KHON-TV
kW | |
HAAT | 17 m (56 ft) |
---|---|
Transmitter coordinates | 21°17′28″N 157°50′8″W / 21.29111°N 157.83556°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
KHON-TV (channel 2) is a
History
NBC affiliate
KHON-TV first signed on the air on November 16, 1952, as the first Hawaiian television station and a primary
On October 16, 1955, KONA changed channels from 11 to 2 due to the lower VHF positions (2 to 6) having the most powerful ERPs at the time. The channel 11 frequency now belongs to PBS member station KHET. In 1956, KONA was sold to Pacific and Southern Broadcasting, the forerunner of Combined Communications. KALU signed on in 1958, with KALA following in 1961.
In 1965, all three stations' call letters were changed: KONA became KHON-TV, with KALA becoming KHAW-TV and KALU changing to KAII-TV.
In 1973, Pacific and Southern Broadcasting decided to spin off KHON to company president Arthur H. McCoy. The move was made so Pacific and Southern could merge into Combined Communications (which would itself merge with the
In 1979, KHON and Maui's KAII were sold to Western-Sun Broadcasting, a subsidiary of
Fox affiliate
In March 1994, the
On January 1, 1996, KHON-TV switched its affiliation to Fox (and changed its on-air branding to "Fox 2"); the NBC affiliation moved to former Fox affiliate KHNL (channel 13). Unlike the New World Communications-owned Fox affiliates that joined the network during the previous 18-month span, KHON ran Fox Kids programming on weekdays (until Fox discontinued the weekday block in December 2001,[9] airing weekdays from 1 to 4 p.m. and then from 2 to 4 p.m. until the fall of 2001 when it was moved to 10 a.m. to noon) and Saturday mornings (until November 2008, when 4Kids Entertainment ceased programming Fox's children's block, with the network discontinuing its children's programming altogether). KHON also expanded its local news programming on weekdays, seeing an increase in newscast ratings with the affiliation switch.[10] KHON currently has the distinction of having the highest-rated local news programming of any Fox affiliate nationwide, and also declares itself as "America's No. 1 Fox affiliate", though the network's Miami affiliate WSVN makes this claim as well.[11] Neither station mentions Fox in its logo or branding; when KHON was rebranded to KHON 2 in 2004, it became the first Fox station to ditch the network's brand standardization for its stations while it was still an affiliate. KHON is one of a handful of Fox affiliates that omit network references in their branding.
On November 28, 1995, Silver King Communications (operated by former Fox executive
In 1999, KHON relocated from its longtime studios on Auahi Street and moved to their current studios on Piikoi Street. Also on April 1 of that year, USA sold all four of its Fox stations to
A year later in 2000, Emmis purchased CBS affiliate KGMB, effectively bringing Hawaii's two oldest television stations under common ownership, though both stations retained separate operations—unlike what would become the common operational structure of most duopolies. Emmis received a cross-ownership waiver to acquire KGMB as FCC duopoly rules prohibit two of the four highest-rated stations in the same market from being owned by one company.
From September 2, 2002, to October 31, 2004, KHON carried select UPN programming via a secondary affiliation shared with KGMB; each station aired programs from that network that the other station did not air. The two stations began carrying UPN programming in September 2002 after KFVE (which had been with UPN since its January 1995 launch) disaffiliated from the network to become a full-time affiliate of The WB (whose programming aired on KFVE in a secondary capacity since December 1998). KIKU, an independent station specializing in Japanese programming, became a secondary UPN affiliate on November 1, 2004, and remained with the network until its closure on September 15, 2006.
Sale to Montecito
On May 15, 2005, Emmis Communications announced that it would sell its 16 television stations in order to concentrate on its portfolio of radio stations. The acquisition resulted in one of the rare instances in which two stations operated in a duopoly were completely separated due to Emmis owning KHON and KGMB under a waiver.
Montecito planned to replace 35 of KHON's 111 employees with automation. KHON employees first learned of the plan on January 12, when general manager Rick Blangiardi notified the staff of his intent to resign once the sale was finalized. At a station staff meeting that afternoon, SJL announced the layoffs, which would take place in two phases over the course of two months. Anchor Joe Moore announced the plan at the end of that evening's 6 p.m. newscast, and stated his concern that the change would impact the station's ability to serve its viewers.[17] Montecito responded on January 15, assuring the public that no reporters or anchors would be affected, and the 6 p.m. newscast would be largely unchanged from the viewer's perspective.[18]
The purchase of KHON was scheduled to close on January 26; however, Montecito was unable to complete the purchase of KHON that day, due to a mix-up in paperwork. As a result, Emmis announced that no employees would be fired as a result of the sale until at least March 31, and that Emmis would pay additional benefits to the affected employees.[19] Moore used the last minutes of the 6 p.m. newscast, the final newscast under Emmis' ownership, to bid farewell to Blangiardi (who continued to manage KHON's former sister station, KGMB) and to criticize Montecito. Among other charges, he claimed that the layoffs were tantamount to "the butchering of an already lean work force" and accused Montecito of being a "virtual company" with no physical offices. Montecito's chief operating officer, Sandy Benton, disputed the charges, saying that "what was said last night was not the truth".[20]
Since the purchase, KHON's new general manager, Joe MacNamara, changed the scope of the terminations: instead of a number of people to fire, a salary goal was given.
On June 28, 2006, Moore appeared to take another on-air dig at Montecito's automation plan. For two weeks, a noticeable echo could be heard during the newscast. At the start of that night's 10 p.m. newscast, it prompted Moore to stop and ask the technical crew if the problem could be fixed. A visibly disgusted Moore, who then blamed the new automated system, said "We're going to go to commercial. We're going to get this straightened out because I'm fed up with this crap." When the newscast returned, the problem was fixed, and Moore resumed as normal.[citation needed] Moore, who was rumored to be considering leaving KHON as a result of the sale, decided to remain as the station's chief anchor. In a February 6 email sent to staff members, Moore wrote, "How could I possibly work for owners I do not respect? After much deliberation, I reached this conclusion ... the owners are not KHON-2. We, the people who work here are KHON-2. I would not be working 'for the owners'. I would be working 'for our viewers', and 'with' fellow employees I deeply respect. I have decided not to let our owners drive me out of KHON-2."[citation needed]
Sale to New Vision Television, then LIN Media
On July 24, 2007, Montecito announced the sale of all of its stations (KHON,
On May 7, 2012, LIN Media announced its acquisition of the New Vision stations for $330.4 million and the assumption of $12 million in debt.[24] The FCC approved the sale to LIN on October 2,[25] and the group deal was consummated ten days later on October 12, 2012, reuniting KHON-TV and its Oregon and Kansas sister stations with several former Emmis-owned stations which had been purchased by LIN seven years earlier, such as WALA-TV, WLUK-TV and Albuquerque, New Mexico's KRQE.[26]
Sale to Media General, then Nexstar
On March 21, 2014,
On January 27, 2016,
KHON-DT2 (Hawaii's CW)
KHON-DT2, branded Hawaii's CW, is the
History
On October 23, 2006, KHON-TV was announced as the Honolulu affiliate of The CW, carrying the network on its second digital subchannel.[34] Beginning in March 2006 (two months after the network's launch was announced), The CW had struggled to find an affiliate in Honolulu after the market's then-WB affiliate KFVE, which was seen by many as the likeliest candidate to join The CW, signed with competing network MyNetworkTV, and former UPN affiliate KIKU (which aired the network's programming in the afternoons) declined to take the CW affiliation.
The network premiered on KHON's main channel on October 24 and 25 with airings of the regular CW schedule before moving to digital channel 2.2 on October 30; this was possible due to Fox's World Series coverage airing live at 2 p.m. Honolulu time,[35] freeing up prime time. On December 11, 2006, Oceanic Time Warner Cable began offering KHON-TV's CW subchannel on digital cable channel 93; until the fall of 2011, the subchannel used its cable channel position within its branding.[36]
KHON-DT2 presently clears The CW's entire schedule, including its Saturday morning block. However, the subchannel had aired The CW's Sunday night lineup an hour off-schedule, from 5 to 10 p.m. until the Sunday lineup was dropped and the hours given to its affiliates in September 2009. The subchannel is also available locally on DirecTV and Dish Network; the '93' in the subchannel's branding was removed for this reason, as its channel numbers are different on those providers, and was later dropped by KHON across the board on both Oceanic Time Warner and Hawaiian Telcom (on cable channel 3), going with only "Hawaii's CW" for that same reason. On August 20, 2007, "Hawaii's CW" began airing the nationally syndicated morning news program The Daily Buzz.[37] The show's former home in the Honolulu market, KGMB, dropped the show three days earlier on August 17 in favor of a local morning newscast titled Sunrise on KGMB9, which launched on September 17. Unlike KGMB, which only aired the first two hours of The Daily Buzz, "Hawaii's CW" aired the entire three-hour broadcast each weekday from 5 to 8 a.m. Upon the sudden cancellation of The Daily Buzz in mid-April 2015 by its distributor, the channel switched to a simulcast of KHON's morning news in full.
Incidentally, KHON was a secondary affiliate of one of The CW's predecessor networks, UPN, from 2002 to 2004—at a time when secondary affiliations were more common and the advent of digital subchannels was not as widespread as it is today. "Hawaii's CW" does not have its own website; the only mentions of the subchannel on KHON's website are in the station's programming schedule and a link to The CW's website.
Programming
When it was an NBC affiliate, channel 2 carried most of the network's lineup. The only exception was
For most of its first 30 years on the air, KHON aired the NBC schedule on one-week
Since its switch from NBC in 1996, KHON clears the entire Fox network schedule (nightly prime time, Saturday late night, and
KHON's CW subchannel aired weekly
For over a decade, both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune aired on KHON. Jeopardy! was then moved to CBS affiliate KGMB in 2002 in order for KHON to begin a 5 p.m. newscast,[41] which makes Honolulu one of the few markets where Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune air on separate stations.
News operation
KHON-TV presently broadcasts 37 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours each weekday, and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to locally produced newscasts, it has the largest newscast output of any television station in the Hawaiian Islands. When it switched to Fox, KHON maintained a news schedule similar to what it offered as an NBC affiliate. This resulted in KHON being the only news-producing Fox affiliate—indeed, the only Fox station that ran any local news programming—that did not air a prime time newscast. Hawaii's local stations use the same prime time scheduling as network-affiliated stations in the Central, Mountain and Alaska time zones in the continental U.S. While most Fox stations in these time zones generally air their late evening newscasts at 9 p.m., instead KHON airs its late newscast at 10 p.m., competing against KITV, KGMB and KHNL instead of only competing with KFVE (whose 9 p.m. newscast is produced by the joint Hawaii News Now operation also involving KFVE sister stations KGMB and KHNL). On September 8, 2014, KHON launched its first 9 p.m. weeknight newscast, which is 30 minutes in length. This marked the first time KHON aired news programming in prime time since it was an NBC affiliate, when its Eyewitness News began its late evening broadcast at 9:30 p.m. to accommodate the delayed NBC schedule from 1972 to 1980. KHON's 10 p.m. newscast will continue in the same time slot.
KHON's newscasts have been the highest-rated in Hawaii for almost 40 years. The station's news operation is so well respected that even when it branded itself as "Fox 2" from 1996 to 2004, it still titled its newscasts Channel 2 News (the name it had used since the early 1980s) rather than Fox 2 News. Also for this reason, its late newscast is not titled The Ten O'Clock News like with other Fox stations.
The station's dominance has been especially pronounced since it lured KGMB sports anchor Joe Moore to become its lead anchor in 1979. Moore, billed as "Hawaii's most watched television newscaster," remains the station's lead anchor. In addition to his duties on the 6 and 10 p.m. flagship newscasts, he also anchors Hawaii's World Report at 5:30, a round-up of world and national news reports from CNN and Fox News. Moore is frequently the subject of controversy, but his popularity in the state usually prevents any attempts to rein him in.
As of 2012, KHON was the only major U.S. network-affiliated television station in Hawaii that had yet to make the upgrade to
Notable current on-air staff
- Joe Moore – anchor
Notable former on-air staff
- Emily Chang – reporter, October 2003 – September 2004
- Bob Hogue – sports director
- "General" Les Keiter – sports director (1971–1993; died April 14, 2009, at age 89)
- Barbara Marshall – reporter/anchor for Action Line (was a member of the Honolulu City Council; died February 22, 2009, at age 64)
- University of Hawaii-Manoa)
Technical information
Subchannels
The stations' signals are
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
2.1 | 720p | 16:9 |
KHON-HD | Fox |
2.2 | KHON-CW | The CW | ||
2.3 | 480i | 4:3 |
KHON-GT | Grit |
2.4 | KHON-RW | Rewind TV |
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
KAII-TV | KHAW-TV | KAII-TV | KHAW-TV | |||
7.1 | 11.1 | 720p | 16:9 |
KAII-HD | KHAW-HD | Fox |
7.2 | 11.2 | KAII-CW | KHAW-CW | The CW | ||
7.3 | 11.3 | 480i | 4:3 |
get | ||
7.4 | 11.4 | 16:9 | Laff |
Analog-to-digital conversion
KHON-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over
On that same date, KHAW-TV relocated its digital signal from UHF channel 21 to its former analog-era VHF channel 11; while KAII-TV relocated its digital signal from UHF channel 36 to its former analog-era VHF channel 7.[47] K55DZ formerly broadcast in analog only, though it had applied with the FCC to operate a digital signal on channel 28.[48]
Satellite stations
As with other major television stations in Hawaii, KHON operates multiple satellite stations and translators across the Hawaiian Islands to rebroadcast the station's programming outside of metropolitan Honolulu.
Station | City of license | Channel | First air date | Call letters' meaning | ERP | HAAT
|
Facility ID | Transmitter coordinates | Public license information |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
KHAW-TV 1 | Hilo
|
11 ( VHF )
|
November 27, 1961 | Hawaii | 3.35 kW
|
30.5 m (100 ft) | 4146 | 19°42′51″N 155°8′3″W / 19.71417°N 155.13417°W | Public file LMS |
KAII-TV 2 | Wailuku
|
7 ( VHF ) 3
|
November 1958 | 4Hawaii | 3.69 kW | 753 m (2,470 ft) | 4145 | 20°39′27″N 156°21′39″W / 20.65750°N 156.36083°W | Public file LMS |
Notes:
- 1. Was KALU until becoming KHAW-TV on July 9, 1965.[49]
- 2. Was KALA until becoming KAII-TV on August 23, 1965.[50]
- 3. The FCC had originally intended to allocate VHF channel 7 to Honolulu as a non-commercial assignment. KALA was intended to broadcast on channel 8 but given authority to begin operation on channel 7; the owners of KGMB asked for the change in order to remove potential interference concerns for KGMB viewers on Maui and the Big Island.[51]
- 4. The Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook says KAII-TV signed on November 17, while the Television and Cable Factbook says it signed on November 19; the FCC history card says the station began operating on November 21.
See also
- Channel 2 virtual TV stations in the United States
- Channel 8 digital TV stations in the United States
References
- ^ "FCC History Cards for KHON-TV".
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for KHON-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "Honolulu TV, KONA Starts Operation" (PDF). Broadcasting Magazine. November 24, 1952. p. 73. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ^ "from Broadcaster's Yearbook 1953 (page 123)" (PDF).
- ^ "Fox, Savoy buying stations together; network will have 58% interest in SF Broadcasting". Broadcasting & Cable. March 21, 1994. Archived from the original on June 19, 2014.
- ^ Meisler, Andy (August 27, 1994). "COMPANY NEWS; Fox Adds 3 Network-Affiliated Stations". The New York Times. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
- ^ "Company Town Annex". Los Angeles Times. July 29, 1994. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
- The Deseret News. September 27, 1994. Retrieved May 9, 2014 – via New York Times News Service. [dead link]
- Reed Business Information. Retrieved August 13, 2009.
- ^ "Herwitz jumps on as New World spins to Fox" – Electronic Media August 19, 1996
- ^ "KHON2 - the Team That Knows Hawaii | About KHON2". Archived from the original on March 14, 2005. Retrieved June 5, 2005.
- Daily News of Los Angeles. Archived from the originalon September 24, 2015. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
- ^ "COMPANY NEWS; EMMIS BROADCASTING TO BUY TV STATIONS FOR $397 MILLION". The New York Times. April 1, 1998. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
- Reed Business Information. May 15, 2005.
- ^ "Emmis sells KHON-TV". Pacific Business News. American City Business Journals. September 15, 2015. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
- Emmis Communications(Press release). January 27, 2006. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
- ^ KHON to slash work force, The Star-Bulletin, Retrieved May 14, 2013.
- ^ KHON-TV reporters, anchors will not be among the cuts Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, KPUA, January 15, 2006. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
- ^ Sale of KHON complicated by neglected paperwork, The Star-Bulletin, Retrieved May 14, 2013.
- ^ Engle, Erika (January 28, 2006). "On-air criticism lands KHON's Moore in hot water". The Star-Bulletin. Archived from the original on June 25, 2006. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
- ^ Exodus takes shape at KHON, The Star-Bulletin, Retrieved May 14, 2013.
- ^ 8 of 9 KHON managers resigning amid cuts, The Star-Bulletin, Retrieved May 14, 2013.
- Reed Business Information. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
- ^ Malone, Michael (May 7, 2012). "LIN Acquiring New Vision Stations for $330 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
- ^ http://licensing.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/pubacc/Auth_Files/1498980.pdf [dead link]
- ^ LIN Completes New Vision Stations, TVNewsCheck, October 12, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
- ^ Gelles, David (March 21, 2014). "Acquisition by Media General Creates 2nd-Largest Local TV Owner". The New York Times. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
- ^ "TV Station Mega Merger: Media General, LIN Set $1.6 Billion Deal". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. March 21, 2014.
- ^ "Media General acquiring LIN Media for $1.6 billion". Los Angeles Times. March 21, 2014.
- ^ "Media General Completes Merger With LIN Media". Media General (Press release). December 19, 2014. Archived from the original on December 19, 2014.
- ^ Jessell, Harry A. (March 21, 2014). "Media Gen/LIN To Sell/Swap In Five Markets". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Archived from the original on June 23, 2018.
- ^ Leslie, Picker (January 27, 2016). "Nexstar Clinches Deal to Acquire Media General". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 29, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ^ "Nexstar Broadcasting Group Completes Acquisition of Media General Creating Nexstar Media Group, The Nation's Second Largest Television Broadcaster", Nexstar Media Group, January 17, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ Engle, Erika (October 23, 2006). "CW network finds home in Hawaii at KHON-TV". Star-Bulletin. Archived from the original on November 16, 2006.
- ^ http://www.khon2.com/news/local/4463572.html. Retrieved October 24, 2006.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help)[dead link] - ^ "CW network available on Oceanic's digital channel 93". KHON2 FOX. December 11, 2006. Archived from the original on December 24, 2006.
- ^ "programs". KHON2. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved August 12, 2007.
- ^ Mann, Robin; McWhorter, A.J. (2008). "'Romper Room' host is a Doo Bee". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Archived from the original on November 30, 2023.
- ^ "Canadian Football League Games to be Carried Weekly in Hawaii". www.trajectorysports.com. June 28, 2007. Archived from the original on September 1, 2007.
- ^ "Nexstar Broadcasting and Raiders reach multi-market, multi-year agreement on content partnership, pre-season broadcast rights". Raiders. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
- ^ "KHON regains top spot at 10 p.m." The Honolulu Advertiser. Walter Wright. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
- ^ Joe Moore is Clearly Hawaii's Anchorman in the February 2012 Nielsen Ratings, New Vision Television, March 23, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
- ^ "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- ^ "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- ^ "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- ^ "www.hawaiigoesdigital.com". www.hawaiigoesdigital.com. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013.
- ^ a b "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
- ^ FCC database record for K55DZ
- ^ FCC History Cards for KHAW-TV
- ^ FCC History Cards for KAII-TV
- ^ "F.C.C. Authorizes KALA-TV Permit For Channel 7". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. November 5, 1958. p. 26. Retrieved December 22, 2019.