WKRC-TV

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This article is about the television station in Cincinnati, Ohio. For the AM radio station, see WKRC (AM). For the fictional radio station, see WKRP in Cincinnati.

WKRC-TV
kW
HAAT305 m (1,001 ft)
Transmitter coordinates39°6′59″N 84°30′7″W / 39.11639°N 84.50194°W / 39.11639; -84.50194
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Public license information
Website

WKRC-TV (channel 12) is a

Mount Auburn
section of Cincinnati, where WKRC-TV's transmitter is also located.

History

Early history

WKRC-TV first signed on the air on April 4, 1949, originally operating as a CBS affiliate on VHF channel 11; it is Cincinnati's second-oldest television station, but the first to receive an FCC license.

call letters were derived from the original owner of WKRC radio, Clarence Ogden of the Kodel Radio Company ("Ko" for Clarence O. and "del" for Della his wife).[3] Following the release of the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC)'s Sixth Report and Order, WKRC-TV moved to channel 12 on October 12, 1952.

Tri-State Network

Dayton and simulcast on WKRC-TV in Cincinnati and WTVN (now WSYX) in Columbus, all in Ohio

In 1953, three television stations owned by Taft Broadcasting Company and

Dayton broadcast markets. On January 11, 1954, The Wendy Barrie Show premiered from the studios of WHIO-TV in Dayton, simulcast on Taft Broadcasting's WKRC-TV in Cincinnati and WTVN (now WSYX) in Columbus.[4] Barrie's contract was terminated in October 1954, and she was replaced by her co-host of nine months, Don Williams.[5]

As an ABC affiliate

In 1961, the station became an ABC affiliate, switching networks with WCPO-TV.[6] This came after that network's founder Leonard Goldenson persuaded Taft president Hulbert Taft Jr., a longtime friend, to switch several of the company's stations to ABC. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[7] WKRC's nickname in the 1960s was "Tall 12", a reference to the station's transmitter tower which was the tallest in Cincinnati at the time. Like WCPO-TV, channel 12 used a distinctive jingle ID at the top of the hour in the 1960s. The upbeat, orchestrated "Channel 12" jingle was followed by children's show host Glenn Ryle announcing: "This is WKRC-TV Cincinnati". Also, during its tenure with ABC, WKRC (through ABC) aired a number of animated shows produced by Hanna-Barbera, which Taft purchased in 1967. In 1975, it began airing movies on late night Saturdays in a program called The Past Prime Playhouse. Hosted live by local personality Bob Shreve, the show would air until 1988.

On June 23, 1983, after a yearlong field trial, WKRC began broadcasting teletext magazines to Cincinnati-area owners of Electra decoders,[8] making Cincinnati the first market in the United States where teletext was commercially available.[9] WKRC broadcast 100 screens of information and games, along with closed captioning of ABC programming, from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.[8][9] Electra's manufacturer, Zenith Electronics, marketed the service with a mobile demonstration van at locations around the city to promote sales of its decoder.[9] David Klein, the media critic for The Cincinnati Post, wrote a negative review of the service, noting slow loading time, unengaging content, and primitive graphics.[10] WKRC's teletext magazine was later syndicated nationally by Satellite Syndicated Systems.[11]

In 1987, Taft was dissolved in a hostile takeover of its board and all of its stations (except WTVN-TV in Columbus and

WGHP-TV in High Point, North Carolina
) were absorbed into Great American Broadcasting. In 1993, Great American Broadcasting became Citicasters shortly before filing for bankruptcy. The Electra service shut down that year.

Return to CBS

"12 WKRC" logo, used from 1994 to 2004 with the slogan "A New Generation of News"

While Cincinnati was initially unaffected by the 1994–96 affiliation switches, as WCPO was in a middle of a long-term affiliation contract with CBS, the affiliation contract was abruptly stopped. The station returned to CBS in 1996, reversing the 1961 affiliation swap. WCPO had agreed to affiliate with ABC in September 1995,

telefilm The Only Way Out, and the first CBS program since it rejoined was CBS This Morning.[citation needed
]

In September 1996, WKRC was acquired by

Clear Channel Communications
in 1998.

Although owned by Clear Channel at the time, the station changed its branding to "Local 12" in 2003. This was inspired by the "Local Mandate", a station brand standardization adopted by

Post-Newsweek Stations
for its own television stations.

Original "Local 12" logo used from 2004 to September 2009

In 2006, Clear Channel ranked WKRC as the top CBS affiliate in the United States. On November 16 of that year, the company announced that it would sell its entire television division, including WKRC,

Providence Equity Partners.[15] Providence Equity teamed up with Sandy DiPasquale to form a new holding company, Newport Television, for the station group. Concurrently, Clear Channel applied to place WKRC and several other stations to the Aloha Station Trust
just in case Newport Television failed to close on the group. However, as a result of Newport Television closing on the purchase of WKRC and the other stations on March 14, 2008, Aloha Station Trust and the would-be new owners of Clear Channel opted not to consummate on the acquisition of the station. As a result, Newport Television became WKRC's fourth owner in just over 20 years. As a result of the sale, the Citicasters name disappeared from WKRC's license, dissolving channel 12's last link to Taft Broadcasting; the Citicasters name is still alive as a holding company within the corporate structure of Clear Channel's successor, iHeartMedia.

On June 18, 2008, Newport announced that it was eliminating 7.5% of the jobs at its 56 stations, attributing the layoffs to a weak economy. As a result, WKRC fired 18 staff members. On July 19, 2012, Newport Television reached deals to sell 22 of its 27 stations to three station groups –

Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Cox Media Group. WKRC-TV was among the six sold to Sinclair.[16] WSTR-TV (channel 64) was transferred to Deerfield Media (who also received San Antonio's CW affiliate KMYS in the same deal) because the Cincinnati market, despite being the 35th-largest market, has only seven full-power commercial stations, which are not enough to legally permit a duopoly. However, Sinclair retained control of WSTR through a local marketing agreement. The deal also reunited WKRC-TV with WSYX (the former WTVN-TV), another station formerly owned by Taft. The sale was completed on December 3.[17]

WKRC-DT2 (The CW Cincinnati)

WKRC-DT2, branded on-air as The CW Cincinnati, is the CW-affiliated second digital subchannel of WKRC-TV, broadcasting in high definition on channel 12.2.

History

On January 24, 2006, the

XETV).[20]

Cincinnati cable viewers were concerned that WKRC-DT2 would face the same problems as WBQC. For years,

Insight Communications and DirecTV under WBQC's former channel slots. As a result, the channel can be viewed by 66% of the local population.[22]

While now branded as simply "The CW Cincinnati", the subchannel originally branded as "The CinCW", a

portmanteau with "Cincy", a common nickname for the city. It currently airs the entire CW schedule in-pattern with films and syndicated programming (and sometimes second runs of WKRC's programming) airing outside network hours along with occasional coverage of high school sports and/or telecasts from FC Cincinnati on weekends. In the event of breaking news (either from WKRC or CBS News) or sports coverage, WKRC-DT2 airs CBS programming when needed. Repeats of some shows formerly aired by WKRC, along with the second half of CBS' Face the Nation, can also be seen. Through The CW, it also carried the daily self-titled talk show of local WLW radio personality Bill Cunningham
until that show ended in 2016.

Due to a conflict on Bally Sports Ohio, WKRC-DT2 aired a Blue Jackets game on April 4, 2023.[23]

Programming

During its first few years as a CBS affiliate, WKRC-TV ran the entire schedule except for several hours of the CBS Saturday morning cartoon lineup which would soon be reduced to only a few hours. Once that reduction was made, WKRC-TV began running the entire CBS schedule with occasional exceptions.

Sports programming

In

opening day game.[24]

Past program preemptions and deferrals

Over the years, as an ABC affiliate, WKRC-TV preempted moderate amounts of weekday programming and the Sunday morning

1987-88 season, WKRC briefly preempted the 8:30 p.m. ABC prime time slot (occupied by such shows as I Married Dora, Mr. Belvedere and part of the first season of Full House) in favor of the syndicated sitcom Small Wonder
.

When ABC offered late night programming from 11:30 p.m. to about 2 a.m., WKRC, as with several other ABC affiliates, chose not to air it. However, it aired

This Week with David Brinkley
, choosing to air religious programs instead.

Regardless of its network, at least one program airing on both, The Edge of Night, always had shabby treatment in Cincinnati, which was ironic because the series' producer Procter & Gamble was headquartered there, and Edge's fictional locale of Monticello was loosely based on the city. WKRC did not clear that program as late as 1958, but by 1960–1961 (its last initial season as a CBS affiliate) it telecast the program at 10 a.m. When ABC picked the program up in 1975, it originally carried the ABC run at 11 a.m. By fall 1976 the show was airing on WKRC at 10:30 a.m., and by May 1981 it was on at 9 a.m. WKRC had an unusual broadcast of the 90-minute ABC premiere. It aired the first hour from 3 to 4 p.m. on December 1. The final 30 minutes was telecast December 2 at 11 a.m., where all subsequent episodes aired on a one-day delay.[25]

News operation

The Weather Beacon atop the Chiquita Center indicating "no change in sight"

WKRC currently broadcasts 41+1⁄2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours each weekday, four hours on Saturdays and 2+1⁄2 hours on Sundays); it also produces an additional 13+1⁄2 hours of newscasts weekly (with 2+1⁄2 hours each weekday and a half-hour each on Saturdays and Sundays) for WSTR. WKRC's newscasts and reports were formerly seen on the

Ohio News Network until the regional cable news channel shut down on August 31, 2012. During weather segments, it uses regional weather radar
data in a system called "Precision Doppler 12 Network".

For most of its history, WKRC has been a solid runner-up to WCPO in the local newscast ratings. However, in the past decade or so, WKRC and WCPO have taken turns in first and second place. WKRC usually wins on weekday mornings and at 11 p.m., while WCPO leads in the 5 to 7 p.m. block. However, since the May 2010 Nielsen ratings period, WKRC has dominated its competition in all newscast timeslots, with WCPO slipping to second. This dominance in the Cincinnati local news race continued as of the May 2012 sweeps period. At one point, all three of Cincinnati's "Big Three" network affiliates were locally owned. WLWT began falling behind in the ratings after becoming the first of the three to be sold to outside interests. WCPO is now the only one of the three to remain under locally based ownership.

From 1977 to 1992,[26] its news division was branded Eyewitness 12 News. (The Eyewitness News moniker would be reused by WLWT in 1998.) Afterward, the station was usually announced as 12 News. With the arrival of chief meteorologist Tim Hedrick in 1988,[27] WKRC began using the top of the Chiquita Center as its Weather beacon.[28]

In 1994, WKRC refreshed its newscasts with the slogan "A New Generation of News", which referred to anchors Kit Andrews and Rob Braun,

school closing information and eventually a news ticker appeared below the Texta headline. That October, WKRC debuted 11 minutes of "Non-Stop News" on its 11 p.m. newscast,[33] reviving a feature the station attempted in 1989.[34]
In 1996, the station debuted a half-hour 4 p.m. newscast on weekday afternoons that remains the Cincinnati area's earliest afternoon newscast.

From August 22, 2001, to January 2005, WKRC aired its weekday Good Morning Cincinnati broadcast live from a $500,000 remote studio at the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau on the ground floor of Fifth Third Bank's downtown headquarters, with the Tyler Davidson Fountain as the backdrop.[35][36] Despite WKRC's initial hopes for a Today-like atmosphere,[37] the show failed to attract a regular crowd on Fountain Square.[36] From March 2004 to 2008, WKRC aired Nuestro Rincón ("Our Corner"), a twice-weekly Spanish-language news program hosted by Sasha Rionda.[38] It was the only television program in the market airing in a language other than English.

On April 26, 2006, WKRC entered into a news share agreement with WSTR to produce a nightly prime time newscast at 10 p.m., which began airing on August 21. This resulted, once MyNetworkTV began, in a CBS affiliate's newscast being carried on a station affiliated with a Fox sister network.[39] On January 7, 2008, WKRC began simulcasting Good Morning Cincinnati on WKRC-DT2; it had been aired on the main channel from 5 to 8 am, but the third hour was dropped when CBS reclaimed the 7 a.m. hour for The Early Show, after the network required all of its affiliates to air the show (which was replaced by CBS This Morning in 2012) in its entirety after receiving a makeover hoping to better compete against its rivals, NBC's Today and ABC's Good Morning America. The 7–8 a.m. hour of Good Morning Cincinnati is now only seen on WKRC-DT2. WKRC announced its intent to move the prime time newscast on WSTR to WKRC-DT2 in August 2008; on August 4, 2008, it began a brief simulcast of the program on WKRC-DT2, with it eventually being dropped from WSTR on August 22. The program then became known as CW News at 10.

A WKRC news vehicle

Newport Television released a statement in October 2008 stating that WKRC would eventually begin broadcasting its newscasts in 1080i high definition. The company used channel 12 as a pilot station before investing in HD equipment for its other television stations. On October 30, it debuted a new set on its First at 4 broadcast in preparation for the HD debut. After nearly a year of delay, the station launched its high definition newscasts along with a revised logo and new graphics on September 27, 2009, during its 11 p.m. newscast; WKRC became the third station in the Cincinnati market (after WCPO and WXIX-TV, channel 19) and the second in the Newport group (after WOAI-TV) to make the upgrade. WKRC currently use JVC ProHD 250 Series cameras in its studios.[40] The newscasts on The CW Cincinnati were not initially included in the upgrade, until it upgraded to HD at some point in 2013. On July 7, 2013, WKRC launched Sunday morning newscasts, airing in two blocks: one hour at 8 a.m. and an additional half-hour at 11:30 a.m.[41] On January 6, 2014, the 10 p.m. newscast was moved back to WSTR, where it is called the Local 12 News at 10 on STAR 64.[42] On February 3, 2014, the 7 a.m. newscasts would follow suit to WSTR.

Notable alumni

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is

multiplexed
:

Subchannels of WKRC-TV[43]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
12.1 1080i
16:9
 CBS CBS
12.2 720p CW The CW
12.3 480i TheNest The Nest
64.2 480i
4:3
 Antenna Antenna TV (WSTR-DT2)
64.3 16:9 Comet Comet (WSTR-DT3)
  Broadcast on behalf of another station

Analog-to-digital transition

WKRC-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over

UHF channel 31 to VHF channel 12.[46]

References

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WKRC-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "TV Query Results -- Video Division (FCC) USA".
  3. ^ Nelson, Bob (April 17, 2004). "Origins of many Call Signs". Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation. Retrieved April 12, 2007.
  4. ^ "Form Regional Webs in 3 Wide TV Areas". Billboard. December 12, 1953. p. 6. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  5. ^ "Wendy Barrie Exits Tri-State". Billboard. October 30, 1954. p. 5. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  6. ^ Broadcasting, February 27, 1961, p. 36. "Taft stations switch to ABC-TV."
  7. ^ "Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films". Boxoffice: 13. November 10, 1956.
  8. ^ a b Brinkmoeller, Tom (July 28, 1983). "Forget Soaps, Taft Out To Turn TV Set Into Newspaper". The Cincinnati Enquirer. p. D-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b c "Taft-Zenith teletext premieres in Cincinnati" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 27, 1983. pp. 41–42. [1]
  10. ISBN 978-0-934223-64-5
    – via Google Books.
  11. ^ "TV Market Softness Clouds Taft's Earnings Gain". The Cincinnati Enquirer. January 23, 1985. p. C-1 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Jessell, Harry A. (September 11, 1995). "ABC, Fox change partners again" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. p. 16. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
  13. ^ Kiesewetter, John (May 28, 1996). "Switch countdown". The Cincinnati Enquirer. p. B3 – via Newspapers.com. With the big network switch six days away, Channel 12 premieres a half-hour special explaining to viewers which shows switch and what won't.
  14. ^ "Ch. 12 a prime draw in sale". The Cincinnati Enquirer. November 17, 2006. p. 15A. Retrieved November 17, 2006.
  15. Clear Channel Communications
    . April 20, 2007. Retrieved April 20, 2007.
  16. ^ Newport Sells 22 Stations For $1 Billion, TVNewsCheck, July 19, 2012.
  17. ^ "SINCLAIR BROADCAST GROUP CLOSES TV STATION ACQUISITIONS". Archived from the original on December 7, 2012.
  18. CNNMoney.com
    , January 24, 2006.
  19. ^ UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network, The New York Times, January 24, 2006.
  20. ^ "KFMB San Diego Adding CW Affiliation". TVNewsCheck. January 18, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  21. ^ Kiesewetter, John (September 18, 2006). "Digital channel debuts". The Cincinnati Enquirer. p. 1D. Retrieved October 12, 2007.
  22. ^ Kiesewetter, John (September 17, 2006). "A Time Warner-CW Deal!". Cincinnati.Com Blogs. Archived from the original on March 7, 2007. Retrieved April 12, 2007.
  23. ^ "Channel Information for Tuesday's Reds, Blue Jackets, & Cavs Coverage". Bally Sports. April 3, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
  24. ^ "Local 12 is your home for Reds Opening Day including parade, game". local12.com. March 22, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
  25. ^ "Station Clearances". The Edge of Night Homepage.
  26. ^ "Old TV Newscast Titles". April 10, 2007. Retrieved April 28, 2007.
  27. ^ "Tim Hedrick". WKRC-TV. March 1, 2010. Archived from the original on December 26, 2010. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
  28. ^ Lisa Miller (producer) (1988). WKRC-TV Gets Weather Beacon (Television advertisement). WKRC-TV. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. ♪ If you wanna know / what the weather will be / just look up to the top / of the Chiquita Building. ... If the beacon's white then / there's no change in sight. ♪
  29. ^ Bird, Rick (February 3, 2004). "Channel 12: 'News Where You Live'". The Cincinnati Post. p. B6. Retrieved March 4, 2013. Gone is the station's "new generation of news" slogan, which it has used since 1994 to promote the then relatively newer and younger anchor team of Kit Andrews and Rob Braun.
  30. YouTube
  31. ^ "24 Hour News". SouthernMedia's News Music Search Archive. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  32. ^ Paeth, Greg (October 14, 1994). "Channel 12 unveils high-tech news". The Cincinnati Post. p. B7. Retrieved March 4, 2013. Using a combination of what the station is calling 'indexes' and 'headlines,' stories will be presented with an on-screen text that will allow viewers to know immediately what story is being reported. ... Minium said that, although a few other stations are using the 'Texta' graphics, Channel 12 will employ the system more extensively than any in the country, promoting its newscasts as 'A New Generation of News.'
  33. ^ Kiesewetter, John (March 3, 1995). "Channel 12 sweeps late news ratings". The Cincinnati Enquirer. p. D5 – via Newspapers.com. Steve Minium, Channel 12 news director, credits the ratings rise to the "TEXTA" graphics labeling each story and the "11 minutes of nonstop news" format started in October.
  34. ^ Kiesewetter, John (October 19, 1994). "Kiese Watching". The Cincinnati Enquirer. p. E7 – via Newspapers.com. On the other hand, WKRC-TV's 11-minute "non-stop news" format, opening newscasts with a commercial-free overview of the day's news, isn't a new concept. The station did the same thing five years ago, called "12 on 12." General Manager Terry Connelly also expanded the 11 p.m. news to 35 minutes with the "12 on 12" experiment on May 1, 1989.
  35. ^ Kiesewetter, John (August 23, 2001). "Channel 12's new look lacks only news". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  36. ^ a b Bird, Rick (January 19, 2005). "Scene Changes at Channel 12". The Cincinnati Post. p. B7. Retrieved March 4, 2013. After debuting a Fountain Square-based morning newscast with much fanfare in August 2001, the station's "Good Morning Cincinnati" has quietly retreated to its Mount Auburn studio in the past week.
  37. ^ Kiesewetter, John (July 31, 2001). "Channel 12 to produce show at Fountain Square". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  38. ^ Bells, Karen (August 13, 2004). "Habla español?" (PDF). Cincinnati Business Courier. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 31, 2012. Retrieved August 28, 2011.
  39. ^ "WSTR & WKRC Enter into 10 pm News Share in Cincinnati" (Press release). Sinclair Broadcast Group. April 24, 2006. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved May 20, 2006.
  40. ^ Newport Sails Into HD News With JVC, Broadcasting & Cable, October 12, 2008.
  41. ^ Channel 12 adds Sunday morning newscasts Cincinnati.com, June 13, 2013
  42. ^ Why 10 p.m. news moves to Ch 64 today Cincinnati.com, January 6, 2014
  43. ^ "Digital TV Market Listing for WKRC". RabbitEars.info. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
  44. ^ "Local 12 Agrees to Delay DTV Switch". Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved February 8, 2009.
  45. ^ "List of Digital Full-Power Stations" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved September 21, 2013.
  46. ^ "CDBS Print". licensing.fcc.gov.

External links

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