KNXV-TV

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KNXV-TV
Phoenix, Arizona
Branding	ABC15
Slogan	Make the Switch to ABC15; ABC15, Your Valley News Leader
Channels	15 (UHF) analog, 56 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	ABC (secondary from 1994-January 1995)
Owner	Disney/ABC (Scripps Howard Broadcasting Company)
Founded	September 9, 1979
Call letters meaning	New (Broadcasting Company, its original owner)/XV (15)
Former affiliations	Independent; ON-TV Subscription Television; Fox
Transmitter Power	1070 kW
Height	521 m
Website	www.abc15.com

KNXV-TV (ABC 15) is the ABC television affiliate in Phoenix, Arizona. Its transmitter is located on South Mountain in Phoenix. It can be seen on Channel 15 in Phoenix and can be viewed in Northern Arizona, albeit on different channels due to different transmitter locations.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Becoming an ABC affiliate 2 Newscasts 3 Notable Personalities 3.1 Current Personalities 3.2 Past Personalities 4 Logos 5 Station name and slogan over the years 6 Translators 7 Notes 8 External links

[edit] History

Channel 15 in Phoenix was originally home to now-dark KLUZ. It shut down sometime in the 1950s. The allocation remained.

On September 9, 1979, KNXV-TV, the new occupant of channel 15, came to life under pioneering UHF broadcaster Ed Cooperstein, doing business as the New Broadcasting Company. Its programming originally consisted of first-run and off-network syndicated shows and children's programming during the day, and the ON-TV Subscription Television service in the evening and late-night hours. One of the station's most memorable early promotions was the "Bluebird of Happy News," with a man dressed up in a bird costume in a helicopter taking jabs at local news on other stations.

ON-TV lasted a couple years until cable television began to prosper across the Phoenix area. KNXV eventually became a full-time independent station, and ran a number of cartoons, old sitcoms, old movies, and drama shows. It pulled mediocre ratings, and lagged behind longtime independent station KPHO 5. Cooperstein sold the station to The E. W. Scripps Company in 1984, and the deal was closed in early 1985.

Under Scripps, KNXV began to purchase more recent sitcoms, often outbidding KPHO for strong shows. Scripps Howard also promised local newscasts would be added to the station, and as a result the station gained the FOX affiliation at the network's inception in 1986.

By 1990, KNXV nearly tied KPHO in the ratings, even though the station still produced no local news.

[edit] Becoming an ABC affiliate

It was announced in 1994 that longtime CBS affiliate KSAZ-TV was to become a Fox affiliate. The CBS affiliation, in turn, moved to KPHO, leaving KNXV without an affiliation. As a result, Scripps began to negotiate an affiliation agreement with ABC. In order for Scripps to keep ABC on Scripps' two biggest stations, WXYZ-TV in Detroit and WEWS-TV in Cleveland, ABC agreed to affiliate with KNXV (along with WMAR in Baltimore and WFTS in Tampa; WCPO-TV in Cincinnati was also part of the Scripps/ABC deal, but had to wait for ABC's affiliation contract with WKRC-TV to expire in June 1996 to switch), thus displacing longtime ABC affiliate KTVK. In turn, KNXV agreed to produce the same amount of local news as KTVK had been as an ABC affiliate. KNXV also agreed to not pre-empt any ABC programming except for local news emergencies.

ABC's affiliation agreement with KTVK did not expire until late 1994, but KTVK had already begun to drop ABC shows. As a result, the ABC affiliation migrated to KNXV in stages, and the station carried programming from both ABC and Fox for a while-with ABC as a temporary secondary affiliation (of note, KECY-TV in Yuma currently carries Fox primary and ABC secondary). Good Morning America was the first ABC program shown on KNXV, following the first round of changes at the end of August 1994. KNXV then picked up World News Now, Nightline, and ABC's Saturday Morning Cartoons in December. The rest of ABC's programming moved to KNXV in January 1995. KNXV kept about one third of its syndicated programming, with much of the rest moving to KTVK (and eventually ending up on KASW), KSAZ and KUTP.

By 1995, KNXV was running newscasts at 6-7 a.m., 11 a.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m..

In subsequent years, KNXV added more first-run syndicated shows. The station added Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! in 2004. Today, KNXV is a fairly typical ABC affiliate, producing a decent amount of local news.

KNXV has begun installations at its transmission facilities which will double the station's digital / high definition signal output power. Work began in June 2005.

KNXV has also added a 4pm newscast, the first in the market. This newscast was created on 11 September 2006 to complement the new season of Jeopardy!, which it precedes. Before this, a Jeopardy! rerun was shown in the 4pm timeslot. ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff worked in this station before going national.

KNXV also airs preseason games of the National Football League's Arizona Cardinals.

[edit] Newscasts

By 1995, KNXV was running newscasts at 6-7AM, 11AM, 5PM, 6PM and 10PM. The 11 a.m. newscast has since been dropped.

Weekdays

• ABC15 News Daybreak- 5AM-7AM
• ABC15 Sonoran Living Live- 9AM-10AM
• ABC15 News First at Four- 4PM-4:30PM
• ABC15 News at Five - 5PM-5:30PM
• ABC15 News The 6:00 Difference - 6PM-6:30PM
• ABC15 News Nightbeat - 10PM-10:35PM

Weekends

• ABC15 News Sunday Daybreak - 7AM-8:30AM Sundays
• ABC15 News Sunday - 5:30PM-6PM Sundays
• ABC15 News The 6:00 Difference - 6PM-6:30PM Saturdays
• ABC15 News Nightbeat - 10PM-10:35PM

[edit] Notable Personalities

[edit] Current Personalities

• Andi Barness, Daybreak Anchor/Traffic Reporter/Sonoran Living Co-Host
• Bill Bellis, Chief Meteorologist
• Jon Du Pre, Weekend Anchor/Reporter
• Jonathan Elias, 4PM, 5PM, 6PM, & 10PM Anchor/Reporter
• Lisa Fletcher, Weekend Anchor/Reporter
• Craig Fouhy, Weeknight Sports Anchor/Reporter/Sports Director
• Jeff Heisner, Weekend Sports Anchor/Reporter
• Steve Irvin, Daybreak Lead Anchor/Reporter
• Kaley O'Kelley, Daybreak Anchor/Daybreak Weathercaster/Sonoran Living Host
• Katie Raml, 4PM, 5PM, 6PM, & 10PM Anchor/Reporter
• Kirk Sabree, Chopper15 Pilot/Evening Reporter
• Craig Smith, Chopper15 Pilot/Morning Reporter
• Terri Ouellette, Sonoran Living Co-Host
• Rebecca Thomas, Daybreak Co-Anchor

[edit] Past Personalities

Mark Bailey Anchor 1995-1998 Moved to FOX 5 Atlanta as co-anchor of Good Day Atlanta and now at XETV in San Diego -

Name	Position at KNXV	Years Active	Whereabouts
Manuel Bojorquez	General Assignment Reporter	Unknown	In September 2006 he was at WSB-TV in Atlanta.
Kim Dillon	Meteorologist	To early 2000s	Moved to KTVK, convicted on theft charges in Phoenix, Arizona and terminated from KTVK.
Tracy Kornet	Daybreak Co-Anchor, co-host of Sonoran Living Live; a lifestyle program following ABC 15 Daybreak weekdays		Weeknight Anchor at KTXA
Christi Paul	Anchor, General Assignment Reporter, Weather Presenter	Unknown	CNN Headline News anchor based in Atlanta, Georgia
Cary Pfeffer	Weekend Reporter/Anchor	Unknown	Occasionally presenting Horizon program on KAET.
Bob Woodruff	General Assignment Reporter	To 1996	Presented ABC World News briefly in 2006 before being seriously injured during an explosion in Iraq.
Kaj Goldberg	Weekend Weather Anchor	To 2007	Los Angeles

[edit] Logos

KNXV logo (as an independent station) from 1983	KNXV Fox 15 logo. Used from 1988 to 1994.	KNXV News 15 logo from 1995 to 1997.	KNXV ABC 15 from 2000 to 2002.
KNXV's yellow/black logo, introduced by Scripps to match sister WMAR in Baltimore. The font face for 15 is that used in the circle 15 logo, but not stylized as the circle 15.	A shinier version of the logo as it appears on the website.

[edit] Station name and slogan over the years

• We're # (number) Fun (1979-early 1980s)
• FOX15 (1988-1994)
• ABC News15 - No Chit-Chat, More News (mid 1990s)
• News15: We Won't Waste Your Time (1990s)
• ABC15 (No Slogan Afterwards) (to early 2000s)
• ABC15, Your Valley News Leader (2002-present)
• Make the Switch to ABC15 (2005-Present)
• Always On. (website promotion, present)

[edit] Translators

• K29EC Blythe, California
• K49EU Chloride
• K44CN Cottonwood
• K41BZ Dolan Springs
• K52CM Flagstaff
• K44DK Kingman
• K57FY Kingman
• K39FV Lake Havasu City
• K38GR Meadview
• K31HY Needles, California / Bullhead City
• K47DJ Prescott
• K59BP Verde Valley/Camp Verde

[edit] Notes

• KNXV is the 3rd station in the Phoenix market to air Jeopardy! & Wheel of Fortune. The 2 shows were first seen on KSAZ from 1983/1984-1994, then on KTVK from 1994-2004.

[edit] External links

• ABC 15 Website
• ABC15 to upgrade the Digital / High Definition Broadcast Signal
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KNXV-TV