KAUZ-TV

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KAUZ-TV
Wichita Falls, Texas/Lawton, Oklahoma
Branding	NewsChannel 6
Slogan	Live. Local. Latebreaking
Channels	6 (VHF) analog, 22 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	CBS/(The CW on DT2)
Owner	Hoak Media Corporation
Founded	March 1, 1953
Former callsigns	KWFT-TV (1953-1956) and KSYD-TV (1956-1963)
Website	www.kauz.com www.thecwtexoma.com

KAUZ or NewsChannel 6 is the CBS affiliate located in Wichita Falls, Texas but also serves Lawton, Oklahoma. Its transmitter is located at the studio in Wichita Falls.

In September 2006, KAUZ launched a new digital subchannel to carry the CW Television Network.

Contents 1 History 2 Personalities 2.1 Current On-Air Talent 2.2 Former On-Air Personalities 2.3 Anchors/Reporters 2.4 Weather 2.5 Sports 2.6 Reporters 3 News/Station Presentation 3.1 Newscast Titles 3.2 Station Slogans 4 Trivia 5 External links

[edit] History

KAUZ signed on March 1, 1953 as KWFT-TV, the television arm of KWFT AM 620. KWFT sold the TV station in 1956 to Sydney Grayson at which time channel 6 became KSYD-TV and then KAUZ-TV in July, 1963 following a subsequent transfer of ownership. The station has served as the CBS affiliate for the Wichita Falls-Lawton television market since its inception. The newscast, now called Newschannel 6, has also been known under the titles Newsreel 6, Channel 6 News, Newscope, 6 News First, CBS 6 News and Eyewitness News.

On the afternoon of April 3, 1964 as a devastating tornado swept across the northern portion of Wichita Falls and neighboring Sheppard Air Force Base, KAUZ-TV interrupted regular programming to provide a live tornado warning in which the image of the funnel was shown on the station's weather radar by then-meteorologist Ted Shaw and a large and heavy studio camera was dragged outside the Channel 6 studios on Seymour Highway and pointed toward the funnel sighting as it approached the northwest portion of Wichita Falls - one of the first tornadoes ever to be broadcast on live television. That tornado killed 7 people and injured over 100. Damage estimates exceeded $15 million and some 225 homes and businesses were destroyed on the north side of town and at Sheppard AFB.

About 15 years later on April 10, 1979, an even more devastating tornado occurred on the southwest side of Wichita Falls that killed 42 people and injured more than 1,700 along a path that was two miles wide and 45 miles long. Besides the terrible human costs, 3,100 homes were destroyed, with an estimated 20,000 people left homeless. The total damage in Wichita Falls was around $400 million. Then-Channel 6 chief meteorologist Rich Segal was on the air that afternoon and evening with complete warning coverage that culminated with the opening of the 6 p.m. broadcast of Eyewitness News as multiple tornadoes had reached the southwest corner of the city and began their path of destruction. About less than five minutes into the newscast KAUZ-TV and other Wichita Falls TV and radio stations were knocked off the air due to power outages resulting from the damaging storms.

A year later, Channel 6 broadcast a documentary about the 1979 tornado including the events of that day leading to the storm, the destruction and aftermath based upon the station's news footage from a year earlier along with progress of recovery efforts as of April, 1980.

Lynn Walker, who served as anchor and news director at KAUZ from 1972 to 1986 and again from 1999 to 2003, is among the longest-tenured news anchors in the Wichita Falls-Lawton TV market. Walker is currently night editor at the Wichita Falls Times Record News.

Around 1977, Channel 6 Eyewitness News became the area's first local newscast to feature a male/female co-anchor team (a trend then sweeping local TV markets nationwide) when Walker was teamed up with co-anchor Kay Shannon on the 6 and 10 p.m. broadcasts, beginning a nine-year tenure in which KAUZ-TV took first place in local news ratings against rivals KFDX-TV and KSWO-TV. Longtime sports anchor Bill Jackson joined the team by early 1978, followed by meteorologist Rich Segal that spring. This winning anchor team would enjoy a long (for a small TV market) tenure of eight years until 1986 when Walker, Shannon and Jackson left KAUZ-TV though Rich Segal would soldier on another four years until his departure around 1990.

[edit] Personalities

[edit] Current On-Air Talent

NEWSCHANNEL 6 ANCHORS

• Blake Burman, Weekend Anchor/Reporter
• Lindsay Hunt, Weekday Morning and Noon Anchor/Reporter
• Ashley Fitzwater, Weekend Anchor/Reporter
• Nicole Jolly, Weekday Evening Anchor/Reporter
• Chris Horgen, Weekday Evening Anchor/Reporter

NEWSCHANNEL 6 REPORTERS

• Jermaine Ferrell, General Assignment Reporter
• Kianga Kelley, General Assignment Reporter
• Micaela Lechuga, General Assignment Reporter

DOPPLER 6000 WEATHER TEAM

• John Cameron (AMS Certified), Chief Meteorologist
• Nick Johnston, Weekday Morning Meteorologist
• Erick Adame, Weekend Meteorologist

SPORTS ANCHORS/REPORTERS

• Josh Christopher, Weekend Sports Anchor/Reporter

[edit] Former On-Air Personalities

[edit] Anchors/Reporters

Jerry Taff, (1967-69), Lynn Bigler(1967-73),Hugh Johnson(1970-72, deceased), Troy Jensen(1971-86), Mike Jernigan (1976-77),Tony Villasana (1979-83), Gary Tate(1981-84), Rhonda Harrison (1982-84), John Ford (1984-86),John O'Connor(1987-88),Brett Johnson(1987-89),Rob McClendon (1988-89),Meri Beth Moore (1988-94), Gerry May (1989-91),Suzanne Boase (1990-92), Ron Baze (1991-94),Kirsten McIntyre(1991-1995),Mike McDonald (1994-95), Tres Hood(1995-98, deceased), Rhonda Mackey(1997-2005), Melissa Davis(1998-2000).

[edit] Weather

John Van Dunk(1967-71),Lee Lucas(1971-75), Merrill Teller (1975-78), Danny Luttrell(1980-86),Dan Ellington Avery(1986-1989),Jim Mills (1987-89), Mike Dudich (1989-94),Frank Mitchell (1990-91),Eric Gardner (1993-97), Tom Charles (1996-2000), Nicole Sweetin(1998-2001),Meghan Danahey (2001-2005).

[edit] Sports

Jack Britton(1964-78),Terry Bumgarner(1979-81), Michael Coleman (1986-88), Casey O'Brien (1986-87), Mark Jerome (1987-89), Mike Steely (1988-92), Andy Austin(1992-1997).

[edit] Reporters

• Dana Baird(1987-88),Deborah Lauren McCaskey (1988-89),Jane Mitchell (1987-88),Paul Murphy (1986-88), Doug Ohlemeier (1987-89).

NOTE: Chief Engineer Leon Hoeffner was among the station's longest running employees. He came to Channel 6 in 1956 when it was KSYD-TV and worked there continuously until his retirement around 2003 or 2004.

[edit] News/Station Presentation

[edit] Newscast Titles

• Newsreel 6 (1950s)
• Newscope (1960s-Early 1970s)
• Eyewitness News (Mid 1970s-1988)
• Channel 6 News (1988-1993)
• 6 News First (1993-1997)
• CBS 6 News (1997-1999)
• NewsChannel 6 (1999-present)

[edit] Station Slogans

• Live. Local. Latebreaking. (2004-present)

[edit] Trivia

• "Donna's Notebook", an interview segment hosted by Donna Cothren, was a longtime fixture of the 12 p.m. noon newscast during the 1960s and early 1970s. An interview segment similar to Donna's Notebook, which is used mostly to promote local and area events, is still an integral part of Newschannel 6 at Noon to this day.

• Also included in the station's noon newscast during the 1960s and 1970s was a five-minute televised insert of "Paul Harvey News and Comments" that was available to TV stations nationwide.

• During the summer of 1970, a man was seriously injured after falling several hundred feet while painting the station's transmitter mast. The transmitter, located on the premises of the KAUZ studios, is said to be located on one of the highest points within the city of Wichita Falls.

• KAUZ was the first TV station in the Wichita Falls/Lawton TV market to air its local newscasts in color, beginning in February, 1966, just a few months after CBS began converting most of its network programs from black and white to color. KFDX and KSWO followed with color newscasts in 1967.

• Named for the station's call letters was a children's show entitled "Kauzey's Korner" or "Kauzmo's Kolorful Kartoons" which aired on Channel 6 weekday afternoons from 1963 to 1967.

• KAUZ was one of many stations to broadcast the syndicated news/feature program PM Magazine, which included both national and local inserts, from 1979 to 1982. It was broadcast at 6:30 p.m. weeknights on Channel 6 following the 6 p.m. edition of Eyewitness News.

• KAUZ's current logo is similar in style to the former logo of an unrelated ABC affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio, WEWS; the "6" in this logo is very similar to that of an unrelated CBS affiliate in Orlando, Florida, WKMG-TV.

• One producer in 1987 lost his job after running a red light while DUI in a Channel 6 news vehicle.

• The syndicated Mike Douglas Show was a popular Channel 6 fixture during the afternoon period in the 1960s and 1970s, competing against Douglas' rival in talk/variety shows of that era, The Merv Griffin Show, which was broadcast in the same timeslot locally on KSWO-TV. Today, KAUZ broadcasts relatively similar fare during the late afternoon hours including Ellen at 3 p.m. and Oprah at 4 p.m.

• The popular syndicated game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune have been broadcast for the Wichita Falls-Lawton market by KAUZ since the mid-1990s. "Wheel" and "Jeopardy!" had previously run on KFDX-TV and KSWO-TV on two separate occasions since their 1980s debut.

[edit] External links

• Station Website
• Hoak Media Corporation
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KAUZ