KNBC (channel 4) is a

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California, United States, serving as the West Coast

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...

of the

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 ...

network. It is

owned and operated In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...

by the network's

NBC Owned Television Stations NBC Owned Television Stations (formerly NBC Local Media and NBC Television Stations Division (TVSD)) is the division of NBCUniversal Media Group#NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, NBCUniversal Owned TV Stations (NBCUniversal), a subsidiary o ...

division alongside

Corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus or disease responsible for the COVID-19 ...

-licensed

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...

outlet

KVEA KVEA (channel 52) is a television station licensed to Corona, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area as the West Coast flagship station of the Spanish-language network Telemundo. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's T ...

(channel 52). The two stations share studios at the Brokaw News Center in the northwest corner of the

Universal Studios Hollywood Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and Amusement park, theme park located in Universal City, California, near Hollywood, Los Angeles. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood film studios still in use. Its official marketin ...

lot off

Lankershim Boulevard Lankershim Boulevard is a major north-south arterial road the runs for in the eastern San Fernando Valley in the Los Angeles, California. Geography Lankershim Boulevard's northern terminus is at San Fernando Road in Sun Valley, Los Angele ...

in Universal City; KNBC's transmitter is located on Mount Wilson.

History

Channel 4 first went on the air as KNBH (standing for "NBC

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

") on January 16, 1949. It was the second-to-last VHF station in Los Angeles to debut, and the last of NBC's five original

owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an network af ...

s to sign on. Unlike the other four, KNBH was the only NBC-owned television station that did not benefit from having a sister radio station. Though the

NBC Radio Network The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (also known as the NBC Red Network from 1927 to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in continuous operation from 1926 through 1999. Along with the NBC Blue Network, it wa ...

had long been affiliated with KFI in Los Angeles, that relationship did not extend into television when

KFI-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). The two stations share studios at the R ...

(channel 9, now

KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). The two stations share studios at the ...

) signed on in August 1948. When KNBH signed on, it marked the debut of NBC programs on the West Coast. Channel 4 originally broadcast from the NBC Radio City Studios on

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, United States, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway (California), Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, Pacific Palisad ...

and

Vine Street Vine Street is a street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, that runs north–south between Franklin Avenue, Los Angeles, and Melrose Avenue. The intersection of Hollywood and Vine being symbolic of Hollywood itself. The intersection has be ...

in Hollywood. The station changed its callsign to KRCA (for NBC's then-parent company, the

Radio Corporation of America RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

) on October 18, 1954. The call letters were changed again on November 11, 1962, when NBC moved the KNBC identity from its San Francisco radio station (which became KNBR) and applied it to channel 4 in Los Angeles. That call letter change coincided with the station's physical relocation from NBC Radio City to the network's color broadcast studio facility in suburban

Burbank Burbank may refer to: Places Australia * Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane United States * Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County * Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place * Burbank, Illinois, ...

NBC Color City The Burbank Studios (formerly known as NBC Studios) is a television production facility located in Burbank, California, United States. The studio is home to ''Days of Our Lives'', ''Extra'', the ''IHeartRadio Theater'', and was formerly home ...

, as it was then known, had been in operation since March 1955, and was at least four to five times larger than Radio City, and could easily accommodate KNBC's locally produced studio programming. NBC Radio's West Coast operations eventually followed channel 4 to Burbank not too long after.

KNBC

The station officially modified its callsign to KNBC-TV in August 1986, shortly after NBC and RCA were purchased by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

; the -TV suffix was dropped effective September 6, 1995. On October 11, 2007, NBCUniversal announced that it would put its Burbank studios up for sale and construct a new, all-digital facility near the

backlot in Universal City, to merge all of NBCUniversal's West Coast operations (including KNBC, KVEA and

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

' Los Angeles bureau) into one area. The studio opened on February 1, 2014. Shortly thereafter, NBCUniversal named the new broadcast center in honor of former KNBC and NBC News anchor/reporter

Tom Brokaw Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American author and retired network television journalist. He first served as the co-anchor of Today (American TV program), ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anch ...

, christened the Brokaw News Center. In fall 2007 with the rollout of digital broadcasting, the station began airing a 24/7 newschannel News Raw on the .2 subchannel. KNBC ended regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 4, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal remained 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 36,CDBS Print
Fjallfoss.fcc.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2012. 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 ...

4. Since the station qualified for the nightlight clause in the

DTV Delay Act The digital television transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of terrestrial television programming. It was originally set for December 31, 2006, but was delayed several times due ...

, it was required to keep its analog signal on for two weeks from June 12 to 26, 2009 to inform viewers of the digital television transition, consisting of a loop of digital transition

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, while the digital channel was used for normal programming. On January 1, 2014,

Universal Sports Universal Sports was an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network. It was owned as a joint venture between InterMedia Partners (which owned a controlling 92% interest) and NBCUniversal (which owned the remaining 8%). ...

transitioned into a cable- and satellite-exclusive service, causing its affiliates (such as KNBC) to replace the network and remove the channel from their digital signals entirely.

NBC California Nonstop

KNBC operated NBC California Nonstop, a collaboration between KNBC and two other NBC-owned stations in California (

KNSD KNSD (channel 39, cable channel 7), branded on air as NBC 7 San Diego, is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations d ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

and

KNTV KNTV (channel 11), branded NBC Bay Area, is a television station licensed to San Jose, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Sta ...

in San Jose) which launched on May 3, 2011, and replaced programming from NBC Plus on the second

digital subchannels 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 compressi ...

of all three stations. In the case of KNBC, it was the second news-oriented digital channel operated by the station, as digital channel 4.2 featured a rolling news format under the name NewsRaw (which moved from digital channel 4.4 upon Weather Plus' shutdown on December 1, 2008), before the launch of California Nonstop. Each station produced a local newscast at 7 p.m. that was tailored to their respective market. For the Los Angeles feed of the channel, Colleen Williams anchored the hour-long ''Nonstop News LA''. NBC California Nonstop ended on December 20, 2012, when Cozi TV was launched.

Programming

Sports programming

The station has had a long history of carrying Los Angeles sports teams via

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

. The station aired select

Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. Founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York, the ...

games from their arrival in Los Angeles in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

until

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

(and games featuring the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

from their establishment in

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

) via NBC's Major League Baseball broadcast contract; this included the Dodgers'

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

victories in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

and

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

. Channel 4 was the station of record for the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

's Raiders during their tenure in Los Angeles from

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, and also aired any

Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

and

Clippers A clipper is a type of fast sailing vessel, generally from the 19th century. Clipper or clippers may also refer to: Business * Clipper Logistics, a British logistics company * Clipper Teas, branded as "Clipper", a British fairtrade tea compa ...

games that were part of the ''

NBA on NBC Television broadcasts of the National Basketball Association (NBA) games produced by NBC Sports has aired on American broadcast network NBC under the ''NBA on NBC'' branding throughout three incarnations in its history. The NBA was first telev ...

''. This included the Lakers championships in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

and

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

(game 4 of the 2002 series was the last NBA game aired on NBC) and the team's appearance in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

. Additionally, it served as the home station for the

Rose Bowl Game The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, traditionally played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl (stadium), Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on ...

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

from its first telecast in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

until

. KNBC also provided local coverage of

Super Bowl VII Super Bowl VII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

, which was hosted at

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the Los Angeles Coliseum or L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park, Los Angeles, Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Conceived as a hal ...

(and was the first Super Bowl televised in the host city), as well as Super Bowls XI, XVII, and

XXVII 27 (twenty-seven) is the natural number following 26 and preceding 28. Mathematics Including the null-motif, there are 27 distinct hypergraph motifs. There are exactly ''twenty-seven straight lines'' on a smooth cubic surface, which give ...

, which were hosted at the Rose Bowl. Furthermore, the station provided local coverage of

Super Bowl LVI Super Bowl LVI was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2021 NFL season, 2021 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2021 Los Angeles Rams season, Los Angeles ...

, which was held at

SoFi Stadium SoFi Stadium ( ) is a domed multi-purpose stadium in Inglewood, California, U.S., a suburb of Los Angeles. SoFi occupies the former site of the Hollywood Park Racetrack and neighbors the Kia Forum and Intuit Dome. Opened in September 2020, the ...

in Inglewood and won by the

Rams In engineering, reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS)first Super Bowl, which was also held at the Coliseum and broadcast on both NBC and

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 ...

, did not air on KNBC or KNXT (channel 2, now

KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2), branded CBS Los Angeles, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship station of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the n ...

), due to the NFL's blackout policy of the time, which did not allow home telecasts of games regardless of whether they were sold out, including playoffs and the league championship game, and that policy extended to the host cities for the first six Super Bowls—Los Angeles, Miami ( II, III, V), and

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

( IV and VI). The

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

, before its merger with the NFL starting with the 1970 season, also had a similar home blackout policy to the NFL's, and starting with the 1973 season, home games were allowed to be televised in the local market, so long as the game sold out 72 hours in advance (the blackout rules were lifted completely in 2015). This allowed KNBC to televise any

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

inter-conference home games via NBC's AFC Sunday afternoon package if the game was sold out in advance; the first such game was the final home game of the 1973 season, as the Rams hosted the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

at the Coliseum on December 16. Until 2021, the station aired select games involving the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...

and

Anaheim Ducks The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Ducks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confere ...

via

's broadcast contract with the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

, including

Stanley Cup Finals The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, ) is the annual championship series of the National Hockey League (NHL). The winner is awarded the Stanley Cup, North America's oldest professional spo ...

victories in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

for the Ducks, and

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

for the Kings. Today, KNBC carries any Rams and/or Chargers games that are chosen for ''

NBC Sunday Night Football ''NBC Sunday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''SNF'') is an American weekly television broadcast of National Football League (NFL) games on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock in the United States. It began airing on August 6, 2006, w ...

'' (the station previously aired any Rams home inter-conference games from 1973 to

when NBC had the AFC broadcast package), including the Rams' victory in Super Bowl LVI (notably as the second NFL team to play in and win a Super Bowl at its home stadium, although the Rams were designated as the visiting team). It will also be the home station when Los Angeles hosts the

2028 Summer Olympics The 2028 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 2028 or LA 28, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place July 14–30, 2028, in the United States. Los Angeles ...

and will share the Universal Studios lot with international broadcasters covering the Games. Since 20 24, the station aired select college football games involving the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

and

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ...

as part of ''

Big Ten Saturday Night Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * ''Big'', a 2023 Taiwanese children's film starring Van Fan and Chie Tanaka * ''Big!'', a Discovery ...

''.

News operation

As of 2022, KNBC broadcasts 44 hours, 25 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with 7 hours, 35 minutes each weekday, three hours on Saturdays, and hours on Sundays). The station's newscasts have historically more of a "serious" tone covering issues (such as politics, government, education, and the economy) than other Los Angeles area newscasts. In 2010, the Norman Lear Center at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

found KNBC to have the least coverage of crime and the second-highest coverage of local government and sports and weather, compared to other Los Angeles stations. As part of a 2012 investment by parent company Comcast, KNBC's newscasts added 18 employees and produced more enterprise reporting. The station runs a special hour-long newscast on Sunday nights during the NFL season where ''NBC Sunday Night Football'' telecasts preempt the 6 p.m. newscast. On election nights, KNBC runs a special extended edition of its 11 p.m. newscast to show early election results. NBC Studios

In April 1968. channel 4 revamped its news programs into the ''KNBC News Service'' (stylized on the air as ''KNBC Newservice'') which, when combined with the '' Huntley-Brinkley Report'', comprised the first 2½ hour-long block of early-evening local and national news on a major-market television station in the United States. The ''KNBC Newservice'' lasted until March 1976, when the newscasts adopted the ''NewsCenter 4'' title. NBC made similar changes to newscasts in other markets around the same time, and channel 4 shared the ''NewsCenter'' branding with sister stations

WNBC-TV WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo s ...

in New York City,

WRC-TV WRC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Washington, D.C., serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A television service, Class A Telemundo outlet W ...

in Washington, D.C., and

WMAQ-TV WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo station WSNS-TV (chann ...

in Chicago. KNBC's newscasts were the last to drop the ''NewsCenter'' moniker, rebranding to ''News 4 LA'' in July 1982 as the station also launched a new hour-long newscast at 4 pm. The branding changed once more to ''Channel 4 News'' in August 1985. While KNBC became known on-air as ''NBC 4'' in 1995, the ''Channel 4 News'' branding was so well established in Southern California that the title was retained for 26 years until 2011, when it became ''NBC 4 News''. For most of the last 30 years, KNBC has waged a spirited battle with

KABC-TV KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station mai ...

for the top-rated local newscast in Southern California, becoming a three-way race with KCBS-TV's ratings resurgence in 2006. Throughout the late 1980s and into the early 2000s, KNBC's newscasts were the most-watched in the region, beating out every other station viewership-wise, which coincided with NBC's overall ratings at the time. Channel 4's 11 p.m. newscast currently sits in the first place (adults 25–54) and has been for nine months straight; most of the station's other newscasts, including its once-popular morning news program, '' Today in L.A.'', the area's first local morning newscast (which debuted in 1986), now is battling for second place. For many years, KNBC produced a late afternoon newscast at 4 pm, which was dropped in 2002, in favor of ''

Dr. Phil Phillip Calvin McGraw (born September 1, 1950), also known as Dr. Phil, is an American television personality and author who is best known for hosting the talk show '' Dr. Phil''. He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, though he ceased ...

'' (that program moved to KCBS-TV in 2004, and was replaced by ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' through the end of the show's run in 2022). The station also had an hour-long 11 a.m. newscast, which later was trimmed to a half-hour before ultimately being canceled at the start of the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

. The station revived its midday newscast as a half-hour program at noon in early 2012, which expanded to one hour that September. KNBC became the fifth station in the Los Angeles market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition on July 14, 2008 (Spanish-language sister station KVEA and former sister

KWHY-TV KSCN-TV (channel 22) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, airing programming from the Scientology Network. The station is owned by Sunset Boulevard Broadcasting, a company affiliated with the Church of Scientology ...

also converted their newscasts to HD at the same time). On December 6, 2011, KNBC entered into a partnership with

public radio Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...

station KPCC as part of a larger effort by NBCUniversal to partner with non-profit news organizations following its acquisition by

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

. In 2006, KNBC launched a local news channel on digital channel 4.4 called ''News Raw'', that provided hourly news updates, additional information on breaking news stories, and previewed news stories scheduled to air on the main channel's newscasts. After Universal Sports was launched in 2008, ''News Raw'' became a part-time channel, and was later dropped when KNBC expanded Universal Sports programming on the former subchannel to 24 hours a day. Mekahlo Medina, the host of ''News Raw'', has received national attention for his integration of social media into local newscasts. Universal Studios Gate 3 Lankershim 2015-04-19

Universal Studios Gate 3 Lankershim 2015-04-19

In summer 2016, changes were brought to KNBC's daytime lineup which led to the restoration of the 4 p.m. newscast, allowing the station to complete with KCBS-TV and its sister independent station KCAL-TV (which moved its 4 p.m. newscast from KCBS-TV in 2002) and KABC-TV (which began airing its 4 p.m. newscast into the period in September 1980). On July 24, 2016, KNBC became the tenth (and final) NBC-owned station and the third (and final) owned station in the West Coast to use its "Look N" graphics that is first implemented by the NBC O&Os in the East Coast in summer of that year; also its mic flags were updated, the color scheme was now blue with a white 4 instead of its white with a blue 4 color scheme; before this, KNBC along with sister stations KNTV and KNSD revamped their websites on July 1, 2016. In July 2016, KNBC entered into a partnership agreement with

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...

—owned KABC radio to carry the simulcasts of the first half-hour of ''Today in L.A.'' morning newscasts and the station's 6 p.m. weeknight newscasts; additionally, some of the station's on-air talent occasionally appeared as guests on KABC's programs. On July 31, 2017, KNBC began its expansion of ''Today in L.A.'' morning newscast, an extra half-hour was added to begin its start time to 4 am; additionally, became the second station in Los Angeles and Southern California to expand it to the time period, following

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is ...

who began expanding its morning newscast to their time period in 2012. On January 2, 2019, it was announced that the station's hour-long midday newscast will be cutting to a half-hour along with its in-state sister stations KNTV and KNSD in favor of the brand new lifestyle show ''California Live'' beginning January 7. On June 7, 2021, KNBC premiered a new 30-minute 7 p.m. newscast. In January 2022, KNBC announced that they will plan to launch a new streaming channel for NBCUniversal's streaming service

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

, under the name of "NBC LA News"; this comes following the announcement they would have a simultaneous rollout of streaming news channels starting with its sister stations in Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia and Boston launching on January 20; the said channel was launched on March 17, 2022. On September 12, 2022, KNBC premiered a new 30-minute 3 p.m. newscast, followed by ''

NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas'' for its weeknight broadcasts ) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NBC television network ...

''.

News team

KNBC has had a very stable news team over the years: weeknight anchor

Colleen Williams Colleen Ann Williams (born March 6, 1955) is an American Journalism, journalist. She is a news anchor of KNBC Channel 4 in Los Angeles, currently serving on the 5 and 11 p.m. weekday broadcasts. She also reports on occasion for NBC News and MSN ...

(who also occasionally reports for

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

and NBC News) and sports anchor Fred Roggin (also has the nickname "The Dean of L.A. Sports" and serves as a commentator for NBC's Olympics coverage) have each been at the station at least thirty years or more. Former chief weathercaster Fritz Coleman (who like Roggin, has also occasionally appeared on ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

'', and once hosted a late-night variety show for KNBC called ''It's Fritz'' from 1989 to the early 1990s) worked at the station from 1982 until his June 2020 retirement. Former anchor Paul Moyer worked two stints at channel 4; first from 1972 to 1979 (when he began a 13-year run at rival KABC-TV) and from July 1992 until his April 2009 retirement. Like Moyer, anchor Chuck Henry was also a mainstay at KABC-TV, before making the move to channel 4 in January 1994. Kelly Lange,

Stu Nahan Stu Nahan (June 23, 1926 – December 26, 2007) was an American television sportscaster in Los Angeles from the 1950s through the 1990s. He is also remembered for his role as a boxing commentator in the first six ''Rocky'' films. He received a ...

John Schubeck John Schubeck (March 18, 1936 – September 26, 1997) was an American television reporter and anchor, and one of the few to anchor newscasts on all three network owned-and-operated stations in one major market. Schubeck was born in Detroit, Mic ...

, Tritia Toyota, Jess Marlow,

David Sheehan David Sheehan (March 31, 1938 – December 1, 2020) was an American broadcaster, interviewer, host and reporter. Starting in 1970 on CBS, Sheehan was a reviewer and interviewer covering movies and television on a daily local newscast. He went on t ...

, John Beard and

Nick Clooney Nicholas Joseph Clooney (born January 13, 1934) is an American journalist, anchorman, and television host. He is the brother of singers Rosemary Clooney and Betty Clooney and the father of actor George Clooney. Early life Clooney was born in ...

are other notables who have worked on KNBC's newscasts in the past. Another KNBC alum of note is consumer reporter

David Horowitz David Joel Horowitz (January 10, 1939 – April 29, 2025) was an American conservative writer and activist. He was a founder and president of the David Horowitz Freedom Center (DHFC); editor of the Center's website '' FrontPage Magazine''; and ...

, whose long-running syndicated series, ''Fight Back!'', began on channel 4 and was produced and distributed by NBC and Group W. In 1987 during an afternoon newscast, a gun-wielding mental patient gained access to NBC Studios and took Horowitz hostage live on-air. With the gun pressed to his side, Horowitz calmly read the gunman's statements on camera. The man, identified as Gary Stollman, was caught with a toy gun and was arrested by local police. It led Horowitz to start a successful campaign to ban "look-alike" toy guns in several states, including California and New York. Tom Brokaw began his NBC career as an anchor and reporter at KNBC in 1966, staying until he went over to national work for NBC News in 1973. Other notables who have worked at KNBC early in their careers prior to joining the network include

Bryant Gumbel Bryant Charles Gumbel (born September 29, 1948) is an American television journalist and sportscaster. He was best known for his 15 years as co-host of NBC's '' Today''. His older brother was sportscaster Greg Gumbel. From 1995 to 2023, he hos ...

, Ross Porter,

Pat Sajak Patrick Leonard Sajak ( ; né , born October 26, 1946) is an American game show host, television personality, and creative consultant. He is best known as the host of the television game show '' Wheel of Fortune'', a position which he held fr ...

, Kent Shocknek,

Bob Abernethy Robert Gordon Abernethy (November 5, 1927 – May 2, 2021) was an American journalist, best known for serving various roles during a 42-year career with NBC News. He later co-created, and was executive editor and host of '' Religion & Ethics News ...

Keith Morrison Keith Morrison (born July 2, 1947) is a Canadian broadcast journalist. Since 1995, he has been a correspondent for ''Dateline NBC''. Career Beginning his career in the 1960s, Morrison was a reporter and anchor at local stations in Saskatchew ...

and

Tom Snyder Thomas James Snyder (May 12, 1936 – July 29, 2007) was an American television personality, news anchor, and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows '' Tomorrow'', on NBC in the 1970s and 1980s, and '' The Late Late Show'' ...

=Notable current on-air staff

= Anchors * Carolyn Johnson *

Robert Kovacik Robert Kovacik is a multiple-award-winning American television journalist based in Los Angeles, California. He is currently an anchor/reporter for NBC (KNBC) Los Angeles and can be seen worldwide across all NBC platforms. In 2018, Kovacik wo ...

* Kathy Vara *

Reporters * Joel Grover – investigative reporter * Conan Nolan – chief political reporter

=Notable former on-air staff

= *

Andy Adler Andy Adler (born August 19, 1986) is a bilingual sportscaster, journalist, and television personality who serves as evening sports anchor at CBS 11 (KTVT) and co-host of the Dallas Cowboys Pre- and Post-game shows for CBS. Adler was previously ...

* Jim Avila * John Beard * Ross Becker *

Victor Bozeman Victor Emanuel Bozeman (August 11, 1929 in McLennan County, Texas – November 26, 1986 in Los Angeles, California) was an American television announcer, voice-over artist, and actor. In the 1950s, Bozeman was a disc jockey at WLIB in New York Ci ...

– staff announcer *

Jim Brown James Nathaniel Brown (February 17, 1936 – May 18, 2023) was an American professional American football, football player, civil rights activist, and actor. He played as a Fullback (gridiron football), fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the ...

* Fritz Coleman * Sonya Crawford * Linda Douglass * Crystal Egger * David Garcia * Garrett Glaser *

* Daniella Guzman *

Chick Hearn Francis Dayle "Chick" Hearn (November 27, 1916 – August 5, 2002) was an American sportscaster who was the play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association for 41 years, as well as the team's assistant ge ...

– longtime Lakers announcer who worked previously as a sports anchor when station was known as KRCA * Chuck Henry * Dr. Bruce Hensel *

* Desiree Horton *

Rafer Johnson Rafer Lewis Johnson (August 18, 1934 – December 2, 2020) was an American decathlete and film and television actor. He was the 1960 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon, having won silver in 1956. He had previously won a gold at the 1955 Pan ...

– former Olympic track star who worked briefly as sports anchor * Whit Johnson * Kyung Lah * Alycia Lane * Kelly Lange – longtime news anchor * Elita Loresca * Jess Marlow – anchor (1966–1980, 1986–1997) * Byron Miranda * Robert W. Morgan *

* Paul Moyer *

* Kevin O'Connell (American TV personality), Kevin O'Connell * Warren Olney (journalist), Warren Olney * Jack Perkins (reporter), Jack Perkins * Ross Porter (American broadcaster), Ross Porter * Francis Gary Powers * Jacob Rascon * Donald Rickles – staff announcer * Fred Roggin – sports director and anchor * Michele Ruiz *

* Tracie Savage *

* Bill Seward *

* Kent Shocknek *

* Steve Somers * Don Stanley (announcer), Don Stanley – staff announcer * Peggy Taylor – staff announcer * Wendy Tokuda * Tritia Toyota * Danny Villanueva

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is Multiplex (TV), multiplexed:

Translators

* Lucerne Valley * Lucerne Valley * Morongo Valley * Ridgecrest, California, Ridgecrest * Twentynine Palms

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knbc 1949 establishments in California Cozi TV affiliates NBC Owned Television Stations Television channels and stations established in 1949 Television stations in Los Angeles, NBC