Coleman - reporter (1979-1982), now Valerie Morris and New York-based anchor for CNN Financial News)
• Claudia Cowan - reporter (1995-1998), now at Fox News
• Dick Currier - South Bay Bureau chief/weekend anchor (1974-1986), now owns 3C Ranch, Washoe Valley, Nevada
• Joe Ducey - consumer reporter (1995-2006), now at KNXV-TV in Phoenix
• Julie Durda - traffic reporter
• Anna Duckworth - traffic reporter, now at KPIX-TV
• Michael Evans - reporter (1978-1980; now at WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
• Leila Feinstein - sports anchor/reporter (2000-2003), now at KTLA in Los Angeles
• Art Finley - children's show host (as "Mayor Art")/host of "Pick A Show" c. 1966/reporter (1959-1968)
• Pat Finn - weatherman and host of Claim to Fame (1988-1989), now host of California Lottery's The Big Spin
• Michelle Franzen - reporter
• John Fullmer - sports anchor/Contra Costa Bureau chief
• Wayne Freedman - reporter (1981-1989), now at KGO-TV
• Jesse Gary - reporter (now at KTVU)
• Manuel Gallegus - reporter (1990-1994), now at CBS Newspath
• Jim Goldman - technology reporter (1995-2001), now at CNBC
• Jerry Graham - reporter/Bay Area Backroads Host (1984-1993)
• Emil Guillermo - reporter (1982-1989)
• Brian Hackney - weather anchor (1995-2005), now at KPIX-TV
• Ed Hart - anchor/reporter (1959-1970)
• Janice Huff - meteorologist (1990-1994), now at WNBC-TV in New York
• Jerry Jensen - co-anchor with Art Brown (1960s), later at KGO-TV, deceased
• Bob Jimenez - anchor (1984-1991)
• Sabrina Kang - business reporter (2001-2005)
• John Kessler - anchor/reporter (1991-2002), now at KPIX-TV
• Jill Kuramoto - reporter (1989-1992), now at KITV in Honolulu
• Sue Kwon - reporter (1996-2003), now at KPIX-TV
• Fred LaCosse - anchor (1973-1980)^[7]
• Vic Lee - reporter (1972-2006), now at KGO-TV
• Sam Chu Lin - reporter (1981-1984), deceased
• Terry Lowry - anchor (1970-1981), wife of Fred LaCosse
• Julie Luck - anchor/reporter (2001-2005), now at WGHP-TV in Greensboro, NC
• Jeanne Lynch - anchor (1989-2001), now at KGO Radio
• Greg Lyon - investigative reporter (1977-2004)
• Dave Malkoff^[8] - freelance reporter (2003-2004) now at KCBS-TV in Los Angeles
• Phil Matier - political reporter (1992-2006), now at KPIX-TV
• Anthony Moor - reporter (1989-2002), now associate managing editor of the Orlando Sentinel
• Mark Mullen - morning anchor (1990-1995 and 2002-2003)
• Dr. Kim Mulvihill - medical reporter (1998-2003), now at KPIX-TV
• Steve Newman - Weather Anchor/Meteorologist (1980-1985; 1989-1993), KGO (1985-1989) and KPIX (1996-2001). Now writes Earthweek, distributed by Universal Press Syndicate.
• Tom Nettles - sports (1981-1986)
• Christine Nubla - traffic reporter
• Malou Nubla - morning anchor/traffic reporter (1994-2000), now a media consultant^[9]
• Soledad O'Brien - reporter (1993-1996), now at CNN
• Dennis O'Donnell - sports anchor (1982-2000), now at KPIX-TV
• Joe Oliver - weekend anchor/reporter (1998-2004), now at WESH-TV in Orlando
• Ross Palombo - anchor/reporter, now at KENS-TV
• Lloyd Patterson - morning anchor (1985-1992)
• Jim Paymar - anchor (1982-1987), now runs a media consulting firm^[10]
• Lila Petersen - morning anchor/reporter (1986-1989)
• Rollin Post - political reporter (1979-1999)
• Steve Raleigh - meteorologist (1990-2005), now at WCPO-TV in Cincinnati
• Manuel Ramos - reporter (1979-1980), now at KPIX-TV
• Tom Randles - reporter (1984-1986), now at WSMV-TV in Nashville
• George Reading - anchor
• Gary Rebstock - anchor/reporter (1988-1992)
• Ron Regan
• Linda Richards - weather
• Wayne Shannon - commentator (1980s)
• Suzanne Shaw - anchor (1988-2000)
• Tom Sinkovitz - anchor (1990-2006)
• Karl Sonkin - reporter (1979-2004), now with Kaiser Permanente Media Relations
• Karna Small - weather/reporter/anchor (1968-1972), now Karna Small Bodman and an author^[11]
• Ray Taliaferro - anchor (1972-1977)
• Mark Thompson - weather anchor (1982-1990), now at KTTV in Los Angeles and voiceover artist for FOX
• Marty Uribes - East Bay reporter (1991-1998)
• Dave Valentine
• Liz Walker - anchor/reporter (1977-1980), now at WBZ-TV in Boston
• Evan White - reporter (1972-2000) retired
• Pete Wilson - anchor (1990-2001), deceased
• Linda Yee - reporter (1980-2005)
• Emerald Yeh - anchor/consumer reporter (1984-2003)
• Steve Newman - meteorologist (1980-1985 and 1989-1993)^[12]
• Wendy Tokuda - evening anchor and Students Rising Above reporter (1997-2007), now at KPIX-TV

According to SF Weekly, the station changed KRON-4's building number from 1001 to 1001552 in January 2006, based on advice from the station manager's "astro-numerologist", Jesse Kalsi.^[13] Business for the station had previously been abysmal. Young's station management claims the numerology improved business. They claim one of the results was the station's deal to become a My Network TV affiliate. "Obviously, there are skeptics who think it's a bunch of hooey, but I can tell you things seem to have improved since the change," said Pat Patton, KRON-TV's programming director. "Morale is better, people are happier," he said. Many staffers saw the numerology as one more indication that station management was "nuts" and in far over their heads. Plans are being made to give Kalsi his own show on the station.

KRON-TV was the station that inadvertently created an Internet phenomenon in Bubb Rubb with its January 13, 2003 story about whistle tips, devices welded into a car's muffler to cause a loud whistle as the exhaust gas passes through.^[14]

The news story has been seen by millions of people all over the world who exclaim Rubb's catchphrase "The whistles go WOOOO!!" While there have been several re-mixes using clips from the story, the full un-edited KRON-TV story is also readily available on the Internet.

1. ^ Buster and Me (1977) at the Internet Movie Database
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ [2]
4. ^ [3]
5. ^ [4]
6. ^ http://civiello.com
7. ^ http://www.lacosse.net/
8. ^ http://www.davemalkoff.com/
9. ^ http://www.malounubla.com/
10. ^ http://paymarcommunications.com/
11. ^ http://www.karnabodman.com/
12. ^ http://www.earthweek.com
13. ^ Russell, Ron. "But Can He Predict the Weather?", SF Weekly, May 3, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-06-07. 
14. ^ http://www.collegehumor.com/video:23458

• Official website of My KRON 4
• Programming website of My KRON 4
• Photos of KRON's news set
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KRON-TV