KING-TV

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KING-TV
Seattle, Washington
Branding	KING 5
Slogan	Coverage You Can Count On; The Home Team
Channels	5 (VHF) analog, 48 (HDTV, UHF) digital
Translators	K57AI ch.57 (UHF)Neah Bay, Washington
Affiliations	NBC (secondary 1948-53, sole affiliate since 1959) NBC Weather Plus (DT2)
Owner	Belo
Founded	November 25, 1948
Call letters meaning	King County
Former callsigns	KRSC-TV (1948-49)
Former affiliations	ABC (1948–59, secondary until 1953), CBS (1948–53), DuMont (1948–53)
Website	www.king5.com

KING-TV ("KING 5") is a television station in Seattle, Washington, USA. It is affiliated with the NBC network, and broadcasts on analog VHF channel 5 and digital UHF channel 48. Its offices and broadcasting center are located just east of Seattle Center. The station's transmitter is located in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. The chief newscasters for KING 5 news are Jean Enersen and Dennis Bounds.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early years 1.2 1970s and 80s 1.3 1990s 1.4 Present day 2 Digital Television 3 Newscasts 4 Current Personalities 5 Past Personalities 6 External links 7 Books

[edit] History

[edit] Early years

When Channel 5 came on the air as KRSC-TV for the first time on November 25, 1948, it became the first television station north of San Francisco and west of the Mississippi River. The first broadcast, a live remote of a Thanksgiving day high school football game, was plagued with technical difficulties but local viewers were said to be impressed nonetheless. After eight months on the air under the ownership of P.K. Lieberman's Radio Sales Corporation, Channel 5 was purchased by Seattle native Dorothy Bullitt's King Broadcasting Company, owners of KING-AM 1090 and KING-FM 98.1. The station became KING-TV to match its radio sisters (Bullitt had purchased the KING call letters from a fishing boat). For many years, the stations' logo was King Mike, an anthropomorphized microphone in ermine robes and a crown, drawn by Walt Disney. Also sister station KGW used a similar logo call Pioneer Mike.

The KRSC-TV calls now reside on an independent educational station in Claremore, Oklahoma.

Channel 5 was a primary CBS affiliate, carrying secondary affiliations with NBC, ABC and (until 1956) DuMont Television Network. Once the FCC-imposed freeze on TV licenses was rescinded in the early '50s, KING lost its monopoly on the Seattle TV market. It lost CBS to KTNT-TV and NBC to KOMO-TV in 1953, leaving KING with only the poorly performing ABC affiliation. Bullitt lobbied NBC for affiliation, and in 1959 NBC pulled its affiliation from cross-town rival KOMO and granted it to KING.

From the start, KING was deeply committed to the Seattle area. Bulitt believed that a television station should serve the public while remaining commercially viable. KING set up one of the first local news departments in the country, and quickly gained national attention for its high quality and hard approach. In 1952, KING kept Senator Joseph McCarthy from delivering a potentially libelous attack on the air. McCarthy threatened to have the station's license yanked, citing undue bias (the Bulitts were staunch Democrats) but was forced to back down. Reporters such as Charles Herring, Ted Bryant, Mike James, Bob Faw and Seattle's first female news anchor, Jean Enersen, set a high standard for television journalism in Seattle that continues today. It was the leading news station in Seattle for many years.

After Alaska was hit by a major earthquake in March of 1964, KING-TV worked together with NBC News to get the latter's footage of the quake's aftermath broadcast over the network. This was prior to the launch of a trans-Pacific television broadcast satellite; footage from Anchorage was flown to Seattle and driven to KING to be fed to the NBC network. NBC was the first network to show footage of the quake's aftermath, several hours before either ABC or CBS.

Management did not remain static. In 1961, Dorothy Bullitt's son Stimson Bullitt became president of King Broadcasting Company while his mother remained chairwoman of the board. In 1966, he took the almost-unprecedented step of airing an anti-Vietnam war editorial, angering the Johnson Administration. Stimson Bullitt also expanded the company to include Seattle magazine and a variety of other business activities, much to the dismay of his mother, who felt he was losing sight of the family's broadcast properties. Investigative reporter Don McGaffin gave significant coverage to growing racial tensions in the city as well as corruption in the Seattle Police Department.

The station was also well-known for its entertainment personalities. Among these are:

• "KING's Queen" host Bea Donovan;
• Children's program hosts Stan Boreson and "Wunda Wunda" (played by Ruth Prins); and
• Weatherman and on-air cartoonists Bob Hale and Bob Cram.

[edit] 1970s and 80s

Quietly dissatisfied with her son's management style, Dorothy Bullitt arranged for Stimson Bullitt's graceful exit from the leadership of King Broadcasting in 1971. Stimson sold his company shares to his sisters, Harriet and Patsy, and was given control of the family's real estate interests. Ancil Payne, who had served as general manager of the company's Portland stations since 1965, became president and CEO.

By the 1970s and 1980s, KING-TV was the flagship of a growing regional media empire, which at various times included ventures in publishing, moviemaking, cable television and even various timber assets in the Far East.

KING-TV was a pioneer in diversity in the newsroom. In 1972, KING-TV broke new ground by appointing Jean Enersen as an evening news anchor. According to the Washington Post, Enersen was the first permanent female evening news anchor in the country. In addition, KING-TV also appointed Seattle's first African-American evening news anchor, John Raye, who co-anchored with Enersen for several years in the mid-70's.

During this time, the KING-TV news department was also a launching pad for several network news reporters, including CNN's Aaron Brown and Lou Dobbs, CBS Early Show contributor Hattie Kauffman and NBC correspondent James Hattori. Future meteorologist and author Jeff Renner joined KING-TV in 1977.

KING was also a pioneer in starting new newscasts. For example, KING programmed the first early morning newscast in Western Washington at 6:30am with Don Madsen (news anchor) and Larry Schick (weather). This newscast became very popular with Western Washington viewers as well as Canadian viewers in British Columbia. In 1984, KING pioneered "Top Story" at 6:30pm with Mike James and Lori Matsukawa. Top Story, a local version of Nightline, focused primarily on the top news story of the day with in-depth reporting and interviews. Sadly, Top Story never fully caught on and was cancelled after only a few years.

Locally produced programming included Seattle Today, a midmorning talk show hosted by Cliff Lenz, Shirley Hudson, later Susan Michaels, Colby Chester; Seattle Tonight, Tonite! hosted by Ross McGowan and later Dick Klinger, Almost Live!, a Saturday night talk and sketch-comedy program originally starring Ross Shafer; and a local Evening Magazine franchise, first hosted by Penny LeGate and Brian Tracey. Only Evening Magazine exists today.

In addition, KING-TV and its sister stations in Spokane, Boise, and Portland formed the KING Northwest Network. They often shared news reports during this time and jointly covered significant stories such as the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980. The midmorning talk show, Seattle Today, was re-named Northwest Today and expanded to 90 minutes. While the bulk of the show was produced in Seattle, each station had a local host who would do short segments.

King Broadcasting stations included KGW radio and television in Portland, KREM-TV Spokane, KTVB-TV Boise, KHNL-TV and KFVE-TV Honolulu and KYA/KOIT radio San Francisco.

Long-time station-owner Dorothy Bullitt died in June of 1989.

[edit] 1990s

Dorothy Bullit's daughters Harriet Bullitt and Priscilla "Patsy" Bullitt Collins decided to sell the King assets in 1992 -- eventually unloading King Broadcasting (including KING, KREM, KGW, KTVB, KHNL/KFVE and the cable system assets) to the Providence Journal Company. KING-TV and other King Broadcasting stations later became Belo properties as a result of that company's merger with ProJo in the mid-90s. (KHNL/KFVE was later sold to Raycom.)

Bonneville International Corporation purchased KING-AM in 1994, changed the station's call letters to KINF (later KNWX) and switched to an all-news format. KNWX switched frequencies with KRPM 770 a year later, transferring ownership of the 1090 allocation to EZ Communications, Inc. Since late 2004, CBS Radio-owned KPTK 1090 is home of Air America Radio.

KING-FM was donated to a non-profit partnership of the Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Opera, and ArtsFund. It continues the classical music format started by Dorothy Bullitt and is one of the few remaining commercial classical radio stations in the nation today.

The 1990s also saw the end of Almost Live!. During this decade, the show launched the career of Bill Nye the Science Guy and locally, Pat Cashman and John Keister (who replaced Ross Shafer as host).

On December 18, 1995, King Broadcasting launched Northwest Cable News, a 24-hour regional cable news operation available to viewers chiefly in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, and to a lesser extent in Alaska, Montana and California. In much of the Seattle area, NWCN is available on cable channel 2.

King Mike was brought back for KING's 50th anniversary in 1998 and still appears in promotional announcements.

In 1999 to compete against KOMO (which launched the first ever high-definition newscast), KING also began doing HD newscasts, although according to Robert Mak they are still in "transition" .

[edit] Present day

Belo also operates KONG television, an independent station featuring some news programming (provided by KING) and syndicated shows. KONG is available on UHF channel 16, and Comcast cable channel 6.

In addition, an NBC Weather Plus affiliate, owned by Belo, broadcasts from the building. It is broadcast over-the-air on digital channel 5.2, and cablecasts on Comcast's digital tier in the Puget Sound area.

Currently, syndicated TV shows seen on this station include The Tyra Banks Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Dr. Phil, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Inside Edition.

KING opted not to carry NBC's telecasts of the 2006 Stanley Cup finals, when the games began at 5 p.m. Pacific time. KING chose instead to air its regular lineup of newscasts and syndicated shows. KONG picked up the games.

For most of the last quarter-century, KING has waged a spirited battle for first place in the Seattle news race with KOMO. However, for the past couple of years, KING has been in first place in virtually every local newscast. Some of its newscasts rank higher than all the other newscasts combined.

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

KING is carried on several cable systems in south-eastern Alaska.

[edit] Digital Television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Digital channels

Channel	Programming
5.1 / 48.1	Main KING-TV programming
5.2 / 48.2	NBC Weather Plus

[edit] Newscasts

Weekdays

• KING5 Morning News - 5:00-7:00AM
• KING5 Morning News on KONG6/16 - 7:00-9:00AM
• KING5 News @ Noon - 12:00-1:00PM
• KING5 News @ 5:00 - 5:00-6:00PM
• KING5 News @ 6:30 - 6:30-7:00PM
• Evening Magazine - 7:00-7:30PM
• KING5 News @ 10:00 on KONG6/16 - 10:00-10:30PM
• KING5 News @ 11:00- 11:00-11:35PM

Saturday

• KING5 Morning News - 6:00-10:00AM
• KING5 News @ 5:00 - 5:00-6:00PM
• KING5 News @ 6:30 - 6:30-7:00PM
• KING5 News @ 10:00 on KONG6/16 - 10:00-10:30PM
• KING5 News @ 11:00 - 11:00-11:30PM

Sunday

• KING5 Morning News - 7:00-9:00AM
• KING5 Up Front - 9:30-10:00AM
• KING5 News @ 5:00 - 5:00-6:00PM
• KING5 News @ 6:30 - 6:30-7:00PM
• KING5 News @ 10:00 on KONG6/16 - 10:00-10:30PM
• KING5 News @ 11:00 - 11:00-11:35PM

[edit] Current Personalities

• Paul Aker - South Bureau Chief
• Meeghan Black - Morning Traffic Reporter
• Dennis Bounds - 5, 6:30, 10 and 11 p.m. Weeknight Co-Anchor
• Linda Brill - Reporter
• Saint Bryan - Evening Magazine Reporter
• Linda Byron - Investigative Reporter
• Josephine Cheng - Evening Magazine Reporter
• Gary Chittim - Reporter
• Bernard Choi - Reporter
• Meg Coyle - Reporter
• John Curley - Evening Magazine Host
• Chris Daniels - Reporter
• Jim Dever - Evening Magazine Reporter
• Jean Enersen - 5 and 6:30 p.m. Weeknight Co-Anchor & Health Link Reporter
• Carolyn Douglas - Weekend Morning Anchor, Alternating 12pm Weekend Co-Anchor & Reporter
• Glenn Farley - Reporter/Aviation Specialist
• Deborah Feldman - Reporter
• Jim Forman - Reporter
• Susannah Frame - Investigative Reporter
• Lisa Gangel - interim Weekend Sports Anchor & Sports Reporter
• Brad Goode - Weekday Morning Co-Anchor & Alternating 12pm Co-Anchor
• Kim Griffis - Evening Magazine Reporter
• Elisa Hahn - Reporter
• Kim Holcomb - General Assignment Reporter
• Chris Ingalls - Reporter
• Jesse Jones - Investigative Reporter
• Mimi Jung - Weekend 5, 6:30, 10 & 11 p.m. Co-Anchor
• Michael King - Evening Magazine Reporter
• Ray Lane - Reporter
• Robert Mak - KING5 NEWS Up Front with Robert Mak Anchor & Political Reporter
• Rich Marriott - Weekday Morning/Noon Meteorologist
• Lori Matsukawa - 10 and 11 p.m. weeknight Co-Anchor
• Jane McCarthy - Weekday Morning Reporter
• Tonya Mosley - Reporter
• Rob Piercy - North Bureau Chief & Reporter
• Don Porter - Senior Reporter
• Jeff Renner - Chief Meteorologist & 5, 6:30 & 11 p.m. Weather Anchor
• Tim Robinson - Features Reporter
• Roberta Romero - Reporter
• Allen Schauffler - Weekend 5, 6:30, 10, & 11 p.m. Co-Anchor & "Legally Speaking" Reporter
• Rebecca Stevenson - 10 p.m. Weeknight Meteorologist
• Paul Silvi - Sports Director & 5, 6:30, 10 & 11pm Sports Anchor
• Joyce Taylor - Weekday Morning Co-Anchor
• Chris Warren - Weekend Evening Meteorologist
• Eric Wilkinson - Reporter

[edit] Past Personalities

• Pat McReynolds Reporter (2002-2006), now primary co-anchor at WTKR in Norfolk, VA
• Shelly Monohan Morning weather on KING 5 (1990-1992), now morning news anchor at Q6 in Spokane, WA
• Shannon O'Donnell Weather on KING/KONG and NWCN (1996-2000), Now morning weather on KNTV in San Jose, CA

[edit] External links

• KING 5 Homepage
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KING-TV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for K57AI
• Walt Disney's "KING Mike" logo
• Essay on Dorothy Bullitt from Historylink

[edit] Books

• Dorothy Stimson Bullitt: An Uncommon Life by Delphine Haley, from Sasquatch Press; ISBN 1-57061-327-3
• King: The Bullitts of Seattle and Their Communications Empire by O. Casey Corr, from University of Washington Press; ISBN 0-295-97584-9
• On the Air: The King Broadcasting Story by Daniel Jack Chasan, from Island Publishers; ISBN 0-9615580-6-7