KMAX-TV

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KMAX-TV
Sacramento, California
Branding	CW 31
Channels	31 (UHF) analog, 21 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	The CW / CBS Alternate
Owner	CBS Corporation
Founded	October 5, 1974
Call letters meaning	Maximum Television Station
Former callsigns	KMUV-TV (1974-1981) KRBK (1981-1995) KPWB (1995-1998)
Former affiliations	Independent (1974-1995) The WB (1995-1998) UPN (1998-2006)
Website	www.cw31.com

KMAX-TV (Channel 31) is the CBS Corporation's CW affiliate serving the Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, California broadcast area. In May 2005, the station merged its operations with the local CBS station, KOVR (Channel 13), which the CBS Corp. just recently purchased -- making both the only English network O&O's in the market. It is known on the air as "CW 31, Cable 12".

[edit] History

KMAX originally went on the air as KMUV-TV on October 5, 1974, and was owned by legendary television producer, Norman Lear. It was programmed as an all-movie channel, to counter-program against the other established area stations, particularly then-independent (and current Fox station) KTXL (Channel 40). However on May 1, 1976, KMUV abandoned its all-movie format and became a Spanish-language station with some English-language Religious Programming such as The PTL Club with Jim Bakker. On April 2, 1981, Koplar Broadcasting (which owned and founded current St. Louis CW station KPLR) purchased the station and on April 6, 1981 transformed it into an English-language/general entertainment/independent station to compete directly with KTXL. The station's call letters were changed to KRBK. (As a side note, Koplar's new sign-on in Missouri, channel 49, licensed to Osage Beach, has adopted the KRBK call letters.)

KMAX logo from 1998-2002 after call letter and affiliation change

Pappas Telecasting of California bought KRBK in 1994, and on January 11, 1995, changed its call letters to KPWB & moniker to WB 31 to reflect its new affiliation to the then-new WB network, which started in January 1995. Viacom's Paramount Stations Group bought Channel 31 in January 1998, and changed its calls once again on January 5, 1998, to the present KMAX-TV. PSG also switched its network affiliation from The WB to UPN, sending WB programming to former UPN affiliate KSCH (now KQCA). (KPWB landed on a WB affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa, coincidentally owned by Pappas to this day.) Viacom later bought CBS, and the television stations division, with CBS and UPN O&O's, became known as Viacom Television Stations Group, or VTSG. Now it is called CBS Television Stations Group, or CBSTSG.

Channel 31 was the flagship television home of the NBA's Sacramento Kings from 1988-89 until the middle of the 2002-03 season, when the team's owners, the Maloof family, terminated the station's contract due to the station selling ads featuring the team, without the Kings' permission.

KMAX continues to carry sports programming, broadcasting over-the-air telecasts of the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants baseball teams. KMAX is also home to Good Day Sacramento, the area's second highest rated morning news program (local or network), behind the Today Show on NBC.

KMAX logo from August 2004-August 2006, similar to the previous UPN logo of sister-station KBCW

In May 2005, KOVR-TV became KMAX's sister station when Viacom bought it from the Sinclair Broadcast Group. The station is now owned by CBS Corporation, due to the split of Viacom into two separate entities (one which retained the Viacom name). And KMAX will broadcast CBS programs when KOVR cannot such as in a news-related emergency. KMAX's news operations merged with KOVR's under the duopoly,with KOVR anchors and reporters sometimes appearing on KMAX and vice versa. After KOVR was picked up by the new ownership, KMAX moved from its original studios off Highway 160 in Sacramento to KOVR's in West Sacramento.

[edit] From UPN to The CW

On January 24, 2006, it was announced that KMAX will become an affiliate of The CW Network, which is a merger of UPN and The WB. The changeover happened in September 2006. A month before the launch of The CW, the station replaced the UPN graphics (UPN31) with the new CW graphics (CW31) to coincide with its debut. And the Kids WB lineup moved to KMAX upon the new affiliation; it airs Saturdays on a three hour tape delay (10 AM to 3 PM unlike 7 AM to Noon) to accommodate the weekend version of Good Day Sacramento.

[edit] Sacramento CBS Cluster

While KOVR and KMAX are housed in West Sacramento, the CBS Radio cluster consisting of radio stations KHTK, KNCI, KQJK are housed at studios on Madison Avenue in Sacramento while KSFM, KYMX and KZZO are housed in a different building in Sacramento's Arden District.

[edit] Newscasts

• CW 31 Good Day Sacramento 5:00-10:00 a.m. (Monday - Friday) (with Nick Toma, Marianne Mcclary, Julissa Ortiz, Stefanie Cruz on News, Cody Stark on Weather, Courtney Dempsey and Tina Macuha on Traffic and Mark S. Allen on Entertainment)
• CW 31 Good Day Sacramento 6:00-10:00 a.m. (Saturday and Sunday) (with Taryn Winter Brill, Chris Burrous, Steve Large on News and Anny Hong on Weather)

[edit] News Music

• Newsedge - Stephen Arnold Music - 1998-2006
• Production Music - Various - 2007-Present

[edit] Past Newscasts

• 31 News: 1980s-1995
• 31 Action News: 1996-1998
• UPN 31 Action News: 1998-2000
• Good Evening Sacramento: 2003-2004

[edit] External links

• Query the FCC's TV station database for KMAX-TV
• CW 31/CBS 13