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KTVK (channel 3) is an
independent television station An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast network. As such, it only broadcasts syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered programming, for which a third party pays t ...
in
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...
, United States. It is owned by
Gray Media Gray Media, Inc., doing business as Gray Television, is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 statio ...
alongside
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
affiliate
KPHO-TV KPHO-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside independent stations KTVK (channel 3) and KPHE-LD (channel 44), a group known together as "Arizona's Family ...
(channel 5) and low-power station
KPHE-LD Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) is a broadcast television network in Arizona, United States. It is owned by Gray Media as part of the Arizona's Family group of stations, based in Phoenix, alongside CBS affiliate KPHO-TV (channel 5) and independ ...
(channel 44), a grouping known as "Arizona's Family". The three stations share studios on North Seventh Avenue in Uptown Phoenix; KTVK's transmitter is located on South Mountain on the city's south side. The station's signal is relayed across
northern Arizona Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Yavapai counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the ...
on a network of translator stations. KTVK signed on in 1955 as the fourth and last commercial VHF station in Phoenix. Owned by a syndicate fronted by former
U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...
and newly-elected
Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Ernest McFarland Ernest William McFarland (October 9, 1894 – June 8, 1984) was an American politician, jurist and, with Warren Atherton, one of the "Fathers of the G.I. Bill". He served in all three branches of government, two at the state level, one at the ...
, it took over as Phoenix's
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
affiliate. After spending its first three decades as an also-ran, it poached several employees from then-dominant
KTSP-TV KSAZ-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is owned and operated by the Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division alongside KUTP (channel 45), which airs MyNetworkTV programming. The two ...
in 1985, beginning a surge that made it the market leader by 1990. It lost its ABC affiliation as part of a shuffle of networks in 1994 and 1995 but has since prospered as an independent. It was one of the last family-owned major-market TV stations, being owned in part or whole by the McFarland-Lewis family from its inception until 1999. The
Belo Corporation Belo Corporation (; formerly A. H. Belo Corporation) was a Dallas, Texas-based media company that owned 20 commercial broadcasting television stations and three regional 24-hour news cycle, 24-hour United States cable news, cable news televisio ...
acquired KTVK in 1999 and also took over
KASW KASW (channel 61), branded Arizona 61, is an independent television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company alongside ABC affiliate KNXV-TV (channel 15). The two stations share studios on North 44t ...
(channel 61), which KTVK had been programming since it began broadcasting four years prior. After Belo merged with
Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...
, owner of
KPNX KPNX (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Mesa, Arizona, United States, serving the Phoenix area as an affiliate of NBC. The station is owned by Tegna Inc., and maintains studios at the Republic Media building on Van Buren Stree ...
and ''
The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. History Early years The newspap ...
'', the station was briefly owned by former general manager Jack Sander but was sold to the
Meredith Corporation Meredith Corporation was an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, that owned newspapers, magazines, television stations, and websites. Its publications had a readership of more than 120 million and paid circulation of more than ...
, separating it from KASW and merging it with KPHO-TV. KPHO-TV moved into the newer, larger KTVK studios; the "Arizona's Family" brand associated with channel 3 was extended to cover both stations, which began sharing news resources. In 2023, Gray Television's Phoenix stations became the new television home of the
Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...
of the
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
.


History


Early years

Channel 3 was the last commercial VHF allocation in Phoenix to be awarded. Prior to the 1948 freeze on new TV applications, there had been one application made, from radio station KTAR, one of the state's largest. In February 1953, however, after the freeze was lifted, a second applicant filed for the channel: the Arizona Television Company. That put the plans of KTAR—which already had television equipment on order—on hold. Originally owned by Buckeye rancher and car dealer Ralph Watkins as well as two other principals, a new stockholder was added to the company in May: former senator
Ernest McFarland Ernest William McFarland (October 9, 1894 – June 8, 1984) was an American politician, jurist and, with Warren Atherton, one of the "Fathers of the G.I. Bill". He served in all three branches of government, two at the state level, one at the ...
, who bought a 40 percent interest. Also seeking channel 3 was Herb Askins, a local businessman, but his Desert Advertising Co. dropped out late in the year, setting up a high-stakes showdown between Phoenix's NBC radio affiliate and the McFarland group in hearings in February 1954. The staring contest, however, ended two months later. KTAR owner John J. Louis was unwilling to go through a hearing process to get a television sister for his radio station. Instead, in late April, he announced that KTAR would purchase
Mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge, or hill, bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and standing distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks, such as shales, capped by a ...
-based
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
affiliate
KTYL-TV KPNX (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Mesa, Arizona, United States, serving the Phoenix area as an affiliate of NBC. The station is owned by Tegna Inc., and maintains studios at the Republic Media building on Van Buren Street i ...
channel 12, for $250,000, effectively awarding the channel 3 allocation to the Arizona Television Company. With no other applications to consider, a
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
hearing examiner recommended the company be granted a construction permit weeks later. The permit was duly granted on June 11. The transmitter was built atop South Mountain, and a $500,000 studio building was constructed at 16th Street and Osborn Road. The station affiliated with
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
, filling a void that would have been created when existing ABC outlet
KOOL-TV KSAZ-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is owned and operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division alongside KUTP (channel 45), which airs MyNetw ...
announced plans to change to CBS. By the time KTVK began broadcasting on February 28, 1955, McFarland had been elected
Governor of Arizona A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...
. Channel 3 boasted the first color-equipped studios in Phoenix and the largest in the state. Channel 3 lost money in its early years. Unlike its three competitors, it did not have a long-established radio sister on which to draw revenue. According to a 1990 interview, in the early 1960s,
Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' from 1962 to 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trust ...
sought to buy a stake in the Arizona Television Company. He would have become KTVK's main anchor, with a salary of $25,000 a year. However, Arizona Television Company could not afford to meet Cronkite's salary demands. McFarland bought out the remaining partners in the Arizona Television Company in 1977. Long before then, McFarland had intended for KTVK to be a locally-focused station. As Delbert Lewis, husband of McFarland's adopted daughter, Jewell, put it in a 1978 interview with ''
The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. History Early years The newspap ...
,'' his father-in-law wanted channel 3 to be "a family corporation. All Arizonans. To keep it local." In an era when the television industry was already dominated by large station groups, Lewis said that his family took pride in the fact that major decisions were made in Phoenix, not in New York. The socially laudatory aims of the McFarland-Lewis family initially did not translate into ratings success. Channel 3 spent most of its first 30 years stubbornly in third place. In January 1985, ''
Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. History Early years The newspap ...
'' television columnist Bud Wilkinson referred to the station as a "blot on BCs affiliate ledger" and claimed, citing a conversation with a top network executive, that the network had occasionally tried to move to another station and still was interested in the idea.


The rise

In March 1984, Delbert Lewis and Jewell McFarland Lewis were named the conservators of McFarland's estate, just three months before the former governor and senator died. In the preceding decade, Delbert Lewis had taken the reins of the station; he was named president of the Arizona Television Company in 1975 and assumed the role of general manager in 1980. McFarland ceded day-to-day control of the station to his relatives after undergoing brain surgery in 1977, shortly after buying out his partners. Upon McFarland's death, the Lewises inherited full control of KTVK. Eventually, Jewell and Delbert held a 60 percent controlling interest in the Arizona Television Company, with the remaining 40 percent divided between their four children. In 1986, Lewis made the most consequential hires in channel 3's history when he poached a dozen employees from long-dominant KTSP-TV. Included in the raid were KTSP's news director, Bill Miller, and his assistant news director, Phil Alvidrez. Miller became KTVK's station manager, while Alvidrez became KTVK's news director. Under Miller and Alvidrez, the station relaunched its news department as ''NewsChannel 3'' and began a climb to the top of the ratings. The station dismissed its existing weeknight news anchor team and rolled out a new lineup, led by new hire Cameron Harper and former weekend anchor Heidi Foglesong. Lewis bankrolled major investments in people, syndicated programming and equipment and dramatically boosted KTVK's promotional budget. He had no qualms about spending what he believed it would take to increase KTVK's profile; in 1990, he told ''The Republic'' that if Miller and others showed that they needed something, he would ensure that they would get it. As a "one-man board of directors", he was able to make decisions in mere minutes that took years at KTVK's corporate-owned competitors. For example, when Miller sought a new $500,000 satellite truck, Lewis greenlighted it in only 15 minutes. Improvement started slowly but was noticeable by 1988. Even those changes almost came too slowly for ABC; as late as 1989, ABC executives were in negotiations to move from KTVK to KTSP-TV. The changes finally began to pay off by the November 1990
sweeps Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...
period. KTVK's 10 p.m. newscast surged to first place, and its early evening newscasts were posting the strongest numbers in their history. Channel 3 also was the most-watched station in the Valley in prime time, even as NBC won its 11th consecutive sweeps period nationally. A year later, it tied KTSP-TV in the early evening timeslot and took the lead in the morning. By February 1992, channel 3 had pulled ahead of channel 10 at 6 pm; it was the first time on record that channel 10 had lost that timeslot. The growth of the company fueled additional media acquisitions. In the span of a year, the Arizona Television Company bought ''Phoenix Magazine'' and radio station
KESZ KESZ (99.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Phoenix, Arizona, featuring an adult contemporary format known as "99.9 KEZ". Owned and operated by iHeartMedia the station serves the Phoenix metropolitan area. For much of November and ...
(99.9 FM), as well as a production studio. Reorganizing as Media America Corp. (and later MAC America Communications), the group also handled programming responsibilities for the new KTWC (103.5 FM) when it signed on in 1994.


Going independent

On May 23, 1994,
New World Communications New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment, New World Communications Group, Inc., and New World International) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia comp ...
and Fox announced a pact that would see KSAZ-TV leave its longtime affiliation with CBS to join Fox. The landmark deal also left CBS looking for new affiliates in several other markets, including Detroit,
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
, and
Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...
, and set off a mad dash to secure network affiliations. KTVK was at a distinct disadvantage in the ensuing affiliate shuffle even though it was now one of the strongest ABC affiliates in the country. By this time, it had firmly established itself as the Valley's news leader, and its overall ratings were 20 points ahead of the runner-up. However, even though channel 3 had left its ratings-challenged past far behind, its gains over the previous decade meant little in the affiliate shuffle. It took place in an environment which favored station groups with presences in multiple cities, not KTVK—by this time, one of the last family-owned major-market stations in the country. In this environment, Scripps-Howard Broadcasting, owner of displaced Fox affiliate
KNXV-TV KNXV-TV (channel 15) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, affiliated with ABC. It was established in 1979 as the Phoenix area's second independent station with part-time subscription television programming from ON TV. I ...
, found itself in a strong position. Scripps owned two powerful bargaining chips in its successful and longstanding ABC affiliates in Detroit and in Cleveland. Both stations were being heavily pursued by CBS, which was about to lose its longstanding New World-owned affiliates to Fox. KTVK was already in talks for a new affiliation agreement with ABC that would have more than doubled its hourly compensation rate, but it would still have been less than the network was offering to stations in markets much smaller than Phoenix. However, ABC pulled the offer off the table on the advice of its lawyers; a call with ABC network president
Bob Iger Robert Alan Iger (; born February 10, 1951) is an American media executive who is chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company. He previously was the president of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) between 1994 and 1995 and p ...
revealed that Scripps-Howard—a longtime partner of the network—had threatened to flip its Detroit and Cleveland ABC affiliates to CBS unless ABC moved its Phoenix affiliation to KNXV-TV. Iger wanted to keep KTVK, but Tom Murphy, the CEO of Capital Cities/ABC, felt that he had to be able to offer the ABC affiliation in Phoenix to Scripps if necessary to avoid potential long-term damage to the ABC television network. Specifically, ABC officials feared losing as much as half a ratings point on ''
ABC World News Tonight ''ABC World News Tonight'' (titled ''ABC World News Tonight with David Muir'' for its weeknight broadcasts since September 2014) is the flagship daily evening television news program of ABC News, the news division of the American Broadcasting ...
'' if Scripps made good on its threat to flip its Detroit and Cleveland stations to CBS. Scripps-Howard would not relent from demanding the ABC affiliation for Phoenix and even refused $25 million from the network to "take Phoenix off the table". Ultimately, ABC gave in and awarded its affiliations in Phoenix,
Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...
, and
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
to Scripps; in informing KTVK, Iger explained that they "had to" do so. The Lewises then sought to affiliate with CBS, which was about to be displaced from KSAZ. However, despite Tom Murphy's support and channel 3's stronger ratings, CBS ultimately chose a deal with group owner
Meredith Corporation Meredith Corporation was an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, that owned newspapers, magazines, television stations, and websites. Its publications had a readership of more than 120 million and paid circulation of more than ...
and its
KPHO-TV KPHO-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside independent stations KTVK (channel 3) and KPHE-LD (channel 44), a group known together as "Arizona's Family ...
. Meredith also provided CBS security in
Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...
, where the New World switches had dislodged the NBC affiliation, and an upgrade in the
Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city in Genesee County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Flint River (Michigan), Flint River northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the Central Michigan, Mid Michigan region. Flin ...
, market. Miller told ''The Republic'' that CBS gave its Phoenix affiliation to KPHO rather than face having to search for a new affiliate in Kansas City, though CBS officials denied this. According to Miller, KTVK would have been the obvious choice to take the CBS affiliation if CBS only had to consider "which two stations it wanted in Phoenix". Over the second half of 1994, KTVK relinquished ABC programming to KNXV in stages. ''
Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...
'' was the first ABC program to move to KNXV after KTVK displaced it with a new local morning newscast. KNXV then picked up ''World News Tonight'' and ''
Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News (United States), ABC News' Late night television in the United States, late-night television news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC in the United States with a franchis ...
'' on December 12, the day after Fox programming moved to KSAZ. KTVK's nearly 40-year affiliation with ABC officially ended on January 9, 1995, when ABC's remaining non-news programming moved to KNXV. Despite the loss of ABC programming, the Lewises and station management committed to build KTVK into one of the nation's top independents. The station spent some $100 million on new syndicated programming, including ''
Mad About You ''Mad About You'' is an American television sitcom starring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a married couple in New York City as they navigate life together. In later seasons, the couple has a daughter. It initially aired on NBC from September 2 ...
'' and ''
Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Casey, and David Lee (scr ...
'', as well as poaching the most popular shows in syndication at the time from KSAZ-TV—game shows '' Wheel of Fortune'' and ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...
''—and programming them in the prime time hour between 7 and 8 pm. KTVK also broke ground on a new studio center to house its growing operations. The news department was expanded with 20 new staffers. Media America struck a
local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...
to operate the new
KASW KASW (channel 61), branded Arizona 61, is an independent television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company alongside ABC affiliate KNXV-TV (channel 15). The two stations share studios on North 44t ...
(channel 61) with
The WB The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB, stylized as "THE WB", and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on ter ...
—which would air on KTVK until KASW launched in September 1995—and children's programming, and it launched the AZ News Channel, a cable offering on
Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable), is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services comp ...
systems featuring breaking news and replays of KTVK newscasts that had been in the planning stages since 1993. Another large acquisition came in the form of sports rights to the expansion
Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...
baseball team, with channel 3 airing half of the team's games beginning in the 1998 season. The station remained Phoenix's news leader in most time slots, with the exception of 10 pm, when strong NBC programming gave KPNX the lead. In the fall of 1998, KTVK briefly aired '' The Howard Stern Radio Show''; both KTVK (which aired the program after its 10 p.m. news) and
Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...
, Fox affiliate
KJTV-TV KJTV-TV (channel 34) is a television station in Lubbock, Texas, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting alongside Wolfforth-licensed low-power, Class A news-formatted independent station KJTV ...
pulled the program from their schedules after two episodes.


Belo ownership

In what Del Lewis described as "the most difficult decision our family has ever made", MAC America sold KTVK and its other remaining assets to the
Belo Corporation Belo Corporation (; formerly A. H. Belo Corporation) was a Dallas, Texas-based media company that owned 20 commercial broadcasting television stations and three regional 24-hour news cycle, 24-hour United States cable news, cable news televisio ...
of
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, Texas, for $315 million in July 1999–a handsome return on McFarland's investment 44 years earlier. The Lewises cited the costs of conversion to
digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using Digital signal, digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an ...
, economies of scale that station groups had in purchasing syndicated programming, and competition from cable and satellite TV in their decision to sell; the transaction capped two years of selling the rest of the company, including ''Phoenix Magazine'', the production facility, and the radio stations, which had suffered from the needed investments in programming and news expansion at KTVK. Later that year, Belo announced that it would purchase KASW from Gregory Brooks, forming the first television
duopoly A duopoly (from Greek , ; and , ) is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market, and most (if not all) of the competition within that market occurs directly between them. Duopoly is the most commonly ...
in the Phoenix market just as they were being legalized. Bill Miller retired a year later. In 2000, Belo and Cox expanded their existing partnership with a new
Spanish-language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...
channel, ¡Más! Arizona, that launched on October 16 of that year. KTVK lost the Diamondbacks after the 2007 season, when the team opted to move all of its regional telecasts to cable on
regional sports network A regional sports network (RSN) in the United States and Canada is a television channel that presents sports programming to a local media market or geographical region. Such channels often focus on one or a few teams who currently play in Major L ...
Fox Sports Arizona (now Bally Sports Arizona).


Helicopter crash

On July 27, 2007, KTVK's news helicopter "News Chopper 3" was involved in a
mid-air collision In aviation, a mid-air collision is an aviation accident, accident in which two or more aircraft come into unplanned contact during flight. The potential for a mid-air collision is increased by Aviation communication, miscommunication, mistrus ...
when another news helicopter, belonging to KNXV-TV, struck it from behind. The collision occurred above
Steele Indian School Park Steele Indian School Park is located on the northeast corner of Indian School Road and Central Avenue Corridor, Central Avenue in Encanto, Phoenix, Encanto Village, Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona. Geography Indian School Road, on which the f ...
(near Third Street and Indian School Road), while both aircraft were covering a police pursuit in
downtown Phoenix Downtown Phoenix is the central business district (CBD) of the City of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is in the heart of the Phoenix metropolitan area or Valley of the Sun. Phoenix, being the county seat of Maricopa County, Arizona, ...
. All four people aboard both helicopters were killed, including KTVK pilot Scott Bowerbank and photographer Jim Cox. An investigation conducted by the
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...
(FAA) and
National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inci ...
(NTSB) determined that the accident was caused by both pilots' inability to see one another and avoid a collision with the other helicopter. The helicopter collision resulted in the establishment of shared news helicopters in the Phoenix market; while KTVK initially shared a helicopter with KPHO-TV and KPNX, all four Phoenix news operations now share a single helicopter.


Sale to Meredith

On June 13, 2013, the
Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as severa ...
, the owner of KPNX and the ''Arizona Republic'', acquired Belo. As FCC rules restrict one company from owning more than two television stations in the same market, Gannett announced that it would spin off KTVK and KASW to Sander Media, LLC, a company operated by former Belo executive Jack Sander. While Gannett intended to provide services to the stations through a
shared services Shared services is the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group where that service had previously been found in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and the ...
agreement, KTVK and KASW's operations would have remained largely separate from KPNX and the ''Republic''. Despite objections to the Gannett-Belo merger by anti-consolidation groups (such as
Free Press Freedom of the press refers to legal protections for public communications media. Free Press may also refer to: Publications * ''Free Press'' (CPBF), the journal of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom * ''Free Press'' (Malayalam magaz ...
) and pay television providers (due to ownership conflicts involving television stations and newspapers both companies owned in other markets, the use of Sander as a third-party licensee to buy stations that would be operated by the owner of a same-market competitor, concerns over any future operational consolidation of the stations involved in the deal, and the Gannett and Sander stations colluding in
retransmission consent Retransmission consent is a provision of the 1992 United States Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act that requires cable operators and other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) to obtain permission from commerc ...
negotiations), the FCC granted approval of the deal on December 20. As the sale was completed on December 23, 2013, Sander/Gannett then sold KTVK to the Meredith Corporation, owner of CBS affiliate KPHO-TV. The license assets of KASW were sold to
SagamoreHill Broadcasting SagamoreHill Broadcasting LLC is a privately held American holding company that owns 13 television stations based in the Great Lakes and southern United States regions. The company is a joint venture of the investment firm Duff Ackerman & Goodric ...
, with Meredith to operate that station through a shared services agreement. However, as a voluntary condition of the transaction's approval, that station was instead sold off to the
Nexstar Broadcasting Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television stations ...
. The sale was approved on June 16, 2014, and completed on June 19. On August 7, 2014, Meredith bought the KTVK studios, with the intent of housing the combined operation at KTVK's larger and newer facility. The union of KTVK and KPHO-TV's news operations, marketed under the "Arizona's Family" banner long associated with KTVK, came with the loss of 14 jobs across both stations. KPHO general manager Ed Munson headed the combined operation until his 2018 retirement.


Sale to Gray Television

On May 3, 2021,
Gray Television Gray Media, Inc., doing business as Gray Television, is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 statio ...
announced its intent to purchase the Meredith Local Media division, including KTVK and KPHO, for $2.7 billion. These would be Gray's second and third stations in Arizona, having already bought
KOLD-TV KOLD-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Media, which provides certain services to Fox affiliate KMSB (channel 11) and dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate KTTU-TV (c ...
in
Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
. The sale was completed on December 1.


Local programming


Newscasts

From the beginning, KTVK placed a high premium on news. The McFarlands and Lewises saw themselves mostly as "newspeople, not TV people". Despite this, for most of its history, KTVK had been the third-rated local station for news and had "long been viewed as a loser" and "a joke" in the industry; the news programs had stints as ''Total News'' and later ''
Eyewitness News ''Eyewitness News'' is a style of television presentation that emphasizes visual elements and action videos, instead of the older ,"man-on-camera" style of newscast, and is most prominently featured in the New York City metropolitan area. Hi ...
''. While the station briefly had momentum under news director Cecil Tuck in the early 1980s, it was unable to escape the ratings basement. The station frequently attempted to lure personalities from competing stations, with mixed results:
Mary Jo West Mary Jo West (born 1948) is an American retired television news anchor who primarily worked in the Phoenix, Arizona, market. She was the first female evening news anchor in Phoenix at KOOL-TV from 1976 to 1982, anchoring the network newscast '' CB ...
, the first female anchor in Phoenix at KOOL/KTSP, returned from a job at
CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...
in 1983, but channel 3 was unsuccessful in hiring anchors from KPNX. West left in the summer of 1986. The station managed to shed its third-place positioning and become the market leader after the hiring of Miller and Alvidrez in 1986. However, the loss of ABC affiliation led to major changes for KTVK's news department. Chief among them was the launch of a three-hour morning newscast, ''Good Morning Arizona''; the program was initially hosted by
Jodi Applegate Jodi Applegate (born May 2, 1964)"Anchor Jodi Applegate Shares ...
, who would leave KTVK to host the weekend editions of ''The Today Show'' in 1996. By that time, ''Good Morning Arizona'' had beaten out all of its local and national competitors in the ratings. The station also transformed its 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts into the 90-minute ''Good Evening Arizona'', and when KASW launched in 1995, KTVK produced a 9 p.m. newscast for the new station. KTVK itself, however, was later to debut prime time news than many independent stations. In 1996, it instead relaunched its 10 p.m. newscast as ''Tonight Arizona'', which later became ''NewShow'' and ''The News Show''. This changed in 2008, when the station replaced 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. broadcasts with a 9 p.m. newscast and expanded ''Good Morning Arizona'', bringing it to 52 hours a week of newscasts; a 10 p.m. broadcast was later reinstated in 2011. KTVK was also involved with news production and simulcasts for the Tucson market when Belo owned and operated
KMSB KMSB (channel 11) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate KTTU-TV (channel 18); Tegna maintains a shared services agreement ...
, Tucson's Fox affiliate. In 2003, KMSB began a 9 p.m. newscast, which originally was produced in Phoenix and used news reporting from KMSB-employed reporters and from Tucson NBC affiliate
KVOA KVOA (channel 4) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Allen Media Group. The station's studios are located on West Elm Street north of downtown Tucson, and its primary transmitter is located ...
. Additionally, from 2003 to 2012, KMSB simulcast ''Good Morning Arizona''.


Sports

Gray announced in January 2023 that it would launch the Arizona's Family Sports and Entertainment Network (AZFSEN) over
KPHE-LD Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) is a broadcast television network in Arizona, United States. It is owned by Gray Media as part of the Arizona's Family group of stations, based in Phoenix, alongside CBS affiliate KPHO-TV (channel 5) and independ ...
on March 1, 2023, and that it had acquired the rights to
Phoenix Rising FC Phoenix Rising Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 2014 as Arizona United Soccer Club, the team is a member of the USL Championship. They won the league championship in 2023, defeating the ...
soccer; KPHE will air all 34 matches, with five simulcasts on KTVK and one on KPHO-TV. On April 28, 2023, Gray announced that the rights to the
Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...
and
Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Mercury compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. One of eight original franchises, it wa ...
would move from Bally Sports Arizona to KTVK and KPHE-LD beginning with the 2023 Phoenix Mercury season and 2023–24 Phoenix Suns season. The two stations together will carry all non-nationally televised games, with KTVK to carry at least 40 Suns games per season and 13 Mercury games per season; the contract also includes provision for a streaming platform known as Kiswe to carry Suns and Mercury games. The parent company of Bally Sports Arizona,
Diamond Sports Group Main Street Sports Group LLC (formerly known as Diamond Sports Group LLC) is an American media and entertainment company. The company operates FanDuel Sports Network, a group of regional sports channels that was formerly known as Fox Sports Netw ...
, responded by claiming that the Suns/Mercury deal represented a
breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...
by not allowing Diamond to exercise its contractual rights in violation of bankruptcy law. The CEO of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury, Josh Bartelstein, had previously cited a "goal of wide distribution" for the teams in the face of
cord cutting In broadcast television, cord-cutting refers to the pattern of viewers, referred to as cord-cutters, cancelling their subscriptions to multichannel television services available over cable or satellite, dropping pay television channels or reducing ...
affecting the availability of RSNs. While a bankruptcy judge blocked the Suns portion of the deal, the Mercury portion was allowed to proceed. On July 14, the Suns announced that the Gray deal would go ahead, as Diamond Sports Group declined to match the contract.


Non-news programming

KTVK also airs a limited amount of non-news local programming. One of the station's offerings, the local
pet adoption Pet adoption is the process of transferring responsibility for a pet. Common sources for adoptable pets are animal shelters, rescue groups, or other pet owners. Some organizations give adopters ownership of the pet, while others use a guardi ...
encouragement program ''Pets on Parade'' with the Arizona Humane Society, is the longest-running local TV show in Arizona, having first been broadcast in December 1958. In 2010, the station launched the weekly political program ''Politics Unplugged''.


Notable former on-air staff

* Wally Bruner – newscaster (1960s) * Jineane Ford – reporter *
Daryn Kagan Daryn A. Kagan is an American broadcast journalist who was formerly a news anchor for CNN. From 1994 to 2006, Kagan served as an anchor and correspondent for CNN, in CNN's corporate headquarters of Atlanta, Georgia. She anchored ''CNN Live To ...
– anchor *
Tony Kovaleski Anthony Carl Kovaleski (born 1959) is an American investigative journalist for Denver television station KMGH. Previously, Kovaleski worked at KNTV in San Jose, California from 2012 to 2015. From 2001 to 2011, he was the investigative reporter at ...
– reporter * Samantha Mohr – meteorologist *
Christi Paul Christi Paul is an American journalist and former weekday news anchor for HLN and weekend anchor for CNN's '' New Day''. Biography Paul was raised in a Christian family in Bellevue, Ohio. She graduated from the University of Toledo whe ...
– anchor/consumer reporter * Brandon Lee Rudat – anchor *
Lauren Sánchez Lauren Wendy Sánchez (born December 19, 1969) is an American journalist. She is a licensed pilot and founder of Black Ops Aviation. In 2023, she became engaged to Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos. Sánchez has been a guest host on '' ...
– anchor/reporter * Ray Scott – sportscaster and television play-by-play voice of ASU football in the 1980s


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's signal is
multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource— ...
: On October 20, 2009, KTVK added
This TV This TV (also known as This TV Network and alternately stylized as thisTV) was an American free-to-air television network owned by Allen Media Broadcast Networks, LLC, part of the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios. Originally ...
to its 3.2
digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
. This TV was dropped on April 13, 2015, and replaced with a 24/7 loop of local news—the former Arizona NewsChannel. On the same day, sister station KPHO's former 24/7 weather service, moved to KTVK's 3.3 digital subchannel. It was dropped from KPHO in favor of
Cozi TV Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1950s to the 2000s. The network originat ...
. On August 1, 2017, the local news loop on 3.2 was replaced by the sci-fi network
Comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...
. KTVK joined the Phoenix
ATSC 3.0 ATSC 3.0 is a major version of the ATSC standards for terrestrial television broadcasting created by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC). The standards are designed to offer support for newer technologies, including High Effici ...
lineup on July 8, 2021, on the
KFPH-CD KFPH-CD (channel 35) is a low-power, Class A television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, airing programming from the Spanish-language UniMás network. It is a translator of Flagstaff-licensed KFPH-DT (channel 13) which is owned and ...
multiplex. On that date, as part of rebalancing of its subchannels, the KASW subchannel of
Ion Mystery Ion Mystery (formerly Escape and Court TV Mystery, stylized as ESCAPE and MYSTERY; formerly branded on-air as Mystery) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. It focu ...
was moved to the KTVK multiplex.


Analog-to-digital conversion

KTVK ended regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 3, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...
channel 24, using
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered as digits on a receiver's ...
3. As part of the
SAFER Act The Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act, or SAFER Act, (, ) is a U.S. law that required the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allow the continuation of full-power analog TV transmissions in 2009 for an additional 30 da ...
, KTVK kept its analog signal on the air to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of
public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. Oftentimes these messages feature unsettling imagery, ideas or behaviors that are des ...
s from the
National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a Industry trade group, trade association and lobbying, lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasting, broadcasters in th ...
. KTVK's "nightlight" service was originally intended to last 30 days but was instead discontinued two weeks after the analog-to-digital transition, on June 26.


Translators

KTVK is rebroadcast on the following translator stations: * Bullhead City (Katherine Landing): K12OF-D * Bullhead City (Oatman–Goldroad Crest): K16EV-D * Camp Verde, etc.: K32ME-D * Cottonwood: K28OA-D * Flagstaff: K25MG-D *
Globe A globe is a spherical Earth, spherical Model#Physical model, model of Earth, of some other astronomical object, celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface ...
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
: K14NA-D * Kingman: K23FV-D *
Lake Havasu City Lake Havasu City (, ) is a city in Mohave County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 57,144, up from 52,527 in 2010. It is served by Lake Havasu City Airport. History The community first started dur ...
: K29FD-D *
Meadview Meadview is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mohave County, Arizona, United States, located near Lake Mead. As of the 2020 census, Meadview had 1,420 residents, up from 1,224 as of 2010. It was founded in the 196 ...
(Patterson Slope): K25DH-D *
Prescott Prescott may refer to: People Given name * Prescott E. Bloom, American lawyer and politician * Prescott Bush, American banker and politician * Samuel Prescott Bush, American industrialist * Prescott F. Hall, American lawyer, author and eugenicist ...
: K11LC-D * WilliamsAsh Fork: K15HY-D


See also

* List of news aircraft crashes


References


External links

*
The McFarland Collection – KTVK-TV
(Photo gallery maintained by
Pinal County, Arizona Pinal County is a County (United States), county in the central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the county was 425,264, making it Arizona's List of counties in Arizon ...
) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ktvk 1955 establishments in Arizona Comet (TV network) affiliates Former Meredith Corporation subsidiaries Gray Media Independent television stations in the United States Television channels and stations established in 1955 TVK